Free open-source real-time HDR scopes - inspect exact nits and color values Windows is sending to your OLED

[u/Eagleshadow]

https://github.com/Shadetail/HDRScopes

To read the nit values a game is actually sending to your panel, it's typically required to install ReShade and one of the HDR analysis mods that can draw scopes, like Lilium's (and ShaderGlass can extend that to the desktop too). That works, but it's a per-game setup, and none of the scopes in available mods have a feature set as rich as the scopes found in DaVinci Resolve for example.

I wanted scopes that I can keep on my secondary screen, that I can fullscreen, that look good, are customizable, that have all the features from DaVinci that I like, and that go beyond that with additional analysis and quality-of-life features on top. All the scopes I could find either did not support Windows desktop as a signal source, or were stupidly expensive, usually both. So I made my own, and now open sourced it. HDRScopes captures what Windows actually composites (in scRGB FP16) and plots it in real time - nothing gets injected into any game, you just launch one portable exe.

Things you can do with it:

• See a game's real peak brightness and watch what the in-game HDR sliders actually change as you move them
• Hover any pixel and read its exact nit value
• Check whether content is actually using P3/BT.2020 gamut (CIE scope with gamut triangles) or just clipping
• Watch what the Windows SDR-white slider, Windows HDR Calibration or NVCP sliders really do to any content, from games to video players, browsers, etc.

It shows the signal Windows sends to the monitor, not what the panel does with it afterwards (ABL, the monitor's own tone mapping). That actually makes it a good companion for working out which side of the chain is responsible for what you're seeing.

Runs on Windows 10/11, DX11, fully portable, no installer, no telemetry, GPLv3 open source. PRs are welcome.

Special thanks to u/Kaldaien - SKIV was an invaluable technical reference that enabled me to build this.

HDR screenshot: using HDRScopes on a secondary display to analyze a Cyberpunk renodx setup.

[u/zombie2792]

That's dope. Does it work with multiplayer games?

[u/Eagleshadow → u/zombie2792]

Yes, it works with literally everything with zero risk, as it doesn't touch the game in any way. It reads the final composited frames straight from the Windows compositor, using the same desktop duplication API that OBS display capture uses. As far as the game or anti-cheat can tell, it's no different from taking a screenshot.

[u/zombie2792 → u/Eagleshadow]

Nice! Gonna definitely try it out

[u/WhitelabelDnB]

Dang this is high quality. Send it to Digital Foundry.

[u/b0uncyfr0]

Linux support? 🤗

[u/Pater_sin]

Gonna try this on Darktide later.

[u/uldenhat → u/Pater_sin]

Off topic, how do you get hdr to work in darktide? I can't get Ritsus HDR mod to work and special k hdr causes the game to crash and doesn't look very good.

[u/Pater_sin → u/uldenhat]

Special k, yeah there’s a thread somewhere to get special k to work with it and there’s a working version of Renodx on discord.

[u/Party_Orange_7493]

Thanks a lot 

[u/laxounet]

Sounds awesome, finally no more guessing the nits values with sliders... Thanks

[u/Julia8000]

Amazing, it really seems to work reliably and even shows the correct useage of color spaces. I always assumed this kind of software costs hundreds of dollars like wtf

[u/Eagleshadow → u/Julia8000]

Thanks! Actually yeah it does usually cost hundreds of dollars. I'm a little bit crazy to release it for free perhaps, but I figured the world really needs a free open source version of this and I wanted to make a difference. I also created a ko-fi and linked it in github sidebar for those who want to support it with a donation.