From Windows 95 to Windows 8.1 Color Management System sucks big time. I am sure at least some of your are fimiliar with the concept of display calibration do D65 (6500K) Standard that involves the use of a hardware probe (a colorimeter like i1Display Pro, ColorMunki Display, Spyder 1-4 Series, or spectrometer like i1Pro, ColorMunki Photo, etc.) and software, such as HCFR Calibration, CalMAN, ChromaPure, dispcalGUI, etc. A lot of it has to do with DirectX games being able to completely disregard ICC (LUT) profiles in FullScreen ("Exclusive FUllScreen") mode, forcing people to use either in-game Windowed (Borderless) FullScreen mods or all kinds of tools like Windowed Borderless Gaming, FullScreenizer, GeDoSaTo, etc. to run games in Borderless Windowed / Windowed Fullscreen mode, which tends to have performance issues, makes it impossible to use V-Sync, and forces you to use only your desktop resolution for whichever game in that mode, although you can change your desktop resolution to get around that limitation. Quite a few recent games do allow ICC profiles to work even in FullScreen "Exclusive" mode, but far from all. There are some guides that supposedly show you how to enforce ICC profiles @ all times and in all cases by changing Default System settings in Windows Color Management properties, but ICC profiles get reset by the same games regardless. There is a DirectX command/feature, that, if used, will reset ICC profile to Windows default, no matter what you do in Color Management System. I was wondering whether Windows 10 Color Management system is going to be changed or updated to actually allow complete enforcement of ICC (LUT) profiles either through its own functions or by making changes in DirectX 11.2 / 12.0. I mean developers have surely found ways to use Exclusive FullScreen mode and allow ICC profile enforcement in games, such as Battlefield 4, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Far Cry 4, Assassin's Creed: Unity, etc., but there are still plenty of good games that run like crap in Windowed Borderless Mode and reset ICC profile to system default in true FullScreen mode. EDIT: If someone who is even a little familiar with what I described above would please post some screenshots of Windows 10 Color Management Settings, Options, Profiles, Calibration Wizard, etc., then I and many others would greatly appreciate it (Reps for LIFE!)!
I actually know exactly what you are talking about. When I get some free time I will look into the CMS of Windows 10. My gut says not much has changed and that the calibration wizard still uses the content developed by Microsoft, Monster, and the ISF.
I can't even express my feelings about your post. This should have been an internal MS mail to look for this issue in circa 2008-2009, so we didn't have an almost identical CMS as Vista's. Graphic Drivers can force virtually every graphic related setting (Vsync, AA, AF, AO, etc.) on every 3D application, even if they're not optimized for it (not always successfully of course). So why can't we natively force color modes or screen related attributes through the core layer of our PC, the OS. It's almost like the joke about WMP not supporting WASAPI which was developed by MS... The screens I attach will disappoint you but here we go... (Build 9901).
Damn and I had hopes... Thank you for the info! On the other hand, I am very glad that display calibration has picked up in popularity in gaming community and more and more recent games support either Windowed FullScreen modes or they allow ICC/LUT profiles to be enforced in normal FullScreen mode. I mean all they have to do is not use a DirectX command that resets the LUT (vcgt part of an ICC profile) to default. Monitors, however, continue to have very limited controls, although some come "pre-calibrated" to acceptable levels, like ASUS ROG Swift. By now DirectX / Windows OS should allow the use of 3DLUT's! I want to see games as they were made by their creators to judge them, although some game development studios do not bother calibrating monitors designated to graphics/art development (FIFA games)... The big question is - how can we make Microsoft become very aware of its Color Management System limitation and guide them towards a much better one. Should be start a petition? I can see it growing!