Watch the video:

0:00 - Explanation
0:32 - Brightness fix
1:04 - Better colour with Nvidia Settings
3:05 - Get MUCH better colours EVERYWHERE (Bonus)

The issue

You’re either into the washed-out look that Call of Duty is known to offer, or you’re not.

You can customize how the game looks a little in-game, but we can get it looking almost exactly how we want using the Nvidia Control Panel. There is likely something similar for AMD. That’s what this guide shows you.

If you find that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is super washed-out or lacks colors: There are a few steps we should follow.

In-game Brightness

While you may be tempted to raise the brightness to see better in darker corners, you should resist if you aren’t a fan of the washed-out Call of Duty look. Raising the brightness past the “perfect” point for your monitor will quickly lead to a lack of color. Using the in-game settings slider for brightness is the simplest solution. Just lower the brightness, and the washed-out look will fade with it.

Simply locate and click the Brightness button in COD MW2.

Then adjust the slider to best match your monitor. The left should be black, the right visible clearly and the centre should just barely be visible.

Nvidia Control Panel

The Nvidia Control Panel is a potent tool that lets us customize how our monitor looks and customize it to your hearts content. There are far more options here than just the brightness slider, like in-game.

Either: Right-Click your Desktop, then Nvidia Control Panel, or search the start menu for it.

Once open, head to Adjust desktop color settings under Display on the left panel.

Locate the sliders, and tick/untick a box if necessary to adjust the sliders.

Now all you need to do is customize the settings until you’re comfortable. You’ll mostly use the Digital Vibrance slider and the Brightness and Contrast sections. Some suggested values are below:

• Brightness: 50%
• Contrast: 55%
• Gamma: 1.15
• Digital Vibrance: 75-80%

Bonus tip: Better colors!

For better performance from your monitors in ALL programs, head to the Change Resolution section under Display on the left.

Here, you should (for each of your monitors) set the following options under the Apply the following settings section:

• Desktop color depth: Max available (Usually `Highest (32-bit)
• Output color depth: Max available (Usually 8 bpc or 10 bpc)
• Output color format: RGB (Or sRGB if you have it - Your monitor may have more compatible or better color spaces to use)
• Output dynamic range: Full. If you’re stuck on limited, you’re likely losing out on a lot of color range for literally nothing! It’s a free improvement for your monitors!

Just like that, your game should look a ton better. If the preview below doesn’t look better, you can customize it the way you want! Go wild.