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CONTROL - HDR+Ultrawide+DLSS+RT Patch


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About This File

Do not ask for DLSS 3.5 or FSR 3 please.

 

Version 1.5.1 is up. It fixes the hiss/smoke effect on enemies being too bright in HDR.
Version 1.5 is up. It improves the DLSS implementation, improves the quality of shadow and fixes the buggy/noisy ray tracing reflections that are also present in the vanilla game.
Version 1.4 is up. It improves the UI look in HDR and implements the HDR mode that retains the original game look. It improves texture LODs with DLSS. It restores film grain with DLSS and makes it more pronounced. And many other relevant changes.
Version 1.3 is up. It adds a new HDR mode to retain the original hazy look more, keeping it closer to the original artistic vision. It also slightly improves a few other things with the HDR.
Version 1.2.1 is up. It improves the game to screen tonemapping (the highlights were a bit more compressed than they should have been). If you already had the mod installed, make sure to open the "renderer.ini" and change "m_fHDRWhitePaperNits" to 200. Performance is also improved.
Version 1.2 is up. The game is now built with the DLSS 3.1.1 SDK, and uses the new DLSS presets to further increase the quality (and reduce ghosting) (this is NOT frame generation). There are also some minor tonemapping and menus improvements.

This patch adds native HDR and lot more to Control, making it a little bit of a technical remaster. It was achieved by rebuilding the game with modified code and shaders.
This is built on top of my previous Ultrawide fix patch.

Compared to the latest official release version (0.0.344.1879), these are the improvements:

  • Native HDR (gets rid of color banding, greater contrast and brighter highlights, more natural colors).
  • Improved quality of SDR output (10bit->no more color banding, slightly better dynamic range).
  • Upgraded DLSS to 3.1.30 and improved its implementation (it's also now compatible with FSR 2.X injection).
  • Added DLAA support (DLSS at native resolution).
  • Added a new "Max" texture setting to improve the slow texture streaming (min 8GB+ VRAM, 10GB+ are recommended).
  • Added a new setting to use 3x as samples for ray tracing and volumetrics, increasing the quality and reducing noise (this is VERY expensive).
  • Fixed broken ray tracing reflections.
  • Fixed low shadow quality when ray tracing was on.
  • Full UltraWide support: unlock any resolution and aspect ratio, including 32:9+.
  • Some FOV and LOD fixes for UW. Fixed UI issues at non 16:9 aspect ratios (e.g. enemies health bars were displaced).
  • Added a FOV Multiplier config setting `m_fFOVMultiplier` (the game and UI are designed for the default FOV, so only use for accessibility reasons).
  • Add a config to skip the intro video `m_bSkipIntroVideos`.
  • Improved window+borderless+fullscreen management.
  • Fixed the game not launching correctly on non Nvidia non AMD GPUs (e.g. Intel Arc).
  • Restored film grain with DLSS. Tweaked the film grain implementation.
  • Minor crash fixes, bug fixes and features.

How does it work:

  1. Download your version of the patch (Steam, Epic Store, No DRM/GOG).
  2. Copy (with replace) all the files inside the Control install folder.
  3. Open the DX12 version of the game.
  4. You can turn on HDR either from Windows or from the game (on by default).
  5. The game will read the Windows 11 HDR calibration profile (app) and match its tonemapping to your screen capabilities.
    Otherwise see the guide below to calibrate HDR.
  6. Using HGiG is suggested if your TV supports it (monitors usually default to HGiG).
  7. In the game settings, there are multiple HDR settings to tailor the image to your liking, though know that the HDR is already pre-calibrated to roughly match the SDR brightness.

Further details:

  • You can swap between HDR and SDR from the game or Windows at any time. The game automatically changes.
  • Further HDR settings are avaiable in the "renderer.ini" file (after running the game once).
  • config "m_fHDRMaxNitsOverride": If you are incapable of creating an HDR calibration profile (e.g. Windows 10), set this to the nits max nits your screen supports (e.g. ~750 for LG CX).
    The game supports any value there, though if your screen maxes out at only 400 nits, you might want to compare HDR and SDR and play whichever looks best.
  • config "m_fHDRRaisedBlacksCorrection" (also exposed to settings menu): This makes the color correction LUT output black as black (instead of grey, depending on where you are).
  • config "m_fHDRSaturation" (also exposed to settings menu): This artificially generates colors in the Rec.2020 space from the game internal Rec.709 image. Anything that is bright and saturated will shift to colors that don't exist in SDR. This makes the game look more saturated, though it could also make it feel more "HDR". Unreal Engine uses a similar technique.
  • The HDR implementation skips the Reinhard tonemapper the game used in SDR. In my opinion it made the image look overly flat, which was a choice dictated by the limitations of SDR. Removing it allows to take full advantage of HDR, by outputting an image with a much greater level of contrast, and without disadvantages to visibility.
  • If you prefer the original look, enable "HDR Original Look" in the settings menu, which is somewhere in between the SDR tonemapper and my HDR one.
    Disabling the tonemapper in SDR is not the intent of this mod, so it will not be done.
    You can further customize the og look mode by changing the "m_fHDRArtDirectorWhitePoint" config. Set it to a value of 8 to have it as strong as it was in SDR.
  • Note that a very tiny amount of scenes (e.g. the game opening and the furnace), can look a little unbalanced in HDR due to overly strong lights or strong color correction. Use the "HDR Original Look" if this a problem for you.
  • You can set "m_fSDRCustomGamma" to any value > 0 to set a specific gamma, for example if you use a TV instead of a monitor, 2.2 would likely be the best choice.
  • The performance impact from the new code should be within the 1-4% range when running in HDR, and lower running in SDR.
  • HDR is only supported on the DX12 executable.
  • There is no patch for the Microsoft Store version of the game.
  • If for some reasons you need to swap save files between game versions from different stores, you can find the directories here. You might also have to rename the internal save directory, e.g. from `Default-Generic-User` to `Default-Epic-User`.
  • This should work both on the Ultimate Edition and the older standard version that had separate DLCs. The DLC ownership might not be mutually compatible.
  • The save game files are mutually compatible with the official last version fo the game (v0.0.344.1879).
  • PS4 exclusive content is still locked and I will not unlock it. Do not ask please.
  • You can generally change graphics settings at runtime, but don't report problems unless you restart the game.
  • The new UI options miss localization, so they will always show in English.
  • My "Max" texture setting might not be as aggressive as the "Blurry textures fix" mod that was already out there, though it's more safe and stable, performance wise.
    All textures now load immediately, the only exception being a couple of small paintings around the game.
  • I got report that mods like the "Plugin Loader" do not play well with this one. I have contacted the author to hopefully fix the issue.
  • There is no plan to implement DLSS 3 Frame Generation at this time. Please do not ask.

Rare game bug likely not related to this patch:

  • Very rarely, the videos in the background of loading screens seem to get stuck. I haven't been able to reproduce this reliably, but it probably also happens in the the vanilla game.
  • Rarely, after long sessions, if ray tracing GI is enabled, the game renders in black until restarted. This also happens in the vanilla game.
  • Occasionally non ray traced reflections can shimmer. This also happens in the the vanilla game. Doing a fast travel fixes it.
  • 8k resolutuon might not work right (untested).
  • If pre-rendered videos show tearing on RTX 4090 GPUs, disable re-bar.

How to report any potential issues:

  1. Do not start with the assumption that the mod broken, it's been tested a lot. Verify all potential issues from your end first.
  2. Do a fresh install of the latest vanilla game version.
  3. Delete your renderer.ini settings file.
  4. Make sure the issue does NOT happen on the vanilla game. This patch does not aim to fix the bugs of the original game (nor to optimize it), so do not report them please.
  5. Re-apply the latest version of the patch, from the matching store, and override all the files.
  6. If all the above fail, leave a comment on this page.

How does this compare to AutoHDR: AutoHDR is just a post process so it doesn't add any detail. Specifically in Control it makes bright lights and the UI too bright.
How does this compare to SpecialK HDR: SpecialK can increase the rendering buffers depth, thus increasing the amount of color shades the game can output (less banding), but it can't extract any brightness beyond what the SDR tonemapper clamped the game to, so it's mostly still a SDR image with more precision.

Given HDR screenshots can't be seen in browsers, I've uploaded a collection of them. There are SDR .png alongside their HDR .jxr counterpart.
Use the "HDR Image Viewer" app to see them (use this code branch if the app crashes).

Discord community: https://discord.gg/R2Bt3uptw6

Virus Scan

you can Buy me a coffee or PayPal
Thanks: `KoKlusz` `Lilium` `PennyFortnite player420yolo` `Darktalon` `Aemony` `mrtnptrs` and `Alex Battaglia` for the help with testing and feedback.

HDR videos:

more HDR videos here (4K) and here (low bit rate, potentially slightly wrong colors due to the capture).

Control 2022-12-05 19_45_28.png

Control HDR Screenshots.7z

Control_DX12_AQFd0vjSW9.png

DLSS improvements between patch 1.3 and 1.4 with Ultra Performance mode:
image.thumb.png.ed7fe1276377025c7af3cd1c5f3499ce.png


What's New in Version 1.5.1   See changelog

Released

  • Fixes hiss (smoke) effect around enemies being too bright in HDR (it was broken in 1.3).




User Feedback

Recommended Comments



Would just like to congratulate Filippo and all those at Remedy on bringing the rights to Control back under Remedy's roof. Perhaps this can be official rather than a mod some day!

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On 3/18/2024 at 10:48 AM, earthplayer said:

Xbox Game Pass version works flawlessly without issue. We don't need an update. Use the "no DRM" version in the OP and then start the Control_DX12.exe and everything should work fine. (simply create a shortcut for the DX12 executable for easy access) Don't start the game with your game pass shortcut as this will open the dx11 version without the modifications. Use the shortcut you created for the Control_DX12.exe instead! If the game doesn't start then you forgot to be logged in to your xbox app (it must be open / running in the background just like any other game pass game). You can see that it works by checking the settings. If "Max" is there as a setting for textures then the mod is working. 🙂

Unfortunatly it's seems like the achievements doesn't unlock in the Xbox PC App 😕

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On 3/21/2024 at 9:02 PM, sauronemx338 said:

Unfortunatly it's seems like the achievements doesn't unlock in the Xbox PC App 😕

Didn't notice. You are right about that one. They gladly don't really add anything to Control though. (unlike some other games where the achievements have good jokes, give some more insight/knowledge about the world or are integrated even deeper into the game for lore or gameplay purposes)

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AwE can bug out on the gamepass version while using this. I used a different save from someone on reddit who played everything except the DLCs which worked fine. I think this issue might not be exclusive to the gamepass version and can could happen in any version of the game if the "owns the DLC" flag is not set correctly for your save when using this mod. I still highly recommend this mod but just wanted to give a heads up that you might have to use a save from someone else after you finished the game to play the DLCs. (probably the same issue which screws up the achievements not working.

I used this save.

Look for this destination in your file explorer: %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Remedy\Control\Default-Generic-User

The main save is savegame-slot-00 - the file names of the the save file above need to be changed to work with the gamepass version but this is really simple. If the filename ends with expedition you rename it to expedition.chunk - do this with all files and then drag them into the  savegame-slot-00 folder and overwrite everything. Start AwE by walking towards the elevator. Start Foundation by going to the huge door inside the quarry which used to be locked before. (you might have to visit the hotline to talk to the board first if the door is still closed)

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Sadly cannot play with this mod.

On windows 11 using the steam version, everything at max 1440, besides a few RT options (the bottom 2 i believe). performance is pretty decent and I'm not using HDR. But the game often freezes, which would be fine on it's own. but it caused a total freeze for my pc 3 times now. This doesn't happen without the patch.

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On 4/10/2024 at 9:47 AM, Harumu said:

Sadly cannot play with this mod.

On windows 11 using the steam version, everything at max 1440, besides a few RT options (the bottom 2 i believe). performance is pretty decent and I'm not using HDR. But the game often freezes, which would be fine on it's own. but it caused a total freeze for my pc 3 times now. This doesn't happen without the patch.

Are you running the game with any mods also, besides the HDR mod may I ask?

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Hi everyone, I'm still having issues with loading textures (laptop ryzen 7 + rtz 4060), settings texture on max. Any help?

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On 10/11/2024 at 7:46 AM, Zibbibbo said:

Hi everyone, I'm still having issues with loading textures (laptop ryzen 7 + rtz 4060), settings texture on max. Any help?

You GPU just like mine doesn't have enough VRAM for having 0 noticable texture load ins. But this mod makes the loading "more aggressive" in my experience which helps a lot with speeding it up and keeping textures loaded longer when you could possibly come back.

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On 4/4/2024 at 10:29 AM, earthplayer said:

AwE can bug out on the gamepass version while using this. I used a different save from someone on reddit who played everything except the DLCs which worked fine. I think this issue might not be exclusive to the gamepass version and can could happen in any version of the game if the "owns the DLC" flag is not set correctly for your save when using this mod. I still highly recommend this mod but just wanted to give a heads up that you might have to use a save from someone else after you finished the game to play the DLCs. (probably the same issue which screws up the achievements not working.

I used this save.

Look for this destination in your file explorer: %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Remedy\Control\Default-Generic-User

The main save is savegame-slot-00 - the file names of the the save file above need to be changed to work with the gamepass version but this is really simple. If the filename ends with expedition you rename it to expedition.chunk - do this with all files and then drag them into the  savegame-slot-00 folder and overwrite everything. Start AwE by walking towards the elevator. Start Foundation by going to the huge door inside the quarry which used to be locked before. (you might have to visit the hotline to talk to the board first if the door is still closed)

I recently (actually in spring this year) finished the game and the DLC and played the DLC without the mod cause I couldn't get them to work together on my copy of the game on steam. I am one of those who owned the game assumed that it was the complete edition based on the name, but found out that it was the version without the DLC, so I bought it on Humble Bundle, but for some reason the game would only allow me to load my save with the mod installed, after I had to remove the mod to be able to access the DLC initially.

Edited by luca_eziothedeadpoet

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On 10/12/2024 at 9:15 AM, luca_eziothedeadpoet said:

You GPU just like mine doesn't have enough VRAM for having 0 noticable texture load ins. But this mod makes the loading "more aggressive" in my experience which helps a lot with speeding it up and keeping textures loaded longer when you could possibly come back.

Thanks for answering, to me it's quite unplayable since everytime i go around texture are always missing and i have to pause the game to often. This makes me drop the game, maybe should i accept the limit of my 4060 and play this game without this mod?

 

 

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Hi I am back with hopefully some hopefully good news for everyone that owns the game on steam but can't access the DLCs after installing this mod.

Why hopefully ? Because my fix COULD be a fix that requires 2 steps, because I also tried the remove game from account and buy again on steam to get the complete edition fix, BUT it didn't work for me when I tried to play my old save with the mod enabled. With the mod enabled the behavior of the game was identical to how it behaved with my previous install before removing the game from my account and rebuying it via steam. I am still mentioning it here cause even tho I can't verify it it could be related to what fixed the issue for me. BUT if some others try this that didn't do the rebuy step then maybe we can crowdsource this part of the solution.

TL;DR for the main fix:
When installing the mod don't install pxfoundation_x64.dll. Or if you already replaced it verify the install with steam and then reinstall the mod without replacing this file.
I can't guarantee if this is a stable solution or if it will cause crashes when using the mod while playing the DLCs or if all the functions work fully. That is something only filoppi can answer or comment on. 

How did I figure this out ?
The game in the modded state only threw an error that my save can't be loaded because the foundation DLC is missing made it pretty clear that the mod or one file in it was breaking the verification for foundation but not the AWE DLC.  Now I started looking at all the DLLs if any of them could be related to the DLC verification and based on the name I assumed that pxfoundation_x64.dll is a DLL that is part of checking your DLC ownership. So after that I verified my steam files and reinstalled the mod but without using the mod provided pxfoundation_x64.dll and I could load my save with the mod active. 

@filoppi As stated earlier I am not sure if this is a reliable or rather stable fix, but if there is nothing your mod needs to touch on the code that makes up that DLL then it might be useful to add this notice to the Nexus Mods page for this mod and maybe a note here OR maybe uploading a version without that DLL. 
Also thanks again for your great work on this mod. I recently upgraded to a 4070Super from my 2080 Super and I wanted to try the very first game that made me fall in love with RT reflections again and the best way for that is to use your mod. And into the ashtray maze I went and it seems I came out of it with a solution.

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On 11/11/2024 at 4:56 PM, luca_eziothedeadpoet said:

Hi I am back with hopefully some hopefully good news for everyone that owns the game on steam but can't access the DLCs after installing this mod.

Why hopefully ? Because my fix COULD be a fix that requires 2 steps, because I also tried the remove game from account and buy again on steam to get the complete edition fix, BUT it didn't work for me when I tried to play my old save with the mod enabled. With the mod enabled the behavior of the game was identical to how it behaved with my previous install before removing the game from my account and rebuying it via steam. I am still mentioning it here cause even tho I can't verify it it could be related to what fixed the issue for me. BUT if some others try this that didn't do the rebuy step then maybe we can crowdsource this part of the solution.

TL;DR for the main fix:
When installing the mod don't install pxfoundation_x64.dll. Or if you already replaced it verify the install with steam and then reinstall the mod without replacing this file.
I can't guarantee if this is a stable solution or if it will cause crashes when using the mod while playing the DLCs or if all the functions work fully. That is something only filoppi can answer or comment on. 

How did I figure this out ?
The game in the modded state only threw an error that my save can't be loaded because the foundation DLC is missing made it pretty clear that the mod or one file in it was breaking the verification for foundation but not the AWE DLC.  Now I started looking at all the DLLs if any of them could be related to the DLC verification and based on the name I assumed that pxfoundation_x64.dll is a DLL that is part of checking your DLC ownership. So after that I verified my steam files and reinstalled the mod but without using the mod provided pxfoundation_x64.dll and I could load my save with the mod active. 

@filoppi As stated earlier I am not sure if this is a reliable or rather stable fix, but if there is nothing your mod needs to touch on the code that makes up that DLL then it might be useful to add this notice to the Nexus Mods page for this mod and maybe a note here OR maybe uploading a version without that DLL. 
Also thanks again for your great work on this mod. I recently upgraded to a 4070Super from my 2080 Super and I wanted to try the very first game that made me fall in love with RT reflections again and the best way for that is to use your mod. And into the ashtray maze I went and it seems I came out of it with a solution.

Not working for me.  Was excited to give this a try as I'm wrestling with this issue right now.  But if things are working for you, my guess is something else addressed the DLC issue.  FWIW, I had the mod installed, I specifically deleted the pxfoundation_x64.dll to guarantee it would be reacquired during a verify.  Verified and then added the MOD files without the pxfoundation_x64.dll.  Same issue trying to load my save.

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