Contrast between light and shadow

Sk3ptik0n · Nov 24, 2014

AC is not the only Sim where I have this problem but it is by far the one where the issue is extreme.

Basically I find the brights too bright and the darks too darks. Driving the ring at sunset is almost impossible for me. Unlike with regular driving where our eyes adjust fairly quickly in the game the dark areas are so dark I simply cannot see where I am going.

Right now I am running no post processing filters to see if I can resolves an annoying crash I am experiencing, but they did not really improve things much when I tried them. Maybe I didn't have the right values. If anyone knows a solution, I'd appreciate the help. Thank you.

Radu Oros · Nov 24, 2014

If you race at 8am or 6pm, then go to gpu driver panel and turn the brightness up. If you have this problem in other games too, then you need to adjust the brightness/contrast/color from your monitor and gpu.

Let me give you my settings.
Monitor:
Luminance - Brightness 90% / Contrast 70%
Color - User preset: RGB values all at 100.

GPU driver (my case AMD):
Desktop Color: http://prntscr.com/59l6s6 (screenshot)
Display Color: http://prntscr.com/59l6vh (for amd, saturation is the one that changes color intensity, from black/white/grey to full colors.

Tip: if you want to see better at 8am and 6pm, then put brightness between 10 and 20%, in either desktop or display, but in the gpu driver panel. Or adjust to your comfort.

Sk3ptik0n · Nov 24, 2014

Thanks. I was hoping it wouldn't come to that. I already tried adjusting my monitor, but that's a losing battle.
I guess I'll need to go lower contrast in the GPU. Problem is that for instance yesterday I joined a MP session at the ring and I was blind. I can use the GPU trick if I know in advance, but I was hoping there was something built in.

In fact, there should be, Page Up and Page Down should control brightness, but in my case they do squat. Maybe I have the wrong game?

Radu Oros · Nov 25, 2014

If your pc can handle pp effects with other cars on the track, then choose a bright pp filter and if that's not enough, use page up/down to control the brightness. It only works with pp on.

Sk3ptik0n · Nov 25, 2014

That makes sense. That's why my PU and PD didn't work. And yes, I can barely run my PC with filters and about 10 cars.

cerebus23 · Nov 26, 2014

You could try daubsters mod using his AM set and the shadows look 10x better to me less drastic less contrast, Looks far more realistic to me.

By default all the ac presets were far to dark at certain times of day monza last corner onto the straight was like going into a unlit tunnel, spent a bit of time trying to tune it out by editing the dynamic presets but i think daubers newest version nailed it at 9 to 11 am for me.

Sk3ptik0n · Nov 27, 2014

I don't think I have seen daubsters mod anywhere, but I suppose it is easy to find.

I activated one of the post processing filters and indeed I can make things better, but I am not a big fan of these filters. Tazio Nuvolari did not race his cars in a world in sepia tones and Phil Hill likewise did not see his world in B&W.

I know it can be cool for replays and stuff, but for racing the least junk the better.

It reminds me of the out of focus settings in pCARS when you use helmet view making the dashboard out of focus. That's silly. Our eyes adapt to focus, depth of field and light/dark much faster than most cameras.

I'll give that a shot, thank you.