Question At random times, HDR fails to activate in games ?

[Triadne]

Hello, this is a rather infuriating problem as the only way I've found to fix this is to just restart my pc which is unfortunately not a very fast process and I just want to play my game.

I don't know why or how, but I open my game, it is HDR and I play with HDR and for the most part it does what it's meant to do except for the random times it decides not to. No explanation and no way to fix it! It makes me so angry and I am at my wits end.

So let me say for example, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, I open the game and all I see is super high contrast. Windows is not sending any HDR tone mapping information to my TV whatsoever. I turn it off and on in the game settings and it just comes back the same. I do notice that at times when HDR is working, it looks like this if I press the volume button in Windows and then after the volume indicator disappears, the HDR comes back to normal.

I'd like it if this never happened, but I don't know what to do, I tried game mode on my TV, I tried changing the game to different monitors, my gpu driver got updated a number of times and not resolved it, I restart the game, turn off and on Windows HDR in the display menu, none of that seems to trick it into activating. It makes me so mad! Even if I can't fix it, has anyone got any idea what I can do that doesn't involve having to restart my pc?

I decide to start playing my game then this happens and it takes at least 15 minutes out of my gaming time and then I'm so mad I don't feel like playing and it takes me a while to relax.

My PC Specs
CPU: Ryzen 7 2700
GPU: RTX 2080
OS: Windows 10
TV: Samsung AU9000

Windows runs on an HDD because my SSD is limited size and I need it for some games to run.
Please help, I need some better solution.

 

[ak47jar3d]

I am think it's an auto hdr function on the TV. Is there an option to disable it and letting windows handle it?

 

[Triadne]

I am think it's an auto hdr function on the TV. Is there an option to disable it and letting windows handle it?

Hi,
Thank you for your reply, I appreciate your time.

I did actually find a workaround for this with my current game.
It is either Steam or Ubisoft Connect that is to blame. When my game fails to activate HDR, i shut down the game, and both the launchers, then open steam and load the game again(which of course loads ubisoft connect) and for the most part this resolves the issue and HDR activates properly.

I haven't tested this with other games, but I hope this will solve the issue in those cases too.

 

[gamerk316]

Question: Do you have HDR enabled in Windows, or just the game? Also, are you using Exclusive Fullscreen or Borderless Window?

I've found in the past that there can be *issues* switching HDR modes if the game/Windows do not agree (most commonly a problem if the game overrules Windows' setting), one such result being the washed out effect you've seen.

Nowadays I just leave HDR enabled in Windows and run everything in Borderless Window so I don't have to worry about HDR mode switching, for exactly this reason.

 

[Triadne]

Question: Do you have HDR enabled in Windows, or just the game? Also, are you using Exclusive Fullscreen or Borderless Window?

I've found in the past that there can be *issues* switching HDR modes if the game/Windows do not agree (most commonly a problem if the game overrules Windows' setting), one such result being the washed out effect you've seen.

Nowadays I just leave HDR enabled in Windows and run everything in Borderless Window so I don't have to worry about HDR mode switching, for exactly this reason.

I played spiderman the other day and that seems to play well with windows HDR, so I don't ned to mess around and can play in borderless windowed, but with AC Odyssey, I have to make it exclusive fullscreen or HDR will not activate at all. so, AC Odyssey goes super high contrast if HDR doesn't activate properly, but Elden Ring had a tendency to go all washed out. I believe i used to run Elden Ring in borderless windowed, and it would appear washed out if i recorded it while playing with OBS, but while I was playing it, I would see a lovely HDR image, provided it had activated properly to begin with. I don't have Elden Ring installed now so I can't check it.

I believe it is to do with overlays. like the steam overlay or the ubisoft overlay. I think it's to do with overlays on the screen because when i press the volume key, the volume display appears and the game disables hdr for that moment where the volume indicator is visible.

 

[gamerk316]

I played spiderman the other day and that seems to play well with windows HDR, so I don't ned to mess around and can play in borderless windowed, but with AC Odyssey, I have to make it exclusive fullscreen or HDR will not activate at all. so, AC Odyssey goes super high contrast if HDR doesn't activate properly, but Elden Ring had a tendency to go all washed out. I believe i used to run Elden Ring in borderless windowed, and it would appear washed out if i recorded it while playing with OBS, but while I was playing it, I would see a lovely HDR image, provided it had activated properly to begin with. I don't have Elden Ring installed now so I can't check it.

I believe it is to do with overlays. like the steam overlay or the ubisoft overlay. I think it's to do with overlays on the screen because when i press the volume key, the volume display appears and the game disables hdr for that moment where the volume indicator is visible.

Overlays have historically been a problem; famously bringing up the Windows OSD (volume bar, etc.) would kick Windows back to SDR briefly. That's one's been fixed, but other OSDs could be causing issues.

Root issue is probably games like AC:O that override what Windows is trying to do and force HDR using Exclusive Fullscreen, which could screw things up. Oddly, setting Windows back to SDR might actually help in that case. [Games should really just follow the Windows setting now TBH]

 

[Triadne]

Overlays have historically been a problem; famously bringing up the Windows OSD (volume bar, etc.) would kick Windows back to SDR briefly. That's one's been fixed, but other OSDs could be causing issues.

Root issue is probably games like AC:O that override what Windows is trying to do and force HDR using Exclusive Fullscreen, which could screw things up. Oddly, setting Windows back to SDR might actually help in that case. [Games should really just follow the Windows setting now TBH]

I can't deal with windows sdr now, it just feels so shallow. At least I know Overlyay's are generally going to be the cause of this kind of issue so that is a comforting thought as I know what to look at any time I have this issue. Knowledge is the best.

 

[gamerk316]

I can't deal with windows sdr now, it just feels so shallow. At least I know Overlyay's are generally going to be the cause of this kind of issue so that is a comforting thought as I know what to look at any time I have this issue. Knowledge is the best.

At least over the past 18 months or so Windows hasn't been a problem, and I haven't seen any games freak out over overlays. But games that override what Windows is doing (in Exclusive Fullscreen) could absolutely be a problem.