TDU1: Simple Contrast Reduction/Balancing NOT HDR COMPATIBLE

Wise Omelette · January 30

TDU1: Simple Contrast Reduction/Balancing NOT HDR COMPATIBLE

This is an incredibly simple modification for anyone tired of how intense the contrast is in TDU1. The photos show before/after shots (I haven't titled them but it should be really obvious which screenshots have less contrast). This isn't really a weather mod, because I haven't changed anything about the timings or colors of the weather itself. Instead, I simply applied the following values to all in-game weather patterns (as well as all outdoor environment like paint shops, car rentals, etc.):

CONTRAST = 1.12500
DESATURATION = 1.00000
BALANCE = 0.06310 0.06310 0.06310
CARGLOBALFACTOR = 200.00000

All this does is get rid of the nasty intense contrast, keeps colors looking balanced and natural across different weather patterns, and slightly brightens lighting on vehicles so you can see them properly from any camera angle. I intentionally didn't change any values that affect sunlight, clouds, or the like to preserve the game's general sense of weather (I'm not really a fan of any of the fancy "weather mods" I've tried, they never address the contrast issue and often have weird problems and drawbacks).

About HDR: I'm sure the changes I've made would work in the game's HDR mode, but I haven't bothered doing that because I don't ever use it, the whole point of this mod is to reduce contrast, whereas HDR mode increases contrast.

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INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS (FOR BEGINNERS):

1: Find the game files directory (by default it's "Program Files (x86)/Test Drive Unlimited")

2: Once you're in the game files directory, enter the "Euro" folder, then the "Bnk" folder

3: If you haven't installed any mods in TDU1 already, backup the "Bnk1.map" file somewhere safe (in case something goes wrong) and replace it with my version (all this change does is allow the game to read modified files. If you have already gotten other mods working, skip this step).

4: Now enter the "FX" folder

5: Backup "Weather.ini" somewhere safe (in case you want to revert changes or you don't like what my mod does)

6: Replace "Weather.ini" with the one I have provided

That's it! Cars should now be more visible and less highly contrasted.

However, if you use other mods that rely on edits to weather.ini, replacing yours with mine will break those mods. See below for a work-around.

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NOTES FOR EXPERIENCED MODDERS:

1: Do whatever you want with this, it barely took any work and I don't care about credit

2: If you want to use my contrast reduction without replacing the whole weather.ini file (if you already have other mods that changed it), first open weather.ini with notepad, then copy the 4 lines of values I listed near the top and use them to replace the values with the same names in the "DEFAULT" section at the top of weather.ini. as well as all 20 sections of "FREERIDEWEATHER_[afternoon/morning/etc]" located a little under the "DEFAULT" section.

[2a: If you have never edited weather.ini before, you might run into an issue where trying to save edits gets denied by your computer, even on an administrator account. To solve this, the first time you edit weather.ini, save your edits as a new entire copy to a non-protected folder, like your downloads folder. Then, place the original weather.ini in your recycle bin, and then move the new edited copy from downloads to the game's FX folder. Problem solved!]

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Feel free to reach out with any questions!