Auto-HDR preview for PC [2021-03-17]

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Auto HDR Preview for PC Available Today

Bigger. Bolder. Brighter. High dynamic range (HDR) offers the most impressive improvement to the visual experience in recent history. HDR unlocks an entirely new range of colors with more intensity than standard monitors, making games come to life like never before. In November 2020, the Xbox Series X|S consoles launched with the Auto HDR feature which automatically upgrades your backwards compatible games from SDR to HDR to take advantage of this amazing display innovation and provide a richer visual experience even on already-released games.

Today we’re excited to bring you a preview of Auto HDR for your PC gaming experience and we’re looking for your help to test it out. Jump to the How to Enable Auto HDR section to get started! When enabled on your HDR capable gaming PC, you will automatically get awesome HDR visuals on an additional 1000+ DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 games!

[[ Read Full Article @ https://devblogs.microsoft.com/directx/auto-hdr-preview-for-pc-available-today/ ]]
 
https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/17/22336240/microsoft-windows-10-auto-hdr-pc-gaming-directx-11-12

Microsoft is planning to automatically add HDR support to more than 1,000 PC games. The software maker is now testing a new Auto HDR feature on Windows 10, which works just like it does on the latest Xbox Series S and X consoles. Enabling Auto HDR will add high dynamic range (HDR) to a large number of DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 games, as long as you have a compatible HDR monitor.

Auto HDR can be enabled in the latest Windows 10 test build (21337) released to Windows Insiders today. It should be automatically enabled, or you can toggle it in the display part of settings. Auto HDR is just in preview for now, and not all top DirectX 11 / 12 games will support it just yet. Microsoft is also working to optimize performance and fix some issues, and the company does admit “Auto HDR does take some GPU compute power to implement.”

Really great to see MS putting in the work on the PC side. Excited to see how well it will work on pc. At the same time I hope they fix HDR on PC in general.
 
Great but i know on certain monitors (maybe all) some features get disabled if you enable hdr

Which is why it's a user-side toggle. The additional details are at the linked DirectX DevBlog.
 
edited not to repeat the thread's 1st post.

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Last edited:
https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/17/22336240/microsoft-windows-10-auto-hdr-pc-gaming-directx-11-12



Really great to see MS putting in the work on the PC side. Excited to see how well it will work on pc. At the same time I hope they fix HDR on PC in general.
hope it fixes the crazy black crush on games like Pillars of Eternity if you played with HDR on. I haven't tested it yet, I am a insider since 5 years ago, but I am not sure which OS version I have installed/updated -I check every day thoguh-
 
hope it fixes the crazy black crush on games like Pillars of Eternity if you played with HDR on. I haven't tested it yet, I am a insider since 5 years ago, but I am not sure which OS version I have installed/updated -I check every day thoguh-
Supposedly only SDR only games will be supported:
While some game studios develop for HDR gaming PCs by mastering their game natively for HDR, Auto HDR for PC will take DirectX 11 or DirectX 12 SDR-only games and intelligently expand the color/brightness range up to HDR.
 
This is great to see. I'm sure in the future it will continue to be optimized and improved. However for me, the bigger story is how MS intends to improve HDR support in Windows 10 on an OS fundamentals level. Hopefully they will have a way to run the entirety of Windows in an HDR container, and manage to display all SDR content appropriately within that container. So basically toggle HDR on, Windows detects the display, SDR content displays appears as it should as does HDR with no further need to toggle and change modes in Windows.. since the monitor would be in HDR the entire time.
 
Supposedly only SDR only games will be supported:
thing is..., I have HDR always enabled on my monitor and it works all the time. Pillars of Eternity is a SDR game -like most PC games atm- and in games like PoE or Wolfenstein Youngblood the black crush is so obnoxious that it's impossible to play cos of the big grey-ish patches on screen, you lose tons of detail, it's not true black but grey tones with a touch of black that look horrible. Hope this fixes it, but I gotta download those games again.

It is very few games that behave like that. On Wolfenstein Youngblood it's even worse when the game plays the cinematics -it's video, not realtime 3D-
 
There are issues if you run SDR content inside an HDR envelopes. You really need to get the tonemapping step correct, and it can be different per title. That's why the PS5 has crushed blacks and other image quality issues at times, all titles run in an HDR envelope.

That is why the Xbox Series runs SDR content in SDR envelopes, to avoid those issues entirely.
 
I gave it a try last night. So far works pretty well, most games worked, only a few didn't. Tried on Steam: Fallout 4, Skyrim SE, Sunset Overdrive, Dark Souls 3, Witcher 3, Strider, EDF 5, New Super Lucky's Tale. Out of Those, only the last 3 didn't work; EDF could hear the sound but black screen, NSLT didn't enable the AutoHDR, Strider seemed to work but stuttered a lot, didn't try it with the feature disabled so can't confirm if it's AutoHDR's fault. Also tried Control on EGS, with full RT and looked great. Last I tried on Uplay Starlink, HDR did not engage, AC Origins, this made a great comparison point, because AutoHDR is enabled when you disable the game's native HDR. Looked good, highlights where bright as the native HDR, but the image overall was also brighter with less contrast than native HDR. Still, impressive for a "hack" and definitely improved over SDR.

Will see what other games I can try tonight :)
 
I gave it a try last night. So far works pretty well, most games worked, only a few didn't. Tried on Steam: Fallout 4, Skyrim SE, Sunset Overdrive, Dark Souls 3, Witcher 3, Strider, EDF 5, New Super Lucky's Tale. Out of Those, only the last 3 didn't work; EDF could hear the sound but black screen, NSLT didn't enable the AutoHDR, Strider seemed to work but stuttered a lot, didn't try it with the feature disabled so can't confirm if it's AutoHDR's fault. Also tried Control on EGS, with full RT and looked great. Last I tried on Uplay Starlink, HDR did not engage, AC Origins, this made a great comparison point, because AutoHDR is enabled when you disable the game's native HDR. Looked good, highlights where bright as the native HDR, but the image overall was also brighter with less contrast than native HDR. Still, impressive for a "hack" and definitely improved over SDR.

Will see what other games I can try tonight :)
how do you know whether it is enabled or not? My monitor doesn't tell me.

Haven't tested at all, but this is what I got.

I used the "trick" of Auto HDR in split screen (left, HDR off, right, HDR on), a hidden utility of this feature, to compare in real time. For now I've only seen it enabled on Doom 1.

Got the screengrab with the gamepass PC app by converting the image with HDR to SDR, you can barely tell with this capture -the weapon shine a little more.

CMsWGgZ.png


HDR captured directly in SDR, that's why they look so horrible.

PENvei0.jpg
 
kinda miss an Eurogamer article from @Dictator on auto HDR or the technical improvements on gamepass PC games like Nier Automata and Evil Within from their steam counterparts
 
Halo Reach. Images transformed to .png by the gamepass PC app (Windows key + G).

Left of the black line, no HDR, right with Auto HDR.

Look at the most vivid letters and colors on the right with Auto HDR on.

2ZkExYV.jpg


The yellow light of the helicopter, much brighter on the right with Auto HDR.

6Ab87ZM.jpg


The light between the clouds, much brighter also on the right with Auto HDR enabled. This is the closest I could get using png files without being jxr images.

NNNyrR4.jpg
 
I get this notification in Windows:

View attachment 5364
many thanks! I had notifications turned off.

FIFA 20 on EA Play.

The most obvious difference to me. Much more intense light in the lamp on the right side of the screen. And the yellow color too of the art.

xwrJZAe.png


Much more intense colors on the right - keep in mind the usual, it's a conversion from HDR to SDR .png image using the gamepass pc app, with HDR you see a more intense difference-

HFkbBzJ.png


Same as before.

MXvrlGO.png


Without HDR -left- white looks gray, with HDR it looks white.

PKItrm9.jpg


Grey tone of the rectangles/squares of the menus on the left, vs white on the right.

sxieiJM.png
 
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