HDR10+ gaming plug-in is now available

Epic Games has made available a plugin for Unreal Engine 5 that aims to make it easier for game developers to integrate HDR10+ games. HDR10+ is the format equivalent to Dolby Vision.

HDR10+ and Dolby Vision enable dynamic metadata, allowing the brightness level to be adjusted at the frame level. Basic HDR10 only provides static metadata, meaning that HDR information does not also adapt to the user’s specific display. Dynamic metadata also allows for proper calibration of even low-brightness HDR displays, without the need for manual user settings.

PC gaming in particular has suffered from poor HDR implementation. HDR10+ Gaming aims to fix these issues with the Unreal Engine 5 plug-in. It provides hardware certification based on a standard protocol to enable a premium HDR gaming experience for gamers. Features listed include: automatic HDR display calibration, optimized dynamic HDR gaming rendering for different displays, low latency and reduced QA time and resources for developers.

So far, the Unreal Engine 5 plug-in is only compatible with PCs with an Nvidia RTX or GTX 16 Series GPU installed, as the plug-in uses the latest Nvidia HDR NVAPI SDK driver. Game developers should note that the HDR10+ gaming plugin initially only works with Unreal Engine 5.2.1 and 5.3.0. Additional versions will require their own plugins. Users and developers will of course need an HDR10+ gaming monitor, such as Samsung’s Odyssey 7 series monitors or TV models from the Q70 series onwards with a refresh rate of 120Hz or higher.

source: Unreal Engine