HDR and Bloom are completely out of control!

[The.Yield 10]

AMD Phenom II 940 @ 3.6

8GB DDR2 1066

ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe (790FX Chipset)

Twin ATI 4870 1GB in Xfire

Let me just start by saying that I DO like the motion blur. I personally think it is well done and it compensates nicely during FPS drops. Heck, I even like the "haze" effect that can be seen after running 50 yards+ for a few seconds then goes away as you catch your breath.

Now, the HDR lighting and Bloom effects are just... insane. I swear sometimes it feels as though I am playing the game as a newborn puppy that has been drugged up on hallucinogenic mushrooms! Crazy extremes of shifting light and blasting pangs of bloom fill the sky as though I am being abducted by aliens!

I'll be looking one direction and it's a beautiful day around 5pm. Then I turn to face the setting sun (putting the sun just above my viewpoint) and suddenly it looks as though it's 9pm!

Walking through a forest during a bright sunny day is an experience not dissimilar to punching yourself in the eyes over and over at random intervals (I'd imagine).

I seems like 75% of the time (or better) the HDR and bloom isn't that offensive. But when it gets bad, it gets REALLY bad. Don't even get me started on night time!

*Gets himself started*

First off, night time is PITCH BLACK most of the time in Arma II. Needless to say this is illogical. I can recall countless situations where the grass, trees, bushes, etc were simply devoid of any light - But I could clearly make out a wooden fence in the distance (seemingly illuminated by star/moon light, as it should be!). Keeping in mind that this was a clear night (all the stars and the moon clearly visible).

Here's a news flash: The moon light that illuminated that fence should be lighting up... ready for it? ... THE ENTIRE GAME WORLD. Last time I checked the grass in Russia does not absorb the visible light spectrum!

And I won't even get myself started on how awful night vision can be sometimes.

/rant

There sincerely needs to be a way to tone down HDR and Bloom without completely loosing them (or motion blur) in the process.

Thoughts?

[zild1221 10]

This man here speaks the truth.

Edited June 9, 2009 by zild1221
WOW.

[FraG_AU 10]

Yes, definately need tweaking! Looking at any white object during the day is painfull.. Looks like "Oblivion" magical items on the ground..

Have you tried to run with the Noblur-NoHDR mod?

[zild1221 10]

Too bad the motion blur is good.

[The.Yield 10]

I've tried that mod and it does help nix the bloom. But I don't want bloom gone I just want it toned done like... 80 or 90% lol

And the blur goes as well which is unfortunate with that mod.

[dutzulica2005 0]

Thread starter hit the nail right on the head. I actually can't figure out what the hell they were trying to simulate with all this HDR lighting in both ArmA games. It's like those game designers that put this effect in haven't been outside in decades. It's totally unrealistic. Only place I see this happen is on my digital camera while the sensor adapts it's self to changing light conditions. Totally absurd, unrealistic and a gameplay killer.

If there were two things I hated in ArmA 1 and didn't want to see in 2, it was the way vision works in this way and how the AI could cheat. I mean I'm not bothered much by some blur or bloom and the matte painting effect it gives some times, just the disco effect. They should have at least put an off setting for it or something. Maybe in a future patch, although they might not know how so I doubt it. Too bad :( .

[PaiNxGS 10]

Yeah, I totally agree about the HDR effect thing. It doesn't really make any sense as I have been out in the sun and never had that wierd effect happen to me. There should be an option to just turn it off or they should rethink the whole idea that were trying to achieve with this setting.

[The.Yield 10]

Here is a screen shot during a thunderstorm.

[iM] [/img]>100kb

Now, I've seen many a thunderstorm in my day... And I've never quite seen this crazy "here commeth the apocalypse" bright sky effect, lol.

Edited June 11, 2009 by Placebo

[-DirTyDeeDs--Ziggy- 0]

I think your image needs to be less than 100kb

Walking through a forest during a bright sunny day is an experience not dissimilar to punching yourself in the eyes over and over at random intervals (I'd imagine).

that is some funny shit right there

have you tried Kegetys no blur/bloom? try it and report back either way.

Here :) It allows disabling the motion blurs and optionally the "bloom" as well. Disabling the motion blur effect seems to increase the fps as well, an official fix would propably increase it a bit more since this one just replaces the PS effect with a direct copy "effect".

Edited June 10, 2009 by [DirTyDeeDs]-Ziggy-

[shadowze 1]

LOL

You are spot on with your obervations

And its a funny way to put it

[Alienfreak 0]

One major problem is also the adaption of your sight to brightness.

Yesterday we played the UMPC Teufelsburg (or whatever it was called) map. I was and from my base direction up the hill there was the sun visible in the sky.

Everything was freaking DARK. I mean dark like it was night or something. Once you turned around everything was perfectly bright and lit. But as soon as you only saw the sky AROUND the sun (sun blocked by objects) it was just impossible to make out wether the guy in front of you is US or russian.

It is ok if I get a bit blind once I almost directly look INTO the sun (it is near my center of vision then) but not once it only PARTLY visible on my screen because it is on an edge.

That might be like an camera works. But lucky us, we have eyes, not cameras.

This was already bad in ArmA. But in ArmA2 it is unbearable.

[Sha4lo 10]

i can`t get how to switch off the bloom and dynamic blur.

HDR is good, i like it. But i hate blur and bloom in each games! It`s horrible to turn around with such spreading of image. Its very hard to concentrate.

[Dreepa 10]

The opening post speaks the truth

[kegetys 2]

I think one possible fix for the HDR exposure going into nonsense values* could be to limit the amount the aperture is allowed to go up/down based on the current amount of light from the the sun/moon. In the game there really never is any other light levels than either being lit, or being in the shadows, so there should always be well defined limits to how high/low the aperture needs to go in order to be able to see everything. Currently (it seems) the HDR aperture automation only considers what is currently on the screen no matter what the actual environment lighting conditions are and because of this it often goes completely wrong. A special case would be when neither the sun or the moon is up, but there no limits would maybe be ok.

* Refers to the HDR wildly cycling between excess darkness and excess lightness, often seen when walking in a forest for example. Sometimes the bright sky makes everything on the ground appear almost pitch black, and when you look down then the exposure adjusts to everything being much too bright. Like in this example:

In this case for example the HDR automation should take into account the amount of light coming from the sun and not let the aperture go into these extreme values.

[Alienfreak 0]

Kegetys:

These pictures perfectly show what I meant :)

You can barely see that there is even SOMEONE 5 meters in front of you. Not to mention being unable to tell what it is.

And everything just because the sky is visible O_o.

This is just BS. Cmon BIS change it for good :). When Im in a wood I can see whats in front of me. Even with the sky visible.

[Dwarden 1124]

Kegetys , very nicely said and worthy examples ... hopefully it will be adjusted / fixed

[Leopardi 0]

Kegetys , very nicely said and worthy examples ... hopefully it will be adjusted / fixed

Knowing BIS - never. Maybe it's something too hard to fix.

[Sha4lo 10]

Who knows how to switch off HDR, bloom and blur????

[dutzulica2005 0]

Knowing BIS - never. Maybe it's something too hard to fix.

If we think about the fact that this was a problem in the first ArmA and not only did they not fix it then, but they included it in this game also without an off switch... then we're only left with one of two conclusions: they either dont give a [censored], or they really have no ideea what problems ppl have with this game and all the "give us your input/feedback/ideeas for making the game" was a bunch of BS... from BIS. :confused:

[Dreepa 10]

If we think about the fact that this was a problem in the first ArmA and not only did they not fix it then, but they included it in this game also without an off switch... then we're only left with one of two conclusions: they either dont give a [censored], or they really have no ideea what problems ppl have with this game and all the "give us your input/feedback/ideeas for making the game" was a bunch of BS... from BIS. :confused:

Or its enormous effort to fiddle with that stuff in the code and no one wants to touch it :P

[Binkowski 25]

There was a mod for ArmA1 to disable HDR. Maybe it will make a comeback in ArmA2, until then I believe that modifying your ArmA2.cfg file and turning the setting of "HDR=0" will disable it. Downloading Kegety's No Bloom/Blur mod also helps.

[ryan80 10]

does the HDRPrecision setting in arma2.cfg do anything

mine is at HDRPrecision=8

[dvolk 10]

[iG]http://junk.kegetys.net/hdr.jpg[/img]

I don't think I've ever had it that bright. Only once did some people glow inside a helicopter, but since I've upgraded my drivers and installed the 1.01 patch it's gone away.

Edited June 11, 2009 by Placebo

[Balgorg 10]

are you all using ATI or Nvidia? The first post was using ATI. Some of the other threads elsewhere seem to think that ATI drivers r a problem, whereas Nvidia cards were used by the dev team.

[dutzulica2005 0]

I modified that cfg file but it didn't do anything at all, and when I reopened it after playing, it was changed back to original value. I played the game on nvidia 8600gt and on ati 4850 and HDR looked the same.. couldn't notice any difference. And why do people keep mentioning the no bloom addon? The changing light is being caused by the HDR lighting and not the others.