Can Windows 10 auto-enable HDR?

[Stahlmann]

Hello good people,

 

i am using a HDR-TV to play games that support it in HDR. Here are my problems: Always enabling HDR in Windows is not an option, because if enabled, anything that is not HDR will look really bad and washed out. Playing around with the SDR/HDR conversion slider in the settings doesn't help in that regard.

 

- Some games can enable HDR by themself when launching if HDR is enabled in the ingame-settings, the game is launched in fullscreen, and HDR is currently disabled in the windows settings. (like Assasins Creed: Odyssey)

 

- Some games only show the "enable HDR" option, if the game is launched AFTER enabling HDR in wondows settings. (like Metro: Exodus, Borderlands 3)

 

- Some games automatically enable and disable HDR without any ingame-setting, depending on what the setting in windows currently says. (like Dead by Daylight, FInal Fantasy XV)

 

 

Now my question is: Can i somehow make my games enable HDR on startup like Assasins Creed does? Like i said leaving HDR on all the time is bad for playing ANY SDR content. Manuall enabling HDR everytime i play HDR games is also a pain in the ass...

Are there any other solutions out there?

 

I think microsoft could have done a way better job at properly implementing HDR into Windows 10...

 

Any help, tips and recommendations are apprecciated! Thanks in advance!

[Shreyas1]

This isn't exactly automatic, but maybe try this? You need to open the file before you open the game though and open the other one after you close

https://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/toggle-hdr-with-a-script-on-windows-10/

 

[Stahlmann]

11 minutes ago, Shreyas1 said:

This isn't exactly automatic, but maybe try this? You need to open the file before you open the game though and open the other one after you close

https://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/toggle-hdr-with-a-script-on-windows-10/

 

Thanks, that's at least a way in the right direction! I don't know much about this, but is there a way to attach the scripts to any .exe, so they run when opening/closing the game?

[Vector0102]

47 minutes ago, Stahlmann98 said:

 -snip-

enabling the "automatically process video to enhance it" makes a lot of SDR content look washed out for me, try disabling that if you have it on.

[Stahlmann]

2 minutes ago, Vector0102 said:

enabling the "automatically process video to enhance it" makes a lot of SDR content look washed out for me, try disabling that if you have it on.

This setting is a slider for me when HDR is enabled. I can't disable it. It looks like it helps with brightness for SDR content in HDR mode, but the colors still look terrible and not at all compliant to the SRGB values. Very undersaturated.

[Vector0102]

4 minutes ago, Stahlmann98 said:

This setting is a slider for me when HDR is enabled. I can't disable it. It looks like it helps with brightness for SDR content in HDR mode, but the colors still look terrible and not at all compliant to the SRGB values. Very undersaturated.

I found this thread on NVIDIA Forums, hope it helps: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/geforce-graphics-cards/5/263391/hdr-washed-out-colors/

[Shreyas1]

7 minutes ago, Stahlmann98 said:

Thanks, that's at least a way in the right direction! I don't know much about this, but is there a way to attach the scripts to any .exe, so they run when opening/closing the game?

Idk about that, but I just made it into a shortcut on the desktop and opened it manually before opening each game

[emsir]

On 8/9/2020 at 5:09 PM, Stahlmann said:

Hello good people,

 

i am using a HDR-TV to play games that support it in HDR. Here are my problems: Always enabling HDR in Windows is not an option, because if enabled, anything that is not HDR will look really bad and washed out. Playing around with the SDR/HDR conversion slider in the settings doesn't help in that regard.

 

- Some games can enable HDR by themself when launching if HDR is enabled in the ingame-settings, the game is launched in fullscreen, and HDR is currently disabled in the windows settings. (like Assasins Creed: Odyssey)

 

- Some games only show the "enable HDR" option, if the game is launched AFTER enabling HDR in wondows settings. (like Metro: Exodus, Borderlands 3)

 

- Some games automatically enable and disable HDR without any ingame-setting, depending on what the setting in windows currently says. (like Dead by Daylight, FInal Fantasy XV)

 

 

Now my question is: Can i somehow make my games enable HDR on startup like Assasins Creed does? Like i said leaving HDR on all the time is bad for playing ANY SDR content. Manuall enabling HDR everytime i play HDR games is also a pain in the ass...

Are there any other solutions out there?

 

I think microsoft could have done a way better job at properly implementing HDR into Windows 10...

 

Any help, tips and recommendations are apprecciated! Thanks in advance!

But You just have to know what to do:

First you turn on HDR on your monitor (auto or on) be sure it can handle HDR 10)

Then you go to display settings in Windows 10 and turn on HDR

Next you go to Windows HD Color settings and  HDR/SDR brightness balance and move the slider down to match your normal monitor settings. I got the slider at 9 to match my monitor settings.

Now, when you play HDR games go in to game settings and use the luminance/brightness slider in HDR. Default is 100% but this can be too bright so 90 or 85 is fine (for my monitor, could be more or less in your monitor.....

From now on when you start HDR game, HDR is automatically turned on. And when  you exit the game your monitor will revert to your normal monitor settings. This is how it works in Windows 10. 

[Stahlmann]

9 hours ago, emsir said:

But You just have to know what to do:

First you turn on HDR on your monitor (auto or on) be sure it can handle HDR 10)

Then you go to display settings in Windows 10 and turn on HDR

Next you go to Windows HD Color settings and  HDR/SDR brightness balance and move the slider down to match your normal monitor settings. I got the slider at 9 to match my monitor settings.

Now, when you play HDR games go in to game settings and use the luminance/brightness slider in HDR. Default is 100% but this can be too bright so 90 or 85 is fine (for my monitor, could be more or less in your monitor.....

From now on when you start HDR game, HDR is automatically turned on. And when  you exit the game your monitor will revert to your normal monitor settings. This is how it works in Windows 10. 

Thanks for the response, but i already tried playing around with the HDR/SDR brightness balance. Even when i match the brightness with my monitor settings for SDR, the picture is still noticeably worse. I end up with the setting at 50 to match the 120 cd/m2 i want in SDR. I get raised black levels and washed out colors compared to just disabling HDR when i'm on my desktop or playing a non-HDR game. I do have a HDR600 certified monitor and a OLED TV, both work with HDR10.

 

Sadly i found out that i have to enable HDR each time when i want to play an HDR game and disable it each time when i want to play an SDR game. This is the only way to get the best picture quality for both. I really hope WIndows 10 will implement a feature that will disable HDR completely and only enable it when the application calls for it. Some games like Assasins Creed: Odyssey even do it that way, but that was the only HDR game i found until now where it works like that.

[h4x0rm1k3]

On 8/9/2020 at 4:59 PM, Stahlmann said:

Thanks, that's at least a way in the right direction! I don't know much about this, but is there a way to attach the scripts to any .exe, so they run when opening/closing the game?

You can use this batch file I created which uses the 2 original scripts and each time you run the batch file it'll switch HDR either on or off exactly as the script does. Make sure that you turn HDR OFF in Windows 10 settings before running the script for the 1st time so that it creates the .ini correctly the 1st time around. The only thing different is the batch script that runs the scripts and the .ini file that's made in the same folder it creates on 1st run which will tell the script next time if HDR is in an on or off state and will run the relevant script to switch it over. It also uses nircmd.exe which is included and should be picked up by the script if it's in the same folder and is used to set a value in the .ini file so it remembers which state HDR is in. This way you can make a shortcut to the desktop and simply double click it each time you need to switch over. 

If you don't trust the nircmd.exe file included you can download it yourself freely online, it's an easy find on Google search. I'm still trying to find a way to convert it to an exe and see if I can get it in an all in 1 package somehow but for now at least this is a double click option which does pretty much exactly the same as an .exe file would do anyway! Hope you and anybody else finds use of it.

 

BACKUP LINK - HDR-On-Off Backup Link

 

HDR-On-Off.rar