Xrayys HDR Approximated Preset

+++ please refer to my user profile about me page and follow my recommendations how to use my mods as an addition to nexusmods terms +++

Xrayys HDR Approximated Preset

This mod approximates real HDR but it is not HDR. it comes very close to HDR and it is tested and approximated to the results with real hdr.

You do not need any special hardware support to get approximated HDR results with normal game settings.

The main reason i did this:

Washed out, useless HDR screenhots while saving images in HDR mode and no easy way to save and handle them with common image software or posting them in a suitable format in forums and make the images visible and available also in the non hdr world.

What I did: 

I compared real HDR settings used in the game  Horizon Zero Dawn on an OLED TV as the reference with the result of non HDR Settings, with the goal to get the non HDR results as close as possible to real HDR appearance.

Because real HDR has a dynamic component the non HDR result comes close but it can only be a compromise using fixed medium real HDR settings (value selected: 450nits).

It also helps all gamers who can not use or activate the hdr settings due to incompatibility in their games.

So please do not expect 1:1 real HDR in all cases but a very close approximation within the possible dynamic range of standard, easy to maintain images.

Using only the reshade fake HDR shader with default reshade settings is definitely not the ultimate solution but using it in combination with four other shaders it seems to deliver a very close result compared to real HDR with medium settings.

The tool I use: Reshade

it delivers the needed five shaders to make this HDR approximation possible. The used bloom shader makes a really good and subtle job but can not fully compensate the additional brightness options with very high HDR settings without distortion.

You can download reshade for free including the needed shaders. Many of you probably already use this tool. all other please install reshade first!. after installation, configuration and downloading reshade and the needed shaders you can overwrite the default reshade ini with my uploaded ini.

I provide the settings you need for your reshade setup as a file for download for you as a reference. If you like you can alter these reference settings as you can do with any other preset.

What is this HDR Approximated Preset good for ?

It will solve your problem with HDR Screenshots not useable for normal image processing or settings. Just switch to non HDR mode, activate reshade, engage foto mode again and use my HDR approximated preset (or your further optimised reshade setting)

You can apply this HDR approximated preset  on all other games, even not supporting real HDR but at leas