PSA: You can now auto switch on/off HDR for specific PC games with HDR-Profile

[pswii60]

So firstly some background: many PC games that support HDR already automatically switch on and off HDR when you launch/quit them.

But some don't. For games like Cyberpunk to Gears 5, you have to manually enable HDR in Windows settings before launching them, and then turn it off afterwards. A real pain, especially for couch PC gamers.

So why not just leave HDR switched on at all times? Because then you end up in a PS5 situation where everything that isn't designed for HDR is displayed with great inaccuracy and looks.. a bit crap tbh.


Welcome HDR-Profile.

This nifty free tool auto starts with Windows and sits quietly in the background and automatically enables HDR whenever it detects a specific process running, and then disables HDR when the process ends.

It's ridiculously easy to set up and add your games, and works flawlessly in my experience. Also for couch PC gamers like me it's a godsend.

GitHub - Codectory/AutoActions: Application-based actions to change Windows settings ( display, audio) or run any program or action

Application-based actions to change Windows settings ( display, audio) or run any program or action - Codectory/AutoActions

github.com

AutoActions

Download AutoActions for free. With AutoActions, you can created profiles which included several actions. You can change display settings, set default audio devices or launch any other script or program.

sourceforge.net

 

[brain_stew]

So firstly some background: many PC games that support HDR already automatically switch on and off HDR when you launch/quit them.

But some don't. For games like Cyberpunk to Gears 5, you have to manually enable HDR in Windows settings before launching them, and then turn it off afterwards. A real pain, especially for couch PC gamers.

So why not just leave HDR switched on at all times? Because then you end up in a PS5 situation where everything that isn't designed for HDR is displayed with great inaccuracy and looks.. a bit crap tbh.


Welcome HDR-Profile.

This nifty free tool auto starts with Windows and sits quietly in the background and automatically enables HDR whenever it detects a specific process running, and then disables HDR when the process ends.

It's ridiculously easy to set up and add your games, and works flawlessly in my experience. Also for couch PC gamers like me it's a godsend.

GitHub - Codectory/AutoActions: Application-based actions to change Windows settings ( display, audio) or run any program or action

Application-based actions to change Windows settings ( display, audio) or run any program or action - Codectory/AutoActions

github.com

AutoActions

Download AutoActions for free. With AutoActions, you can created profiles which included several actions. You can change display settings, set default audio devices or launch any other script or program.

sourceforge.net

Click to shrink...

Thanks for this, I'll give it a try later. The HDR tray tool was a decent enough compromise but automating this would be even better.

 

[pswii60]

Thanks for this, I'll give it a try later. The HDR tray tool was a decent enough compromise but automating this would be even better.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I was previously using HDRSwitch and using pre and post game scripts to automate but it was a pain really. This just makes it so easy, really pleased.

 

[Pizzamigo]

Finally, thank you OP for bringing this to my attention. Was annoying toggling it off/on on a game to game basis manually before launching games.

 

[ThreepQuest64]

Does this tool prevent games from not detecting HDR when a secondary display without HDR is connected?

It's a real pain in the ass. Gears 5 and RE2 Remake for example won't offer HDR (it's greyed out in RE2, completely unavailable in Gears 5) when you have a secondary monitor connected that doesn't support HDR.

I'm not disconnecting my monitor just so I can play with HDR on my TV.

Also, I just leave HDR always on in Windows. It used to tinker with the colors on desktop and non-HDR games, but since the last few updates it worked rather good. I just leave it on and if a game supports HDR it kicks in and works and if a game doesn't, it doesn't. I can see it on the RTSS overlay if the HDR kicks in or not and so fort it's been working quite good with leaving in on permanently. Only issue so far I have is the above mentioned.

 

[pswii60]

Does this tool prevent games from not detecting HDR when a secondary display without HDR is connected?

It's a real pain in the ass. Gears 5 and RE2 Remake for example won't offer HDR (it's greyed out in RE2, completely unavailable in Gears 5) when you have a secondary monitor connected that doesn't support HDR.

I'm not disconnecting my monitor just so I can play with HDR on my TV.

Click to shrink...

No idea I'm afraid as I only have a C9 connected to my PC. But I'd guess this tool probably won't help you for that. It just toggles HDR on and off automatically.

 

[ThreepQuest64]

No idea I'm afraid as I only have a C9 connected to my PC. But I'd guess this tool probably won't help you for that. It just toggles HDR on and off automatically.

Click to shrink...

Okay, thank you nonetheless!

 

[Aldo]

That's great, thank you! Windows HDR is much better than it was before but it can still be buggy, especially if you also use a secondary non-HDR monitor.

 

[dsk1210]

Downloaded the X64 zip and it does not seem to do anything when I hit the executable.

Any ideas?

Edit. Needed to run as Admin. Sorted.

 

[dsk1210]

Anyway to add Windows gamepass games such as Microsoft Flight Sim?

 

[Poison Jam]

Thanks, I gotta try this!

Like others, I also have a secondary SDR monitor which messes with me, but this should still be useful.

 

[pswii60]

Anyway to add Windows gamepass games such as Microsoft Flight Sim?

Click to shrink...

Yes just add the process name rather than the exe.

 

[craven68]

This is awesome. It was horrible to Always change it manually.

 

[liquidmetal14]

Haven't been bothered by HDR too much but I'll give it a shot when I get the chance.

 

[Koklusz]

 

[TitanicFall]

Cool. Will give it a shot.. I've been using hdr toggle app along with Playnite's built in scripting utility to get around this.

 

[Nezacant]

Good stuff. Thanks OP.

 

[dmix90]

Thank you for this! Gonna download and try it out.

HDR-Switch is unreliable unfortunately so i have been sticking with manually toggling it on and off in windows settings... can be fixed of course but i am too lazy to mess with source code.

Oh my this one is also a regular Visual Studio solution without cmake mess and other bullshit, already liking it lol :P

 

[DongBeetle]

Ridiculous that Microsoft still hasn't done jack shit about it

 

[Dictator]

So firstly some background: many PC games that support HDR already automatically switch on and off HDR when you launch/quit them.

But some don't. For games like Cyberpunk to Gears 5, you have to manually enable HDR in Windows settings before launching them, and then turn it off afterwards. A real pain, especially for couch PC gamers.

So why not just leave HDR switched on at all times? Because then you end up in a PS5 situation where everything that isn't designed for HDR is displayed with great inaccuracy and looks.. a bit crap tbh.


Welcome HDR-Profile.

This nifty free tool auto starts with Windows and sits quietly in the background and automatically enables HDR whenever it detects a specific process running, and then disables HDR when the process ends.

It's ridiculously easy to set up and add your games, and works flawlessly in my experience. Also for couch PC gamers like me it's a godsend.

GitHub - Codectory/AutoActions: Application-based actions to change Windows settings ( display, audio) or run any program or action

Application-based actions to change Windows settings ( display, audio) or run any program or action - Codectory/AutoActions

github.com

AutoActions

Download AutoActions for free. With AutoActions, you can created profiles which included several actions. You can change display settings, set default audio devices or launch any other script or program.

sourceforge.net

Click to shrink...

Thanks for this op!

 

[dmix90]

Ridiculous that Microsoft still hasn't done jack shit about it

Click to shrink...

.

They already have their GameBar shit and related processes running in background, it should be fairly trivial to feed it a whitelist of processes that have HDR support and make it an option to toggle it automatically at launch. That's for legacy games.

Everything released in the future should do this automatically like on console, or at least be a global option to enable such behavior somewhere in the OS settings.

 

[Aztechnology]

Very nice

 

[dsk1210]

The software works fantastic.

I was sick of booting a game up and realising that I had forgot to switch HDR on.

Cheers :)

 

[laxu]

.

They already have their GameBar shit and related processes running in background, it should be fairly trivial to feed it a whitelist of processes that have HDR support and make it an option to toggle it automatically at launch. That's for legacy games.

Everything released in the future should do this automatically like on console, or at least be a global option to enable such behavior somewhere in the OS settings.

Click to shrink...

The stupidity is their idea that for HDR support you need to also enable HDR on the desktop. Instead it should work like it does on consoles where HDR activates on request. They desperately need to add a "enable HDR support" toggle and a separate "enable HDR on desktop" setting. Games only care about the HDR support flag.

Even on my LG OLED HDR support on the desktop has slightly worse color accuracy for SDR content and that's for one of the best HDR experiences on the market.

Another useful tool for this can be ColorControl. It lets you toggle different color format / bit depth / HDR / dithering settings from a tray menu. It also allows programmatic control of many LG OLED functions for toggling BFI quickly for example. Works only on Nvidia GPUs tho.

 

[dmix90]

The stupidity is their idea that for HDR support you need to also enable HDR on the desktop. Instead it should work like it does on consoles where HDR activates on request. They desperately need to add a "enable HDR support" toggle and a separate "enable HDR on desktop" setting. Games only care about the HDR support flag.

Even on my LG OLED HDR support on the desktop has slightly worse color accuracy for SDR content and that's for one of the best HDR experiences on the market.

Another useful tool for this can be ColorControl. It lets you toggle different color format / bit depth / HDR / dithering settings from a tray menu. It also allows programmatic control of many LG OLED functions for toggling BFI quickly for example. Works only on Nvidia GPUs tho.

Click to shrink...

You right that's an even easier/better solution yeah, heh. If games only care about HDR support flag that current global toggle controls then separating "HDR support" and "HDR for desktop and SDR apps" is all that is needed.

Does not help that i think that MS tonemapping of SDR in HDR container has a terrible implementation, while still not perfect i think even Sony did a better job with it on PS5.

Also thanks for that ColorControl link, will check that out as well.

 

[brain_stew]

The stupidity is their idea that for HDR support you need to also enable HDR on the desktop. Instead it should work like it does on consoles where HDR activates on request. They desperately need to add a "enable HDR support" toggle and a separate "enable HDR on desktop" setting. Games only care about the HDR support flag.

Even on my LG OLED HDR support on the desktop has slightly worse color accuracy for SDR content and that's for one of the best HDR experiences on the market.

Another useful tool for this can be ColorControl. It lets you toggle different color format / bit depth / HDR / dithering settings from a tray menu. It also allows programmatic control of many LG OLED functions for toggling BFI quickly for example. Works only on Nvidia GPUs tho.

Click to shrink...

Oh wow, this thread is a treasure trove, I had no idea I could control BFI from within Windows, I'll definitely be looking into this, thanks.

It's frustrating that Microsoft have had the perfect solution on Xbox since day one, yet they continue to get HDR on Windows wrong.

 

[aevanhoe]

Because then you end up in a PS5 situation where everything that isn't designed for HDR is displayed with great inaccuracy and looks.. a bit crap tbh.

Click to shrink...

For PS5, it's an SDR container within HDR space, SDR games looks just the same. If some games don't (for example, Control has some issues) - it's a bug. SDR games are certainly not displayed with "great inaccuracy" on PS5.

With that said, I haven't noticed inaccuracies with HDR turned on on PC either (though I could be wrong there), but it could also depend on the TV. I have an LG C7.

 

[pswii60]

For PS5, it's an SDR container within HDR space, SDR games looks just the same. If some games don't (for example, Control has some issues) - it's a bug. SDR games are certainly not displayed with "great inaccuracy" on PS5.

With that said, I haven't noticed inaccuracies with HDR turned on on PC either (though I could be wrong there), but it could also depend on the TV. I have an LG C7.

Click to shrink...

Simply basing on my own experience with PS5 on my C9. But to add context, I am a videophile who had my TV calibrated, so I'm quite fussy about this stuff TBF.

The stupidity is their idea that for HDR support you need to also enable HDR on the desktop. Instead it should work like it does on consoles where HDR activates on request. They desperately need to add a "enable HDR support" toggle and a separate "enable HDR on desktop" setting. Games only care about the HDR support flag.

Even on my LG OLED HDR support on the desktop has slightly worse color accuracy for SDR content and that's for one of the best HDR experiences on the market.

Another useful tool for this can be ColorControl. It lets you toggle different color format / bit depth / HDR / dithering settings from a tray menu. It also allows programmatic control of many LG OLED functions for toggling BFI quickly for example. Works only on Nvidia GPUs tho.

Click to shrink...

Thing is, many games do work like that on PC, like the RE games, Hitman 3 etc. But others do indeed take the MS approach and expect you to enable it on desktop which is where this tool comes in useful. I think there just needs to be a standard and devs need to stick to it..

Wasn't aware of ColorControl. Lots of useful stuff out there, just often difficult to find.

 

[zyvorg]

A godsend, thanks OP

 

[aevanhoe]

Simply basing on my own experience with PS5 on my C9. But to add context, I am a videophile who had my TV calibrated, so I'm quite fussy about this stuff TBF.

Click to shrink...

Ok, yeah, that explains it. Video and audiophiles are, to me, either advanced humans, enhanced cyborgs or batshit insane. Jk, lol, ok, yeah - I get what you're saying, guess I'm lucky that I don't see it or care. But I have to say that "great inaccuracy" still seems a bit too harsh.

And, technically, it shouldn't be the case, because there is no reason why you couldn't display a proper SDR picture in an HDR space. And I think even DF commented about this, so not sure.

 

[dmix90]

Works perfectly with everything but Windows Store/GamePass games i think( am i missing something?... admittedly only just tried it for a few minutes and all while controlling OS with gamepad lol )

Simply can't add executable process name unless you have a control of a folder and/or manually edit config xml file to add UWP executable paths( have not tried it tho )?

Anyways... i just grabbed gold nugget of code( hidden WinAPI HDR toggling code: https://github.com/Codectory/HDR-Pr...HDRController/HDRController/HDRController.cpp ) and made a simple executable which can be assigned to a keyboard shortcut( then hooked up to gamepad via Steam Chords configuration ) or attached to controller button directly via Controller Companion.

Bless this thread and open source community!

 

[laxu]

Thing is, many games do work like that on PC, like the RE games, Hitman 3 etc. But others do indeed take the MS approach and expect you to enable it on desktop which is where this tool comes in useful. I think there just needs to be a standard and devs need to stick to it..

Click to shrink...

Yeah some ignore it, others adhere to that toggle's position. With the way Windows 10 is right now, having games ignore it is just a better solution.

 

[mario_O]

But do you still need to change in Nvidia Control Panel from 8 bit to 10 bit and from RGB to 4:2:2? Cause that is the real nuisance for me. The Windows HDR toggle isn't that big of a deal.

 

[pswii60]

Works perfectly with everything but Windows Store/GamePass games i think( am i missing something?... admittedly only just tried it for a few minutes and all while controlling OS with gamepad lol )

Simply can't add executable process name unless you have a control of a folder and/or manually edit config xml file to add UWP executable paths( have not tried it tho )?

Anyways... i just grabbed gold nugget of code( hidden WinAPI HDR toggling code: https://github.com/Codectory/HDR-Pr...HDRController/HDRController/HDRController.cpp ) and made a simple executable which can be assigned to a keyboard shortcut( then hooked up to gamepad via Steam Chords configuration ) or attached to controller button directly via Controller Companion.

Bless this thread and open source community!

Click to shrink...

Thanks for posting that too.

HDR Profile only looks for the process name and not its location. So if all else fails just make a dummy exe file (rename any file) to the process name of the UWP game and add that.

 

[JudgmentJay]

Ok, yeah, that explains it. Video and audiophiles are, to me, either advanced humans, enhanced cyborgs or batshit insane. Jk, lol, ok, yeah - I get what you're saying, guess I'm lucky that I don't see it or care. But I have to say that "great inaccuracy" still seems a bit too harsh.

And, technically, it shouldn't be the case, because there is no reason why you couldn't display a proper SDR picture in an HDR space. And I think even DF commented about this, so not sure.

Click to shrink...

You should read this thread: https://www.resetera.com/threads/ps5-displays-sdr-content-in-hdr-container.321253/

It results in an objectively inaccurate image due to your TV's HDR settings. Even if your SDR and HDR modes are calibrated to perfection, SDR content viewed using your TV's HDR settings is not going to look right.

 

[Deleted member 12323]

The stupidity is their idea that for HDR support you need to also enable HDR on the desktop. Instead it should work like it does on consoles where HDR activates on request. They desperately need to add a "enable HDR support" toggle and a separate "enable HDR on desktop" setting. Games only care about the HDR support flag.

Even on my LG OLED HDR support on the desktop has slightly worse color accuracy for SDR content and that's for one of the best HDR experiences on the market.

Another useful tool for this can be ColorControl. It lets you toggle different color format / bit depth / HDR / dithering settings from a tray menu. It also allows programmatic control of many LG OLED functions for toggling BFI quickly for example. Works only on Nvidia GPUs tho.

Click to shrink...

Ty

 

[pswii60]

But do you still need to change in Nvidia Control Panel from 8 bit to 10 bit and from RGB to 4:2:2? Cause that is the real nuisance for me. The Windows HDR toggle isn't that big of a deal.

Click to shrink...

Why are you not just leaving it at 10 bit?

I just leave mine at 10 bit and 4:4:4, no issues with any game SDR or HDR.

 

[mario_O]

Why are you not just leaving it at 10 bit?

I just leave mine at 10 bit and 4:4:4, no issues with any game SDR or HDR.

Click to shrink...

I have a HDMI 2.0 TV. If I want 10 bit and 60 fps I have to use 4:2:2.

 

[Deleted member 12323]

I dont see an executable to run this

 

[Deleted member 9330]

Me and my C9 thank you

 

[Polyh3dron]

I've just been running HDR all the time on my Asus ROG Swift PG27UQ monitor and it's looked fine... Guess it has good tone mapping for SDR?

 

[aevanhoe]

You should read this thread: https://www.resetera.com/threads/ps5-displays-sdr-content-in-hdr-container.321253/

It results in an objectively inaccurate image due to your TV's HDR settings. Even if your SDR and HDR modes are calibrated to perfection, SDR content viewed using your TV's HDR settings is not going to look right.

Click to shrink...

Ok, I stand corrected. Thanks.

 

[Rodney McKay]

I'll give this a try to see if it fixes my weird HDR needs.

I mainly play PC games these days streaming to my iPad with Moonlight, and the app actually supports HDR over streaming if the device allows for it (like the iPad Pro I have).

But because my computer isn't plugged into an HDR TV, Windows doesn't give me the option of the ing HDR on, even though my streaming monitor IS HDR compatible.

I'll be curious to see if this program might trick it into working how I want.

 

[dmix90]

I've just been running HDR all the time on my Asus ROG Swift PG27UQ monitor and it's looked fine... Guess it has good tone mapping for SDR?

Click to shrink...

I was curious and just tried a sort of SDR native vs SDR in HDR container battle Windows 10 edition.

Windows HDR slider is set to 13% to get ~106nits brightness( to match my SDR Native calibration target ) and both modes on TV(LG C9) calibrated as best as i could:

SDR Native Grayscale:

SDR in HDR Container Grayscale:

Looks good so far... i was actually really surprised. But then...

SDR Native Colors:

SDR in HDR Container Colors:

Delta error is really high for some colors for some reason. I guess this might explain why it looks "off" in that mode.

 

[Herman The Tosser]

But do you still need to change in Nvidia Control Panel from 8 bit to 10 bit and from RGB to 4:2:2? Cause that is the real nuisance for me. The Windows HDR toggle isn't that big of a deal.

Click to shrink...

What I would like to know too. I feel like there's never been a definitive answer on whether games will correctly change bits and colour space on their own when it comes to HDR, independent of the NVCP. I know they should and some do, but it's never a universal thing anyway.

 

[ShroudOfFate]

Tried it with Horizon Zero Dawn and it's so seamless. Gonna get a lot of mileage out of this app

I dont see an executable to run this

Click to shrink...

It's under Codectory-HDR-Profile-9bbefab\Source\Debug_x64 and it's the file just called HDR Profile. I had to run as Admin to get it to actually work tho.

 

[laxu]

I was curious and just tried a sort of SDR native vs SDR in HDR container battle Windows 10 edition.

Windows HDR slider is set to 13% to get ~106nits brightness( to match my SDR Native calibration target ) and both modes on TV(LG C9) calibrated as best as i could:

SDR Native Grayscale:

SDR in HDR Container Grayscale:

Looks good so far... i was actually really surprised. But then...

SDR Native Colors:

SDR in HDR Container Colors:

Delta error is really high for some colors for some reason. I guess this might explain why it looks "off" in that mode.

Click to shrink...

I find in practice the HDR mode with SDR content with the SDR slider set appropriately is fine and does not look visually too far off so it's definitely usable but by no means perfect.

 

[Deathglobe]

Hell yeah thanks for this thankfully watch dogs legion has a hdr toggle that works but games like red dead and cyberpunk didn't and this makes it easier to have hdr working

 

[DOT_mjo]

wait why turn off HDR in windows after you are done playing the game? I've had HDR on this whole time, am I doing something wrong?

 

[SirMossyBloke]

But do you still need to change in Nvidia Control Panel from 8 bit to 10 bit and from RGB to 4:2:2? Cause that is the real nuisance for me. The Windows HDR toggle isn't that big of a deal.

Click to shrink...

You change it to 10 bit 4:2:2 and leave it, it never has to change and i've not run into an issue in ~3 years.