The Romance of the Three Mods: ZMod + Special K + DXVK

PS: This guide assumes you have a NVIDIA card. I don't know how to help you otherwise.

Credits: wall_sogb for most of the info available on this guide!

Stutters? 30 FPS cutscenes? Bad frame timing? Bad Windowed Mode? Bad performance? Defeated.

But...what are these things?

ZMod is a basic modding framework for DW8XLCE that includes:

• Support for higher than vanilla resolutions
  
• Ultrawide aspect ratios
  
  
• 120 FPS
  
• Improved frame timing
  
  
• Custom camera distance, height, and angle

Special K is an extensive game modifying framework allowing for various forms of in-depth tweaking of a game and it's mostly known for it's Framerate Limiter and the many game-specific fixes that were created over the years.
In this guide, it's used mainly to add to the DXVK with DXGI conversion and the framerate limiter.

DXVK is a Vulkan-based translation layer for Direct3D 9/10/11 that is originally made to allow running 3D applications on Linux using Wine, but it sorta has compatibility for Windows.

In-game Preparations

Disable VSync and Fullscreen.

No, seriously, that's it.

NVIDIA Profile Inspector

I did mention this was only for NVIDIA, right...?

PSA: You do not need to do this because Special K automatically does this step for you when you first start the game with DXVK + Special K installed. It's only here for cases where manual action is needed.

1. In Nvidia Control Panel, in 3D Settings, set Vulkan/OpenGL present method to Prefer layered on DXGI Swapchain for Dynasty Warriors 8
   You can use global profile if you want to use Flip Model in all OpenGL and Vulkan titles.
   (If you don't see those options, your driver is not up to date!)
   
   
2. Press Apply changes and exit.
   
3. Download Nvidia Profile Inspector.[github.com]
   
4. Extract the archive and run the program.
   
5. Enable "Show unknown settings from NVIDIA predefined profiles" in the top bar (penultimate button).
   
6. Press Ctrl+F and paste OGL_DX_PRESENT_DEBUG.
   - Select the setting and click on Show bit value editor on the top bar (last button).
   - In the first column, check bit
   #00

   and

   #19
   - Click Apply & Close
   
   
7. Click Apply changes in the top right and exit.

The Romance

Now for the main event:

1. Download the latest release of ZMod here[github.com], and also Special K, either from your own installation of SKIF[special-k.info], or here: https://github.com/SpecialKO/SpecialK/releases/latest
   
   
   
2. Extract SpecialK32.dll from your Special K download or installation to the same folder where Dynasty Warriors 8's Launch.exe is, and rename SpecialK32.dll to zmod_SpecialK32.dll
   After that, extract everything from the ZMod download BUT disable ultrawide from ZMOD's confg file, FOR NOW.
   
   
3. Now, start the game with zmod.exe, then close it after a few seconds.
   
   
4. If you're interested in using Ultrawide, you can now enable it in ZMod's config file, but make sure to configure the .ini with your intended resolution, the game will crash if you try to set it in-game.
   
   You are now free to start the game again, but first, it's time for the gran finale:
   
   
5. Download[github.com] and extract the DXVK files into the game's folder.
   (If you're having issues, please grab DXVK from here[github.com] instead.(Reminder, this is a 32-bit DX9 game, so d3d9.dll)
   
   
6. Start the game through zmod.exe, and once prompted with a pop-up, enable Vulkan Bridge. The game will restart, but you NEED to close it after.

And with all that done! Enjoy a much better experience with Dynasty Warriors 8! Remember to always start the game through zmod.exe, or else neither ZMod nor Special K will work properly!

🔨Troubleshooting

Q: My game seems to crash whenever I alt-tab/take a screenshot or seemingly at random!

A: This is currently an issue of incompatibility between Special K and the Ultrawide mod, I recommend avoiding it for now, specially if you don't need the mod.
To remove it, simply delete it's .dll and .ini(zmod_dw8xlce_ultrawide), and keep the other .dlls.


Q: The game is running at a higher frame rate than I support!

A: Change the framerate zmod's frame time module targets for through the zmod_dw8xlce_frame_time.ini.
It is highly recommended you cap your framerate through Special K as soon as you can, however.


Q: I don't get anything about Vulkan Bridge/Zmod is not working!

A: This guide does not support AMD cards. Ask AMD for the feature in their drivers.

[Cissamannen]

Eternal_Snow: You dont need the zmod.exe anymore. It uses dinput8.dll as injection method now. Other than that, just follow all instructions as it says, minus the zmod.exe :)

[EtErNaL_SnoW]

Can someone provide a guide on how to get this done on a fresh installation of the game in 2024? There's no zmod.exe included in the latest asset release and for someone who's hearing about Special K for the first time through this post to go through everything in the guide is quite difficult...

Further clarification is greatly appreciated!

[Kenji]

Okay even when I disable ultrawide in the zmod_dw8xlce.ini, the game still crashes at random.

[Kenji]

Kinda late but the newest zmod release uses injection to activate the mods so you can just launch the game normally and the mods should work.

[Vick Lagina]

Confusion as to get the zmod.exe. I've extracted the zmod download to the folder but i dont get a zmod.exe. TIA

[bizarf]

I quickly tested and dxgi.dll is not needed. You just have to copy D3D9.dll to enable the Vulkan API with SpecialK.

[bizarf]

Copying all the files caused the game to display a black window for me. I noticed two logs were being made though. D3D9, and D3D10/11 (I deleted it, so don't remember). I decided to just try D3D9.dll and that's when it worked. That said, I just realised that dxgi.dll might not be needed. I'll test tomorrow.
https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/DXVK

[AkiraJkr]

Wait, both d3d9.dll and dxgi.dll from DXVK? Why?

[bizarf]

Oh, and the NVIDIA Profile Inspector step might not be needed, as SpecialK will do that for you when it sets up the Vulkan Bridge.
https://wiki.special-k.info/en/SpecialK/Tidbits#special-ks-vulkan-bridge

[bizarf]

Okay, so I got DXVK working in the end although I had to delete the SpecialK profile settings for DW8XL. I copied only d3d9.dll and dxgi.dll from the DXVK files which got things working perfectly for me. I'm also able to override the resolution with my desktop one within SpecialK, but I'm not sure if you can use a custom resolution. This option only appeared for me when I added the DXVK files.