I think many of you reading this article are using gaming monitors. When you get a gaming monitor, many of you probably adjust the brightness and color to your liking.
So, how many of you change the brightness and color tone for each game?
Some monitors can store multiple user settings, but it’s rare for people to change monitor settings for each of the many games they play. Even though there is a need to make dark areas more noticeable in games to make it easier to spot enemies, or to increase the color saturation to immerse yourself in flashy images, it is difficult to spend all that time on them.
BenQ’s gaming monitor “MOBIUZ” series and dedicated software “Color Shuttle” released in September 2023 make this easy. This software not only allows you to save your monitor’s video settings and easily switch between them, but also allows you to exchange settings files with other users over the Internet.
You want to download carefully selected settings for each game, you want to recommend the settings that you have thoroughly pursued to others, you want to use the settings that professional gamers use…these can be easily achieved, and the possibilities for the video of the game are increased. It greatly increases the
This time, I would like to use the 4K/144Hz compatible 32-inch gaming monitor “EX3210U” from the “MOBIUZ” series to see what you can do with “Color Shuttle”.
“Color Shuttle” used in combination with compatible monitors of the gaming monitor “MOBIUZ” series
“Color Shuttle” window.It looks very simple
Because “Color Shuttle” saves monitor settings, it must be used in conjunction with a compatible “MOBIUZ” gaming monitor. There is a list of compatible monitors on the official Color Shuttle website, and as of February there are 5 models. In addition to new models, some existing products will be supported through updates.
List of compatible models for “Color Shuttle” (as of February)
- EX2710Q:27 inches/2,560×1,440/165Hz/IPS
- EX3410R:34 inches/3,440×1,440/144Hz/VA
- EX3210U:32 inches/3,840×2,160/144Hz/IPS
- EX270QM:27 inches/2,560×1,440/240Hz/IPS
- EX2710U:27 inch/3,840×2,160/144Hz/IPS
- EX480UZ: 48 inches/3,840×2,160/120Hz/IPS (Compatibility date to be determined)
The setup order is to connect a compatible monitor to your PC and then run “Color Shuttle”. Please note that “Color Shuttle” will not start unless a compatible monitor is connected.
When you start “Color Shuttle”, a window will appear with the name of the model you are using. Each game image in the window is a video settings file.
To use it, select the configuration file you want to use and click the downward arrow mark. Next, a window called “Apply Color” will appear, so select Gamer 1, Gamer 2, or Gamer 3. This is a frame for user settings saved on the monitor side, and this means that there are three frames available for this unit.
Click the arrow mark displayed on the title icon, select one of the three custom settings frames, and save.
When you select it, the screen turns black, and after a while, the screen display changes to match the settings file. A window asking whether to apply will be displayed, so if there is no problem, click Apply. Click Cancel if you want to revert. This is all there is to apply from the configuration file.
Apply if you are happy with the image displayed after darkening
The configuration file can be downloaded from the official website
There were only three pre-prepared configuration files, but you can also download configuration files for other games. The official Color Shuttle website provides configuration files for various games that can be downloaded.
Clicking on the down arrow in the cloud at the bottom of the Color Shuttle window launches a web browser and displays the download site. In addition to listing the configuration files for notable titles, there is also a search box further down that allows you to search by game title.
Configuration files for notable titles are also distributed on the official website.
For example, if you search for “Cyberpunk 2077”, you will find the settings file for “Cyberpunk 2077″ (Japanese is not supported, so search with the English title name). An official file named “BenQ Color Expert” is available for this work.
You can search for the settings file for the game you want to play.
The configuration file is a file with the extension “.mbz”. Click the folder mark at the bottom right of the “Color Shuttle” window to open the folder where the settings file will be placed, so move the downloaded file here. The downloaded settings file will then be reflected in the “Color Shuttle” window. After that, just apply it to the monitor as explained above.
Place the downloaded settings file in the specified location that can be opened from “Color Shuttle”
There are two types of configuration files, one for SDR and one for HDR, and when HDR is turned on in Windows settings, you can use the configuration file for HDR. When HDR is off, it can only be used for SDR. Unusable files are displayed darkly and cannot be selected. Since the color information displayed in HDR and SDR is different, “Color Shuttle” controls it so that there is no confusion.
You can find configuration files not only for PC games, but also for console titles such as PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch. Although it is not available for all games, you can find it for most major titles, so please look for it. You can search and download files even if you don’t have a compatible monitor.
Easily share your own video settings on SNS
Next is how to share your monitor settings with others. At the bottom right of the Color Shuttle window, click the icon with the arrow pointing upwards to the right. When using the app for the first time, you will be asked to sign in with your Google account from the Color Shuttle app.
The next window that appears will have two input boxes. Above, write the file name of the configuration file to be published. The bottom says “Game Tag,” but if you enter the game title, an icon that matches it will be displayed below. After selecting the appropriate game icon, click “Export” below.
Enter the file name and game title and select the appropriate icon
The configuration file will then be saved in the cloud and a download URL will be displayed.
A download URL will be issued
You can also post to Facebook, X, and Reddit. If you try selecting X, a posting screen similar to the image below will be displayed.
When I shared it on X, the post looked like this
Sharing the configuration file is now complete. Until I tried it, I thought it would be a difficult task, but in reality, it can all be solved with a simple window of “Color Shuttle”. It’s a very sophisticated app, both in terms of functionality and UI.
