NOT A RESHADE! A new set of custom processed LUTs that aims to remove the game’s washed out hazy green filtered look, while still maintaining the color grading and artistic direction of the original game. It also aims to ensure black levels always reach true black in the darkest shadows of all LUTs, so OLED users rejoice!
These are a new set of custom processed LUTs that aims to remove the game’s washed out hazy green filtered look, while still maintaining the color grading and artistic direction of the original game. It also aims to ensure black levels always reach true black in the darkest shadows of all LUTs, so OLED users rejoice!
☼ Installation ☼
Steam:
To install, extract the file directly into the “Documents\My Games\Starfield” folder. Even if it is not where files typically go for modding in other games, they must go there for this mod to work. The DDS files should end up in the following directory:
”…\Documents\My Games\Starfield\Data\Textures\effects\luts”
I found I needed to add the following to both of these locations, but you may only need them in one or the other:
”…\Documents\My Games\Starfield\StarfieldCustom.ini” (you will need to create this file if it doesn’t already exist)
”…\steamapps\common\Starfield\Starfield.ini”
[Archive]
bInvalidateOlderFiles=1
sResourceDataDirsFinal=
PC Xbox GamePass:
To install, extract the file directly into the “Documents\My Games\Starfield” folder. Even if it is not where files typically go for modding in other games, they must go there for this mod to work. The DDS files should end up in the following directory:
”…\Documents\My Games\Starfield\Data\Textures\effects\luts”
Users have reported only needing to add the following to this location:
”…\Xbox Games\Starfield\Content\Starfield.ini”
[Archive]
bInvalidateOlderFiles=1
sResourceDataDirsFinal=
Optional: Make space darker:
If you would like space/stars to be darker while in spaceflight (not on planets at night), add these lines to the following file:
“…\Documents\My Games\Starfield\StarfieldCustom.ini”
[Display]
fSpaceGlowBackgroundScale=0.0
fStarIntensity=2500.0
fStarSystemFarViewDistance=10000000000.0
fStarfieldBackgroundScale=35.0
fStarfieldStarBrightnessScale=10.0
fStarfieldStarCoordScale=10.0
fSunScale=1.0
☼ What makes these LUTs special? ☼
The LUTs all ran through a custom action in Photoshop that performed several functions on each base LUT:
1) Create a static 50% blend of the Base LUT and the Neutral LUT
2) Create a Luminosity blend of the Base LUT and the Neutral LUT
3) Blend the Luminosity and 50% blends together
4) Stretch the contrast of the new blend
5) Add another Neutral LUT and perform a second static 50% blend
6) Add a final Neutral LUT and perform a Blend-IF function to ensure the darkest pixel is 100% black
7) Merge and export the new LUT
This is a rather complex process (and I simplified the steps as written), but in the end it ensured that each new LUT no longer has the sickly greenish filter, the black levels are fully restored, contrast is improved and stretched to max, and the original color grading and art direction is maintained. In my opinion this is the ideal set of LUTs to ensure the game looks as good as possible, while remaining authentic to the game’s intent.
☼ Is this a ReShade preset? ☼
No! This mod does not require ReShade at all to function. In fact, it was designed specifically to make the game look as good as possible without needing ReShade or any other post-processing. It functions by replacing the game’s built-in color lookup tables with the custom ones I’ve provided.
☼ Can I use ReShade with it? ☼
Yes! You can use ReShade alongside this mod if you wish to further tweak your colors. However, I think you’ll find this offers an ideal blend of contrast, color, saturation, brightness, and black levels so you will likely not need to do so.
☼ NaturaLUTs Enhanced vs. Standard ☼
Now introducing a new version of NaturaLUTs: Enhanced! This version has more contrast, is brighter overall, has more vibrant and punchy colors, and is overall a more eye catching version. However, it also retains the goal of not crushing blacks as much as possible, keeping the original color grading and artistic vision of the game’s original LUTs, and maintains a similar general aesthetic to the Standard version. Both versions will remain available, but Enhanced will become the new default.
I think both versions are great, so pick whichever you prefer!
☼ How is this different from Neutral LUTs? ☼
Neutral LUTs (currently) uses the same totally neutral LUT for all locations in the game. NaturaLUTs allows the original color grading for each unique location to remain in tact, meaning places that should have a particular color (Mars should be reddish, for example) will remain in tact. Additionally, NaturaLUTs Enhanced brings a brighter, more vibrant image overall.
☼ Why do some shadows still look like they have crushed black levels? ☼
I believe this has to do with the game’s auto exposure system. No LUT is able to cause the underlying exposure system to change, as they only affect how the game processes the base image. Until we have a way to adjust the base contrast and auto-exposure, unfortunately this can’t be adjusted by any LUT. However, this will at least ensure that the deepest black levels the game produces actually reach pure black, so the lifted filtered black levels of the original LUTs are gone.
☼ Where is the Mod Manager Download button? ☼
I have decided to wait to enable the Mod Manager Download button on the files page until Vortex is updated to work natively with these kind of loose file mods that currently must be installed to the “..\Documents\My Games\Starfield\..” directory. While there is apparently a workaround that allows it to function, I’d prefer for it to work natively to avoid any confusion about the mod not working automatically after trying to install it with Vortex via the Mod Manager Download button.
Credits:
TheDragonWithinMe
Download mod
| File | File size |
|---|---|
NaturaLUTs Vanilla Plus-1-1
|
874 KB |
|
NaturaLUTs Enhanced-1-0
|
652 KB |
|
NaturaLUTs Main Version-1-0
|
536 KB |
