▫️Black Myth: Wukong

[somber jay]

While it has no HDR, it is incredibly popular and much talked about it here on this Discord. Lets concentrate future discussions here 🙂

[proper nymph]

Awesome.

The working methods ive heard so far, to get HDR in this game are SpecialK injection or RTX HDR

[astral bramble]

Unrelated but the frame Gen mod for 2000/3000 series cards works incredibly well too!

[trim ether]

did someone compare rtx hdr and specialK?

[craggy sparrow]

Special k is far better for visual results, as usual

[old crater]

autohdr enabler works fine in this game as well. especially with srgb sdr fix

[compact lake]

Game seemed decent enough but not supporting HDR seems like such a miss. Too dumb for special k - autoHDR/RTX HDR not working for me either. Refunding for now.

[buoyant surge]

My setup so far as been SK HDR, which I use to load the sharpening removal mod as a plugin, along with reshade to add lilium's HDR version of CAS. In SK I tell reshade to render after hdr tonemapping and the result is excellent. Not usually a big fan of sharpening, but it does feel like the art direction had it in mind :/ I'm on an Alienware AW3423DWF so I'm targeting 1000 nits (thanks overly aggressive ABL implementation that dims more or less equal amounts across the whole luminance range).

[buoyant surge]

could help you setup SK in this if you didn't already refund

[heady mica]

how can you be too dumb for special K it's like two clicks

😛

[shy raft]

https://tenor.com/view/you-went-full-gif-14839177

[proper nymph]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RCs8gv-YKY

[shy forge]

so with wukong and nvidia HDR. are these NPI settings correct for it to be enabled w correct peak brightness (750nits = 2EE) and minimal fps impact?`
thanks!

[livid zealot]

How would this compare to using SK, both in terms of visuals and perf hit?

[buoyant surge]

hey if their first time trying it happened to be on a game that really hates SK, I'd get it lol

[craggy sparrow]

Worse in both regards

You need to run the low quality mode in rtx HDR for it to not carry a meaningful perf impact and it also is kind of a pain to use

Would rather fix autohdr's gamma stuff than use it personally

[earnest edge]

What I don't like about RTX HDR here is that it's applying itself to a broken SDR image and the final output is unreadable by ReShade so you can't correct for it properly.

https://github.com/Lyall/WukongTweak

Updated with FoV tweak. ✨

[shy forge]

isn't that just the debanding filter that is affected by that change? couldn't see much of a difference tbh

[heady mica]

the debanding filter is what takes fps

[shy forge]

that's what i meant. but do you see much of a deterioration in image quality from turning this to low via NPI? bc i dont tbh

[heady mica]

you recover black details

I don't think you lose quality

😛 so it's win win

better performance and more details

[proper nymph]

Does anyone know when i use SpecialK HDR, should the EOTF be at 2.2, or sRGB (sRGB looks more natural to be, but i dont know about accuracy). Ive got a QDOLED (s95b)

[small stump]

its pretty much always 2.2

#🔆hdr-gaming message

[trim ether]

which way of hdr implementation do you use guys

[small stump]

1. rewriting game code (renodx) / unreal ini edits
2. specialk / dxvk + reshade
3. rtx hdr
4. autohdr

this is best to worst

idk if the unreal ini edits work at all in this game

[proper nymph]

so not using HDR10, but using sRGB with a 2.2 curve is probably the correct?

If you have tried that, dont you get any black crush?

[trim ether]

i mean im using specialk without dxvk and reshade and it looks like that

[small stump]

scrgb is slightly better than hdr10 but if you're using framegen then there's no difference

[trim ether]

and like it feels like the contrast is way too big

black crush is the right way of saying that?

the blacks are too black?

[small stump]

might just be your other settings

[proper nymph]

yes, thats what its called

and iz-us ive got the same experience with you. it is definitely a black crush.

[proper nymph]

whats ur tv/monitor

[small stump]

you have gamma at 0.955

change to 1

changing middle gray also messes with it

[trim ether]

c1

[small stump]

honestly I don't use specialk's own autohdr, I run reshade on top of specialk and use pumboautohdr

[trim ether]

thats what im gonna do right now

[proper nymph]

increasing gamma will only make it worse i guess

[proper nymph]

damn, thats rocket science just to get HDR 😂

[small stump]

i think the gamma is labeled backwards there

so 0.955 is darker than 1

[proper nymph]

just tested it, 1 is darker unfortunately

[proper nymph]

Try gamma: 0.84 (and correct internal brightness). That way, it looks more natural to me

Im gonna try with RTX HDR now and compare

[trim ether]

it looks way better with gamma 0.84

better means less darky here

[proper nymph]

sure it does but let me try rtx hdr and ill report if its natuiral

[trim ether]

alrite

[small stump]

the overly contrasty look might just be a result of specialks perceptual boost, thats why I like pumboautohdr cause its settings make more sense to me. you set peak and paper white and choose your highlight shoulder depending on how bright you want the autohdr effect to be

[trim ether]

but when im enabling pumboautohdr in reshade and scRGB HDR in specialK it looks bad

what im doing wrong

could you maybe show me your pumbo settings? so i could play with mine?

[small stump]

set reshade to raw framebuffer mode

i haven't played the game but I'll send the typical settings I use for most games in a sec

[shut onyx]

is there a guide to adding hdr to wukong for dummies like me ?

[small stump]

i usually just do something like this in pumboautohdr

maybe a higher auto hdr shoulder pow so its not as strong

[proper nymph]

alright, just checked RTX HDR. specialK is definitely blown out. ill try to find settings

[trim ether]

if you wanna do really basic stuff then RTX HDR is easy to setup if not then autoHDR is your last option but if you spend some time then its not really hard to do things like specialK for example

[proper nymph]

RTX HDR is definitely the easiest and more accurate. You just like like 5 fps

crazi whats your TV/monitor

[shut onyx]

cant do rtx hdr cause i got multiple monitors, auto hdr not working working and im trying specialK right now and i dont see a difference and dont know how to remove this menu

AW2725DF

[trim ether]

you mean specialK to raw framebuffer mode?

[heady mica]

ye

[trim ether]

ookkkaay now it feels less crushed

curious about the RTX HDR results

[proper nymph]

alright

Running RTX HDR and SpecialK , i found some settings that get near RTX HDR

[small stump]

you can get ok settings with rtx hdr but I generally find its autohdr effect to be too strong

[proper nymph]

instead of 2.2 , you need sRGB at the EOTF curve, then lower the internal brightness to where needed (mine 25 at a qdoled), gamma as default at 0.955. rest as default

[proper nymph]

compared to other native HDRs, at least in wukong it looks really fine, better than specialKs. If there was no performance hit, i'd use rtx over specialk (my personal preference)

[small stump]

#🔆dxvk-pumbo-lilium-hdr message
something very conservative like this is ideally how auto HDR solutions should look to me

[proper nymph]

i used reshade to check liliums hdr black floor. does reshade has its own HDR filter?

[small stump]

the pumboautohdr shader has everything built into it

liliums hdr black floor fix is for a very specific issue that certain native hdr games have with gamma mismatch

[earnest edge]

RTX HDR is a bad idea in this game.

Applying it onto a broken SDR image makes it hard to correct after the fact as you can't analyze the output of it without a capture card.

[small stump]

whats wrong with the game's sdr

i havent played it yet

[earnest edge]

Raised black floor in SDR even.

[small stump]

oof

do you know if its from the luts or the tonemapper

[earnest edge]

And by the look of it, it isn't the only thing they botched, something else is off that I can't put my finger on.

[earnest edge]

I remember references being made in other convos to a problematic LUT.

I haven't tried disabling all post process effects to see if any of those are the culprit yet.

But I'm quite happy with how it looks using raw frame buffer from SK + Pumbo's AutoHDR shader, the black luminance and shadows sliders are the perfect tools to fix the final image.

[proper nymph]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RCs8gv-YKY

this is how RTX HDR looks by default

open it with hardware acceleration to see it in hdr

looks more natural to me, than default specialk

[trim ether]

and whats your final image??

curious

[earnest edge]

Writing from my phone ATM, I'll play a bit before bed and share some screenshots.

[earnest edge]

I'm fairly happy with the balance.

Without some proper reworking with perhaps a RenoDX mod there's only so much that can be done with the SDR image.

Performance is at a premium in this game, every frame matters, I'm curious to test for performance differences between methods. I'd hazard a guess that RTX HDR is slower.

[buoyant surge]

The raised black floor is pretty much unfixable on post because the black point used in scenes is different. To fix it where it’s most egregious (in caves) is to severely crush black detail in other scenes. Without someone going in and rewriting shaders, I honestly think it’s best to leave the black floor as is.

[leaden needle]

What settingsnwould u recommend for a g3 while using pumbos

[proper nymph]

They are good looking, but i cant shake the feeling that there is a black crush. Maybe its games natural look? For instance in the 1st photo at the rock at the right side. And at the 2nd photo, the vertical log at the right side - has unnatural black crush on its right side. It's daylight after all, it should be lightly lighted so you can discern fine details

[limber pebble]

cant win them all

[livid zealot]

On an S90C I've just gone with SK HDR10, colour boost off, sRGB EOTF, Preset 0 defaults.

It feels slightly overcooked but overall I'm happy with it, and the Reshade Pumbo AutoHDR performance hit is too much to stomach here.

[proper nymph]

RTX HDR on = -6 fps. Double checked.

[proper nymph]

i personally couldnt play like that. tons of black crush, i couldnt have fun with all these overblown highlights and black crushes. eventually moved on to rtx hdr with the cost of fps

[earnest edge]

It's the game yeah, I checked it. Some parts of scenes are just unnaturally dark in a way that doesn't make sense in the real world.

In a dark cave I'm able to discern the finer details better than stock actually.

I set black floor luminace offset around the worst case scenario to avoid real crush and lifted the shadows up for visibility.

I want to see how RTX HDR compares now in the same edge cases.

[proper nymph]

Judging by your photos, i'd say they look similar to yours

[livid zealot]

I'm not seeing black crush with sRGB, but the highlights are slightly overdone.

[livid zealot]

I've never tried RTX HDR. What settings are you using?

[proper nymph]

i returned to specialK with sRGB instead of 2.2. I agree with you its better, albiet at gamma 0.95 theres some black crush, or at least highlights are overpowering. I lowered the gamma to 0.9 and its definitely better, but i know ive got lifted blacks. Both SDR and HDR disservice the game, which is good looking

[livid zealot]

It's a shame isn't it. Top notch HDR would make this an absolute visual treat.

[proper nymph]

Yeah. On my TV , almost all art goes unnitoced, either due to it being too dark or because of some overpowering highlights.

Went into a cave and all I could see were the red from torches and they lifted blacks. To be honest, textures are not that impressive either. In chapter 1 (SPOILER) I fought the water/serpent enemy and the overall appearance of him was last gen graphics.

Ill disable Raytracing completely to see how it goes

I have a feeling that RT increases the perceived contrast

[proper nymph]

If you want to try it, peak brightness the one of your monitor, Mid grays 50, saturation 0

a good way to compare your HDR version of SK, with RTX HDR. (RTX HDR is impressively accurate in many games)

[shy forge]

so the consensus is SK > RTX HDR?
might try SK. so far i am quite happy w RTX though

[heady mica]

the consensus for everything is renodx/luma > native > sk / reshade > rtx hdr > autohdr

[proper nymph]

Im happy with SK as of now. Used RTX HDR, which doesnt have that much overblown highlights

[shy forge]

mhm to me RTX already looks like the whites are too bright sometimes (ch. 2 for instance).

[proper nymph]

check ur peak brightness and be sure it matches.

But it comes with the territory :/

[shy forge]

On an OLED C9 I set it to 750nits
But yeah I guess my old eyes really get more and more sensitive esp since playing in a dark environment usuall

[proper nymph]

The game has really weird contrast and shadows. The shadows even in SDR look too dark, to the point that the game takes a hit in graphics , as it is a beautiful one

[small stump]

nah thats normal

with fake hdr solutions like rtx hdr

its just stretching highlights out

so anything that hits 100% brightness in SDR becomes stretched out to whatever peak nits you select

so it becomes eye searing

which is why I usually dont go above 650 nits with any type of auto hdr

[finite gulch]

Yeah i am not a fan of the tonemapping at all

[shy forge]

will check that out thanks

[shy forge]

this kind of worked. but now in chapter 3 the snowy plains still burn my retinas out even w peak as low as 550nits 😦

[earnest edge]

it's why I like to use Pumbo's AutoHDR shader so I can modulate the highlights curve in those brighter maps

further away from the 2.50 baseline you go the less blown out things are in the desert/snow map

[shy forge]

and you can adjust it while playing the game... for RTX i have to close the game each time for adjustments bc NV overlay doesn't allow realtime adjustments w the game not being supported officially

[shy forge]

will check this out thanks. if you could post your settings that'd be much appreciated 🙂

[earnest edge]

playing another game atm but from memory it's just 600 peak with 203 paperwhite and I change the "shoulder pow" from anywhere between 2.50 to 6.00 depending on the map

the higher value cuts out the glare from the very bright maps

[shy forge]

that worked VERY well. thank you kindly. almost a bit dark in other areas now but then i can adjust

[shy forge]

seems i spoke too soon. now in chapter 4 i really get the problem of crushed blacks w pumbo autoHDR. any advice?

[real anchor]

https://discord.com/channels/1161035767917850784/1280201526685470811

[shy forge]

wow i had no idea. thanks a ton will check this out tonight

[marble widget]

im also a happy s90c owner, although highly recommend this:
a few clicks to convert it to stock s95c, 2k nits peak (if u won a panel lottery and got 2nd or 3rd gen panel), corrected eotf, color calibration (as much as can be done without an equipment ) 😄 can also disable DSC (even keeping 144 hz@4k), enable DLDSR, and a few more useful things

[livid zealot]

Thank you, yea I've already done that, it made a huge difference.

[upper prairie]

▫️Black Myth: Wukong