I took a break from Starfield to play this as I wait for the creation kit.
Man, what a beautifully crafted game. You can tell it was made with love. I love the setting, art style, combat and all the callouts and easter eggs. Was not expecting this.
If I could say one thing though, it's that it might be a bit too easy. I had more issues taking out the first puppet of the future you come across at the bottom of the factory, before I knew you could drain it, than any boss so far. I usually take them out in 1-2 tries 3 being the max so far. Just got to Rosa Isabella street but don't know how close I am to the difficulty spike. But even so it's still been a blast exploring the world and taking in the lore. And speaking of blast, those kamikaze puppets are the only cheap enemy I've come across so far.
It's also gorgeous in HDR, however, the native implementation is extremely washed out. If you're on PC and playing on a nice HDR screen do yourself a favor and fix the HDR...
1- Install the windows 11 HDR/SDR fix which is a ICC profile that fixes windows incorrect gamma curve in auto HDR that makes sdr mastered games and other desktop content look washed out. The file and installation instructions are in the link. This alone will make the vast majority of games that have native HDR look WAY better on PC and I think better than xbox since xbox uses the same wrong auto HDR curve for sdr content. Here's a video if it helps.
2- Install Plugin supported Reshade and point it towards your game.
3- Download Majorpainthecactus mod which forces HDR10 through the games engine. This is not a screenspace shader. Unzip the files open the folder and copy paste the contents of the folder right next to the games .exe. I even placed the folder itself in there as well. Only way I could get it to work. Well... I suppose I could do more testing but I didn't want to bother haha. There are two files labeled AutoHDR64.addon and AutoHDR32.addon. The mod will use whichever one matches your operating system, 64-bit or 32. So you can remove the other. Here's a video if it helps.
4- Download Liliums inverse tone mapping mod (the file is labeled Reshade_HDR_Shaders). This works hand in hand with the Majorpainthecactus mod. Majorpain mod forces HDR10 natively, this mod tonemaps it. This also comes with a really nice HDR analysis tool you can enable through reshade. To install this one, open the file, there are some .png files for the analysis tool, copy everything else but those, find the reshade file which should be in the same folder as your games .exe. Open it, there should be two files, shaders and textures, paste what you copied into the shaders file. Then go back and copy the .png files and paste them into the textures file.
5- Before we open the game, make sure you've installed the windows 11 HDR/SDR fix and have that ICC profile enabled. Also, disable Auto HDR but turn HDR on in windows. (Doesn't matter what sdr/hdr brightness you have windows set at but I'd leave it on 80 for desktop content if you fixed the gamma curve earlier, which if you haven't, none of this will mean anything haha.)
6- Now start the game and wait for it to get to the menu. Check to make sure that HDR is off in the games settings. Then, open reshade with the home button. There might be a small tutorial if it's the first time opening Reshade. Click through all of that and then go to the plugins tab and all the way at the bottom you should see the AutoHDR option. This is the Majorpain mod. Enable it, click it's dropdown menu and click that checkbox as well. Everything in game should have a sort of red hue, this is HDR10 without tone mapping. If not, then restart the game, it should now. Don't worry if you see a red message near the top, I have that and mine still works.
7- Now go to the Home tab and find Liliums inverse tone mapping and enable it. Then change the settings so it matches mine. (These settings are for a LG C2 42". You may need to tweak the nits(target brightness) depending on your screens capabilities)
8- You should be all set. If you want to use the analysis tool and compare it to mine... In this order, find liliums hdr analysis tool in the list, right click on it and select move to top. Then do the same for liliums inverse tone mapping. The load order matters so the analysis tool will read whatever is above it. Enable it and then see if it matches mine. It will vary depending on the scene and your TV of course but it should be close. Here's a .jpg screenshot of my analysis tool in game.
And finally here's a public google docs folder with a bunch of .jxr (HDR) screenshots of some locations that I thought showed the highlights and such pretty well. Very minor spoilers. You'll have to download the images and view them in windows photos. Which won't match native since when in game it's using HDR10 through Reshade which controls things natively and when we're on desktop it's just the windows ICC and your TV settings but since you fixed the gamma curve it will be close.
Man, what a beautifully crafted game. You can tell it was made with love. I love the setting, art style, combat and all the callouts and easter eggs. Was not expecting this.
If I could say one thing though, it's that it might be a bit too easy. I had more issues taking out the first puppet of the future you come across at the bottom of the factory, before I knew you could drain it, than any boss so far. I usually take them out in 1-2 tries 3 being the max so far. Just got to Rosa Isabella street but don't know how close I am to the difficulty spike. But even so it's still been a blast exploring the world and taking in the lore. And speaking of blast, those kamikaze puppets are the only cheap enemy I've come across so far.
It's also gorgeous in HDR, however, the native implementation is extremely washed out. If you're on PC and playing on a nice HDR screen do yourself a favor and fix the HDR...
1- Install the windows 11 HDR/SDR fix which is a ICC profile that fixes windows incorrect gamma curve in auto HDR that makes sdr mastered games and other desktop content look washed out. The file and installation instructions are in the link. This alone will make the vast majority of games that have native HDR look WAY better on PC and I think better than xbox since xbox uses the same wrong auto HDR curve for sdr content. Here's a video if it helps.
2- Install Plugin supported Reshade and point it towards your game.
3- Download Majorpainthecactus mod which forces HDR10 through the games engine. This is not a screenspace shader. Unzip the files open the folder and copy paste the contents of the folder right next to the games .exe. I even placed the folder itself in there as well. Only way I could get it to work. Well... I suppose I could do more testing but I didn't want to bother haha. There are two files labeled AutoHDR64.addon and AutoHDR32.addon. The mod will use whichever one matches your operating system, 64-bit or 32. So you can remove the other. Here's a video if it helps.
4- Download Liliums inverse tone mapping mod (the file is labeled Reshade_HDR_Shaders). This works hand in hand with the Majorpainthecactus mod. Majorpain mod forces HDR10 natively, this mod tonemaps it. This also comes with a really nice HDR analysis tool you can enable through reshade. To install this one, open the file, there are some .png files for the analysis tool, copy everything else but those, find the reshade file which should be in the same folder as your games .exe. Open it, there should be two files, shaders and textures, paste what you copied into the shaders file. Then go back and copy the .png files and paste them into the textures file.
5- Before we open the game, make sure you've installed the windows 11 HDR/SDR fix and have that ICC profile enabled. Also, disable Auto HDR but turn HDR on in windows. (Doesn't matter what sdr/hdr brightness you have windows set at but I'd leave it on 80 for desktop content if you fixed the gamma curve earlier, which if you haven't, none of this will mean anything haha.)
6- Now start the game and wait for it to get to the menu. Check to make sure that HDR is off in the games settings. Then, open reshade with the home button. There might be a small tutorial if it's the first time opening Reshade. Click through all of that and then go to the plugins tab and all the way at the bottom you should see the AutoHDR option. This is the Majorpain mod. Enable it, click it's dropdown menu and click that checkbox as well. Everything in game should have a sort of red hue, this is HDR10 without tone mapping. If not, then restart the game, it should now. Don't worry if you see a red message near the top, I have that and mine still works.
7- Now go to the Home tab and find Liliums inverse tone mapping and enable it. Then change the settings so it matches mine. (These settings are for a LG C2 42". You may need to tweak the nits(target brightness) depending on your screens capabilities)
8- You should be all set. If you want to use the analysis tool and compare it to mine... In this order, find liliums hdr analysis tool in the list, right click on it and select move to top. Then do the same for liliums inverse tone mapping. The load order matters so the analysis tool will read whatever is above it. Enable it and then see if it matches mine. It will vary depending on the scene and your TV of course but it should be close. Here's a .jpg screenshot of my analysis tool in game.
And finally here's a public google docs folder with a bunch of .jxr (HDR) screenshots of some locations that I thought showed the highlights and such pretty well. Very minor spoilers. You'll have to download the images and view them in windows photos. Which won't match native since when in game it's using HDR10 through Reshade which controls things natively and when we're on desktop it's just the windows ICC and your TV settings but since you fixed the gamma curve it will be close.
