How To Fix/Reduce Excessive Brightness In CS2

Here's a solution to address the issue of excessive brightness in Counter-Strike 2.

Is your Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) game looking way too bright or dark, and you can’t seem to get those brightness settings to stick? Well, there’s good news – we’ve got a solution for you! Many CS2 players have been struggling with the game’s default brightness, making it a bit hard to enjoy.

In this article, we’ll show you a straightforward fix for this issue. Since CS2 switched to the Source 2 engine, players have faced a brighter game compared to CS:GO. Some players have suggested changing their graphics card settings, while others opt for in-game adjustments.

Is your CS2 Too Bright/dark? Brightness Setting not Getting Saved? Here’s the Fix

We’ll explore all the options available to help you get that perfect brightness level for your CS2 gaming experience. Say goodbye to the over-brightness problem and get ready for smoother gameplay!

Lower Brightness using Graphics Settings

To adjust the brightness in your CS2 game on your PC, follow these steps:

  1. Open the CS2 game on your computer.
  2. Navigate to the settings menu, and click on the “Video” option.
  3. To adjust the brightness slider effectively, ensure you are in fullscreen mode. To do this, change the “Display Mode” setting to “Fullscreen.”
  4. Now that you’re in fullscreen mode, the brightness slider becomes accessible. You can fine-tune the brightness within a range of 40% (for the darkest) to 140% (for the brightest), depending on your personal preferences.

Reduce Excessive Brightness in CS2 using Command Console

You can use the “r_fullscreen_gamma” command to adjust the brightness of your game in CS2. Setting it to “r_fullscreen_gamma 0” makes the game completely white, and increasing the value makes it progressively darker. Typically, Source games allow values up to 1.6 or 1.8, with 2.2 being the default for Source games.

  • If your CS2 game is too bright, try using “r_fullscreen_gamma 2.2 / 2.4 / 2.6.”
  • If it’s too dark, attempt “r_fullscreen_gamma 1.6 / 1.8.”

Keep in mind that there’s a bug in CS2 that may not save your brightness settings in fullscreen mode, reverting to 110% in the menu. So, adjusting the gamma using this command can be a helpful workaround.

Read this article if you don’t know how to enable the console on CS2.

How to Optimize Brightness in CS2 Via Nvidia Control Panel

Here is another way to reduce the brightness in CS2 by adjusting your NVIDIA Control Panel settings:

  1. Open the NVIDIA Control Panel.
  2. Navigate to “Adjust Desktop Color Settings.”
  3. Enable the “Override to reference mode” option.

By following these steps, CS2 will appear less bright, even if you’ve set the in-game brightness slider to its maximum value. This adjustment should make the game more comfortable for your eyes.

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