I shouldn't say perfect because it will vary from individual to individual and is very much monitor(s) dependent on how HDR information is presented to the end user.
 
But for 4K monitor users or anyone interested in increased brightness levels in P3D v2.4 without getting too much clipping of brightness here are some settings that work very well for my setup:
 
\ShadersHLSL\PostProcess\HDR.HLSL
 
Line 10-13:
static const float BloomThreshold = 03.25f;
static const float BloomMagnitude = 03.75f;
static const float BloomBlurSigma = 1.3;
static const float TimeDelta = 4.0f;
 
Line 166:
avgLuminance *= 0.60f;

 

I just wanted to say thank you to Rob on this post. I was about ready to give up on HDR until I found these setting last night. Now Prepar3D 2.5 looks amazing. Every flights now looks like a screenshot!!!

 

 

I was about ready to give up on HDR until I found these setting last night.

 

Most welcome, I have asked LM if they could perhaps make these values "adjustable" via a user friendly interface (in their graphics settings area) ... they'll consider it but no promises.

 

Part of the problem with HDR is that it really tests out how good one's monitor is and how well it's calibrated.  The use of RGB vs. YCbCr color space can also make a significant difference as some monitors provide more adjustment options with a YCbCr color space vs. RGB color space.

 

For example I've seen folks post screenshots of an image saying it's "too dark" (with a known time of day) ... since an image's data isn't affected by monitor adjustments (contrast, backlight, white balance, etc. doesn't change the underlying image data) that same image looks almost perfect on my monitor.  Same goes for folks that have posted images that are way too bright for the time of day, yet they think they look perfect (on their monitor).

 

Since HDR does bring out the strength and weakness of one's monitor(s) (and calibration) ... it would be good to have an easy to adjust HDR options so that folks can make the images look the way they want them to look on their monitor(s) of choice and with their calibrations of choice.

 

Here is to hoping LM implement such options to meet personal and hardware preferences.

 

Cheers, Rob.

One thing I would like to do, but don't have the requisite shader writing knowledge, is to colorise the brightening of the day. In other words, instead of just upping the luminance, how do I adjust RGB tone mapping and colour?

Before I plunge in the P3D world (my FSX is running stable and looks not as good as this, but it is okay) I wonder if my current system is up for the task. I would like to get my sim looking as naturally as possible.

 

Intel i5 4670K at 4,2Ghz, 8GB 1600Mhz RAM, AMD Radeon 7850 2GB and MSI Z87 gaming motherboard.

 

 

AMD Radeon 7850 2GB

 

This is probably your weakest link, but otherwise should work well if you can resist the urge to max everything out.  I'm finding Terrain Shadows are very costly in terms of performance and a big source of stutters when flying in areas with lots of mountains.

 

Texture max of 1024 and Building AutoGen at "Normal" will probably keep you out of OOM trouble.

 

Cheers, Rob.

Thaks Rob,

 

Any suggestion what card might be good? I have seen a video of a GTX 960 but I doubt it's indeed THAT good.

Maarten, I had a 2gb 7850 too, your system is the exact same system I used to use with 3 screens in eyefinty until I upgraded. The only difference was I overclocked to 4.7. Performance wasnt great with 3 screens but great with a single 1920x1200 screen. Rob is right, just don't push it to extremes and you will be ok, but it performed better than everyone said it would.

 

Chris

I'm using 1 screen (40" HD TV) and I use three 8" USB Displaylink monitors (no impact on the GPU and sim).

 

So you say a GTX 960 will indeed perform this well as seen above?

No Maarten, sorry, bit of crossed wires there, I wasn't very clear. I have edited my post to be clearer. What I meant was your current system is the same as my older system and I used to run prepar3d on it.

Chris

I'm using 1 screen (40" HD TV) and I use three 8" USB Displaylink monitors (no impact on the GPU and sim).

 

So you say a GTX 960 will indeed perform this well as seen above?

 

Hi Maarten,

 

I would be cautious on attempting to reach a level of detail from a YouTube video. For the exception of a few, (including Rob Ainscough's great P3D videos) most of what you see are edited/enhanced and the author of that video stated he edited the video in Sony Vegas ("Some color correction") so be careful on making a purchasing decision on a video. Slider management in P3D and making sure your system is tweaked (not the sim, your overall system) properly to give you the best performance can go a long way versus constantly throwing money at a perceived performance "problem".

 

Just my two cents.

 

Mike

1+

 

 

Any suggestion what card might be good? I have seen a video of a GTX 960 but I doubt it's indeed THAT good.

 

I use a 970 GTX 4GB on my other test PC running same 4K monitor.  It did perform very well ... obviously not as good as my Titan X but I was surprised at how well it did.

 

But as always, a PC is the SUM of it's components ... if there is a weak link in any single component it will can prevent full utilization of the other components.

 

As far as videos, just make sure whatever video you use for "part" of the decision making process is presenting footage "as is" will minimal edits.  When I make my videos I stick to simple title edits, cut out a bunch of footage that will most likely bore people to death, add some cut transitions (cross dissolve, fade, etc.) ... occasionally I'll speed up a video when showing FMC programming and/or flight prep to reduce overall time and file size.  I don't do any 1/2 or 1/4 speed sim rate tricks or any color adjustments or other FXs ... I keep it as close to as what you see is what you get and provide information titles that might be helpful.

 

Nothing negative about those that use the 1/2 or 1/4 speed tricks to make movies or product demos, they're just trying to present best possible video even if not representative of reality (that's just standard movie making practice).  I've certainly seen many really nice videos but it's obvious they've been adjusted and some I know probably took considerable effort because they must have OOM'd every 2-3 minutes given the detail settings with the add-ons presented.  So word of caution is good, but that's true with anything you see on the internet ... use multiple different sources for the decision making process.

 

Cheers, Rob.

I think I made up my mind and go for the Asus Strix GTX 970. It seems to perform very well and when not under load it uses passive cooling. I might try to squeeze another 200 Mhz out of my CPU so it has a nice 1Ghz OC. Although my CPU already has a stable 23% faster clock then designed.

 

 

 

Asus Strix GTX 970

 

That's the brand I'm using in my other PC.  As for CPU OC, P3D seems to respond well to a higher BCLK (even if the final CPU ratio is lower) ... -- I'm at 125Mhz BCLK.

 

Cheers, Rob.

wait, I'm kinda lost in thsi thread, what are the "best" settings (to start with, obviously) for hdr?

I kinda get lost, hahah