4K DSR can be combined with special effects to simulate photorealism (SCREENSHOTS)

I've known about sweetfx a long time but I disagree with you and suggest not using it. Sure it may seem more visually appealing with higher vibrance and contrast but it's actually more unrealistic and steps away from the dev's intended color mood. I'm seeing a lot of ugly blown out colors in those pics. What monitor do you have?

So in real life, you see blown out colors at everything you look at? The whole point of entertainment and why nvidia suggested it is to be more visually appealing. This is why movies are shot in different filters making it more unrealistic lighting. The same goes for this, more appeal, less realistic. Just a tn monitor as expected. Maybe if you had a better one, you'd see the detail without more post processing.

I have to agree with k1114 here.
While some details are more pronounced, its generally in areas that look darker in the first image of the comparisons.
The rest of the image is just over saturated, some even begin to get washed out. Everyone has different tastes when it comes to games, but my migraines would be constant if the world was that saturated.

Look at the NFS pictures, you cant even read the numbers.

I wouldn't call any of what you are doing as really seeing more detail but rather the detail is already there, you are just making it more noticeable. The first shadow of mordor screen, the one with him crouching if I'm correct. You kinda removed the atmospheric haze and higher contrast/saturation accentuates textures and objects. Extra haze is added to focus more on the foreground and also to fade the background which goes to a lower level of detail to have less strain. Why I mentioned monitors was because reviews for yours said it has lackluster colors and is pretty much a tv. This would make sense why what you did is better looking for your monitor to try to make up for it's downfalls. But on the other hand it could just also be personal preference and opinions is the main reason why everyone is or isn't using sweetfx and why devs are not doing the same filters as you by default.

I'd go a step further and say it's not really the realism that is more appealing, it's more visual depth and complexity. Okami, wind waker, street fighter, plenty of games are seen as the most visually appealing games but far from realistic. Confusing complexity with realism and stylizing with what reality really looks like. Higher color saturation and contrast is not what real life looks like so is less realistic and stylizing is the opposite of realism.

For example the second screenshot, the hallway is pretty well lit and yes it's more monotone and boring but light bounces and diffuses. You can't have that bright of a light on the door and another light on the stairs but such a dark area at the bottom of the stairs with 2 lights. The one with the girl and the house, the only way you'd have high contrast in lighting is from a harsh sunlight and you'll notice a nice example of this in gta in the desert vs lighting in the city. The kitchen and table won't be that dark with so much light coming into the house.

I wouldn't go as far as to call it filtered garbage like instagram garbage but I could compare it to something like 300 which is nice looking but I don't want everything to be epic lighting. You like what you do and want it on every game, go ahead but you see lots of people won't. Like I said in my first post, less realism, messes up the mood, maybe more appeal.