HDR Tuner

WoW's HDR settings live in console variables, not in the options window. If you want to change your paper-white level or tell the game your monitor's real peak brightness, you have to type /console HDRPeakBrightness 1000 and guess. HDR Tuner fixes that.

It adds an HDR Tuner page under Interface → AddOns, with a step-by-step tuning guide at the top. Each HDR console variable gets the right control: a checkbox for on/off settings, a slider for numbers and a dropdown for the render format. Changes apply as soon as you make them, with no relog needed.

Works on Windows and macOS. Doesn't currently work on other game versions.

How to Tune

1. In your system's display settings, confirm that HDR is on and note your monitor's peak brightness.
2. Check the Enable HDR Output box and stand somewhere bright outdoors.
3. Leave the Render Format at 16-bit float.
4. Check the Override Peak Brightness box and set the slider to your monitor's peak brightness.
5. Check the Override Brightness box, start the slider at 200, and adjust until the ground and UI look right.
6. Leave HDR Factor at 1.0x, or raise it in small steps for brighter highlights. Stop when the ground starts to lose color and texture.
7. Finish with the Brightness and Contrast sliders.

The brightest the world can get is Override Brightness multiplied by HDR Factor, up to the limit set by Override Peak Brightness.

What You Can Control

Output

Enable HDR Output: turns HDR output on when your display and render settings support it. Toggling it also sets the Render Format to 16-bit float, which clears up scrambled colors.
Warning: toggling this setting can cause a bright flicker of color, which may affect players sensitive to flashing lights.

Render Format: sets the precision the game renders at.
10-bit (A2BGR10Unorm), which has a more limited range and can produce oversaturated or incorrect colors
16-bit float (RGBA16F), the game's default and the best choice for most players
32-bit float (RGBA32F), the highest precision, which also uses the most video memory and bandwidth

Brightness

Override Peak Brightness: tells the game your monitor's real peak brightness in nits (0 to 2000) instead of trusting what the monitor reports. It only has an effect when Override Brightness multiplied by HDR Factor would go above it.
Override Brightness: sets the level of normal white for the world and UI in nits (0 to 1000), instead of using the level your monitor reports.

Tone Mapping

HDR Factor: sets how far above standard (SDR) lighting HDR is allowed to go, from 1.0x to 2.0x. It never goes past your monitor's peak brightness.

Final Adjustments

Brightness and Contrast: the same settings found in the game's Graphics options, placed here so you can finish tuning in one spot. They work with HDR on or off.

How it Works

Each control reads and writes its console variable directly. The addon keeps no copy of your settings, so nothing can fall out of sync and there's nothing extra to back up. The game stores the values as it always has.

The panel's Defaults button restores the game's own defaults, except HDR Factor, which resets to 1.0x to match the tuning guide. Every control has a tooltip explaining what it does. Each override checkbox sits on the same row as its slider, so it's clear which override controls which value.

Notes

Type /hdt to open the panel, or find it under Interface → AddOns → HDR Tuner.
Controls for console variables your client doesn't have are hidden, so the addon doesn't get in the way on versions without HDR support.
The game doesn't publish minimum and maximum values for these variables, so the addon sets its own slider ranges.
8-bit (BGRA8Unorm) only appears in the Render Format list if it's already set, because this client doesn't accept it.