The Elder Scrolls Online - HDR Optimized Settings (Patreon)

The game is NOT using/applying Xbox/Playstation HDR Calibration app settings.

The game doesn't have the best HDR implementation as it will offer various, cumbersome in-game HDR controls not in numerical values and not in nits which require a bit of tweaking to look good. It also peaks at 1.000 nits max HDR luminance.

First of all the game will provide an "HDR MODE" setting which will let you choose between "Default" And "Vibrant" color saturation. I found the "Default" one providing too muted colors even compared to the SDR rendition so I recommend setting this to "Vibrant" to be closer to HDR colors' luminance, even if a bit more saturated compared to the SDR presentation.

Next we have "HDR PEAK BRIGHTNESS" slider that does what its name suggests, but won't provide numerical values so set it like the following:

If you have an LG OLED and:

> you're using Dynamic Tone Mapping or Dynamic Contrast:

• Set HDR PEAK BRIGHTNESS slider to: +15 clicks (starting from leftmost, 0; which is around 1.000 nits = Max)

> you're using HGIG:

• Set HDR PEAK BRIGHTNESS slider to: +12 clicks (starting from leftmost, 0; which is around 800 nits) or +15 clicks (for G2 and G3).

If you don't have an LG OLED and:

> you don't have an HGIG option:

• Set HDR PEAK BRIGHTNESS slider to: +15 clicks (starting from leftmost, 0; which is around 1.000 nits = Max)

> you're using HGIG:

• Set HDR BRIGHTNESS slider to one of those values and the corresponding real Peak HDR Luminance of your TV in "nits":

Then we have the "HDR SCENE BRIGHTNESS" slider which will act as gamma and in all cases I recommend to set it to +6 clicks (starting from leftmost, 0) as this will correspond to a balanced exposure.

Next we have an "HDR SCENE CONTRAST" slider which will alter the contrast of the picture as the name suggest. In all cases use +5 clicks (starting from leftmost, 0) to have a properly contrasted image.

Again, the game will offer an "HDR UI BRIGHTNESS" slider which will control the luminance of all the User Interfaces of the game. This is also depending to what you've set as Peak HDR Luminance before, so if you setup that correctly I recommend to always set this to Leftmost, 0 clicks to make UI almost transparent and avoid image retention.

Ultimately the game offer another (!) "HDR UI CONTRAST" slider which will control the black level of UI which you will want as pure black whenever possible, so set it to Rightmost, Max Clicks as best setting.