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

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.

 

Great but i know on certain monitors (maybe all) some features get disabled if you enable hdr

 

Yup , also a lot of people like to hook up a tv for gaming.

 

edited not to repeat the thread's 1st post.

 

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-

 

Upgrading to the dev build to see how it works.

 

Supposedly only SDR only games will be supported:

 

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.

 

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-

 

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

 

Check out the Samsung CHG line. Fantastic prices for nigh top quality 144hz HDR monitors, you can turn on whatever you want.

 

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.



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

 

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.



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



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.

 

I get this notification in Windows:

 

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.



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-



Same as before.



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



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