Gamma!

Noone knows?

No. You may want to adjust your monitor.

Oh really?? Is that possible?



Of course I have done that... its on the brightest setting, but its still very dark, I cant for instance, see anything indoors in games like Battlefield 1942.. Im not sure what the problem is but I get really annoyed when devs create games without a simple setting like "Gamma Correction"

Im not one of those stupid people who thinks the CD-ROM is a coffee-cup-holder.. I have quite a deal of knowledge in computers (studies C++ Programming at Uppsala University here in Sweden)

Not that im ungrateful, the game you are making is outstanding indeed... But adding a gamma corrections slider would even make it possible for me to read the text in some of the windows in the game..

Gamma correction in a sprite based game is not trivial to add.

Which GalCiv features would you have liked to have lost in order to have such a feature?

Look at it from another point of view, those of us who have been working 12 hours+ per day for the past 40 days straight in order to get the *current features* to work perfectly aren't likely to have additional time to put in a feature that no one has requested until the last couple weeks before gold.

Nidaros, I've had the same problem previously and found the solution to be a Monitor driver. I have an older Compaq Q200 21" monitor.

Under Windows default monitor setup, it was very dark and it did not have much contrast, not many resolution settings and useless refresh rate settings. The best I could do was 1024x768 @60Herta.

After installing the Compaq monitor driver for the Q series monitor, the display cleaned up and lightened considerably. I could set it to 1280x1024@100Hertz - cystal clear. I am currently using a new NEC monitor and have found the same situation to be true.

Try it, it may help.

'Look at it from another point of view, those of us who have been working 12 hours+ per day for the past 40 days straight in order to get the *current features* to work perfectly aren't likely to have additional time to put in a feature that no one has requested until the last couple weeks before gold.'

Well, it would have been useful for me too. I didn't request it because, in my case, it's a matter of 'monitor no want to work' rather than a problem with the game's colors, and I have several ways to try to fix it already, not the least of which being forcibly changing the video card's color output settings via Power Strip.

since my video card also can display 601 video i've put a waveform on it and the black levels aren't really that dark (as per i.r.e. unit) My monitor and output are gen-locked the a house black. and 0 on my monitor is 0 on the waveform and 0 on the reference. The Apl is at 30 which is good considering how much black in a scene there is. If you have adobe photoshop try and run the gamma test on it. It will tell where your monitor is in relation to where it thinks it should be.Hope this helps

rich

No feature of course. But as I have noticed, I am not alone with the problem. And its sad, because most games without gamma correction I cant play.

Nidaros,

Like Wydom@ker above suggested - the most probable solution is to install the correct driver to your monitor.

My CTX monitor had terrible contrast and colors until I installed the correct driver from the manufacturer site instead of using the generic Windows driver.

So try getting the latest driver for your model from the manufacturer website.
By the way - what monitor do you have (make / model) ?

Well, im not quite sure actually, Windows suggests that I have an LG CS778DC from LG Electronics I think.
But im not sure how or where I can find it out as my monitor lacks any insignia:)

Found a tiny tiny sticker on the back of the monitor and it says LG CS778DC so I guess that was right.

Well.. new driver, well actually the first driver I had was the correct one but I reinstalled it. and VOILA! Still just as dark.

Maybe you need a color calibrating tool ? (which have built in gamma correction usually)

Hmm.. I have tried for quite sometime to find something that can adjust the gamma setting in Windows.. but without success, anyone knows of any program that can do this?

If this is an ongoing problem with your system/monitor, why not replace one or both? 17" crt monitors can be had new for less than USD150, and far less used. I don't suggest that you do it in order to play GalCiv, simply because you note that it is an ongoing problem. A new monitor would only be the price of 2 or 3 new computer games, after all.

Well... the prize for two or three computer games is quite much for me as I am a poor student(I get about 6000 swedish crowns a month and my rent is 2500:-). So buying a new monitor is out of the question. And besides, I dont know if it is the monitor or the gfx-card that has the problem (GeForce 2 MX 400)
If I had a job then it wouldnt be a problem but I dont so...
Well whatta heck.. If I cant read what it says I´ll just make up my own story in GalCiv

Nidaros,

I would suggest the next thing to do is look at your video card driver. Are you using nVidia Detonator drivers? I am running a Geforce 256 (Geforce 1) with the latest Detonator drivers. In the Geforce/Colour tab of the Advanced Display properties, I am have a slider to adjust Gamma. By default it will be set to 1.0. I run mine at 1.20.

PS: I also got a nice performance boost from these drivers too.

The drivers I use is named (in explorer) 41.09_win2kxp and was downloaded from www.geforce.com so I guess they are detonator drivers
Well.. Im not quite sure what you mean but I have found one setting under:
Right-click on dektop - properties - settings- advanced.
Then select the GeForce MX 400 tab. Under there I can adjust a Gamma value under the nView option. I have that gamma at 1.50.. Brighter than that and the colors get messed up..
I have had that option set for quite some time.. Those are the only way I know of how to change the brightness of the screen :notsure:

Andreas,

Yip thats exactly what I was suggesting. I am also using 41.09 drivers. Well, not sure what else to suggest.

I have noted on several sites that they state that for proper colour display that Windows PCs should have their Gamma set to 2.20. For me, like you, that much correction washes out the colour.

The only other thing that comes to mind, is the reason I changed monitors. My Compaq was stuffed. The Brightness and Contrast simply didn't do very much - thus I couldn't see much in games. Perhaps you need to look out for a second hand monitor.

Nidaros,

Do you have a default Color Profile ?
(Display Properties->Settings->Advanced->Color Management)

If not - click the "Add" button and try the ones that come with Windows. You may need to restart before it takes effect, I'm not sure.

If the supplied ones don't help, try looking for a profile from LG for your monitor (I think it should come with the driver package)

Well I have actually made one of my own wich is much brighter than any of those that you can choose, the only bad things is that many games, for example BF1942 disables this setting somehow and the screen is at dark as it would be with a default windows color setting... Well well.
Much thanks for the help! Im glad you took the time to try and help!
I guess I have to begin to save for a new monitor

I hope you enjoy the game (dark or not) when you get your new monitor, you might have to weear sunglasses until you get used to it

'Hmm.. I have tried for quite sometime to find something that can adjust the gamma setting in Windows.. but without success, anyone knows of any program that can do this?'

I don't have a like to it right now, but try Googling "Power Strip." That's the tool I use now for manual color recalibration.