Color distortion after enabling HDR in Windows

[masdaster]

Hi,
yesterday I've enabled HDR in Windows. Afterwards I realized some serious distorted colors in ED. I tried disabling Auto HDR, but that does not change anything. Some stated that disabling windowed game optimizations may help - no luck. If I switch to fullscreen mode (usually playing in borderless mode), some distortions are fixed. Unfortunately there are still some left. I've read multiple post about HDR looking great even though it's not fully implemented. So there is something wrong on my side... I'm very thankful for any help...

Here are some screenshots and some pictures taken with my phone because it's more visible:

There should be two yellow suns instead of the black circles.

The skybox has many spots looking like a very bad rendered fog.

When switching to fullscreen mode the system map shows stars. But the skybox is the same.

What is quite confusing: Screenshots taken with Windows tools are looking quite good. If you zoom in, there is still some 'fog' but it's far less visible.

 

[varonica]

Hi,
yesterday I've enabled HDR in Windows. Afterwards I realized some serious distorted colors in ED. I tried disabling Auto HDR, but that does not change anything. Some stated that disabling windowed game optimizations may help - no luck. If I switch to fullscreen mode (usually playing in borderless mode), some distortions are fixed. Unfortunately there are still some left. I've read multiple post about HDR looking great even though it's not fully implemented. So there is something wrong on my side... I'm very thankful for any help...

Here are some screenshots and some pictures taken with my phone because it's more visible:

View attachment 394298
There should be two yellow suns instead of the black circles.

View attachment 394300
The skybox has many spots looking like a very bad rendered fog.

View attachment 394301
When switching to fullscreen mode the system map shows stars. But the skybox is the same.

View attachment 394302
What is quite confusing: Screenshots taken with Windows tools are looking quite good. If you zoom in, there is still some 'fog' but it's far less visible.

If the captured screenshot looks ok it appears the vid card is outputting the correct data, are there any settings on the monitor causing the issue? Cables all ok? The screenshots should be captured from the frame buffer before the images are sent to the monitor so it looks like an issue between vid card and monitor or the monitor itself.

 

[masdaster]

If the captured screenshot looks ok it appears the vid card is outputting the correct data, are there any settings on the monitor causing the issue? Cables all ok? The screenshots should be captured from the frame buffer before the images are sent to the monitor so it looks like an issue between vid card and monitor or the monitor itself.

Thank you very much for replying!
I've reset my monitor color configuration and it's better as before but still not good. This kind of fog when flying in space is still there (pic 2 in first post). The cables are all ok (DisplayPort). ED is the only game having issues after enabling HDR.

I was wondering why the system map is working in fullscreen mode. I've tried again switching between borderless and fullscreen and noticed that in both modes the system map shows black stars when opening the map for the first time after starting the game. So there is no difference between them regarding my issues...

I've know used NVIDIA overlay for taking some more screenshots:

This screenshot shows the system map after opening it for the first time.

And this screenshots shows the system map after closing and opening again. In both pictures there are some sort of white glowing boxes around stars in the background.

 

[GroG79]

HDR seems to give problems with screenshots. The screenshots when viewing them in windows is completely wrong.

I also have the same bad coloring like your do

Another thing that really shows the problem is the rotating ship on the loading screen. The ship seems to light up the background way too much.

I ended up switching Off HDR for Elite


All tips welcome.

 

[masdaster]

HDR seems to give problems with screenshots. The screenshots when viewing them in windows is completely wrong.

I also have the same bad coloring like your do
View attachment 394330

Another thing that really shows the problem is the rotating ship on the loading screen. The ship seems to light up the background way too much.

I ended up switching Off HDR for Elite


All tips welcome.

I've noticed the glowing on the loading screen but thought, it may be intended... xD

How do you switch HDR off for ED? I can only toggle it off for the entire system.

 

[GroG79]

You can use windows to enable/disable it per application/game
I did notice having it enabled also increase the alt/tab time a lot. Which I find annoying too


I do not play many games. I turned it off for the whole system. It is a pity.

 

[the100thmonkey]

The mottled skybox used to be due to the display adapter not showing the full dynamic range of even SDR images. There's a setting in the Nvidia control panel where you switch from 16-255 as the range to 0-255. Adding the lowest 16 values gives deeper blacks. It also eliminates a great deal of the banding you might see around stars when you are close to them.

You've all been messing with dynamic range settings, so I'd investigate whether it has inadvertently altered that switch

It used to be useful for flat panel TVs that had a dynamic range smaller than SDR. Now, it only exists to annoy pretend spaceship commanders.

Given that Elite doesn't support HDR, it's a bit of a waste of time switching it on for the game. This is what causes the long alt-tab times, as the display has to switch between SDR and HDR when you alt-tab in or out of the window.

 

[GroG79]

The mottled skybox used to be due to the display adapter not showing the full dynamic range of even SDR images. There's a setting in the Nvidia control panel where you switch from 16-255 as the range to 0-255. Adding the lowest 16 values gives deeper blacks. It also eliminates a great deal of the banding you might see around stars when you are close to them.

You've all been messing with dynamic range settings, so I'd investigate whether it has inadvertently altered that switch

It used to be useful for flat panel TVs that had a dynamic range smaller than SDR. Now, it only exists to annoy pretend spaceship commanders.

Given that Elite doesn't support HDR, it's a bit of a waste of time switching it on for the game. This is what causes the long alt-tab times, as the display has to switch between SDR and HDR when you alt-tab in or out of the window.

I was afraid so

Thx for confirming my suspicion.

 

[masdaster]

The mottled skybox used to be due to the display adapter not showing the full dynamic range of even SDR images. There's a setting in the Nvidia control panel where you switch from 16-255 as the range to 0-255. Adding the lowest 16 values gives deeper blacks. It also eliminates a great deal of the banding you might see around stars when you are close to them.

You've all been messing with dynamic range settings, so I'd investigate whether it has inadvertently altered that switch

It used to be useful for flat panel TVs that had a dynamic range smaller than SDR. Now, it only exists to annoy pretend spaceship commanders.

Given that Elite doesn't support HDR, it's a bit of a waste of time switching it on for the game. This is what causes the long alt-tab times, as the display has to switch between SDR and HDR when you alt-tab in or out of the window.

Thank you for pointing me in this direction!

I've forced my display adapter to 10 bit color encoding and full dynamic range (adapter setting and video output setting in NVIDIA Control Panel). Sadly this has no effect. So I've started playing around with the gamma setting in ED and noticed something suspicious: When HDR is on the left decal is clearly visible and does not change that much when moving the slider to the left until it disappears suddenly. When HDR is off the decal fades out when moving the slider.

 

[the100thmonkey]

Thank you for pointing me in this direction!

I've forced my display adapter to 10 bit color encoding and full dynamic range (adapter setting and video output setting in NVIDIA Control Panel). Sadly this has no effect. So I've started playing around with the gamma setting in ED and noticed something suspicious: When HDR is on the left decal is clearly visible and does not change that much when moving the slider to the left until it disappears suddenly. When HDR is off the decal fades out when moving the slider.

Daft question, but worth asking as it isn't mentioned: Do you have an HDR display?

The first pic - the black suns - is a model loading issue. They ususally pop up eventually.

 

[masdaster]

Daft question, but worth asking as it isn't mentioned: Do you have an HDR display?

The first pic - the black suns - is a model loading issue. They ususally pop up eventually.

Yes, I'm using a HDR capable monitor. After switching it on, the monitor reports the HDR signal. So the adapter settings and the cable should be fine. Other games with native HDR support are working great...

I can live with SDR, of course... Just thought, it might look great and read some post about ED with HDR. I was wondering if I'm the only one experiencing this strange colored artifacts...

Do you know if there is some other windows functionality or setting that may limit ED to a reduced dynamic range? If I run some tests with a tool to check display panels, very dark colors are displayed. There is no cut like I described regarding the gamma setting in ED.

 

[the100thmonkey]

I checked this with my own HDR display.

Elite looks like ass when HDR is enabled in Windows.

This app might solve the problem for you.

 

[Morbad]

Hi,
yesterday I've enabled HDR in Windows. Afterwards I realized some serious distorted colors in ED. I tried disabling Auto HDR, but that does not change anything. Some stated that disabling windowed game optimizations may help - no luck. If I switch to fullscreen mode (usually playing in borderless mode), some distortions are fixed. Unfortunately there are still some left. I've read multiple post about HDR looking great even though it's not fully implemented. So there is something wrong on my side... I'm very thankful for any help...

Here are some screenshots and some pictures taken with my phone because it's more visible:

View attachment 394298
There should be two yellow suns instead of the black circles.

View attachment 394300
The skybox has many spots looking like a very bad rendered fog.

View attachment 394301
When switching to fullscreen mode the system map shows stars. But the skybox is the same.

View attachment 394302
What is quite confusing: Screenshots taken with Windows tools are looking quite good. If you zoom in, there is still some 'fog' but it's far less visible.

You can't just turn on HDR in Windows and expect non-HDR content to look any better. At best it won't look worse, if the OS and display maps SDR to HDR sensibly, which is the exception rather than the rule.

Windows 11 auto HDR, if it's functioning correctly works well enough for some titles, but usually not Elite: Dangerous. Personally, I think the Windows 11 Auto HDR is bad enough that I have never wanted to use it over third party swapchain expanders and inverse tonemappers (like SpecialK), which have the added benefit of not needed Windows 11. ED is especially rough with Windows AutoHDR because it's got it's own tonemapper issues and needs correct black levels to not look like crap.

Screenshots look normal because they generally aren't HDR. The images captured with your phone are washed out and have bad blooming, mostly because the HDR isn't being tonemapped properly and the black level isn't preserved, but the display's local dimming may also be an issue.

 

[Jumpin' Jack Flash]

Hi

The first pic - the black suns - is a model loading issue. They ususally pop up eventually.

Yeah, I have those black suns too when initially booting up the game, and then once the game has loaded immediately bring up the system map.
As soon as I launch my ship, or if I'm on my Carrier and select just the 'Return to surface' the system map then displays correctly.
I don't have any of the further problems that masdaster has though.

Jack