PC Have Dtg Considered This Alternative Tonemapper Option?

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by londonmidland, Mar 3, 2022.

  1. londonmidland

    londonmidland Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2017
    Messages:
    3,423
    Likes Received:
    18,133
    So for the past few days, I've been playing around with a few UE4 settings and found an interesting one.

    I found a setting called 'r.ToneMapperFilm' This affects the lighting, contrast and colour of the game.

    By default it is set to r.ToneMapperFilm 1. The top image shows this in action. The bottom image shows this set to r.ToneMapperFilm 0.

    What I found interesting is that the latter looks a lot more colour accurate to me, as well as brings out the detail of the sky.

    I believe this also has ZERO performance impacts - as its simply colour and lighting related corrections.

    Notice how the 314 front is no longer yellowish-green looking and now has a warmer orange tinge to it, as per real life. Also notice how the backlit light of the 314 destination display is now actually visible compared to before.

    I also found that it helps brighten up darker areas, as well as brings about the details of things.

    Some comparisons below - with the top image being the default and the bottom image being the alternative option.
    Comparison.png

    Next, a comparison with the 465:
    Comparison 1.png

    Once again, notice the colour accuracies. Top has a yellowish-green tinge to it and the bottom has the accurate orange look to it. More importantly, notice how much more noticeable dirt details are, both on the front of the roof and at the bottom of the train.

    Comparison 2.png Comparison 3.png
    Comparison 4.png
     
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2022
    • Like Like x 17
  2. WaveyDavey

    WaveyDavey Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 31, 2020
    Messages:
    891
    Likes Received:
    1,348
    Should there not be an = before the 0 or 1? Or is it indeed a space? (Just going on all the other .ini adjustments I have).
     
  3. londonmidland

    londonmidland Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2017
    Messages:
    3,423
    Likes Received:
    18,133
    Ah yes. I apply it in Unreal Engine Unlocker, so it doesn’t require an =

    However, if you’re adding it to your ini, add the =
     
    • Like Like x 1
  4. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 20, 2020
    Messages:
    11,730
    Likes Received:
    17,942
    Thanks for that one- I had neutralized virtually all of the UE color-and-lighting "improvements" which instead simply make things look worse, but I didn't know about that one.
     
  5. londonmidland

    londonmidland Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2017
    Messages:
    3,423
    Likes Received:
    18,133
    By default, for some reason, TSW’s colour and lighting looks really off. This command, in my opinion, fixes that and makes things look a lot better.
     
  6. londonmidland

    londonmidland Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2017
    Messages:
    3,423
    Likes Received:
    18,133
    A small example here - two different tones of green for the LED signals. Left is default and right is with the command.

    The one on the right is much more colour accurate.

    E5A8D936-8D28-45B1-AF47-22D1DE92F2D5.jpeg
     
  7. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 20, 2020
    Messages:
    11,730
    Likes Received:
    17,942
    It seems that whoever wrote the Tonemapper Film filter decided that film always fades and washes out colors.
     
  8. Sharon E

    Sharon E Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 9, 2016
    Messages:
    1,367
    Likes Received:
    1,498
    Don't usually do mods to the engine.ini, but will give this one a try.

    Just ran a bit of LBM in a 387 and, to my old eyes, the colours do look better.
     
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2022
  9. Dinosbacsi

    Dinosbacsi Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 20, 2017
    Messages:
    3,312
    Likes Received:
    8,665
    Hmm. Tried it out, but I got the exact opposite results on Boston Sprinter.With "r.ToneMapperFilm=0" things look worse. Sure, the sky is more blue, but everything else looks more washed out with less contrast.

    You can see the difference for me here. Screenshot without HUD is the original, the bottom ones with HUD are with "r.ToneMapperFilm=0".
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Again, top one is original, bottom one is with the new setting.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    The sky looks good, but everything else is worse.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  10. roysto25

    roysto25 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 1, 2019
    Messages:
    246
    Likes Received:
    290
    On first try, I agree that it looks like a contrast lowering filter is slightly overdone, but I find it preferable to the original. Does the setting have to be integer, or can one use, say, =0.5?
     
  11. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 20, 2020
    Messages:
    11,730
    Likes Received:
    17,942
    I'm pretty sure all the "Film" commands are binary, on/off.
     
  12. stujoy

    stujoy Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 29, 2019
    Messages:
    6,475
    Likes Received:
    17,339
    Isn’t it the other way round? It is a film filter that is on by default and increases the contrast too much amongst other effects on the colour and setting it to 0 turns it off and makes everything look more natural.
    That’s the same result as LM got though. Thinking it looks worse will just be your preference for the filter being on as it is by default.

    I’m wondering if it’s one of those things that will make some things look better and others look worse to different people and the difference will be how people like it to be. High contrast always seems to mean less detail in shadow areas, so my preference would always be for slightly lower contrast to keep those details and more vibrant colours. It’s a shame I can’t use it being on console but I think it is an improvement in all the examples shown and shadow areas are nearly always too dark in TSW.
     
    • Like Like x 2
  13. chieflongshin

    chieflongshin Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 4, 2019
    Messages:
    4,369
    Likes Received:
    7,214
    It would be good to make it more realistic. My monitor is colour calibrated and TSW always looks like a cartoon
     
  14. londonmidland

    londonmidland Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2017
    Messages:
    3,423
    Likes Received:
    18,133
    By default it seems like TSW almost has a ‘film/movie’ effect enabled to it, by neutralising the colours and shadows being too dark.

    In simplified terms, this change pretty much changes it from the ‘film look’ and makes it look a bit more like a game, by adding vibrance to colours and reducing the ‘dramatic’ dark look TSW has to it.
     
    • Like Like x 3
  15. londonmidland

    londonmidland Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2017
    Messages:
    3,423
    Likes Received:
    18,133
    Dinosbacsi Bear in mind if you're playing on an older TSW 1 route or a route which has a lot of bloom by default, it'll have a negative effect. This is more for TSW 2 routes, which are generally a lot darker looking by default.
     
  16. Dinosbacsi

    Dinosbacsi Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 20, 2017
    Messages:
    3,312
    Likes Received:
    8,665
    Umm, no? My screenshots are from Boston Sprinter, which is a TSW2 release from last year.
     
  17. londonmidland

    londonmidland Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2017
    Messages:
    3,423
    Likes Received:
    18,133
    Another comparison - top being the default and the bottom one altered. It's clear by default, there is a 'film' filter being applied. Notice how the shadows are a lot more darker, with the colours neutralised.

    Comp 3..png
     
  18. londonmidland

    londonmidland Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2017
    Messages:
    3,423
    Likes Received:
    18,133
    Another comparison sees a comparison of the headlight output of the Class 387 in a tunnel. As you can see, the top (default) doesn't illuminate light in the tunnel all too well, however, the bottom image shows the tunnel walls quite a lot more well lit.
    Headlight.png
     
    • Like Like x 3
  19. DominusEdwardius

    DominusEdwardius Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 8, 2016
    Messages:
    252
    Likes Received:
    361
  20. Callum B.

    Callum B. Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 9, 2018
    Messages:
    1,638
    Likes Received:
    2,844
    You very well could do that by reducing your other Engine.ini settings. You have been obsessed with making everything look really (unrealistically, imo) dark and contrasted, and this command tells the game to switch to a tonemapper which decreases the overall contrast. It's unnecessary and probably why others aren't finding the same results as you, because your baseline is already so dark.

    Cheers
     
    • Like Like x 1

Share This Page