Games with broken HDR

Wastelander121 · October 19, 2020, 1:21am

Have you tried starting a new game without Special K? Could be a mod-related problem. Works fine for me, using global injection and default settings.

aaronth07 · October 19, 2020, 1:23am

Yep i’ve tried that, and it starts fine without Special K enabled.

Wastelander121 · October 19, 2020, 1:28am

Delete the SpecialK.ini to generate a fresh default one and try with these settings.

aaronth07 · October 19, 2020, 1:34am

Hey, that worked, thanks! I believe the issue was most likely the INI settings, I probably had custom settings before the flip model change was made.

Wastelander121 · October 19, 2020, 1:36am

Glad you got it working!

Wastelander121 · October 19, 2020, 10:39am

Murdered: Soul Suspect confirmed working at default settings as of 0.11.1.0. You have to disable full screen mode before adding HDR with Special K. Fullscreen mode only displays the first frame. Borderless windowed mode results in the game minimsing from right to left.

Red Faction Armageddon resets settings and forces full screen mode. Making the game windowed mode causes it to force minimise. Game appears to reset its graphics options on every boot making HDR injection impossible. Doesn’t seem to be a SpecialK bug so the comptibility status is inconclusive.

cancius · October 19, 2020, 10:09pm

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate:

At the startup, if SK is loaded, the RAM occupied reaches my maximum (32 GB), then crashes
I tried starting the game without SK, loading a game in the streets of london, then alt+tab, start SK service, and no crash.
HDR works well, too.

Wastelander121 · October 20, 2020, 9:36am

I’ll remove it from the list as soon as the crashing bug after the Ubisoft logo is fixed. It’s good to know HDR works fine otherwise though.

Edit: Dirt 3 and Just Cause 4 have been removed from the list. Dirt 3 requires 8-bit masters to be active in order to render 3D objects. Just Cause 4 now works correctly using default settings with the latest version of Special K.

Cynicalking · October 21, 2020, 2:20am

COD: Infinite Warfare crashes to desktop when loading the campaign.

Wastelander121 · October 21, 2020, 10:46am

Added, thank you.

Cynicalking · October 22, 2020, 7:13pm

Can anyone re-test Sunset Overdrive with a more recent SpecialK version? Been wanting to purchase it but would like to know if I can add HDR to the game.

Wastelander121 · October 22, 2020, 8:28pm

I’ve tested it with the latest version, same bug as before.

Cynicalking · October 22, 2020, 10:10pm

That’s a shame. Thanks for testing.

Kaldaien · October 22, 2020, 10:47pm

Forwarding my discussion on Arkham Knight

My testing shows crashing can be avoided by setting:

[Window.System]
DontHookWndProc=true

[Steam.Log]
Silent=true

A couple of Denuvo-protected games need that or periodic memory scans they do will abort the game. If more games needed this, it’d be set by default

It’s particularly bad in Arkham Knight because every time you give the game input, it triggers memory checks. I see no evidence to suggest that is a cause of performance problems in the game, but it is definitely a stability problem if you are trying to modify it.

Now… how to explain these necessary changes in the compatibility list I really don’t know? This isn’t inherently problematic to the HDR part of SK, SK in general doesn’t like Arkham Knight anymore due to its DRM.

With that, HDR in Arkham Knight is incredible! I am fairly confident this blows that auto-HDR stuff on Xbox Series X out of the water.

Wastelander121 · October 22, 2020, 10:49pm

Arkham Knight had Denuvo removed on the EGS version. It doesn’t crash every time but the crashes are still there occasionally.

I’ve added a link to your post in the compatibility list just in case anyone’s still using the Steam version though.

Kaldaien · October 22, 2020, 10:58pm

Then I’d wager they didn’t actually remove the anti-tamper code from the EGS version at all. That could explain why there is no performance difference in any test that I am aware of.

This is definitely the same exact memory consistency check that Monster Hunter: World has.

Once you get past the title screens, it stops performing the checks at the same frequency, but you still better disable SteamAPI and Window Proc hooking in Special K or a triggered check will stop the game dead.

Wastelander121 · October 22, 2020, 11:02pm

I can upload the exe to GDrive and send it over if you want to look into it? By all accounts it’s compatible with the Steam version. It’s less stuttery and loads faster but the framerate is pretty much the same otherwise.

Kaldaien · October 22, 2020, 11:05pm

The fact that it uses XInput 9.1.0 is also problematic, that forwards its interfaces to XInput 1.3, which forwards them to XInput 1.4. Nothing good ever happens in a game that does this, it causes hitching and weird framerate problems in Crysis Remastered.

I’ll try patching the game’s executable to use 1.4 and see if that resolves anything.

In the meantime, yeah, I would like to see the EGS executable version.

Wastelander121 · October 22, 2020, 11:09pm

Here you go. If you can improve the frame rate that’d be awesome af. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QePwckUXgDDlkun7cTRdtO1LoFiXxbbq/view?usp=sharing

Kaldaien · October 22, 2020, 11:17pm

Pfft, they left the anti-tamper code in the game executable. It still checks memory consistency every time you give the game any input. I hate DRM, even when they remove it, they don’t really remove it.

On the bright side, the executable no longer self-destructs when I attach a debugger. Remnants of the anti-tamper remain, but the big show stopper is gone.

And, on a final note, XInput 9.1.0 is causing input-related stutter any time there is controller vibration. Let me patch the executable to use XInput 1.4.

Copyright infringement here we go:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/16lRMEEpTGMu_c4T7g9NHw5AGYrGrslQz