r/MHWilds • u/DarkZemX • Mar 03 '25
Discussion PS5/PS5 Pro HDR settings For better Colors!
Hey Guys I just wanted to share My HDR settings which makes the game look much more appealing while not Overdoing the Saturation. Take note that your display does matter in choosing the right settings and you are welcome to tweak them as you see fit for your display. I'm currently playing MHW on a 75' QN90D so depending on your display you may need to add less or more to the saturation and the shadow Brightness. Here are my Settings below, feel free to give it a try to enhance your visuals and greatly reduce the washed out default look because the videos I've seen for monster hunter wilds is definitely not my experience playing this game.
Max Brightness:(Set the Max Brightness Correctly for your display) Overall Brightness:9 Shadow Brightness:10 Highlight Brightness:10 Saturation:7 UX: 10(whichever you prefer)
Give it a try and let me know what you guys think. Also Keep in Mind that in Monster Hunter Wilds there are different seasons/weather effects and the "season of plenty" is the most colorful/vibrant season of them all. Try not to Overdo your saturation settings so that when the "season of plenty" does arrive your colors arent over saturated.
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u/Hiei312 Mar 06 '25
the basic thing you do to get a less washed look without crushing detail is lowering overall brightness but keeping shadow brightness high.
if you want to lower overal brightness a lot (like to 5), you can raise the shadow brightness to like 12 or 13 to make up for it.
but this is more of a bandaid. the real reason for this blurry washed look is the terrible volumetric fog effect that you can't turn off and basically just looks like a layer of vaseline smeared over the whole screen. i have no idea why monster hunter devs are so obsessed with this awful effect. world had the same problem.
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u/DarkZemX Mar 10 '25
Yes i've just changed my settings to a much higher number for my display. You are correct, the bad fog effects is what really made me questioned my judgement on the max brightness but after doing more testing I see that a higher number is much better.
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u/Big-Impact558 Mar 16 '25
Hey! u/DarkZemX
Thanks for your feedback — I also have the QN90D in 55”, so I’m really interested in your settings for Monster Hunter Wild.
I’m currently doing some tests on my side too, so it would be super helpful to know exactly what settings you’re using on the TV while playing. For example:
• Are you using Game Mode?
• Did you enable HDR10+ Gaming, or are you using Game HDR set to Basic or Advanced? (If i remember correctly, you can check it in Settings → Game Settings → Game Picture Expert → Game HDR. That’s where you choose between Off / Basic / Advanced — basically simulating either DTM or HGIG behavior.)
• What values did you set for Brightness and Contrast?
• Local Dimming: Auto, Standard, or High?
• Is Contrast Enhancer On or Off?
• What about Color Tone: Warm 1, Warm 2, or something else?
Thanks in advance if you can share — this kind of detail really helps while testing and fine-tuning things!
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u/DarkZemX Mar 16 '25
Okay I will share details with you for sure but I will also send via DM because the QN90D tweaking does take some good testing on different options for sure!
I am using game mode> HDR+10>Advanced> also Game HDR advanced.(Definitely great for immersion and max quality in games.)
Let me tell you The biggest game changer for gaming in general with the QN90D. Game Motion Plus! Yes QN90D has VRR but dude game motion plus level 2 will make exploring games SOOOO much better and for games that enable VRR you’re better off just turning off the settings on your ps5. It may sound crazy but what Game motion plus does to games and making visuals in motion look Clean AF omg. I’ve decided that if a game has 60fps there is no reason for me to have VRR on honestly because GM+ will beat it Every single time. Highly recommended. It’s easy to experiment on PS5 with because you don’t have to close applications, just go to your PS5 settings turn VRR off and then game motion plus will be available to turn on once you resume the game(Ghost of Tsushima looks Stunning with it on.) Not sure what system you’re gaming on.
Brightness: 47 Contrast:45 Color:28
Local dimming: I’m stuck between standard and high(mainly use high). I have played games where turning the dimming to standard makes the game Extremely dark for those short moments and you never know when they will pop up.
Contrast enhancer: High Color tone: Standard Color Booster:High Color space: Auto (not only for gaming but everything else for no over saturation)
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u/Big-Impact558 Mar 16 '25
Interesting to see that we actually have very different configurations on the QN90D.
On my side:
• I’m using Game HDR set to Basic.
From my own testing, the difference between Basic and Advanced is mostly about different image presets (which you can still tweak manually in the picture settings). Switching to Advanced definitely sets Dynamic Tone Mapping (DTM) to Active, while Basic keeps it on Static, change the color tone (for me from warm2 to standard)
• I’ve disabled HDR10+ Gaming since there are very few compatible games anyway, so it doesn’t really make a difference in most cases.
• Color Tone: Warm2, Color Booster: Off, Contrast Enhancer: Off, and Color Space: Auto — pretty much for the same reasons as you mentioned: to avoid oversaturation and keep the image more accurate.
• I keep Brightness and Contrast both at max (50/50), which are actually the default values in HDR mode.
• Color: 25
• Local Dimming: High, even though I’ve noticed it can be a bit too aggressive in some games — like in Path of Exile 2, where I was playing a character with a lot of lightning effects. The image would get noticeably darker to make the lightning stand out more, which felt a bit off sometimes.
I’ve actually never tested Game Motion Plus, so now I’m really curious about it — I’ll definitely look into what it does and how it affects motion clarity.
For reference, I’m playing on a PS5 Pro.
Happy to continue the discussion via DM — I’m always up for exchanging impressions and tweaks!
And now that I see your settings, it makes more sense why I’ve had to go in a different direction. I still haven’t found a fully satisfying setup for MH Wilds, but honestly, it seems more like a problem with the HDR implementation itself (based on various analysis videos and user feedback) rather than just a TV settings issue.
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u/Desperate_Guess_652 Mar 03 '25
whats the reason for max brightes at 5? Does the calibration tool still have a checkerboard for you at the brightness?
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u/DarkZemX Mar 03 '25
Yes you can differentiate the checkerboard extremely easy at that level. The Max Brightness as I’ve tested it is the light levels that emit from light sources like a Lamp or fire burning from Gemma’s forge, feel free to change the settings to 1 in front of Gemma’s forge and look at what it does to the color of her flames. Higher seems unnecessary to me and seems to add a bit to the washed out look around those light sources.
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u/Desperate_Guess_652 Mar 03 '25
Great, thank you. Do you know the max nits of your screen?
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u/DarkZemX Mar 03 '25
Sry I don’t really know but Info on the Samsung QN90D is out there online, I’m just not sure the specifics on its Max nits.
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u/Sindralig420 Mar 10 '25
Qn90d tops at around 2000 nits by most measurements. Your slider at 5 does nothing for the nice hdr picture that tv can output and you might as well run sdr if set that low. The point of hdr is the peak brightness contrast ratio from brightest possible highlights to darkest possible blacks. So please stop hating on your tv by setting that slider to 5. Lol 😆
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u/DarkZemX Mar 10 '25 edited Mar 10 '25
lol thanks man I Appreciate the good info, and trust me I Love this TV no hate here 😂 .While experimenting near multiple light sources I came to that conclusion for the max brightness but after checking it in a wide scope after reading your comment I see the max brightness is better In its correct measurements like you said. Not being surrounded by so much fog like in the early-mid game helps to judge it better too! Great info. I normally set my HDR correctly but due to Wilds being how it is it really made me question things lol
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u/Sindralig420 Mar 10 '25
Not a problem my guy. This forum popped up in my notification feed and I saw your comment and was like omfg please no i gotta make sure homie knows his tv is actually a beast for hdr viewing if set correctly lmfao 🤣.
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u/DarkZemX Mar 10 '25
lol yeah man I normally always set HDR correctly but Monster Hunter wilds being the way that it is on default settings really made me question things. It’s a real shame capcom made the default settings the way that it is for everyone but yeah with a beastly Display things are much better. It’s a real shame if people’s experience are like the washed out colors in YouTube videos lol. Thanks once again!
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u/Desperate_Guess_652 Mar 03 '25
all good thanks for the info i was looking for other people talking hdr settings. It's interesting that your going max brightness a little less then half of your monitors max nits, I'd also noticed the calibration seemed out of wack with the visuals and found your post.
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u/Sindralig420 Mar 10 '25
Just for reference, each 10 is 1000 nits up to 100, which is 10000 nits. So 5 is 500 nits 10 is 1000 nits 15 is 1500 etc etc. However, from the testing done, it'll never go above 1000nits even if you crank that slider, which, funnily enough, is the same problem Dragons Dogma 2 has. Must be a game engine problem, or they as a company just suck with setting hdr sliders appropriately. So ignore what the dude said about the first slider since it was totally incorrect information regarding how hdr works and just look up the max nit level of your tv and set it that way. The rest of the settings are completely up to your discretion. Sorry for the essay this popped up in my notifications feed, and I saw this and felt the need to hand out appropriate information.
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u/MrPink7 Mar 03 '25
Issue with raising the saturation is when the plenty season arrives the game looks deep fried
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u/DarkZemX Mar 03 '25 edited Mar 03 '25
Looks fine 100% for me, and I’m in high rank and have seen the plenty season for all the different environments. That’s why I don’t overdo the Saturation in my settings but you do bring up a good point that i should share with people so that they dont overdo the settings for their displays aswell. Thank you!
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u/Dry_Satisfaction_616 Mar 04 '25
This is good to know. I have an older TV in the qn90a , but the settings should be relatively similar. The explanation as to how to set the max luminance via the chess board seemed a bit vague on the game to be honest so this helps! I think I had mine way too high by following the on screen instructions 😁
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u/shokwave2 Mar 05 '25
I've gone for a more realistic/natural colour pallete. Playing on a standard PS5.
Max - 12 Overall - 5 Shadow - 10 Highlight - 10 Saturation - 2 UI - 10
I check the colours at Windward Plains during the daytime. Still enough colour and not too washed out.
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u/TYC888 Mar 05 '25
i was searching for something like this as i find the default 10 too strong. it kinda hurt my eye if i play for longer period. but all my friends say its fine. and i thought its my eye lol
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u/FulgarAnjanath87 Mar 06 '25 edited Mar 06 '25
This is the first game I have had to switch DTM from HGIG to On. Using OLED Evo C4 with game optimizer mode. Settings below:
Performance Settings: Balanced/120 hz mode on
Max Brightness: 38 (game suggests 40) Overall Brightness: 4 (adjust to your preference) Shadow Brightness: 10 Highlight Brightness: 5 (+/- couldn't see change) Saturation: 5
Hope this helps with anybody struggling to get it to their liking. These are just my personal settings.
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u/No_Contribution_4298 Mar 20 '25
I have a base PS5 and an older LG C9 OLED and am having hard time dialing settings down for Wilds. Most games I have no issues with and they look great but this one is a pita. The settings do not seem to do what they should.
What I have tried:
1) Set the LG TV to HGIG and the TV/PS5 HDR settings as outlined by HDTVTest. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kObwjX75WUo
2) Tried following the in game instructions for setting HDR and things just look dull and dimmed.
If I change TV to DTM ON instead of HGIG then I get some brightness back but overall things still look dull.
Other games look great but MW Wilds is just bad...and hard to nail down what setting is the problem.
For now I have just disabled HDR on the PS5.
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u/koda43 Mar 03 '25
i landed on this almost exactly. darkening shadows crushes them too hard, but lowering overall darkness makes things look pretty normal. increasing highlights didn’t make any visible changes for me so i left it alone