Windows Lighting/Contrast issue

[HipsterPot8o]

I'm playing the most recent version (1.6.15) on my Surface Pro 11 and have been having issues with lighting and color contrast. Any light source on a wall (except windows in my house for some reason, all other windows do it) are incredibly bright and wash out anything close to them. The same effect also happens with the whole screen when it's raining. I've already tried a full reinstall as well as using HDR/SDR/sRGB, it happens with any color setting on my device.

It also won't show in screenshots, so I've attached pictures I took with my phone.

 

[chirs72]

I have the same issue, also on a Surface Pro 11. I have the same effect with the whole screen, i think it started happening with the afternoon lighting when I'm outside? Same effect as you on lights in the mines / windows in buildings. For some reason I can't upload a photo but I'll try again later.

With the game paused the problem stops, but once I unpause again it happens again!

 

[Lew Zealand]

Windows has a High Contrast option which may be getting reset or changed. Search for it in Settings:

Also this could be happening in your video card settings, it could be in image enhancements (lol these always degrade the image) or contrast (again). What video card does your Surface have and I could see if I can find an App or Control Panel setting for that brand (Intel, Nvidia, AMD).

 

[FilthyGorilla]

Windows has a High Contrast option which may be getting reset or changed. Search for it in Settings:

View attachment 33152

Also this could be happening in your video card settings, it could be in image enhancements (lol these always degrade the image) or contrast (again). What video card does your Surface have and I could see if I can find an App or Control Panel setting for that brand (Intel, Nvidia, AMD).

That's what i was thinking, I've seen similar issues before and more often than not it's something on the client-side rather than a malfunctioning download of the game, good recommenation

 

[chirs72]

Thanks for your reply!

The GPU is an integrated chip (Qualcomm(R) Adreno(TM) X1-85 GPU), and it's one of the ARM Surface Pro 11's that I'm using (Snapdragon(R) X 12-core X1E80100).

I've had a look at the high contrast settings, they're all off (and auto HDR is off also) and I'm still getting the same issue... Coincidentally there is a Windows update available now so I'll do that in case that somehow fixes everything!

I've also just found this (https://www.qualcomm.com/developer/...-control-panel-snapdragon-x-elite-2025-1-beta) -- beta release of a GPU control panel for specifically this device. I'll have a play around in there to see if I can find anything and report back.


Thanks again!

Update --- I updated windows to the 25H2 update, and updated my GPU driver (to 31.0.121.1) using that control panel tool, neither helped. In the control panel settings there is nothing which obviously appears relevant to the problem.

I also tried plugging into a monitor and it seemed to stop being an issue... perhaps it's something to do with the OLED panel?

Any other thoughts greatly appreciated :)

 

[chirs72]

Update, I found that my cursor was being overexposed in some circumstances, and it looked similar to the effect produced near the light sources in SDV. Found this forum (https://www.reddit.com/r/WindowsHel...usecursor_suddenly_too_bright_looks_like_its/) which led me to the other HDR settings in Windows 11. Not 100% sure how I didn't see this one in the first place, but thanks to the super-intuitive layout of the Windows settings app, "HDR" and "auto HDR" seem to be in completely separate places.

Settings > System > Display > HDR (now switched off) seems to resolve this.

Hope this helps @HipsterPot8o, but reading your original post it seems you've already tried this... Good luck!