Gamma incorrect in Windows 10

Kain

Kain

Well-known member
Rage3D Subscriber
I don't know what is causing this but it could be one of the March updates for Windows 10 as I don't recall this happening before that timeframe. Basically, gamma and/or brightness seems off in Windows 10 now. For example, in Apex Legends while in the Firing Range, the place you spawn in is a cave and supposed to be dark and hard to see. Yet I can see everything clearly. I have attached a screenshot. You are not supposed to be able to see the walls and the end of the cave like this.

LAcknS5.jpeg


I haven't changing any setting related to brightness and/or gamma in Windows 10 or on my monitor.

And it's not just Apex Legends (the only game I've tried so far) as even just using Windows 10 everything seems to have a slightly elevated brightness.

Any ideas? I tried rolling back my NVIDIA drivers and it made no difference.
 
Maybe try changing the "output dynamic range" setting within the Nvidia control panel "change resolution" tab?
 
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It was on the NVIDIA default setting of "Full". I tried changing it to "Limited" and my black wallpaper turned gray. Put it back to "Full".

By the way, I have Discord on my PC and iPhone. When I open Discord on both, the gray colored areas of the Discord app are much brighter on my PC compared to my iPhone. They used to be the same tint/color.

Also, it seems the rest of the colors are still fine. It just that grays are elevated in brightness and not as "deep". Basically, gray colors seem light gray now.
 
Not sure if this matters, but I did shift my PC to another room about a week ago. Settings and cable hook-ups are same though.
 
Kain said:
Not sure if this matters, but I did shift my PC to another room about a week ago. Settings and cable hook-ups are same though.
Click to expand...

It could matter. Does your monitor use ambient light to determine gamma, brightness, etc? There should be a setting in the OSD to turn that off.
 
Kain said:
Pretty sure my monitor doesn't have any such sensor.
Click to expand...

If not, the only other things I can suggest are:

1. Set Text/Display scaling to 100% in the Win 10 control panel. See if that helps. Settings above 100% have been known to mess with gamma. Also make sure the correct refresh rate is being used.

2. Confirm that Windows is using your 'official' monitor driver rather than the generic PnP driver.

3. Reinstall the nvidia driver using the "clean installation" option. It will remove any custom profiles, but it might help if something became corrupted.

4. Is HDR turned on? Either in Windows or in the monitor settings?

That's all I've got. If none of that works, see if you can try a different monitor, or try your monitor on a different computer. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Good luck!
 
1. Already at 100%.

2. Using official monitor driver. I uninstalled and reinstalled it as well.

3. Tried reinstalling NVIDA drivers multiple times as well as different versions.

4. My monitor doesn't support HDR.

By the way, I did try another GPU (a GTX 1060) and still had the same results.

Also, I wonder if this is caused by some SDR/HDR mess up in Windows 10? My monitor doesn't support HDR. Right now, blacks are blacks like they should be. But the other colors, especially grays have elevated brightness. It's like there is a lack of "depth" in picture in certain conditions. It's not really noticeable unless you know what to look for (like my screenshot in the first post). If you look at how the cave in the Firing Range looks like in Apex Legends in YouTube videos or screenshots, it is completely dark and hard to see inside. Yet my screenshot shows I can see all the way to the back of the cave.
 
I just checked my brother's PC and we both confirmed the issue is happening on his PC as well. Even on his lock screen (which he hasn't changed in forever), there is elevated brightness on the dark areas of the screen. We can even see banding that was not there before in the dark areas of the screen due to the increased brightness. Seems like it is an issue caused by some previous Windows update. Guess I'll just stop trying to fix it and wait to see if Microsoft fixes the issue in a future update.

Edit: There is also a massive difference in the way the grays of Discord look on our PCs vs. our phones. The gray colors of Discord on our PCs are way brighter where previously there were quite similar to how they look on our phones.
 
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I have over 500 hours in Apex and can clearly remember what that cave looked like before. Yes, my NVIDIA dynamic range is set to "full". It's not just elevated black/gray levels but colors seem weirdly off as well, as if I am using a cheap monitor with poor color accuracy.

Have a look at the following video (one of many on YouTube). Watch from 0:45 and see how dark the cave is. He even mentions trying to use something to get a light source in there to see what you are doing.

[yt]IO0VagxRnVQ[/yt]
 
I look screenshots of Discord on my PC and iPhone. The difference may not look like much but notice how I have selected the "Rules" category and how the small gray rectangle highlighting the "Rules" category name is brighter on PC. Also, the difference is a lot bigger in real life.

PC:

smYwR2A.jpg


iPhone:

Kg3jWOY.png
 
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I don't know what else to suggest. Maybe play with the gamma/brightness settings in Windows and in each game until it doesn't bother you as much.
 
Assuming this is still the PG279Q? First thing - Reset to Factory Defaults on the monitor.

Could you please download this ICC profile - https://www.rtings.com/images/reviews/monitor/asus/rog-pg279q/rog-pg279q-rtings-icc-profile.icm

Guide on how to set ICC profiles:

https://www.displayninja.com/how-to-install-an-icc-profile-on-windows-10/

Also, go into NVCP -> Adjust Desktop Color Settings -> CHECK the "OVERRIDE TO REFERENCE MODE" box

BTW, comparing your (somewhat old) IPS LED panel to an iPhone running an AMOLED or OLED screen is not comparable - I understand what you mean, but it's not exactly a 1:1 comparison, and not one to base whether your monitor is accurately displaying the image it should.

Another idea, since it seems this happened after you moved the monitor, is a loose cable. Try flipping the DisplayPort cable (the side you have connected to the GPU, put that on the monitor) I highly doubt this does anything, but it could be (low chance, imo) a cable/signal integrity issue.
 
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My iPhone is an iPhone 6s (which has an LCD screen).

I am and have always been using the settings and ICC profile from TFT Central: http://tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/asus_rog_swift_pg279q.htm#calibration

Also, the screen shouldn't matter in my screenshots above since they are taken by what the OS "sees" and not what the screen sees.

Also, the same thing is happening on my brother's PC.

It is also not just brightness/gray levels that seem off but color accuracy too. Hard to notice unless you know what to look for.

Already tried pretty much everything so I guess I'll just wait and see if some future Windows update and/or some NVIDIA driver fixes the issue. If you search Google, you'll get quite a few results with people stating that color accuracy and/or brightness seem off after a Windows update (but they are from couple years ago).
 
Did you try the ICC profile I linked?

I'm assuming you've also tried the "OVERRIDE TO REFERENCE MODE" that I mentioned as well?
 
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