HDR stopped working after 4.2.0 Update

The calculator app is unreliable as it can still get affected by improper monitor HDR gamut settings instead of locking it in correctly.

Use the VESA DisplayHDR app, I posted basically this exact fix here months ago, except if you use that app it will always work because its made to force HDR on your monitor:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/HDR-stopped-working-after-4-2-0-Update/m-p/12634304/highlight/true#M27846

EDIT: And also wanna say, if this fixes it for you then its moreso a windows HDR issues rather than a BF2042 issue. There are still ways BF2042 could have implemented HDR to avoid this, but this happens in almost every HDR game for windows for me and I need to use this fix. 

If this works for you, then perhaps your HDR is malfunctioning if it doesn't work in any game for you.

HDR functions perfectly for me in games that support it, except for 2042.

I've noticed that toggling HDR on then off again also keeps the colour broken for SDR until I alt-tab. They've really stuffed something up with the game colour settings.

It honestly feels like there's some sort of overlay or something intercepting the setting. This is with the Steam and IGO overlay off and all other possible overlay programs closed.

I FINALLY FOUND A WORKAROUND THAT HELPS ME!

I finally tried swapping ports on my GPU and It actually worked. I hadn't tried it sooner as it just seemed to stupid imo.

But If I click on "HDR CALIBRATION" in game, it completely breaks it again until I swap ports again.

Hopefully this helps EA fix it.

I reached out to a DICE developer working on 2042 and he responded. I sent him a link to this forum and he said he would let the team know. 🤷🏻‍♂️

How reassuring, good to know they're finally informed after 21 pages /s

Another season update and still NO FIX for the nightmare HDR bug that 4.2.0 blessed us with. * you DICE. This is horse *. At this point we should get a friggin refund. Idc how many hours we’ve played. 

Just went to AM5 platform, new motherboard, new cpu, updated bios, clean windows 11 install, clean Nvidia drivers, and then loaded up 2042. HDR is 🥁 🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁 

STILL BROKEN!!!!!!!! DICE PLEASE!!! 

Still broken for me too. The calculator work around no longer works for me. It did for a little while but will not work now. I've lost all hope for dice and this game. I want to play it but sdr isn't enjoyable and blown and looks terrible unlike hdr when hdr worked. I paid over 1k for my oled monitor so i'm going to use it as i should. Which is hdr mode. Only game in my library that does not work with hdr.. Dice just has the ear plugs in on this topic and acts like they have no idea this problem has been here since 4.2.0 dropped... scum bags. 

for me it worked with 5.1 and then stopped working again with the next updates. I tried all the suggestions, changing ports etc, but nothing helped. It's really strange when I enable hdr in-game options I see that HDR is on for 1s and then all colors become washed again. 

Holy * guys! It’s fixed. Check and confirm. 

Still broken for me, can't see any changes 

Man I don’t  get it. Idk why it’s working for me now. I’ll try and figure it out. 

Holy crap! It’s not working again! lol my monitor yesterday was swapping between HDR and SDR without flashing like it usually does and it worked great. Today it’s back to the bulls*#t! Wtf 

This just screams "user issue"

That’s a very easy statement to type. Any solutions? No? Figured. We are ALL doing this ourselves. Every other game works flawlessly except one. If this is a user issue, I would love a solution. 

If HDR suddenly started working for you in the last few days and then suddenly stopped when there haven't been any game updates or changes,  then it is literally impossible for it to be solely an issue of the game.

It's something on your end.

Sure, if it was only effecting one of us, which it is not.

Still broken, and clearly not going to be fixed.

• Everything worked fine before 4.2.0 update 
• Nothing has been changed on our side 
• We are all mostly using common hardware configurations 
• Every other game works just fine 

How is it an issue on our end? 

Thanks for the defense guys. Something in this game is messing with how windows applies HDR. It’s so bizarre 

I do have a work around that I use. Have HDR enabled in windows, load up the game and switch it to windowed mode. Then relaunch the game and as soon as the window pops up hit the expand box. Now it will work as intended at about 98% fullscreen. I changed my accent colors to black so I don’t even notice I’m in windowed mode. It works every time for me. 

I might have found a workaround for AMD users......

If you're using AMD, give this a try and see if it works for you.

Download the latest drivers - 23.12.1 as of this post.

Enable Radeon Super Resolution.

Set your in game resolution 1 step down from your native resolution. (this causes RSR to "kick in")

The first time this is set, you might need to exit the game and relaunch. 

Enjoy HDR!

I forgot how amazing this game looks with HDR it's been so long since 4.2.0 released and wrecked it! 

I don't know why this works - I'm guessing when RSR is enabled and intercepts it allows the game, windows, and HDR all to sort out their differences like adults and work together? 🤷‍♂️

...just wanted to add - that using Radeon Super Resolution causes the game to first launch in a small window, which will go fullscreen after clicking on it.

I believe this is the key - this is the same behavior that used to exist prior to the 4.2.0 update.

This also explains why @lex_lutha111384 's fix works - the key has something to do with the game launching in a window that allows HDR to work properly. 

However, simply running the game in windowed mode doesn't allow HDR to work properly. 

This just sounds like another work around, not a proper solution.
But I'm glad you've found something that works for you. I am running nvidia so I can't even try this sadly.

This is right. If you just switch to windowed mode, from fullscreen, hdr is still dull and *. You have to launch the game in windowed and expand the screen as soon as it pops up. The other day it was working but it was bizarre. Switching to HDR and SDR was not flashing. It was just switching in real time. It looked correct though. I’m lost. 

So, since they still haven't fixed this issue (Using Nvidia 3080 with a Dells2721 HDR monitor which works in all games but this and F1 games with HDR) there is a small bypass that can fix it atm for many. I also posted this a while ago in the F1 forum which seems to have helped many. Note that it might disable VRR, thats what you might have to live with until official fix.

You also do not need to download any other programs on your pc, very simple solution!

• Go into your Battlefield 2042 map, for me "steamapps\common\Battlefield 2042"
• Find your bf2042.exe
• Right click it and choose properties
• Compability
• And now click "Use legacy display icc color management"
• Click apply and restart the game

And now HDR should work much much much better. Probably this "fix" isn't for everyone but it is for me after having problems with this game for over a year with HDR, combined with the F1 games. They seem to use some old thing to hook into HDR which is problematic. With this step, the app, in this case "bf2042.exe" will be able to show more accurate colors and access the full color gamut. 

Its possible its tied to this error in Windows 11 https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows11/comments/qg8dcg/for_those_of_you_going_crazy_over_icc_profiles/

Which is using "GetICMProfile()" which isn't working any longer but "WcsGetDefaultColorProfile()" is the working one which may be the error, hopefully this will fix it for many of us until they choose to fix it. Also i've heard its because of Srgb and rgb color gamut that seems not work in a few games like this