No blurbusting in "The Outer Worlds" at 100hz with lightboost

[ishkiniza]

Hi everyone! First time poster here.

I dabbled with lightboost back in 2015 when I discovered it and played skyrim on my gtx 760 with a VG248QE. I thought that I had it figured out at the time. I'm now enjoying The Outer Worlds on that same monitor with a 1070ti. However, even though I clearly manage to enable lightboost at any number of percentages of brightness, I can't see any noticable effects in game. I have checked the test at https://www.testufo.com/ and clearly see that lightboost is in fact activating. I have checked that the game uses the global settings (application controlled) in the nVidia control panel, and I've turned the strobing down to 100Hz with vsync ON (my gfx couldn't consistently pump out 120fps). I'm on a dual monitor setup with an old 60hz IPS as a secondary, could that be an issue? I do seem to be getting the effects of lightboost (turning it on via strobelight.exe dims the screen) and the ufo looks good.

Any thoughts?

[Chief Blur Buster]

However, even though I clearly manage to enable lightboost at any number of percentages of brightness, I can't see any noticable effects in game.

First, some general recommendations about using strobe backlights with your games:

A. First, let's confirm it works outside of game
1. Load TetsUFO Panning Map Test at approximately 3000 pixels per second.
2. Adjust your persistence of your particular strobe backlight brand
(LightBoost % setting, ULMB Pulse Width, DyAc Pulse Width, AIM Stabilizer, and PureXP+ Levels)
3. The street name labels will be more readable at smaller pulse width settings.

B. Next, please fix your game to become TestUFO-smooth
Please get your game to guarantee fps=Hz first.
-- Don't let game frame rate fall below refresh rates
-- EASY: Use VSYNC ON + NULL (default). Use VSYNC ON temporarily during testing.
-- MEDUM: Use Low-Lag VSYNC HOWTO
-- HARD: Use RTSS Scanline Sync
-- Lower your refresh rate if your framerates are far below Hz. 100fps@100Hz is better than 100fps@120Hz
-- Test using keyboard strafe left/right, while staring at high detail textures scrolling past, like wall posters or floor debris, etc. (at least until you fix mouse microstutters)

C. Finally, please fix your mouse microstutters.
Motion blur reduction amplifies visibility of mouse microstutter
-- Use highest Hz poll your mouse offers (1000Hz, but even 2000Hz helps)
-- Please clean your mouse feet
-- Please use a silky mouse pad
-- Raise your mouse DPI much higher. Minimum 1600dpi (of a 6400dpi+ mouse) or 3200dpi (of a 10000dpi+ mouse)
-- Reduce your in-game sensitivity to compensate for DPI-on-stereoids.
-- The name of the game is to make your mouseturns as smooth as TestUFO panning.
-- If your mouseturns are not silky "Super Mario Panning Smooth" as "VSYNC ON fps=Hz keyboard strafe left/right", keep tweaking.

Why? 0.5ms vs 1.0ms MPRT is hidden by microstutters
-- LightBoost is about 2ms MPRT(at 100%) and 1ms MPRT (at 10%). Some newer monitors can go 0.5ms or less (better-than-LightBoost-10%) while being much brighter than LightBoost.
-- Small MPRT changes from strobe length changes are easily hidden in microstutters caused by fps/Hz mismatch as well as mouse microstutters.
-- 0.5ms MPRT(100%) is 0.5/1000 = 1 pixel of motion blur per 2000 pixels/sec motion
-- 1.0ms MPRT(100%) is 1.0/1000 = 1 pixel of motion blur per 1000 pixels/sec motion
-- 1.0ms MPRT(100%) is 2.0/1000 = 1 pixel of motion blur per 500 pixels/sec motion
-- If your tiny stutters are jumping 2 pixels or 3 pixels, it will easily hide these benefits to an extent.

Just like tiny 6-point text becomes unreadable at 1ms MPRT at 3000 pixels/sec (3 pixel blurring) and totally blurry at 2ms MPRT at 3000 pixels/sec (6 pixel blurring) -- and going to 0.5ms MPRT the tiny text in Test UFO Panning Map Test becomes readable (in quick glances) even at 3000 pixels/sec.

These sub-milliseconds are becoming human visible thanks to the Vicious Cycle Effect of higher-resolutions, lower-blur, faster-motionspeeds amplifying MPRT differences. But it definitely reveals system weak links (game engines, sync technologies, and mouse microstutters). Which is why some people said things that show up in TestUFO, did not show up in games.

[Chief Blur Buster]

I'm on a dual monitor setup with an old 60hz IPS as a secondary, could that be an issue?

First, test this
Yes, it can be an issue. Disconnect the secondary monitor temporarily.
This is why TestUFO stutters on the LightBoost monitor when you also have TestUFO simultaneously on a 60Hz secondary. You can get the same problem with games, too. It eliminates the benefits of LightBoost.

Next, solve this
If you must have 2 monitors while gaming fps=Hz, you can kind of work around this by:
A. Make your strobed monitor the primary monitor.
B. Always use Full Screen Exclusive. Never borderless windowed.