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Starfield - HDR Optimized Settings
🕑 Added 2023-09-01 09:32:50 +0000 UTC
The game DOES USE/APPLY Xbox and PC HDR Calibration app settings now.
Starfield had one of the worst HDR implementations I've ever seen at launch (very raised HDR black level, fixed and dim Peak HDR Luminance, washed out colors with bad color filters) but after official Patch 1.8 the HDR presentation vastly improved (even if not perfect yet) by actually leveraging the system-level HDR settings on both Xbox and Windows 11 (with Auto HDR or even better NVIDIA RTX HDR enabled), so just make sure to have properly setup those and you should already be mostly done.
"Mostly" because the actual in-game Peak HDR Luminance seems maxing out at 1.000 nits (from 400 nits of before), so for example if you have an LG G3 OLED (or any other TV with higher Peak Luminance), Dynamic Tone Mapping is still recommended over HGIG there.
For all other TVs the values of the system-level HDR calibration app will be applied correctly up to 1.000 nits.
Also the game now introduced 3 new "Brightness", "Contrast" and "HDR Brightness" sliders which don't work as good as hoped as even when changed drastically, the actual difference of the picture is minimal and often to the worse side
I found that it's best to leave those slider to their default values except for HDR Brightness slider to be set at 1.0 for further improving the contrast between darkest and brightest part of the image.
I also recommend to set the "Interface Opacity" slider to 70% to lower the otherwise excessively bright HUD elements after the patch.
That said, the original/excessive game filters are still there as a "creative intent", but this will inevitably still lead to not yet perfect black levels and a bit washed out look. The only way to fix this is to install the latest Normalized LUTs Mod (Chroma 2.0.0 Main variant) on PC and then make sure that on Windows 11 the Auto HDR is enabled or even better use RTX HDR if you have an NVIDIA RTX card.
Mod support will come to Xbox versions as well but only in 2024, so keep an eye for this mod also there when it will come.
BONUS:
On Xbox Series X:
If you have a 60hz only TV: Target 60fps + Performance Graphics Mode (V-Sync: On)
If you have a 120hz TV with no VRR: Target 40fps + Visuals Graphics Mode (V-Sync: On)
If you have a 120hz TV with VRR: Target 60fps + Visuals Graphics Mode (V-Sync: Off - Greyed Out)Disable Film Grain: by setting it to 0.00 in order to improve image clarity
Evaluate using other Mods for the PC version: to noticeably improve performance with the same picture quality and almost fix all the game issues right now
I currently highly recommend the following (Free):
HD Reworked Project Mod
60fps HUD Mod
Achievement Enabler ModOptimize your PC for Gaming by following my guide
Enjoy :)
-P
Comments
P40L0
No changes
haris mohammad
Is the hdr same today and need any changes?
Whizzer
Yeah looks to me a more in-depth engine issue more that something they just can upgrade in the fly... Outer worlds seems to have the same way of dealing HDR if you could look it up if you find some time and curiosity. (Actually starfield it's just a bigger and more packed version of outerworlds)
Whizzer
Omg it make sense . The better image quality I found was when I putted gamma 2.4 to have darker black level overall.. I will try the -30 fine tune dark area thxs
P40L0
I also confirm the game now officially supports AutoHDR also for the Steam version, so no more need for the mod and I've update the article to reflect that. Thanks :)
Oskar Wysokiński
I figured it out - ultimately removing all the registry entries that this AutoHDR forcing tool created helped. I think MS just added Starfield to the officially supported games by AutoHDR. Because after doing this AutoHDR works, I see a message when launching the game. So in conclusion I think this forcing tool is no longer needed.
P40L0
I'm around 30+ hours in between XSX and PC and I think having a 30fps mode only on XSX is disappointing (hopefully they'll add other modes in the future), but visually overall it has a much higher quality than Outer Worlds while managing to run like 100x the things at once, lol
Jay Corbin
I have Game Pass, so I’m playing through a bit of it on my Xbox, and performance isn’t terrible, it’s just a little rough around the edges. The graphics quality is about the same as Outer Worlds, if you remember that game.
P40L0
I disagree. In fact I think it's Bethesda most polished one actually, just disappointing from a color grading and, consequently, HDR side of things (which can be "fixed" with TV settings or mods). Performance is also another problem but not because they're inconsistent, but because the game is heavy AF at the moment and could/must be optimized a bit more both on XSX (hopefully with patches, introduicing at least another 40fps @ 120hz and/or an Unlocked FPS + VRR Performance mode) and PC (which can also be vastly improved right now with mods, especially with the Optimized Ultra settings + DLSS & Frame Gen mods). Other than that, the game is mindblowing.
Jay Corbin
My God, this game is even more broken than Bethesda usually makes them!
Oskar Wysokiński
I think I've tried everything already, used that tool to force it you mentioned in article and provided only Starfield.exe and whole system path and it still doesn't work. That's why I've been playing on my PC monitor in 1440p and SDR for now, and I've let go of playing on LG OLED for now. Anyway, thanks for your help.
P40L0
Well, yeah, you should see the AutoHDR notification otherwise it means it's not actually AutoHDR, which is what you want as it's very effective in taking the SDR image and upconvert it to true HDR10 using AI, often even better than some native HDR10 games lol So maybe double check the linked Steam Auto HDR method or other methods as well to make it work also there.
Oskar Wysokiński
In fact, right now I'm playing at 1440p, so I have the render resolution set to 100% (DLAA). But your hint that it is related to motion blur is accurate, because after turning it off completly glowing disappears - the low and medium settings do not help much though. So I guess in that case I'll leave the motion blur on off. By the way, is there any way to figure out if auto hdr is active? I used this tool to force it for the steam version, I have everything enabled in Windows 11, but when I start the game I don't get the usual message that Auto HDR is enabled. But I do have Auto HDR intensity slider in Windows Game Bar though. From the image quality, it doesn't look much like HDR tbh, there is very little detail in dark areas, almost none, but from what I expect it wouldn't be a true HDR experience anyway. So I don't even really know whether Auto HDR works for me or not, lol.
P40L0
Mmmh, maybe try reducing Motion Blur in-game from High to Medium/Low or Off and then also try increasing Render Resolution a bit (above 60%)
Oskar Wysokiński
I'm using Reduced LUTs + Enhanced Contrast at 75% Contrast and LukeFZ564's DLSS + Frame Gen mod with settings you posted in comments on NexusMods and I'm playing in SDR currently. Everythings looks great but every bright element glows like crazy when moving camera. For example floating artifacts in the Lodge. Do you have the same thing or maybe know if something can be done about it?
P40L0
I was the one who open the ticket and even if they "thanked" me on Twitter, I have my doubts they will actually do something about it (considering it's more a "creative intent" than an issue for them)...
Tomislav Poljak
Bethesda support acknowledged the problem with Hdr and they are looking into it.
Travis Stockton
Just wanted to make sure what I had read elsewhere was true. Hopefully the HDR situation on PC gets fixed soon.
P40L0
Yes, PC Game Pass version. What I meant was enabling HDR manually on Windows 11 before launching the game and you would get a similar rendition of Xbox HDR in-game (which at the same time is very similar to SDR) which could be decent if not for elevated black levels that needs to be adjusted (or adjustable) ASAP
Travis Stockton
I assume you tried the Game Pass version on PC? On Steam the game does not seem to support Auto HDR at all unless you rename the exe.
