Simple HDR for Starfield (Reshade HDR preset for Windows 11 Auto HDR)
This is my first ever mod that I’ve decided to publish on this website (please scroll down to what it is section if you don’t want to hear my introduction.)
I originally developed it for Skyrim to provide a simple HDR solution to the game that works well across platforms that are performance-friendly and don’t require any additional preset other than the Reshade itself. While I am still doing a bit of a test for Skyrim, it seems to work shockingly well for Starfield, so I’ve decided to just share it with the community for those with an HDR display but can’t enjoy their hardware at its full potential.
As mentioned in the brief overview, this mod aims to provide a simple yet effective HDR solution, that works across every version of the game, be it Steam or Game Pass, while stay as true to Bethesda original presentation as possible. This is still a work in progress as I can’t test it on every area of the game just yet but it looks very good at least in the early section of the game such as New Atlantis and Old Mars.
Further details down below
*Noted that that not all of the picture are from my latest version of this mod. It’s just to give you the basic idea, I’ll upload the updated version soon later on.
What it is
This mod is a Reshade preset that relies on nothing but Windows 11 auto HDR to provide HDR tone mapping and fix issues such as black raised and washed-out colours. Its only dependencies are Reshade and Windows 11, no SFSE, no ini tweak, nothing. And thus, will work on every version of the game that can use Reshade, (and yes that includes Game Pass, which is in fact, the version of the game I am basing it on.) It is also very performance-friendly as it only adjusts 3 basic effects for midtone, shadow, and highlight adjustment in Reshade, and should work right out of the box without any additional Reshade addons.
Why use it over something else like Natural Lut?
While Natural Lut is also a simple and very effective HDR solution that works on the Game Pass version of the game, it also comes at the cost of removing the original filters used by Bethesda and deviating a bit too much from the artistic intent (at least for me.)
This mod aims to preserve everything Bethesda had originally made for the game, including the atmospheric filter and colour grading. It only touched on the contrast and exposure that make the game’s original presentation look washed out and grey in the areas that are supposed to be black.
There are two versions of this mod to choose from
1. SF Simple HDR Simpler – prioritise preserving the original presentation, fix HDR contrast and black floor but don’t go out of its way to make everything overly contrasty. Suitable for most HDR displays (although it is graded on LG C2 OLED.)
2. SF Simple HDR Darker – prioritise deep black and shadow. May deviate more from the artistic intent (I did not touch the colour grading but colours may pop a little more than they should have compared to vanilla.) This version is graded specifically for OLED where you would want to see a lot of deep black shadow (might also work on very high-end LCD)
How to install
1. Download and install Reshade (Home (reshade.me)) install all of the effects.
2. Enable Windows 11 Auto HDR (right click on your desktop background, select Display setting, select use HDR, then check Auto HDR to On)
3. Download the mod, put it in the game Reshade folder (or the location of your choice), then browse and enable it as with any Reshade preset. Alternatively, you can also browse it while installing Reshade (the Reshade installer should give you an option during the install process)
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