GShade -> ReShade migration guide for FFXIV

gshade_to_reshade_guide.md

How To Move To ReShade From GShade

(a guide by sylvie (@lostkagamine). tested, should work fine.)

(Korean version / 한국어 버전 / Chinese version / 中文版)

New: FAQ has been updated for ReShade 5.7.0 features.

If you are having issues like the screen turning black, read the mini-FAQ at the bottom of this document!

0. Don't uninstall GShade yet!

Uninstalling GShade removes the gshade-shaders folder which contains all the content. It does not remove GShade's executable file. This guide will help you do that.

You can uninstall it right before installing ReShade. Uninstalling it after will break ReShade!

1. Identify your game folder, and open it in Windows Explorer.

This is where you installed FFXIV. It contains ffxiv_dx11.exe. If you can't find it, look at the FAQ.

2. Back up the C:\Program Files\GShade\gshade-shaders and game\gshade-presets folder.

This contains GShade's shaders and presets, obviously. If you have lost it, download a backup of the full shader and preset package here.

3. Delete dxgi.dll in the game folder. (If there's a file called d3d11.dll there, delete that too.)

DO NOT DELETE THIS FILE IF IT'S IN THE C:\Windows FOLDER! IF YOU ONLY HAVE A dxgi.dll OR d3d11.dll FILE THERE, SKIP THIS STEP! YOU MUST BE IN THE game FOLDER! DELETING THE WRONG FILE WILL CAUSE WINDOWS TO STOP WORKING!

Note: this file might appear as just dxgi or d3d11. If it's present within the FFXIV game folder, you are safe to delete it.

This is GShade's executable file. The uninstaller does not delete this file, which is mildly suspicious, as it will continue to load into your game after uninstallation.

You can uninstall GShade at this point, if you have backed up its folders.

4. Install ReShade to ffxiv_dx11.exe.

You must install the version with full add-on support. The regular build of ReShade will not work with FFXIV.

Do not tick the options to install the shader packs from vanilla ReShade during the install process. Only make sure to install the ReShade default shaders.

It will pop up a scary-looking message box warning of bans when you first launch. Just ignore it; ReShade can get you banned just as much as GShade can, aka it can't.
Don't install into ffxiv.exe, as that's the DirectX 9 version of the game.

5. Replace the contents of the reshade-shaders folder with gshade-shaders's contents.

If you don't have a reshade-shaders for some reason, copy and paste gshade-shaders and rename it to reshade-shaders.

6. Copy and rename the gshade-presets folder to reshade-presets in the game folder.

This is to make presets work again. Despite what GShade team might have told you, you don't need GShade for presets.

7. Download this ZIP file, extract it, and move all of those .fx/.fxh files into your reshade-shaders\Shaders folder.

Remember to overwrite files if it asks.

As of 9/2/2023, this file may be triggering antivirus warnings for some users. It's safe. Windows Defender is being weird.

This will fix compatibility issues, add new tools (notably FFKeepUI and FFRestoreUI) and make some shaders compile.

8. You're done. Launch the game.

Enjoy not using software full of malware, and enjoy never updating again. If you find this useful, please throw me something, I don't have much money at all.

Mini-FAQ

There's no gshade-shaders folder. What do I do?

It's Program Files\GShade\gshade-shaders. If you have uninstalled GShade, download a backup of the full shader and preset package here.

Where's the game folder?

It's probably in C:\Program Files (x86)\SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn\game, and if you're on Steam, it's Steam\steamapps\common\FINAL FANTASY XIV Online\game.

I'm looking for reshade-shaders but I can't find it.

If ReShade's installer did not create it, just copy-paste gshade-shaders and rename it to reshade-shaders.

dxgi.dll is not next to the game executable!

You might have already uninstalled GShade. Ignore and continue, but GShade might be required to construct an appropriate reshade-shaders folder.

How do I open the ReShade menu?

Maybe press Home. ReShade will tell you when you run the game.

The Home key may be labeled Pos1 (in German) or Inicio (in Spanish). It's the same key.

But I don't have a Home key on the keyboard!

If you're on a laptop, try pressing Fn and ← at the same time.

Do GShade presets work?

They should. If they don't, we can't know for certain why, because GShade is closed-source. Project Crystal presets appear to be especially problematic right now, and thus may not function.

My screen is going black when using Project Crystal presets / There are no (shaders/presets) listed.

Add - verbatim - .\reshade-shaders\Shaders\** to the shader search path in ReShade settings, and your texture search path to .\reshade-shaders\Textures\**. You can use the ReShade file explorer to load your presets.

The screen's colours look super weird! / There are two of each shader in the list!

Replace the entire contents of reshade-shaders with the contents of gshade-shaders, leaving nothing behind, and then re-apply the fixed_shaders.zip file you downloaded in Step 7.

Why do some shaders not compile?

Please report these shaders in this Discord server, linking the .fx file and the full text of the error message.

Bard, Astrologian, Monk and Dancer's job gauges look weird!

This is a known issue. There is no fix for it at this time. Use the simple mode gauges.

This project by user 4lex4nder aims to fix the job gauges! Please look at its page for more info. The source code is available following this issue.

Project Crystal presets are far too dark.

You will need to place Technicolor 2 in the middle of the shader stack, and tweak it to your liking.

I want the screenshot sound back.

Well, good news - ReShade 5.7.0 introduced a feature to be able to play a .wav of your choice when taking a screenshot! It's in ReShade's settings tab.

I used startup presets, any way to get them back?

Good news again - ReShade 5.7.0 also introduced the startup preset feature from GShade. I don't know how to use it, but it shouldn't be hard to find.

There's a new version of ReShade out! How do I update? / I installed 5.6.0, but want the 5.7.0 features.

Just download the updated installer from the ReShade website and follow Step 4.

Special Thanks

• NotNite for starting all of this in the first place.
• crosire for the ReShade project.
• The ReShade Discord server for all the help.

Halp :') Missing my shaders.

same, istall went with no error, the presets are showing in the menu, but nothing is happening when I select them.

ive got this exact thing in the image. from what ive read above you may need too set the path too the effects and textures in the settings tab. ive yet too try this due to being at work atm.

For people getting no shaders listed, I had this exact same problem. For me, it was that the box that you typed the location of the shaders was very finicky -- I had to have a relative, not an absolute, path in there. So, it had to be .\reshade-shaders\Shaders**, not C:Program Files\blah-blah\reshade-shaders\Shaders**. When I browsed to the location, it was putting in the absolute path, so I had to manually type it in to get it to work.

I've been trying to help my friend get this off the ground, and while I can't physically interact with her computer, she's been having this issue but doing this fix didn't seem to work, any advice for helping her troubleshoot?

Having the same issue. can't see the shaders and manually typing in the shorter path does nothing.

Hi, hope this helps! Try renaming the file path to .\reshade-shaders\Shaders\**. Key difference is the Shaders\** instead of just Shaders**, like shown above. Just to be safe, I added both type of file paths. I'll show what I entered below:

This fixed the blank problem for me, personally.

Unfortunately didn't fix the problem for me. When I hit enter, it just returns to the full path and no shaders.

Unfortunately didn't fix the problem for me. When I hit enter, it just returns to the full path and no shaders.

Try not to hit enter so that the path name doesn’t change. Keep it strictly as the short name.

Nope doesn't work.

OK. Finally figured out what I was doing wrong. I was trying to navigate to the shaders on the home tab rather than settings. It's not entirely intuitive that this is how it works but that apparently worked.

Any fix for the Bard etc job gauges yet?

Any fix for the Bard etc job gauges yet?

there is now! look, here. source code is available too following this issue

+rep

hello i follow every step but when i launch th egame i have failed compilated error.

Hi, i've translated everything into Chinese and changed some details for Chinese players. Would you place a link in your guide? Thank you! https://gist.github.com/ShuiJu/5eb8b755c48788b2d3df6c95dcc9ab5e

apologies for not getting to this until now! a link has been added

I got reshade installed no problem but I wonder. Where do I download the old gshade presets? I can't seem to find them anywhere.

I got reshade installed no problem but I wonder. Where do I download the old gshade presets? I can't seem to find them anywhere.

They are not available anymore -- they were removed from GitHub during all the drama. That's why step 0 was "don't uninstall GShade yet". If you followed those instructions, step 6 is to copy them to the new location.

I got reshade installed no problem but I wonder. Where do I download the old gshade presets? I can't seem to find them anywhere.

@MalariaKills you might find them in one of these repositories (you might have to look at older commits):

• https://github.com/MirisWisdom/GShade.Assets
• https://github.com/MirisWisdom/GShade

I've ran through the install multiple times uninstalling between them and I keep getting these compile errors.
All are Error X3004 unrecognized property. the list of the properties on these certain .fx files are AddressU, Width, Height, MiniFilter.

I've ran through the install multiple times uninstalling between them and I keep getting these compile errors. All are Error X3004 unrecognized property. the list of the properties on these certain .fx files are AddressU, Width, Height, MiniFilter.

This is likely an issue with ReShade 5.9.0 causing incompatibility with these shaders. Try and install ReShade 5.8.0 instead (with full addon support): https://reshade.me/forum/general-discussion/294-reshade-repository

I've ran through the install multiple times uninstalling between them and I keep getting these compile errors. All are Error X3004 unrecognized property. the list of the properties on these certain .fx files are AddressU, Width, Height, MiniFilter.

This is likely an issue with ReShade 5.9.0 causing incompatibility with these shaders. Try and install ReShade 5.8.0 instead (with full addon support): https://reshade.me/forum/general-discussion/294-reshade-repository

Thanks this fixed my problem, everything is in working order now!

for some reason the zip file for step 7 won't download for me

for some reason the zip file for step 7 won't download for me

yeah this would be why. my b, shall fix

edit: fixed

https://reshade.me/forum/general-discussion/294-reshade-repository

Ok in theory when you're doing XIV on mac and don't do a classic install of it, but do it the way they instruct would THIS still work?

I moved a DLL file back out of the folder but it gave me no reshade, but again if i put it back in it goes bonkers -- i'll try the folder structure thing

Hi as of today, attempting to download the file from step 7 leads to a broken link that writes json back to you:

{"data":null,"error":{"status":404,"name":"NotFoundError","message":"Not Found","details":{}}}

Hey, I know the link is dead. Sorry! I let the domain expire - I'll bring it back up in the coming days.

Hi, I tried downloading the zip file but it's not working. it keeps loading to a black screen with an error code.

502 error when attempting to load the zip file now, is the website meant to be back up yet or is this an error on my end?

@AlexFroio @NaiKazarishi @Yuyumoos I also ran into the error page while trying to download the gshade shaders. Luckily I still had it in my downloads on my old computer. Here's a link if you'd rather not wait for OP to get the domain back up: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1muvNSA0QKBiUiJiqszFUYglGtHBtBzmk?usp=drive_link

.....the amount of joy you just put into my WoL's hand. TIME TO RESUB AND TAKE MORE PICS~~~~

…

Anyone got the Project Crystal preset somewhere? I can't find it anywhere and it was the shader I used to use!