Updated: 02/01/19; 28/01/19
In "Tone Mapping Let's Make Space Again Mk 2" I discussed some basic concepts of filmic tone mapping (FTM) then used in Elite Dangerous and other AAA video games. Basically, FTM was borrowed from the film industry where accurate reproduction of colour tones was essential. In the digital world it seeks to reproduce colours with a greater range tones and overcome some limitations of the standard RGB colour scheme used by computers.
Elite Dangerous (ED) used the FTM curve settings attributed to John Hable. In his article "Filmic Tonemapping Operators" you will recognise the standard operators and values adopted in the ED "HDR Node settings". These produced an "S" shaped curve with blacks at the "toe" (bottom left) of the curve It is thought, although not formally confirmed, that the FTM operators in the ED "HDR Node Reference" settings represent Frontier Developments' own modifications to the standard values in an attempt to push the curve lower across the range and make "space" even darker. This had moderate success, but some players found that, by modifying the "HDR Node Reference" settings in the Graphics Configuration File, they could push the curve even lower or strengthen the "toe" and make the blacks darker [sic]. Ultimately, this led to the tone mapping tool bundled in Dr Kaii's excellent utility EDProfiler.
The introduction of Beyond 3.3 has changed the landscape. While is clear is that ED still uses FTM, the default Graphics Configuration file contains two versions. The Hable and ACES (Academy Colour Encoding System) FTM. ACES is relatively new (in games), but is rapidly gaining acceptance. This article will concentrate on the legacy Hable FTM, as there is much I don't know about the ACES implementation in ED. However, for those who are interested in researching ACES the following links are a good starting point:
- The implementation of the ACES model in the Unreal 4 game engine.
- A short article by Krzysztof Narkowicz who discusses the ACES curve settings that are also used in ED.
Returning to ED, I have been fiddling around with the new (post 3.3) HDR Node Reference default settings and came up with the following modified settings:
<HDRNode_Reference>
<PrototypeLightingBalancesEnabled>1</PrototypeLightingBalancesEnabled>
<UseCompute>1</UseCompute>
<ToneMapType>0</ToneMapType>
<DisplayLumScale>164.000000</DisplayLumScale>
<HistogramSampleWidth>60.500000</HistogramSampleWidth>
<ExposureThreshold>1.000000</ExposureThreshold>
<Percentiles>0.6,0.540000,0.9000</Percentiles>
<ExposureType>0</ExposureType>
<HistogramMode>2</HistogramMode>
<ManualExposure>-0.500000</ManualExposure>
<GlareCompensation>1.3333</GlareCompensation>
<ShoulderStrength>0.1575</ShoulderStrength>
<LinearStrength>0.5080</LinearStrength>
<LinearAngle>0.1040</LinearAngle>
<ToeStrength>0.2300</ToeStrength>
<ToeNumerator>0.0200</ToeNumerator>
<ToeDenominator>0.2050</ToeDenominator>
<LinearWhite>11.2000</LinearWhite>
<ACES_A>2.51</ACES_A>
<ACES_B>0.03</ACES_B>
<ACES_C>2.43</ACES_C>
<ACES_D>0.59</ACES_D>
<ACES_E>0.14</ACES_E>
</HDRNode_Reference>
(IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are going to fiddle around with the graphics settings use a custom Graphics Configuration Override XML file. That way, if you get something horribly wrong then you can simply delete the file and the game will return to the default graphics settings that ship with the game.)
Looking the HDR Node Reference settings you will probably notice that 3 main areas have been tested. They are:
- The "ToneMapType" setting. This appears to control which FTM model will be used and has been changed by me from "1" to "0". It appears that the game then uses the Hable FTM type.
- The exposure settings. These do have a noticeable impact on the appearance of the game and were changed by me so that they are the same as the "HDR Node" settings which can be found in the default configuration XML file. The "manual" exposure settings seem to have the most impact.
- The curve settings starting with "ShoulderStrength" and ending with "LinearWhite". These settings are flexible, but I used the settings for the tonemap curve developed by Dr Kaii. Those settings were intended to make space darker, so a very good starting point.
A couple of important points to note. Firstly, I deliberately did not change the "PrototypeLightingBalancesEnabled" setting. Changing the value from "1" to "0" will alter the appearance of the game, but it is thought (guess) that this setting is important for the correct working of the new lighting system in ED. My goal therefore was to try and make changes to the FTM without bypassing that setting. Secondly, no gamma correction has been added by me. I don't need gamma with VR and like the game dark. It does of course mean there is plently of room to add gamma if you like. Thirdly, the changes I made were compared on a monitor because attempting to compare and record results through VR is, well, difficult. However, I did find that the changes did not have the same appearance in VR. Fourthly, the lighting changes also affect the HUD (as does the default lighting). However, there was plently of headroom to adjust the HUD brightness. Fifthly, the changes do not make the game look crisper. The lack of detail (or washed out appearance in VR) introduced by 3.3 is still present and something players will need to take up with FD.
CONCLUSIONS (so far):
Monitor: The takeaway seems to be that, although the Hable FTM settings are still present in the default Graphics Configuration file, changes to the settings have little impact on the game's appearance after 3.3. This is likely due to the new lighting system used in ED. The screenshots below show some change, but overall the changes to the settings produced a negligible change to the appearance of the game.
VR: On my rig the appearance of the game in VR (using Rift) with the modified settings was noticeably different to the monitor. In VR the game has a washed out (or over exposed) appearance. I was able to achieve a similar look to the monitor with the default Graphics Configuration settings for the HDR Node Reference simply just by decreasing manual exposure from -0.5 to around -1.0. I was also able to reduce the glare compensation setting to "0.00" which had a noticeable effect in reducing glare.
====
Screenshots: The screenshots were taken in game straight off the monitor. There are several image sets. Apart from the first image, each set is made up of two images. The first (top) image uses the default HDR Node Reference settings and the second (bottom) image uses the modified HDR Node Reference settings. At the end of this post I also have added two further screenshots showing the effect of the changes to the exposure and glare compensation settings. Those two screenshots are low resolution taken straight off the VR mirror.
Monitor screenshots:
A. Star system information - This is a single reference image which shows the star type and planet's distance relative to the star.
B. Inside the station hanger.
C. Inside the station dock.
D. Approaching the planet.
E. Nearing the planet surface (light side).
F. Passing the nearby ringed gas giant.
G. Approaching the planet (dark side).
H. Nearing the surface (with night vision - note: flat surface so little variation with night vision camera).
I. On the surface (lights off).
J. On the surface (lights on).
K. Adjusting HUD lighting (first image shows HUD before increasing brightness).
VR mirror screenshots:
A. No changes to the settings:
B. Changes to exposure and glare compensation settings:
In "Tone Mapping Let's Make Space Again Mk 2" I discussed some basic concepts of filmic tone mapping (FTM) then used in Elite Dangerous and other AAA video games. Basically, FTM was borrowed from the film industry where accurate reproduction of colour tones was essential. In the digital world it seeks to reproduce colours with a greater range tones and overcome some limitations of the standard RGB colour scheme used by computers.
Elite Dangerous (ED) used the FTM curve settings attributed to John Hable. In his article "Filmic Tonemapping Operators" you will recognise the standard operators and values adopted in the ED "HDR Node settings". These produced an "S" shaped curve with blacks at the "toe" (bottom left) of the curve It is thought, although not formally confirmed, that the FTM operators in the ED "HDR Node Reference" settings represent Frontier Developments' own modifications to the standard values in an attempt to push the curve lower across the range and make "space" even darker. This had moderate success, but some players found that, by modifying the "HDR Node Reference" settings in the Graphics Configuration File, they could push the curve even lower or strengthen the "toe" and make the blacks darker [sic]. Ultimately, this led to the tone mapping tool bundled in Dr Kaii's excellent utility EDProfiler.
The introduction of Beyond 3.3 has changed the landscape. While is clear is that ED still uses FTM, the default Graphics Configuration file contains two versions. The Hable and ACES (Academy Colour Encoding System) FTM. ACES is relatively new (in games), but is rapidly gaining acceptance. This article will concentrate on the legacy Hable FTM, as there is much I don't know about the ACES implementation in ED. However, for those who are interested in researching ACES the following links are a good starting point:
- The implementation of the ACES model in the Unreal 4 game engine.
- A short article by Krzysztof Narkowicz who discusses the ACES curve settings that are also used in ED.
Returning to ED, I have been fiddling around with the new (post 3.3) HDR Node Reference default settings and came up with the following modified settings:
<HDRNode_Reference>
<PrototypeLightingBalancesEnabled>1</PrototypeLightingBalancesEnabled>
<UseCompute>1</UseCompute>
<ToneMapType>0</ToneMapType>
<DisplayLumScale>164.000000</DisplayLumScale>
<HistogramSampleWidth>60.500000</HistogramSampleWidth>
<ExposureThreshold>1.000000</ExposureThreshold>
<Percentiles>0.6,0.540000,0.9000</Percentiles>
<ExposureType>0</ExposureType>
<HistogramMode>2</HistogramMode>
<ManualExposure>-0.500000</ManualExposure>
<GlareCompensation>1.3333</GlareCompensation>
<ShoulderStrength>0.1575</ShoulderStrength>
<LinearStrength>0.5080</LinearStrength>
<LinearAngle>0.1040</LinearAngle>
<ToeStrength>0.2300</ToeStrength>
<ToeNumerator>0.0200</ToeNumerator>
<ToeDenominator>0.2050</ToeDenominator>
<LinearWhite>11.2000</LinearWhite>
<ACES_A>2.51</ACES_A>
<ACES_B>0.03</ACES_B>
<ACES_C>2.43</ACES_C>
<ACES_D>0.59</ACES_D>
<ACES_E>0.14</ACES_E>
</HDRNode_Reference>
(IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are going to fiddle around with the graphics settings use a custom Graphics Configuration Override XML file. That way, if you get something horribly wrong then you can simply delete the file and the game will return to the default graphics settings that ship with the game.)
Looking the HDR Node Reference settings you will probably notice that 3 main areas have been tested. They are:
- The "ToneMapType" setting. This appears to control which FTM model will be used and has been changed by me from "1" to "0". It appears that the game then uses the Hable FTM type.
- The exposure settings. These do have a noticeable impact on the appearance of the game and were changed by me so that they are the same as the "HDR Node" settings which can be found in the default configuration XML file. The "manual" exposure settings seem to have the most impact.
- The curve settings starting with "ShoulderStrength" and ending with "LinearWhite". These settings are flexible, but I used the settings for the tonemap curve developed by Dr Kaii. Those settings were intended to make space darker, so a very good starting point.
A couple of important points to note. Firstly, I deliberately did not change the "PrototypeLightingBalancesEnabled" setting. Changing the value from "1" to "0" will alter the appearance of the game, but it is thought (guess) that this setting is important for the correct working of the new lighting system in ED. My goal therefore was to try and make changes to the FTM without bypassing that setting. Secondly, no gamma correction has been added by me. I don't need gamma with VR and like the game dark. It does of course mean there is plently of room to add gamma if you like. Thirdly, the changes I made were compared on a monitor because attempting to compare and record results through VR is, well, difficult. However, I did find that the changes did not have the same appearance in VR. Fourthly, the lighting changes also affect the HUD (as does the default lighting). However, there was plently of headroom to adjust the HUD brightness. Fifthly, the changes do not make the game look crisper. The lack of detail (or washed out appearance in VR) introduced by 3.3 is still present and something players will need to take up with FD.
CONCLUSIONS (so far):
Monitor: The takeaway seems to be that, although the Hable FTM settings are still present in the default Graphics Configuration file, changes to the settings have little impact on the game's appearance after 3.3. This is likely due to the new lighting system used in ED. The screenshots below show some change, but overall the changes to the settings produced a negligible change to the appearance of the game.
VR: On my rig the appearance of the game in VR (using Rift) with the modified settings was noticeably different to the monitor. In VR the game has a washed out (or over exposed) appearance. I was able to achieve a similar look to the monitor with the default Graphics Configuration settings for the HDR Node Reference simply just by decreasing manual exposure from -0.5 to around -1.0. I was also able to reduce the glare compensation setting to "0.00" which had a noticeable effect in reducing glare.
====
Screenshots: The screenshots were taken in game straight off the monitor. There are several image sets. Apart from the first image, each set is made up of two images. The first (top) image uses the default HDR Node Reference settings and the second (bottom) image uses the modified HDR Node Reference settings. At the end of this post I also have added two further screenshots showing the effect of the changes to the exposure and glare compensation settings. Those two screenshots are low resolution taken straight off the VR mirror.
Monitor screenshots:
A. Star system information - This is a single reference image which shows the star type and planet's distance relative to the star.
B. Inside the station hanger.
C. Inside the station dock.
D. Approaching the planet.
E. Nearing the planet surface (light side).
F. Passing the nearby ringed gas giant.
G. Approaching the planet (dark side).
H. Nearing the surface (with night vision - note: flat surface so little variation with night vision camera).
I. On the surface (lights off).
J. On the surface (lights on).
K. Adjusting HUD lighting (first image shows HUD before increasing brightness).
VR mirror screenshots:
A. No changes to the settings:
B. Changes to exposure and glare compensation settings:
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