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Screen too dark on most maps? Here's a fix for that!

By Skellygoonz

Havin issues with yer game not bein bright enough? No matter how high you turn yer brightness up, it still looks super dark? I saw this video on youtube (it was in portuguese), but I couldn't find one in English so I decided to take matters into my own hands and translate it for y'all XD. I hope this guide helps!

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Created by

Skellygoonz
In-Game
VRChat

Category: Characters, Co-op, Game Modes, Gameplay Basics, Maps or Levels, Modding or Configuration, Multiplayer, Weapons, Workshop

Languages: English

Enemies: Boomer, Charger, Hunter, Infected, Jockey, Smoker, Spitter, Tank, Witch

Game Modes: Campaigns, Mutations, Survival, Versus

Modding: Maps, Models, Mutations/Scripts

Posted

Updated

24 Jun, 2017 @ 9:38pm

17 Mar, 2021 @ 12:20pm

25,247	Unique Visitors
785	Current Favorites

Guide Index

Overview

First step! Open your PC's file explorer.

Open dat cfg folder and do dissssss

The *Real* Step 1.

The *Real* Step 2

And that's all folks!

Comments

First step! Open your PC's file explorer.

Open yer file location for Left 4 Dead 2, open the folder called left4dead2, then open the cfg folder.

Open dat cfg folder and do dissssss

Look for the file called "video.txt" at the bottom of the folder, and open it with notepad. (Or any equivalent application.)
(Edit- It seems you can do this on videodefaults.txt along with video.txt and not have to do the last step at all!)

The *Real* Step 1.

Once ya open the file, you should see somethin like this.

At the bottom of the file, create another line of space to paste this line in, above the "}"
"setting.mat_tonemapping_occlusion_use_stencil" "1"
It should look somethin like this.

Now close and save the file. On to the next step!

The *Real* Step 2

Click on the video.txt file (don't open it), then right click, and open properties. Check the box on Read Only, and apply and close it.
This will make it so your settings will not be changed without you changing them. For most people, the setting you just added into the file will get removed and your maps will keep being dark, if you don't apply read only.

And that's all folks!

Once yer done with all that, you're free to go and enjoy your game! xD
Lets pretend I didn't take 4 years to finally edit this guide XD I am very sorry for how long it took me to edit it. I procrastinate too much
ANYWHO, Enjoy your game, and pop em zombie heads!

159 Comments

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Cosplayer 1 Jul @ 1:35pm

so what do you do if it just doesn't work

lzzyy 13 Jun @ 5:42pm

nope :(

FadedGoldfish97 27 May @ 5:07am

take note that when you set video.txt to read only, all changes you make in the in-game video settings will not be saved until you turn off read only

Megzium 4 May @ 12:39am

didnt work for me

thecoolpooldrool 2 Apr @ 6:53pm

ur amazing. No mercy was affected and i thought it was my addons😭

Evade81 13 Mar @ 2:25pm

Holy shit thank you so much, this was driving me insane. I was going crazy trying to fix my game, thinking it was just my pc

pangnimo 12 Mar @ 4:44am

works for me, thanks a lot

Mandalorian 27 Jan @ 1:24am

still not working

Double it and give to next persn 26 Jan @ 7:07pm

Before that, I want to say thank you to those who found this solution and appreciate the great job! but unfortunately when I accidentally opened the options menu and literally did not change any options, the game just so dark most of the maps (especially l4d1 maps), and when I checked the "setting.mat_tonemapping_occlusion_use_stencil" "1" it said there and read-only checked, any solutions?

Dark 26 Jan @ 3:42pm

I know you've likely heard it thousand times now but..... thank you so much for this, the L4D1 campaigns are almost pitch black for me at some points (tho I do miss some darkness, hehe) and now I can finally L4D1 campaigns on L4D2 while they look like their L4D1 version.

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