[Special K] Framerate Unlock + HDR10 Goodies + Perf. Fixes

[Kaldaien]

Introduction (to Coloring)

For players using HDR display devices, the game uses HDR10 without metadata.

This means the signal covers 0 - 10,000 cd.m^-2 luminance and Steam does not understand the encoded luminance range, the color space (Rec. 2020) or even the gamma (SMPTE 2084) necessary to correctly draw its own overlay or take a screenshot.

Any HDR screenshot taken without Special K will appear greyscale!

Special K XDR—"Making HDR actually work since 2018."

• Luminance control for Steam overlay (refer to the HDR menu atop the control panel)
  
• Fix the Steam overlay to run in Rec 709 instead of Rec 2020 (LSD colors)
  
• HDR->SDR tonemapping prevents captured screenshots from being washed out
  
• Support for preserving HDR screenshots (JPEG-XR)

What HDR10 Screenshots are Supposed to Look Like (in SDR)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1695342392https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1695348420https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1695437213

NOTE:
The game uses proprietary driver APIs to enable HDR; Special K only has codepaths for NVIDIA's driver-based HDR and the much preferred DXGI-based HDR.
AMD GPU owners with HDR displays will not see any benefits.

Download and Install --- [ Start Here ]

Grab the latest version[github.com] and extract it to your game's install directory (default=C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Sekiro)

All features of the mod can be configured in-game by pressing:

⌨	Ctrl + Shift + Backspace
🎮 🎮	Xbox / Steam Back + Start PlayStation Select + Start

Most Popular Features

1. HDR Engages w/o Alt-Tab at Startup
   
2. Fixes Multi-Monitor Performance (optional)
   
3. Fixes Netcode Performance
   
4. Fixes Input Performance (gamepad / mouse)
   
5. Unlocks Framerate + Refresh Rate Configuration
   
6. Adds Advanced Framerate Limiter (lower stutter / input latency)
   
7. Costs $0.00

Misc. Useful Features

1. HUDless screenshots
   Ctrl + Shift + 8
2. HUD Toggle
   Alt + Shift + H
3. Functional HDR Steam Overlay / Screenshots
   
4. Texture / Shader modding

Source Code

I am in the middle of preparing Special K v 0.10.0 for release, so the GitLab source repository is not up-to-date at the moment. I have opted to publish the plug-in's source code on GitHub temporarily:

https://gist.github.com/Kaldaien/104cee045671e2b65a8b003ffd9bfa33

Frequently Asked Questions

1. The mouse cursor is visible constantly
   
   
   • Refer to Input Management | Enable / Disable Devices and disable Mouse Input to the game
   
   
2. The Steam Overlay is not working
   
   
   • Refer to Steam Enhancements | Compatibility and check "Load Steam Overlay Early"

TL;DR Suggested Settings for Best Framepacing

Uncap the framerate, turn fixed timestep mode on and then set Special K's framerate limiter to whatever (i.e. set it back to 60 if you want).

[Kaldaien]

Tyrant の投稿を引用：

Kaldaien の投稿を引用：

No, I haven't made any changes for compatibility because I haven't seen any compatibility issues to begin with.

What about needing to load SpecialK as dxgi.dll to use ReShade (even through your plugin system)? I'd like to see that be addressed so it can be loaded as d3d11.dll as intended...

The Sekiro custom version has the same problem (on top of the other issues it has, like not being able to load presets properly).

What does this have to do with Sekiro mod engine?

The custom ReShade version works perfectly fine though. You just need the included config file to prevent ReShade from hooking D3D9 and being confused.

[Kaldaien]

SenMithrarin85 の投稿を引用：

just fought the horseback spearman boss in a new file to test. There's supposed to be an achievement tied to him but it never unlocked.

Yeah, the game's lousy with achievement support. I fixed any problems that were caused by Special K, but like I said, even without Special K, it's hit-or-miss whether the game is going to register an achievement unlock. I played the first hour worth of the game without any mods and the game didn't unlock any achievements; it should have unlocked 3 in that period of time.

[Tyrant]

Kaldaien の投稿を引用：

What does this have to do with Sekiro mod engine?

I was responding to you saying there haven't been any compatibility issues, this one is unresolved.

Kaldaien の投稿を引用：

The custom ReShade version works perfectly fine though. You just need the included config file to prevent ReShade from hooking D3D9 and being confused.

It does not work fine. I included the config file, I changed nothing from the files given. It will only load through the SpecialK plugin system after you rename SpecialK's d3d11.dll to dxgi.dll no matter what. And, once you get the custom version to load, it can't use presets. The official version works, but obviously doesn't have the integration features the custom version is supposed to have.

[Ian]

Kaldaien の投稿を引用：

Katalash の投稿を引用：

So I'm the author of Sekiro mod engine, and I've gotten reports that the game crashes when using Special K as well. I'm wondering why this is the case because I just tried it myself and they both seem to be working together just fine. @kaldaien, did you do any update recently for compatibility? I'm not seeing any crashes so either it was updated or this crash is deterministic in a sense.

My dll isn't super complicated. Basically I hook the dinput8 setup, which I use to hook onSteamInit (required since steam has to decrypt the exe before I can do any game patches). From there I do a few hooks: I hook an in game virtual file system function to check if a archived file reference has a modded file on disk, and then do an in place edit to tell the game to load the file from the filesystem instead of the game's data archives, and then I hook CreateFileW to do the actual path overrides (so you can load mods from wherever on the file system). I tried an alternate hook that doesn't depend on CreateFileW, but I couldn't get it to work stably as the game doesn't take too kindly to modifying its internal string data structure pointers (and I need to reallocate path memory for it).

I'm wondering if either the onSteamInit or CreateFileW hooks could interfere?

Anyways this DLL is important for any sekiro modding because it allows for modification of any game file like 3D models, animations, parameters, maps, events, etc. PS4 button prompts was just a simple thing I did because it was a mostly trivial file edit (of some scaleform xml config files) to enable them.

I have various options that will create hooks on CreateFileW, but those only happen if a user turns on a setting that's not even in the INI file normally. I use that to trace filesystem activity and reverse engineer game file formats, it's never enabled by default so it shouldn't be a problem.

No, I haven't made any changes for compatibility because I haven't seen any compatibility issues to begin with. I would rather see texture mods using Special K though for the simple reason that an artist can reload the texture while the game is running if they want to make multiple revisions.

In any case, this shouldn't interfere in any way. My ability to inject and reload textures has nothing to do with filesystem hooks, it's done through D3D11 and data hashes to identify texture memory.

---------
Oh, one thing just occurred to me. My filesystem hooks, which are not enabled by default, are not using the normal Win32 API.

I don't hook CreateFile{A|W}, I have hooks for NtCreateFile. That API is a bit lower-level and captures things like named pipes.

Ah I see, then I take it you don't hook onSteamInit either? If not, then I don't know why some users are having crashes. I myself don't have any, but I only test on a vanilla steam exe, which I've found many people...aren't quite using.

I agree that simple texture edits may be better in Special K for the simple reason that it gives much more granularity (game textures are often bundled together with other assets in a bnd file, or in giant archives in the case of map textures. I'm trying to find a better solution for those in the case of more advanced mods like custom maps/new meshes). I made mod engine day 1 as a port from my DS3 version, as the hooks are almost exactly the same and I wanted to modify game files asap. As a consequence I made the PS4 buttons mod as a simple PoC to test with as I saw it was highly requested. It's also intended to enable much more advanced edits like meshes and levels once I port my editors to Sekiro. Weapon/armor ports from DS3/Bloodborne and other model swaps are already possible with it, and some have already made fan translations.

[MoustacheDad]

Kaldaien. Can you please help explain how to do fresh install of Special K?
It’s still remembering my settings when I delete and copy new files back over.
Wanting to see if that fixes HDR not enabling properly without alt+tab
Many thanks! Keep up the great work! :)

[johnpinky7]

MoustacheDad の投稿を引用：

Kaldaien. Can you please help explain how to do fresh install of Special K?
It’s still remembering my settings when I delete and copy new files back over.
Wanting to see if that fixes HDR not enabling properly without alt+tab
Many thanks! Keep up the great work! :)

Delete the config file (d3d11.ini) in the Sekiro directory. That file is generated when first running this mod and it houses the configuration settings.

[MoustacheDad]

johnpinky7 の投稿を引用：

MoustacheDad の投稿を引用：

Kaldaien. Can you please help explain how to do fresh install of Special K?
It’s still remembering my settings when I delete and copy new files back over.
Wanting to see if that fixes HDR not enabling properly without alt+tab
Many thanks! Keep up the great work! :)

Delete the config file (d3d11.ini) in the Sekiro directory. That file is generated when first running this mod and it houses the configuration settings.

Perfect! - Thank you! :)

[Tyrant]

Okay, I gave your custom ReShade another shot. The way you packaged this is confusing as all hell, I've got to say.

I started out with wiping out my current files completely. I extract the custom Reshade zip. I delete the dxgi.dll it comes with because that's an old version of SpecialK. I extract the new SpecialK, and rename the d3d11.dll it comes with to dxgi.dll. Then I rename custom_dxgi.ini (which came with the custom ReShade) to dxgi.ini

Then, I make sure that all the necessary shaders my preset needs are moved from the ReShade directory to ReShade\Shaders, and lastly, I put in my preset named as sekiro.ini.

Unfortunately, the problem I run into now is the SpecialK injection only works if 'Skip Post-Processing if not Triggered' is disabled. I tried toggling Alternate Trigger Logic and then pressing Re-Initialize and/or Reload, doesn't do anything.

When I restart the game, Alternate Trigger Logic is enabled even if I disabled it. It also doesn't remember other settings like setting an Effects Toggle Key. Apparently nothing in the custom ReShade's Settings section is actually saved properly.

This just doesn't work.

[Kaldaien]

Katalash の投稿を引用：

Ah I see, then I take it you don't hook onSteamInit either? If not, then I don't know why some users are having crashes. I myself don't have any, but I only test on a vanilla steam exe, which I've found many people...aren't quite using.

I don't even know what "onSteamInit" is. I have numerous SteamAPI related hooks, but that's not part of SteamAPI.

Katalash の投稿を引用：

I agree that simple texture edits may be better in Special K for the simple reason that it gives much more granularity (game textures are often bundled together with other assets in a bnd file, or in giant archives in the case of map textures. I'm trying to find a better solution for those in the case of more advanced mods like custom maps/new meshes). I made mod engine day 1 as a port from my DS3 version, as the hooks are almost exactly the same and I wanted to modify game files asap. As a consequence I made the PS4 buttons mod as a simple PoC to test with as I saw it was highly requested. It's also intended to enable much more advanced edits like meshes and levels once I port my editors to Sekiro. Weapon/armor ports from DS3/Bloodborne and other model swaps are already possible with it, and some have already made fan translations.

If there are any compatibility issues, I'll be happy to review any code you make public. I can point you to GitLab for Special K's source code, but I have to warn you, it's a HUGE codebase... > 1/2 million lines of code at last count and it's full of compatibility hacks and other stuff that only I understand :)

[MoustacheDad]

Quick question - what's the cause of the 'Metal Gear Solid' NPC sound affect, followed by a game crash?

[Tyrant]

It would seem while the custom ReShade generates an ini file, it ignores it completely. Changing any value within the ReShae.ini file doesn't do anything.

[Kaldaien]

Tyrant の投稿を引用：

Okay, I gave your custom ReShade another shot. The way you packaged this is confusing as all hell, I've got to say.

I started out with wiping out my current files completely. I extract the custom Reshade zip. I delete the dxgi.dll it comes with because that's an old version of SpecialK. I extract the new SpecialK, and rename the d3d11.dll it comes with to dxgi.dll. Then I rename custom_dxgi.ini (which came with the custom ReShade) to dxgi.ini

Then, I make sure that all the necessary shaders my preset needs are moved from the ReShade directory to ReShade\Shaders, and lastly, I put in my preset named as sekiro.ini.

Unfortunately, the problem I run into now is the SpecialK injection only works if 'Skip Post-Processing if not Triggered' is disabled. I tried toggling Alternate Trigger Logic and then pressing Re-Initialize and/or Reload, doesn't do anything.

When I restart the game, Alternate Trigger Logic is enabled even if I disabled it. It also doesn't remember other settings like setting an Effects Toggle Key. Apparently nothing in the custom ReShade's Settings section is actually saved properly.

This just doesn't work.

Yeah, turn off the skip post-processing if not triggered option. You don't have a list of HUD shaders in order to make that work. That's intended to turn ReShade off when only a game's menu system is active. But if you don't have the relevant info, it's going to skip post-processing constantly.

You probably have filesystem permission issues that are preventing ReShade from saving your config file. I don't have anything to do with that stuff, I only tell it where to save the file. I've been meaning to replace its INI code with my own.

[Kaldaien]

Tyrant の投稿を引用：

Okay, I gave your custom ReShade another shot. The way you packaged this is confusing as all hell, I've got to say.

I started out with wiping out my current files completely. I extract the custom Reshade zip. I delete the dxgi.dll it comes with because that's an old version of SpecialK. I extract the new SpecialK, and rename the d3d11.dll it comes with to dxgi.dll. Then I rename custom_dxgi.ini (which came with the custom ReShade) to dxgi.ini

Please stop renaming custom_dxgi.ini, it needs to be named custom_dxgi.ini. Those settings override any changes you make to prevent you from breaking stuff, but if you rename it, you can start changing settings and make things incompatible.

[Tyrant]

Kaldaien の投稿を引用：

Kaldaien の投稿を引用：

Yeah, turn off the skip post-processing if not triggered option. You don't have a list of HUD shaders in order to make that work. That's intended to turn ReShade off when only a game's menu system is active. But if you don't have the relevant info, it's going to skip post-processing constantly.

You probably have filesystem permission issues that are preventing ReShade from saving your config file. I don't have anything to do with that stuff, I only tell it where to save the file. I've been meaning to replace its INI code with my own.

-----
Please stop renaming custom_dxgi.ini, it needs to be named custom_dxgi.ini. Those settings override any changes you make to prevent you from breaking stuff, but if you rename it, you can start changing settings and make things incompatible.

I am editing the ReShade.ini file manually. It's one thing for it to not be able to write to it, but to not be able to read from it? The problem is with ReShade custom.

I re-extracted custom_dxgi.ini into the directory and didn't rename it, not that it made a difference.

[Tyrant]

I deduced the problem. Your custom ReShade is trying to read and write to ReShade64.ini rather than ReShade.ini

Your custom ReShade generates a ReShade.ini rather than a ReShade64.ini, so this is more than likely not intended behavior.

Either it needs to generate ReShade64.ini or it needs to be made to read/write to ReShade.ini