HL2 rainbow colors issue

[SH64]

Ok since i've searched the forums & looked everywhere & couldent find someone mentioned this , i'll go ahead & report this issue i was encountring since i got HL2 .

in the dark places i noticed this wierd discoloring or rainbow colors appear & espesically when not turning on the flashlight . i attached some screenshots to show the issue .
now its happening on my 2 PCs & on friend's PC as well , so i dont think its a drivers bug or gamma/contrast issue ... it must be something else that might be related to the game itself perhaps ?
i remember some people mentioned a similar issue in other games (like FC & Painkiller) & told thats a color compression problem or something like that .

as you can see from the screenshots .. it makes the graphics in dark places looks ugly .
http://img69.exs.cx/img69/7652/d2prison0500024sk.jpg
http://img84.exs.cx/img84/8813/d3c1706a00001wx.jpg
http://img84.exs.cx/img84/3338/d3c1706a00014lb.jpg

I tried different drivers , changing gamma/contrast & different monitors BTW .

any idea ??

[|MaguS|]

Something must be wrong with my eye's because I don't see anything wrong with those shots...

[GamerGuyX]

Something must be wrong with my eye's because I don't see anything wrong with those shots...

.®

[CaptNKILL]

I had to turn my monitor on super bright mode to see it. Most likely, your monitor (or the game, or your drivers) are set way too bright. Its supposed to be almost black. If your brightness\gamma is way too high, it just exagerates the very very very slight redish tint on the shadows, which makes them look really colorfull.

Id say, if you can see those colors normally, you are running the game with way too much brightness\gamma. Those scenes should be almost pitch black.

[SH64]

Hmmm strange .. then why all other games looks alright with my current brightness\gamma settings (including Doom3) ?? & why its happening in 3 different montiors ?? i dont think all of the three could have the same brightness/gamma settings !
besides changing them well make the game looks even darker than it should for me .

[GamerGuyX]

besides changing them well make the game looks even darker than it should for me .

Here's the thing. If you can actually see in DOOM 3, then your monitor is set to bright. :D

[SH64]

Here's the thing. If you can actually see in DOOM 3, then your monitor is set to bright. :D
lol .. well anyway its not a big deal but i just wanted to make sure thats it isnt a bug .
from your responses i suppose recalibrating my brightness/gamma/contrast settings will fix it . thanks guys .
CASE CLOSED !

[EciDemon]

Hehe, I could see nothing wrong with your Screenshots until I edited them in photoshop to enhance the brightness.

It looks very ugly indeed.
But it's suposed to appear as black to you or just nearly black meaning (as sayd before) your monitor is set too bright (or too much gamma in the game)

Its not _that_ odd that this appers though as with these dark shades I guess there isnt much of a color spectrum to draw it out with.
Im sure we would all see this if we upped the brightness of our monitors.

[Rakeesh]

It's mostly just flaws in the way the shadow engine was designed, just do as they suggest and lower the gamma setting. Valve can't/won't fix that without really changing the way the engine works.

[FierceDeityLink]

Fixed contrast/levels:
http://www.liquidsun.org/robby/hl2_rainbow_shot1.jpg
http://www.liquidsun.org/robby/hl2_rainbow_shot2.jpg
http://www.liquidsun.org/robby/hl2_rainbow_shot3.jpg