rF2 Remove Tint ReShade preset 2.3

So S397 made some noticeable changes to lighting in the latest builds, which mitigated the turquoise tint to a degree and made the preset look very weird. But I still can't say I like the colors, I think it's still kinda blueish and also weirdly "bland". So here's and update that should be working more or less OK with the current builds of the sim, though it has to be said that the general color tint now also depends on specific track, which made it even harder to find some kind of middle ground. And as always, it's a work in progress (that might never come, though ).

I've also added a bit of eye adaptation effect this time around, mostly to mitigate the issues around dusk/dawn when the game was very dark, but the effect was not very pronounced in the first place, and also S397 seems to be working on adjusting the dusk/dawn visibility lately, so the effect might not even become active.

Here's one more tweak to the previous version. It's again getting to the point where I have to stop because you change one thing to look better and then you load a different track and set a different time of day and suddenly everything looks off So it's a balancing act and not one that can be very tricky.

So for example, right now I think the sunset hours don't look all that great, but if I make some adjustments for that, then other things look off. So it's a compromise and I'm sorry, but it's the best I can do without going completely insane (slightly insane is where I draw the line ).

I've also removed SMAA from the preset as it does have a bit of performance hit and the benefit is quite negligible anyway.

Also, last time some people on my Discord at least complained of me not providing enough screenshots. So I'll try to remedy that this time

(In case you can't tell, it's with my preset first and then the stock setting second with all the screenshots, but then again if you can't tell, then either I have failed or you are simply someone who probably doesn't need this preset in the first place.)

Since I've been tweaking the preset constantly and also made some comments about the blue tint of rF2 (and various other things) lately, why not release a current version of the ReShade preset I use. I've lost track as to what changes I've made and how it would compare to the previous version(s), but it's easy enough to go back to an older version or something else entirely, so why not.

Oh yeah, and this time there's only one version, the more stylized "custom" one is not included as I barely use it anyway. So the installation should be more straigtforward.

Here's at least one comparison of vanilla game vs. this preset version:

Enjoy.

I still wasn't completely happy with my ReShade preset and kept tweaking it, and finally I've decided to redo it completely from scratch and the way it was supposed to be done in the first place - using a LUT color correction. And it has a nice bonus - using LUT is actually faster than the previous corrections, so the performance hit using the new version of the preset is even smaller - on my setup, it's only between 1 and 2 % of GPU usage.

Therefore, here's what I decided to call version 2.0 of the preset, to visibly distinguish it from the previous versions. I've actually included two versions of the LUT so you can choose the one you like more.

The "default" version was made with the aim to just remove the turquoise tint and make the image a bit warmer in as subtle way as possible while leaving the colors as untouched as possible. Some screenshots (the first of the pair is the stock colors, the second one of the pair is with the preset applied):

As you can see, the effect is certainly more subtle than it was, but as mentioned, that was the intention - to just lift the cold turquoise tint slightly and leave as much untouched as possible.

The second version of the filter ("custom") is made to be a bit more...stylized, I guess you could say. It is a bit warmer than the default one, and it adjusts colors and contrast more closer to the way I tend to edit my photos. So there are definitely some color shifts on top of the warmer look (reds are probably affected the most by being darker, as you can see even in the screenshots below). Some examples (again, first one is without correction, the second one with correction):

Installation is a bit more complicated this time around (but not that complicated). You put the .ini file from the root folder of the .zip file to where your base ReShade rF2 installation is (so it should be either Bin32 or Bin64 folder inside your rF2 installation folder). The .ini file is shared for both versions of the preset. Then you have to choose the version you want to use (they're included in the zip in separate folders named accordingly) and put the corresponding lut.png file into the "/reshade-shaders/Textures/" folder of your ReShade rF2 install. There should already be a file with the same name - just overwrite it (or rename it if you want to keep a backup, but it's not really necessary).

And that's pretty much it. Now you just have to start the game and activate the corresponding preset in ReShade. Note that the UI obviously gets affected by this as well and tends to accentuate the effect of either of the presets - but it should look fine once you're driving (or viewing a replay).

So after a few more hours spent trying various alternatives and tweaking the result, I think I've reached the final version. Pretty much everything is as I want it to be and it's as close to just removing the turquoise tint while not changing anything else as possible for me. Nothing more I can do I think. I would probably like the image to be a bit more warmer (just a touch), but if I try that, the turquoise starts creeping back in again in the sky, and it's also somewhat of a personal taste thing, so keeping it more neutral is probably the best solution.

Some comparison screenshots for this final version (in case you can't tell, first image of the pair is always with the preset, second image is the original):

OK, one more final tweak and then I'll leave it alone. Sorry

Did some tweaks to hopefully mitigate some of the issues mentioned previously, mostly the slight purple-ish tint. The effect of the preset is a bit more subtle now (though I don't think redoing screenshots is necessary, they should still give you a solid idea), but I think I like this version a bit better overall.