It’s really puzzling to me how most developers, even in the so-called “Triple-A” landscape, get one of the most basic visual features wrong in their games: HDR. High Dynamic Range, or HDR, essentially offers significantly better contrast levels, peak brightness, and colors compared to the usual SDR content. And if, like me, you’re using an OLED monitor in your gaming setup, you absolutely want to see proper implementation of HDR in your games.

However, despite the leap in graphical fidelity, HDR still presents itself as a pain point for most games. Thankfully, there’s a mod called RenoDX, which lets you add HDR to almost any game. Well, sort of.

How to install RenoDX on your PC

It’s a simple mod to install and manage

RenoDX, short for Renovation Engine for DirectX Games, is essentially a toolset for several additional mod features. It can add or replace existing shader libraries, inject buffers, add overlays (necessary to enable and disable ReShade), and much, much more. However, the biggest (and most prominent) use of this mod is to inject custom shaders into DirectX 11 and 12 games. It’s essentially the hook that lets you use tools like ReShade in most games.

And that’s precisely what we’re using to add “HDR” into games that don’t necessarily support it. For instance, I was toying around with the new The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered, mostly to test out DLSS 5 using DLSS Swapper and OptiScaler.

However, it was immediately apparent that the remaster, much like the original PC version of The Witcher 3, retains the shoddy HDR implementation. This is where I decided to give RenoDX a shot. Lo and behold, the results were almost instantaneous. The outdoor lighting in the game immediately looked a lot better.

However, I saw the biggest difference in games like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, which looked night and day compared to the vanilla version. Also, installing RenoDX was incredibly easy, which fueled me to try it out in a few more games.

To install RenoDX on your PC:

1. Download RenoDX from GitHub and also ReShade with add-on support. Install ReShade 6.8.0 or above with full add-on support, as it’s needed to use RenoDX.
2. With ReShade installed, copy the .addon64 and .addon32 files to the ReShade folder. To make it easier to manage, install ReShade within the game’s directory that you want to mod.
3. Once you’ve copied all the files, launch your game and press the Home key to bring up the ReShade menu.
4. From the menu, select RenoDX Settings > Advanced Settings > Adjust Maximum Brightness and set this value to the maximum brightness value of your display.

And that’s it! Installing RenoDX is that simple. And since it’s a ReShade add-on, this mod works on several old and modern titles, including Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Crimson Desert, and, you guessed it, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt​​​​​.

Chipset

AMD Zen 2 CPU + RDNA 2 GPU

RAM

16GB LPDDR5 (6400 MT/s)

Display

7.4-inch HDR OLED, 1280 × 800, up to 90Hz

Battery

50Wh

While I have not tried this mod on retro titles, I did try it in games like NieR: Automata, which doesn’t have a traditional HDR calibration option. And even in that title, RenoDX worked perfectly fine. It even works on games like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, and Max Payne​​​​​​, in case you want to add HDR to those old classics.

The mod is also compatible with Linux/Steam OS, and in theory, should work perfectly fine on the Steam Deck as well.

RenoDX is a partial solution to a bigger problem

Getting HDR to work correctly on Windows is a battle of attrition

The biggest difference after installing RenoDX comes down to the game’s default tone mapping. Even on an HDR10 display, you can easily notice the improved color accuracy and saturation. However, in some cases (like mine), you can still be left with a “washed-out” image even after installing RenoDX. In my case, this was due to Windows’s default HDR settings. While Windows 11 does offer a rather impressive amount of HDR options, in reality, it’s barely functional.

Instead, I found that using Nvidia’s color correction alongside RenoDX offered vastly superior visuals. It’s actually baffling to me that even in 2026, after countless software revisions, Microsoft still cannot get HDR right.

And as such, it comes down to enthusiasts and modders to fix what is essentially a basic feature that should work from day one. I understand not everyone owns or even uses HDR displays. However, with the increasing adoption rate of OLEDs, and even Microsoft’s own Surface lineup offering OLED displays, you’d think they must’ve figured out how to get HDR working correctly.

But nope! We still have to rely on mods for that.

Nvidia might have an answer to HDR and tone-mapping issues in PC games

But not everyone is going to like it

Credit: Suman Biswas/MUO

Yes, I’m talking about DLSS 5. Like it or not, DLSS 5 offers a compelling solution to the lack of optimized color grading in modern games, especially for HDR displays. If your monitor’s peak brightness is anything above 300 nits, the default HDR settings in most games are bound to leave you scratching your head. Perhaps this is where DLSS 5 and its neural rendering capabilities can actually be useful, instead of just producing AI-like NPC models.

Will it solve incorrect HDR implementation in games? No, I don’t think so. Will it make mods like RenoDX and ReShade obsolete? Absolutely not.

However, from what I’ve seen thus far with DLSS 5, especially while testing the tech in retro games like DOOM, it can deliver way better color accuracy than the default HDR settings in games (and Windows). And in some cases, if you have enough GPU headroom to spare, DLSS 5 can offer better global illumination as well.