What is this?Nvidia came out with a GPU driver that adds HDR to SDR videos, most notably on YouTube.
Modders quickly found out it can be used to add HDR to (almost) any game, not just videos.
Paired with a good HDR screen, especially an OLED, this brings combat to life. Explosions pop, lasers shine, missiles blaze, and engines burn bright. It's not worth going out and buying a whole new monitor to experience, but if you already have one, it's 100% worth spending a few minutes setting this up.
Compatible with GraphicsLib. I had trouble using Special K with GraphicsLib last time I tried getting HDR.
Requirements- HDR monitor
- NVidia RTX GPU
- Windows 11+
ExampleWith the regular Nvidia RTX HDR for videos on, just watch any YouTube video with Starsector gameplay; your game will look like that.
https://youtu.be/pLb-5SEHgsQ?t=427Instructions0. Make sure your drivers are updated and you have the Nvidia HDR thing on (Nvidia Control Panel - Adjust video image settings - RTX Video Enhancement - High Dynamic Range). You don't need Super Resolution on, personally I think it uses GPU power to make videos look worse.
1. Save and extract this:
https://www.nexusmods.com/site/mods/781?tab=files2. Run it, then drag and drop the java.exe file at`<starsector>/jre/bin/java.exe` into the cmd window.
3. Hit enter and then type in your graphics option, I just did "low".
4. Open Nvidia Control Panel, select Starsector's java.exe, scroll to the bottom and change `Vulkan/OpenGL present method` to `Prefer layered on DXGI Swapchain`.
Then run Starsector.exe as normal.
credit to this YouTube video for the tip about the DXGI Swapchain, which is what gets OpenGL games to work with this:
Caveats- Using the xbox game bar to take a jxr screenshot does not properly capture the HDR, unlike when you use it on games with native HDR or Windows Auto-HDR. The jxr and png look rather lifeless compared to what you saw ingame. That's why I haven't included any screenshots here.
- It does slightly blow out highlights. You can see that the inner part of some engine glows lose a bit of color. imo this is easily worth it, but it's worth mentioning.
- This is not native HDR. It maps lighter pixels to more brightness. Text and HUD elements don't have any special treatment - that'd require built-in HDR, which will never happen.
edit: Nvidia AppThe Nvidia App beta came out right after publishing this guide, and it adds official game HDR support.
Read about and download it here.However. It doesn't support multiple monitors at all. I use two monitors and the HDR option in the Nvidia App is disabled, whereas RTX HDR is working fine for me with two monitors using the "hack" in the walkthrough above.
tldr; Nvidia is working on a less hacky way of doing this but for now, follow this guide for better compatibility.
(or, possibly, there's a bug).
