Hey, there are some issues with the current instructions on the Special_K Install and Reshade install. If missed they result in a crash on every attempt to open the game. I had to find the special K wiki to set up the appropriate work arounds, and I'm sure there are several folk still having the issue.
1. Reshade is incompatible entirely with Special K global. If you installed it first then SpecialK.central needs to be deleted from the main folder, even if you install the wrapper or follow the instructions for local afterward.
3. (MOST IMPORTANT!) Special K will most likely crash on first launch after local install, no matter if reshade is installed or not. After naming SpecialK64.dll to dxgi.dll then you must run it and let it crash. After the initial crash dxgi.ini will be generated. Edit dxgi.ini and change; [Render.DXGI] UseFlipDiscard=false
[Textures.D3D11] Cache=false
After this it should run with issue. I recommend following the Wiki directly on these as the steps are clearly laid out rather than listing the steps, this way it is always up to date.
Special K Install: https://wiki.special-k.info/en/SpecialK/Custom/Final_Fantasy_XV
Using the local install of Special K linked here I ended up with screen tearing I absolutely could not get rid of.
The global Special K did not cause this issue nor did the much older local Special K from the Steam Forums: https://steamcommunity.com/app/637650/discussions/0/1697167168518535998/
Anyone else have this issue or find a work-around?
Followed all the instructions and using the latest build of SpecialK, and all that happens when I try to launch the game is that it hangs on then initial blank screen saying ReShade and SpecialK are loaded. I get a popup at the bottom left corner saying it successfully loaded ReShade64.dll.
Nothing else happens. None of the banners nor the notification goes away and the screen just stays frozen at that point.
Got it figured out. The version linked on the SK forums gives that "Critical Assertion Failure" error. The newest nightly build from Discord just hangs. Going off of tadman1996's suggestion below, I downloaded a version from early December from Discord, and no problems.
General comment - thank you, this guide is fairly good even in 2024, obviously some mods have changed, it would be nice to see this revisited, probably a lot of people here from the latest steam sale of the game.
FAQ Q "I can't interact with Reshade's menu with my mouse, how do I fix this?" A "Try opening the Special K menu (Ctrl + Shift + Backspace) and re-enabling "Mouse Input" under the "Input Management" sub-menu. This is a recommended performance improvement for Special K that may be preventing you from adding any of the Reshade mods you're trying to use later on.
I followed the guide to install SpecialK with ReShade. SpecialK works but ReShade just doesn't open in game, so I cant load any post-process presets. ReShade shows up in plug-ins, but it just doesn't open. Any ideas what could have gone wrong? I tried to reinstall SpecialK and ReShade completely 3 times but it does not seem to have any difference.
Hey, I also spent the last couple of hours troubleshooting this and I found a fix. I don't know if this will cause other problems or if it's the intended method since it's not on this guide or SpecialK's instructions, but it worked for me.
I needed to launch the game once with JUST reshade, so it could generate a reshade.ini file in the FFXV folder. Once that file was in place, reshade would load with SpecialK just fine.
I had already downloaded and installed SpecialK, so I renamed the SpecialK version of dxgi.dll back to "SpecialK64.dll" then I renamed "ReShade64.dll" to "dxgi.dll" - I also temporarily removed the "dxgi.ini" file that SpecialK uses from the FFXV folder just in case.
I launched the game and saw the Reshade welcome message pop up. I did the first-time setup tutorial.
None of the Reshade effects I installed were in the menu--I had to go to the Settings tab and change the Effects and Textures file paths to point at my reshade Shaders and Textures folders in the FFXV game directory (that might just be from me reinstalling it so much, though, lol)
I closed the game, renamed "dxgi.dll" to "ReShade64.dll" ; renamed "SpecialK64.dll" to "dxgi.dll" ; and I re-inserted the "dxgi.ini" file from earlier back to the FFXV folder
When I launched the game again, both SpecialK and Reshade worked as expected... almost!
This might not happen to you: I had a weird bug on loading in where nothing except the skybox loaded. I realized in dxgi.ini I had changed [Import.ReShade64] When=Lazyto[Import.ReShade64] When=Earlyin my troubleshooting. I closed the game, switched it back to When=Lazy, and the game worked perfectly when I re-launched. I don't know if this issue was fixed from making that change, if it was fixed because I re-launched, or if it was something else. Either way, it hasn't happened since and I thought I should mention it.
If all is good there, then maybe I messed up somewhere in the guide... Apologies either way --- Maintaining the guide over time (as Special K and ReShade evolve into much different creatures than when the guide was first published) is not as fool-proof as when I first created it, as I Final Fantyasy XV is a nearly 200GB game that I have not had installed (to test with the guide) for a long time now. I rely upon news and discussions either elsewhere or on the mod pages to derive updated configurations on how to make Special K + ReShade work together nowadays.
Thank you, I followed your instructions and it all worked, I just run FFXV with ReShade only to create an .ini file. Then added SpecialK, replaced the names of files and added lines to dxgi.ini, In the end it all worked. I also discovered that for some reason if you dont change lines in .ini file the game simply does not start, don't know if it should be like this or not. But thanks again, everything works. Maybe it would be better to see Reshade before the SpecialK in guide, because otherwise its a bit confusing and apparently does not really work.
Hi, so i have a problem, i can't get to work my xbox controller on with special k i tryed everything that i found on the special k site but nothing worked.
Anyone can help?
Maybe it's becouse i have a cracked vers.? (i'm using the fitgirl repack)
Rephrase your words, Sidex! This site's management does not like any mention of non-legitimate gains. Edit your comment FIRST. Second, make sure the version of the game is as up-to-date as you can make it. Third, keep searching for solutions, as I have no knowledge of controller usage on PC games.
Oh! So it is all ok at 2023 as well? Good. I've just installed FFXV!! Humble suggestion : How about reupload the file for making "Last updated" new?! That'd be very good for newbie like me, I think...? (There's never rude intention. If I bothered you I give you my sincere apology. Not good at English, so... T.T)
Thank you, I'll follow your guide letter by letter!
Now open the File: "null_TurfEffects_0.1.4.zip" navigate ... → "More Responsive NVIDIA Turf Effects Grass and Longer Lasting Trails-136-1-0-0-1599784812.zip" File name has been changed maybe?
If you want to play FFXV with ingame HDR active, AND performance fix by special k ALTOGETHER, you should use the settings below;
1. choose HDR Preset 1 2. check Bypass sRGB Gamma 3. Peak White Luminance 80 (ctrl+click for typing) 4. Paper White Luminance 80 (ctrl+click for typing)
because you cannot deactivate the HDR Calibration of special K like this, below.
(None can't be activated(?). It continuously would say "HDR Still Active" and "Try pressing Alt + Enter a few times to fix this". But no, Alt + Enter over 10,000 times would not work.)
p.s. Older version of special K doesn't have the same issue but, older version is old, so.
And here's my solution with the Reshade installation. Just install Reshade first - paste all of them, not just Pure Light.ini - and check if it works. Then rename its dxgi.dll to ReShade64.dll and follow the Special K installation guide. (or I think it could be the problem that I clicked the skips when installing Reshade recent ver?)
Not fit well with ingame HDR unlike FF7R though :(
Anyway, now my modding is all done I think! Happy to start the game finally.
137 comments
The Royal Final Fantasy XV Experience (Mod List and Guide):
1. GUIDE \\ Last Updated —
01/21/2023
2. FILES \\ Last Updated —
10/21/20201. Reshade is incompatible entirely with Special K global. If you installed it first then SpecialK.central needs to be deleted from the main folder, even if you install the wrapper or follow the instructions for local afterward.
3. (MOST IMPORTANT!) Special K will most likely crash on first launch after local install, no matter if reshade is installed or not. After naming SpecialK64.dll to dxgi.dll then you must run it and let it crash. After the initial crash dxgi.ini will be generated. Edit dxgi.ini and change;
[Render.DXGI]
UseFlipDiscard=false
[Textures.D3D11]
Cache=false
After this it should run with issue. I recommend following the Wiki directly on these as the steps are clearly laid out rather than listing the steps, this way it is always up to date.
Special K Install:
https://wiki.special-k.info/en/SpecialK/Custom/Final_Fantasy_XV
Reshade Install:
https://wiki.special-k.info/en/SpecialK/ReShade#final-fantasy-xv
The global Special K did not cause this issue nor did the much older local Special K from the Steam Forums: https://steamcommunity.com/app/637650/discussions/0/1697167168518535998/
Anyone else have this issue or find a work-around?
I get a popup at the bottom left corner saying it successfully loaded ReShade64.dll.
Nothing else happens.
None of the banners nor the notification goes away and the screen just stays frozen at that point.
What am I missing?
EDIT:
Definitely SpecialK. I can install and use ReShade by itself with no issue, but SK just hangs every time.
The version linked on the SK forums gives that "Critical Assertion Failure" error.
The newest nightly build from Discord just hangs.
Going off of tadman1996's suggestion below, I downloaded a version from early December from Discord, and no problems.
FAQ
Q "I can't interact with Reshade's menu with my mouse, how do I fix this?"
A "Try opening the Special K menu (Ctrl + Shift + Backspace) and re-enabling "Mouse Input" under the "Input Management" sub-menu. This is a recommended performance improvement for Special K that may be preventing you from adding any of the Reshade mods you're trying to use later on.
Any ideas what could have gone wrong? I tried to reinstall SpecialK and ReShade completely 3 times but it does not seem to have any difference.
I needed to launch the game once with JUST reshade, so it could generate a reshade.ini file in the FFXV folder. Once that file was in place, reshade would load with SpecialK just fine.
[Import.ReShade64] When=Lazyto[Import.ReShade64] When=EarlySpecial K Install:
https://wiki.special-k.info/en/SpecialK/Custom/Final_Fantasy_XV
ReShade Install:
https://wiki.special-k.info/en/SpecialK/ReShade#final-fantasy-xv
If all is good there, then maybe I messed up somewhere in the guide... Apologies either way --- Maintaining the guide over time (as Special K and ReShade evolve into much different creatures than when the guide was first published) is not as fool-proof as when I first created it, as I Final Fantyasy XV is a nearly 200GB game that I have not had installed (to test with the guide) for a long time now. I rely upon news and discussions either elsewhere or on the mod pages to derive updated configurations on how to make Special K + ReShade work together nowadays.
Critical Assertion Failure: 'hThread != nullptr'
Function: int__cdezcl SetThreadPriority_Detour(void *,int)
Source: (C:\Users\amcol\source\repos\SpecialK\src\thread.cpp:553
Also getting mad stutter now after 120 butter smooth vanilla cranked to the max.
Anyone can help?
Maybe it's becouse i have a cracked vers.? (i'm using the fitgirl repack)
*EDIT I found it
Humble suggestion : How about reupload the file for making "Last updated" new?! That'd be very good for newbie like me, I think...?
(There's never rude intention. If I bothered you I give you my sincere apology. Not good at English, so... T.T)
Thank you, I'll follow your guide letter by letter!
→ "More Responsive NVIDIA Turf Effects Grass and Longer Lasting Trails-136-1-0-0-1599784812.zip"
File name has been changed maybe?
1. choose HDR Preset 1
2. check Bypass sRGB Gamma
3. Peak White Luminance 80 (ctrl+click for typing)
4. Paper White Luminance 80 (ctrl+click for typing)
because you cannot deactivate the HDR Calibration of special K like this, below.
(None can't be activated(?). It continuously would say "HDR Still Active" and "Try pressing Alt + Enter a few times to fix this". But no, Alt + Enter over 10,000 times would not work.)
p.s. Older version of special K doesn't have the same issue but, older version is old, so.
Just install Reshade first - paste all of them, not just Pure Light.ini - and check if it works. Then rename its dxgi.dll to ReShade64.dll and follow the Special K installation guide. (or I think it could be the problem that I clicked the skips when installing Reshade recent ver?)
Not fit well with ingame HDR unlike FF7R though :(
Anyway, now my modding is all done I think! Happy to start the game finally.