Exact Gamma Settings

Supernorn · March 2003

<div class="IPBDescription">how NS SHOULD be played</div> Hello. I think i have figured out how to get the perfect gamma, although i am aware it varies incredibly on each monitor.
this is a rough tutorial, and basically me asking if i have done it right myself <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'>

I have misread this gamma tuner many times, and so i thought i would make it slightly simpler for the easily confused, such as myself.

Test one:

Read the instructions carefully. It asks you to adjust the brightness so that the grey tiles behind 4 and 8 are just barely visible.
Previously, i thought that all the tiles following on from 4 and 8 were meant to be barely visible, but this is not what it is asking.
Each tile is BEHIND a number. So you have to make the tiles marked with 4 and 8 so that they are just visible. Do this by setting your brightness to 0 and slowly increase it until 4 and 8 appear. remember that 8 will be slightly brighter for 4 to be visible at all.

TEST ONE (STEP TWO):

Increase your contrast until all the light grey tiles are visible. This is what i believe it to be asking. the last tile on my monitor was hard to make visible without ruining the first test, so the last tile will be barely visible.

TEST TWO:

See the skulks eye? you have to look closely for this. If you have done it correctly it should be JUST visible.

I will EDIT this when i am told that i have made a mistake (which is probably quite likely) or new information is given.

[edit]

**IF YOU HAVE PROBLEMS**

Wont fix a problem for others, but may fix things some some people:
<a href='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=18&t=7922' target='_blank'>http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/in...=ST&f=18&t=7922</a>

TEST TWO SCREENSHOT:

you should be able to see a faint grey area in the position the eye is meant to be in. The JPEG compression has made it slightly harder to see so if it is less visible than this in the tweak program, go back and try again.

<img src='http://groups.yahoo.com/group/making_games/files/testthree.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image'>

TEST ONE SCREENSHOT:

Align · March 2003

Heh, my contrast is on the max value, and I still cant see 253.

00039 · March 2003

heh mine was set up already

DizzyOne · March 2003

Some ppl have there gamma very very hogh, doesnt that hurt ur eyes?

DoADrunkMonkey · March 2003

my brightness is already 0 and my contrast is only around 1/4 way up.

i can see all the black boxes but can`t see that last grey one.

Supernorn · March 2003

well it seems that everyone is having the same problem i'm having.
I have my contrast on full and i cannot see the last grey box either...i can see the outline..but only if i look at it for about 10 seconds <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'>

EDIT: have added a screenshot of Test three. The JPEG compression has made it slightly more difficult to see.

Stormeh · March 2003

Nice test <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'>

Before I thaught i had my gamma and brightness pretty low but now they are even lower.

And just a question, how many here play NS with abnormaly high gamma and brightness values just to see things better?

Edit: I can barley see the brightest grey box, but enough so i can spot the edges <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'>

Talesin · March 2003

masterswordman · March 2003

Well, it's an intricite part of the game, and has to be set up properly.

Morden · March 2003

>>And just a question, how many here play NS with abnormaly high gamma and brightness values just to see things better?<<

I used to fuss about leaving my gamma down... for all the atmosphere and what not... but then i got frusturated and said screw it. My gamma isn't jacked or anything, but atleast i can see into the shadows a bit better. Would totally jacking the gamma, to the extent that their is nothing hidden, be an exploit?

Eclipse · March 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>I used to fuss about leaving my gamma down... for all the atmosphere and what not... but then i got frusturated and said screw it. My gamma isn't jacked or anything, but atleast i can see into the shadows a bit better. Would totally jacking the gamma, to the extent that their is nothing hidden, be an exploit?</td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>

Depends on who you talk to. For me, if thats your choice, go ahead. There really isnt much you can do to stop it, but I find that when it gets that high any normally bright area is like staring into the sun and it hurts my eyes. I put it at a comfortable level so that when I see a shadow its not some void that no light can enter or escape from.

wlibaers · March 2003

There are some parts of the maps where you just can't see anything. On top of powersilo for example. Even on the highest brightness, nothing. Marines can still see up there with the flashlight, but aliens just have to touch the walls. If you bould a chamber there, you can't even see it if you're right next to it. No amount of gamma adjustment will help with that.

ZERG · March 2003

There are some weird parts on hera, like in the area between processing and halo room. If you sit in one of the chairs closest to processing you're rendered completely black! If that kind of lighting is used for a dark room with dark textures, gamma won't help.

There is also something like this in halo room too, but I saw the guy jetpacking around and suddenly turn completely black in mid air.

Amped1 · March 2003

I have my gamma all the way up, but I need it for my plasma screen. If I turn up the brightness on my momitor, it makes everything else blindingly bright. So I have to have high gamma <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/confused.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused.gif'>

Hypergrip · March 2003

Well I think my gamma value is quite "normal".. at least it's very close to the gamme that we can see on official Screenshots from Flayra and others.
The real "problem" is imho not players unable to adjust their gamme carrectly (ok, i know some ppl have those problem, but i want to point out another aspect) but players that turn up their gamme (both in-game and monitor) to be able to see enemies in dark places.
Well, some consider it cheating, some consider it normal... i simply say "it's not the way the devs intendet us to play this game".. besindes i think high-gamma just looks ugly.

Commander_Kittens · March 2003

Some of you have probably seen the screen gallery for my pack. In the game its all in perfect deep detail and I can see everything. The change in gamma from desktop to NS is pretty large on its own... you know that those screens look I used a "Jesus! Why is that so dark?" filter in photoshop.

I think the morale of the story is that you actually have to play with the gamma settings IN game to get correct results.

heathenSlayer · March 2003

It should be played on a brightness that works for you.

CheeseSticksYo · March 2003

My monitor is slowly dying. If I crank brightness and contrast on the monitor all the way up I still can't see anything. Not even the skulks eye in the picture. The problem is the same in CS (gasp!). If I look into the hallway on de_dust with brightness and contrast all the way I can see nothing at all. Not just in the shadows, anywhere.

So my solution has been to turn Windows gamma to 2.0, along with setting gamma and brightness to 10 in my config.

I'll try and take a screenshot and edit it so on my roommates monitor it looks how it would look on my monitor. That way you guys can see how it looks to me without gamma help.

Even if my monitor worked I'd still have gamma cranked.

WolfWings · March 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (wlibaers @ Mar 23 2003, 01:36 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> There are some parts of the maps where you just can't see anything. On top of powersilo for example. Even on the highest brightness, nothing. Marines can still see up there with the flashlight, but aliens just have to touch the walls. If you bould a chamber there, you can't even see it if you're right next to it. No amount of gamma adjustment will help with that.  </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> 
Simple pair of commands most people don't know exist in Half-Life:

<span style='color:yellow'>lightgamma</span> and <span style='color:white'>texgamma</span> are your friends. They're normally 2-2.5 by default inside of HL. I learned long ago to 'solve' the gamma-problems many HL mods have by setting them both to 1.0, and adjusting my gamma inside my video-card itself. Boom, nice-looking ambience and still able to see a lot, including in the corners of the upper ledge of power silo, though just outlines.

cr3am · March 2003

ROFL, after reading this, and seeing how he feels all special for coming across this, i just happened to go to my ns folder, and saw "gamma_tune.exe"

so i open it up, and WHOA, IT'S THE SAME PICTURES!

Immacolata · March 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> ([UVic] Morden @ Mar 23 2003, 10:20 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> >>And just a question, how many here play NS with abnormaly high gamma and brightness values just to see things better?<<

I used to fuss about leaving my gamma down... for all the atmosphere and what not... but then i got frusturated and said screw it. My gamma isn't jacked or anything, but atleast i can see into the shadows a bit better. Would totally jacking the gamma, to the extent that their is nothing hidden, be an exploit?  </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> 
It's on the border between an outright exploit and a mere "cheat". Some people feel it's uncomfortable to play when everything is too dark, and I agree on that. Their problem is usually they never fixed their contrast/brightness, and therefore overcompensate and jack it all up to 100% into washy colours. I find that if I adjust correctly I don't have to jack up my gamma and the game looks overall much more pretty than the washed out water colour (sometimes with banding too) look that gamma jacking inevitably leads to.

tbZBeAst · March 2003

I've seen gamma set so high that the guys playing were getting sunburned.

Supernorn · March 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (cr3am @ Mar 24 2003, 06:11 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> ROFL, after reading this, and seeing how he feels all special for coming across this, i just happened to go to my ns folder, and saw "gamma_tune.exe"

so i open it up, and WHOA, IT'S THE SAME PICTURES! </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>

It isnt hard to find. Its in the NS folder along with all the other useful stuff on the start up menu. i wasnt feeling special for finding it. Any person with half a brain would of found it easily enough. This was just a rough tutorial for the easily confused.

MOMBoris · March 2003

Someone else pointed this out already, but just to add my 2 cents...
Make sure you don't exceed what is "supposed" to be set for gamma. This game is intended to be dark, like CS was in spots too, but ppl just abused their gamma settings so that every dark spot is though it was getting sunlight on it. Why do you think the flashlight was set in HL? any idea? oh yeah....it's for seeing in dark spots!!! You take away from the atmousphere of the game, and a lot of ppl out there would consider this to be a form of cheating. Hiding in dark spots is a strategy many try to use, especially as a skulk, but it sucks when some marine comes by and blows you away because his gamma is OFF THE CHARTS. Use your flashlight to see! And the darkspots you guys are talking about in silo, etc...they are dark on purpose! so ppl can hide there.
Play the game the way it was intended...or go back to CS!
<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif'> <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/skulk.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='skulk.gif'>

Exact Gamma Settings

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