One of our goals when designing the world of Tau Ceti IV was to fill it with color and contrast.
From the open spaces of Perimeter to the claustrophobic corridors of Cryo Archive, every environment needs to carry the themes of dark science fiction that make Marathon what it is. HDR allows us to deliver on this visual goal with both greater intensity and depth. At the same time, we need to ensure fairness among players who do and don’t use HDR. This means our final image must be consistently readable, especially in the shadows, even if that means that the effect must be subtle at times.
Calibrating HDR
Marathon presents an in-game calibration screen when it launched for the first time.
- If the display is an HDR-capable display, and HDR is enabled on the console or PC, the HDR calibration tool allows adjusting a Midpoint and Peak Brightness.
- If the display is not an HDR-capable display, brightness and contrast can be adjusted
HDR calibration has two parameters that can be changed to get the best picture out of the game:
- Midpoint
- Adjustment for overall exposure.
- The minimum value is 0 and the max value is 100. The default setting is 50.
- Peak brightness
- Controls brightness in nits.
- The minimum value is 500.
- We recommend starting with a number close to the peak brightness that your TV or monitor offers in HDR, but you may wish to adjust this to your preference.
Unintuitively, the best settings for a display do not only depend on the display. If you play in a room with a lot of ambient light, your display will produce an image with less apparent contrast. We recommend adjusting the calibration settings if your play environment changes significantly.
For this and other reasons, it is difficult to give straightforward instructions that work for every display, as display manufacturers do not use the same terminology in some cases. Along with the wide variety of display capabilities and viewing environments makes it difficult for us to ensure that everyone has a consistent experience.
However, here are some suggestions:
- Regardless of if you use HDR or SDR, if you use a television rather than a computer monitor, ensure that Game Mode is active, if available.
- Many consoles automatically turn this on for you.
- If your TV or monitor are compatible with more than one HDR standard (HDR TrueBlack, HDR 10, Dolby Vision, etc.) test which one fits better to your needs, as they may offer different peak brightness and contrast settings.
- If colors appear significantly different when HDR is enabled relative to SDR, check if a color space setting can be changed to improve the picture.
- Different brands use different terminology, so we are unable to give a specific setting name that we recommend.
- If shadows are unreadable, try using the calibration screen in-game to raise the levels of shadows.
- Many displays have different tonemapping modes. We generally recommend the mode that alters the image the least.
- We recommend turning settings like Dynamic Tonemapping or Contrast Enhancer to be off.
- Prefer settings like HGiG to be Off or Static.
- Some displays have Display Port or HDMI ports that are more capable.
- Most modern TVs have HDMI 1.4 or HDMI 2.0, which will offer the best results with HDR.
- Using a 120hz display or variable refresh rate can improve the experience, and some displays might only support that for some of the ports on the display.
- Ensure the cable you are using to connect your system to your TV or Monitor of choice is compatible with them and is up to the newest standards if possible.
- Some cables won't be able to properly deliver higher resolutions or HDR.
The best image is the one that allows you to enjoy the game the most. Some of the choice, particularly around slight changes in the calibration screen, will be a matter of your own taste and viewing environment. So we recommend experimenting and not worrying about finding the right setting.
Game Capture with HDR
Enabling HDR usually affects the final image in screenshots and video captures. Screenshots captured within Marathon through the in-game screenshot keyboard shortcut while HDR is enabled are saved in SDR form, and may be higher quality than other screenshot or video capture tools.
If you choose to use other tools with HDR enabled, we recommend reviewing the result to determine if the tool is producing an image of acceptable quality. Additionally, if you use remote desktop or streaming software (like Steam Remote Play), image quality might be reduced when using HDR. In these cases, SDR might still be the better experience.
