Finally played Thief/TDM on an OLED!

[kano]

And boy is it great. My only question, especially for Thief, is whether there is a way to hide the HUD so that I don't burn the screen. It would be cool if there was a key to press that would show the light gem, where most of the time it is hidden.

 

The OLED I am using, is this one. https://www.amazon.com/INNOCN-Portable-Monitor-DCI-P3-100000/dp/B09L12DGW5/ref=sr_1_4?crid=25OE5W8BWGEF2&keywords=oled+monitor&qid=1646784514&sprefix=oled+monit%2Caps%2C222&sr=8-4

 

Finally an affordable panel! PS, to the manufacturer of this thing, if you could make a version that is 27 inch for $600-$650, I would absolutely love you! I don't even care about 4K, that's just an excuse to sell people the same content all over again. All I want is the same (or better) monitor black-levels that I had in 1999.

[datiswous]

11 hours ago, kano said:

All I want is the same (or better) monitor black-levels that I had in 1999.

What did you use in 1999?

For this reason I use VA monitors, those (suposedly, because I have nothing to compare it with) give better black levels. Off course it's not really comparible to oled.

11 hours ago, kano said:

My only question, especially for Thief, is whether there is a way to hide the HUD so that I don't burn the screen. It would be cool if there was a key to press that would show the light gem, where most of the time it is hidden.

 

You press CtrL-Alt-~ (or just ~ in Linux), then type:

tdm_hud_opacity 0

tdm_hud_hide_lightgem 0  (not sure if needed with above)

 

To bind that to a key that you press:

bind "[BUTTON]" "tdm_hud_opacity 0"

With [BUTTON] being a specific button, like the "H" key or something. Not tested.

https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Cvars_in_The_Dark_Mod

https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Custom_Settings_for_Players

 

Then maybe you need another key to unbind it..

Edited March 9, 2022 by datiswous

[kano]

I used a CRT back then. Those have great black-levels, though they also have some ghosting/persistence of vision, and generally cannot achieve the brightness, speed, or sharpness of an OLED.

 

Actually what I would really like to experience in person, in a dark room, are those new micro LED displays that don't strictly have per-pixel lighting, but there is a huge array of LEDs behind the screen, allowing for localized dimming. The first time I saw the industry's older solution of providing black-levels by just dimming the entire back-light of the screen, I laughed (because this also limits the maximum allowable brightness at the same time).

[vozka]

8 minutes ago, kano said:

I used a CRT back then. Those have great black-levels, though they also have some ghosting/persistence of vision, and generally cannot achieve the brightness, speed, or sharpness of an OLED.

Damn, all the CRTs I used back then were bright with vivid colors but had terrible black levels, they were more dark grey. Did we just use poor people equipment? 

[kano]

22 minutes ago, vozka said:

Damn, all the CRTs I used back then were bright with vivid colors but had terrible black levels, they were more dark grey. Did we just use poor people equipment? 

Probably had the brightness on the monitor pumped up way too high. Although CRTs can produce good black-levels, it's still not going to be zero.

[vozka]

Nah, I did my best tinkering with it. I guess I was just unlucky with crappy displays. 

I hope that OLED technology improves enough to reduce the effects of burn-in so that it can become mainstream. I'm moderately happy with my IPS panel - those things are absurdly cheap for the quality nowadays, I edited photos on a 100 USD Samsung monitor and had few surprises when I had them professionally printed - but the contrast of OLED displays is really exciting.

[datiswous]

Btw. for people browsing this forum on the dark theme, but don't find it dark enough (not enough black), see my topic:

The look in the screenshots is old, because I have been improving it over time. It looks now like this:

[datiswous]

On 3/9/2022 at 12:05 PM, datiswous said:

To bind that to a key that you press:

bind "[BUTTON]" "tdm_hud_opacity 0"

With [BUTTON] being a specific button, like the "H" key or something. Not tested.

https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Cvars_in_The_Dark_Mod

https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Custom_Settings_for_Players

 

Then maybe you need another key to unbind it..

So I tested it now and it works and you need to bind a second key to let it show again (afaik).

Edit: Solution from Epifire:

Quote

So if you enter:

bind F3 "toggle g_showHud 0 1"

That will turn your F3 into a hud keybind.

I was wondering if if you change the transparency to 0.5 for example, the hud icons might change constantly because the background is shown through it while moving around and therefore it isn't necessary to hide them on oled screens?. Or not?

Edited March 15, 2022 by datiswous
better method

[woah]

Right there with you with respect to that desire to have good black levels again.

Also looking forward to Micro-OLED displays that may be coming to VR headsets next year, assuming they've addressed mura and black smear.  Unfortunately I doubt they'll be dynamic focus displays