HDR Bloom Mod Released

[KagePrototype]

Studio Radi-8, the team behind the Neotokyo Mod, have released a "mini-mod" which lets you play through Half-Life 2 singleplayer with a High-Definition Lighting (HDR) effect added. HDR Lighting is a way of rendering levels of brightness far higher than usual, so it generates an effect similar to staring at a very bright light in a dark room. Put simply, it makes the lighting look better and more realistic.

[br]Here is a before and after example of the effect this mod has on the lighting, as well as an additional screenshot:[br]

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[br]The effect is rather subtle, but it becomes more obvious when in motion. To download the mod, visit the mod's official website. Visit this thread for more screenshots. In order to play this mod, your video card must be able to support Pixel/Vertex Shaders 2.0.

 

[Some_God]

Stupid GeForce 4.... I wish I could use this. HL2 lacks any real replay value.

 

[Varsity]

I think I'll wait for the real deal.

 

[ktimekiller]

looks nice, but looks laggy

 

[Axyon]

looks nice, but looks laggy

I get no slowdown whatsoever, it's suprisingly light on the FPS hit.

 

[SilentKilla]

Sweet, this is pretty nifty!

 

[SimonomiS]

If only I had a good graphics card. Shame this mod will be all but useless when/if the official one comes out.

 

[§amW]

I think I'll wait for the real deal.

isn't valve's bloom minimod only come with a set of maps and is not applied to the half life 2 single player game?

 

[simmo]

heh, loading times are 3x my normal loading time :O, but hardly a FPS hit at all

 

[Pericolos0]

does this work in dx8?

 

[GonzoBabbleshit]

HL2 lacks any real replay value.

I'm playing through again and it's much better than first time! Could be due to the huuuge PC upgrade though.

does this work in dx8?

no

I'm not too keen on this actually. Some of the lighting seems a bit over the top. and it changed all my controls to really weird things!

 

[The Dark Elf]

I get no slowdown whatsoever, it's suprisingly light on the FPS hit.

same here, no extra slowdown.. infact i even had settings higher than i normally would and it still played fine. Looks great and really makes a difference.

 

[Sainku]

Some screenshots from the first levels for those of you who cant play it. Taken with 9600 pro. No extreme framerate drops.

 

[Funky Munky]

Those screens look amazing. Downloading now for my 9600XT.

 

[ray_MAN]

heh, loading times are 3x my normal loading time :O

I was going to download this, but you just changed my mind. The HL2 loading time is about 2.5-3 minutes for me... And I have a pretty fast computer.

 

[Anable]

Ya that statement worried me as well but I need a reason to play through HL2 again.

 

[SystemShock2]

does it work for dm2 and cs source too?

 

[clarky003]

for anyone interested in increasing the effect, (I believe its included in the .txt file that comes with it)

just type this into the console followed by a number: mat_R8BloomLvl (Default: 0.55) , e.g:

this is set at mat_R8BloomLvl 2

gamma adjustment command is: mat_R8BloomGamma (Default: 0.75)

so you can customise it to your fancy

 

[Ames]

does it work for dm2 and cs source too?

Nope.

Only HL2 single-player..unless I'm somehow wrong.....>_>

 

[KU_]

It seemed to slow down my load times, but thats it. Looks pretty good!

 

[Cypher19]

It doesn't triple the load times, what are you banging about?

Anyways, I find the difference is marginal at best, partially because
1) HL2's environments are designed for non-HDR situations
2) Exposure adjustment isn't applied to the tone mapping (read: you don't have simulated pupil dilation)
and 3) The bloom itself isn't the highest quality in the world.

Oh, and I'd recommend setting mat_R8BloomGamma to 1 as I feel the game looks better with a higher contrast.

 

[ThrasherX9]

Hmmm... is there a way to disable or uninstall it just in case you don't like it or it does something weird to your game?

I just got a 6600GT though, so I'll have fun with this

 

[KagePrototype]

Hmmm... is there a way to disable or uninstall it just in case you don't like it or it does something weird to your game?

I just got a 6600GT though, so I'll have fun with this

It's listed under third party mods, so does nothing to the actual game itself. Think of it as being added on top of the existing game, rather than changing the game.

 

[Valve_Assassin]

I have to say I hope the official release is better than this. I appreciate the effort of releasing this, but I just don't like it. Everything outside looks all washed out, and everything inside has lost the carefully implemented lighting contrast. The lighting that looked so alien in the prison has lost all the aspects that made it so striking.

It is a pretty light FPS hit, but it looks like Source is compensating by scaling things down at a closer distance. I could be mistaken but it seemed more noticable than without the bloom.

 

[WhiteZero]

High-Definition Lighting (HDR)

You mean High Dynamic Range Lighting, right?
:rolling:

 

[Zeus]

heh, loading times are 3x my normal loading time :O, but hardly a FPS hit at all

did you go into your hl2/maps directory, copy the soundcache into the HDR mod's map directory (if theres not one make one), and then try it?

 

[Lemonking]

will this work witha 6800?

 

[deekey777]

will this work witha 6800?

Yes, of course. :E

If it ist too brightly for you, set mat_R8BloomGamma (Default: 0.75) at 1.00 (a little bit darker, but better).


Nice modification.

 

[63]

I don't think it looks good...

For the record, I never onced expressed any interests in HDR.

 

[The Dark Elf]

I don't believe this, people have been banging on about wanting this for well probably years I bet. We finally get one that some guys put together, with no help, and people moan about it. Yeah its not perfect but it LOOKS GOOD. If you don't like it don't use it, simple fix eh

I'll put money on people

a) complaining those ATI maps are incredibly slow for them

b) that they don't like Valve's proper HDR effects when they do them neither.

c) complain about the Alyx expansion cause its not exactly what they thought it would be.

 

[{Neoblade} 111]

I don't believe this, people have been banging on about wanting this for well probably years I bet. We finally get one that some guys put together, with no help, and people moan about it. Yeah its not perfect but it LOOKS GOOD. If you don't like it don't use it, simple fix eh

I'll put money on people

a) complaining those ATI maps are incredibly slow for them

b) that they don't like Valve's proper HDR effects when they do them neither.

c) complain about the Alyx expansion cause its not exactly what they thought it would be.

I heard that the alyx expansion is fake.

 

[Lemonking]

I heard that the alyx expansion is fake.

no it isnt
they just dont want to talk about it :O

 

[The Dark Elf]

I heard that the alyx expansion is fake.

I wouldn't know either way other than Valve did say once "probably", so I guess we'll have to wait and see. Be interesting if they do.

But its besides the point, first all I see are tons of complaining about DOD:S and then about this, its just becoming really annoying and I'm wondering why anyone even bothers anymore, obviously all these critics who sit and complain about everything can do better lol

 

[Dumb Dude]

This mod does not work for me. I don't know why it wouldn't. I have a 6600gt and the rthdribl program works fine for me, so compatability isn't a problem. I just get the normal HL2 lighting and I even tried to up the Bloom Level, and nothing.

 

[Anthraxxx]

can we get any before and after shots?

 

[GonzoBabbleshit]

can we get any before and after shots?

there are some on the first post for ****s sake!

 

[Alix Mcdean]

W00t! DD

I'm extra happy about this.

While it doesnt look perfect, holy hell does it look BETTER
I'll take it over nothing at all though.

-Alix

 

[Dumb Dude]

It doesn't work for me, its getting kinda frustrating because it also takes really long to load.

I get this in the cosole:

Game started
Initializing renderer...
ShaderAPIDX8::CreateD3DTexture: Invalid color format!
ShaderAPIDX8::CreateD3DTexture: Invalid color format!

And I'm running in DX9.

 

[Grey]

Dumb Dude what video card? Edit nm I see you mentioned it up above. Thats def. a weird error, and first I've seen mentioned of it. Send me your computer and I'll do some more testing .

 

[Dumb Dude]

I said it in the post #34. Its a 6600gt AGP.