Downsampling with GeDoSaTo

Setting up GeDoSaTo, and recommended settings to use.

Downsampling is rendering an image at a resolution greater than your monitor's, then scaling it down to your monitor. This results in a much sharper and less aliased image. The latter point is especially useful since Shinovi Versus lacks any in-game anti-aliasing options.

Acquiring GeDoSaTo

Originally posted by Durante:

GeDoSaTo is a utility for modifying the rendering of games. Its primary purpose is allowing for downsampling without any limitations.

Instructions to download and install GeDoSaTo can be found here.[blog.metaclassofnil.com] Troubleshooting the installation process is beyond the scope of this guide.

Configuring GeDoSaTo for Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus

Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus's executable is called SKShinoviVersus.exe. It was formerly Application.exe; this was changed in the 23/6/16 update. Neptunia U is also no longer called Application.exe, and is instead Neptunia.exe.

In GeDoSaTo, click "User Whitelist". Add the following line

SKShinoviVersus|| Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus

and save.

Open "Edit Settings". To add a new profile, click the + button at the bottom, and enter "SKShinoviVersus" (without quotation marks). Then paste in the recommended GeDoSaTo settings found as follows and save.

renderResolution 3840x2160@60
scalingType lanczos
clearRenderResolutions
forceAlwaysDownsamplingRes true

forceFullscreenMode true
presentInterval 0

forceAnisoLevel 16

interceptWindowProc true

The game is required to run in Borderless Windowed mode for GeDoSaTo to properly hook onto the executable. Go into the game's settings and make sure of this.

Please also make sure that the GeDoSaToTool is running and is enabled.

Explanation

Recommended settings

renderResolution 3840x2160@60

Renders the game at 4K resolution, which is then downsampled to your monitor's native (or desired) resolution. If you experience performance problems, perhaps try 2560x1440@60. Or if you're feeling brave, try going even higher (7680×4320)!

presentInterval 0

This forces VSync to disable. Enabling (i.e. setting to 1) will remove screen tearing. However, in my experience, it also forces the game to run at 30FPS, meaning the whole game is at half-speed.

forceFullscreenMode true

The game is required to run in Borderless Windowed mode for GeDoSaTo to properly hook onto the executable. This has the consequence of - if rendering the game at a resolution greater than your monitor's - a zoomed view of the game. Forcing fullscreen mode through GeDoSaTo fixes this.

Unrecommended settings

aaQuality 4
aaType smaa

Regarding other anti-aliasing methods, such as SMAA or MSAA, they seem to cause the entire image to blur, so I don't recommend using them. Downsampling from a high resolution should provide enough anti-aliasing.

Troubleshooting

GeDoSaTo fails to hook onto Senran Kagura

When you boot the game you should find a black bar at the top telling you GeDoSaTo is downsampling.

If this is not the case, try the following steps.

First check that you have followed all the instructions for installing GeDoSaTo.[blog.metaclassofnil.com]

Try these steps on both GeDoSaToTool.exe and SKShinoviVersus.exe. Right click a given executable and go the Compatibility tab.

• Run as an administrator
  
• Run in compatibility mode for Windows 7

Another possible for fix for AMD users is to enable GPU scaling from the Catalyst Control Panel. Thanks to Calamity-sama for notifying me.

I found that upgrading to GeDoSaTo build 2310 broke a lot of games. If you would like to try an older build, here is the one I am using: GeDoSaTo 0.21.2136[a.desu.sh] Many thanks to amiavamp for this.

If none of these steps work, try reading through the comments section of this guide or the original thread posted by Calamity-Sama. Many people have posted their problems and potential fixes there.

Screen tearing

VSync will fix screen tearing. As mentioned in the Explanation section, I set VSync (presentInterval) off because I found my framerate being halved. You can try setting to -1 or 1. YMMV.

# How many vertical traces to wait when presenting
# -1 = unchanged
#  0 = no vsync
#  1 = standard vsync
#  2 = half refresh rate (e.g. 30 on 60 Hz)
#  3 = 1/3rd refresh rate, etc.
presentInterval -1

An alternative method which could alleviate the screen tearing is to run the game at a higher resolution, with the effect of being more taxing on your system. This would bring the game's rendered framerate down closer to 60, and reduce the amount of tearing.

Zoomed in view

Please ensure that you have forceFullscreenMode set to true.

Screenshots

Due to filesize limitations for uploading images to Steam, I have uploaded 4K screenshots to an imgur album found here[imgur.com].

Miscellaneous

Changelog

• 04/07/2016 - Fixed typos.
  
• 24/06/2016 - Updated guide to reflect change in executable name (Application.exe -> SKShinoviVersus.exe). Added more troubleshooting.
  
• 04/06/2016 - Added Troubleshooting and Screenshots sections
  
• 02/06/2016 - Initial release

To Do

• Screenshots of game running in resolutions higher than 4K
  
• Comparison screenshots (e.g. FHD vs. 4K)
  
• More troubleshooting steps

Credits

• Calamity-Sama for making the initial GeDoSaTo config.
  
• Hued for fixing the "zoomed-in" problem, with the forceFullscreenMode setting.
  
• amiavamp found that the latest build of GeDoSaTo was causing problems and suggested using an older build.

Whilst narrow in scope, this guide will always be a WIP. Any help is always appreciated.

Thank you for the comments which have been providing feedback or providing solutions for problems other people are facing.

[CascadeHush]

Thanks for the guide. In 2024 you can enable AI upsampling in the nVidia Control Panel to run the game at 4k without need for extra software and it looks pretty good for most levels. Anyone who is interested should find my post in the discussions here on steam.

I used to use GeDoSaTo for Hyperdimension Neptunia U and it worked a treat, but having to remember to load it up before I launched the game was a bit of a pain.

[vavrinko(SK)]

The game wont start when I use gedosato. Did this happen to anyone before?

[Wagahai]

Thanks for this guide specially I'm using an AMD GPU. All the other guides are always for NVIDIA GPU which is annoying.

[✿║‡Nanako‡║✿]

[ ⇀ ‿ ↼ ]

[maximusZ09]

been trying to get it to work, and it keep crashing
I can't change back to the older build as most of my other games I tried with the latest build works wonder
so, any solution? or anyone here already tried having both the new and the old one together, just for this game specifically

[reinokid]

I've been able to fix the screen tearing on a 144Hz monitor by messing around a bit. Like Chemiefaser fliegen Beseitigung stated, specifying the present resolution and refresh rate seem to help. I get some tearing during the logos and opening anime cinematic but during gameplay tearing isn't noticeable. If you have a 144Hz/G-SYNC monitor set it to run at 144Hz, disable V-Sync in your nVidia Control Panel and try using these settings in GeDoSaTo:

clearRenderResolutions
#renderResolution 3200x1800@144
renderResolution 3840x2160@144
#renderResolution 4480x2520@144
#renderResolution 5120x2880@144
#renderResolution 5760x3240@144
#renderResolution 7680x4320@144

presentWidth 1920
presentHeight 1080
presentHz 144

presentInterval 0

scalingType lanczos

forceAlwaysDownsamplingRes true
forceFullscreenMode true


forceAnisoLevel 16

interceptWindowProc true

[Yama]

I tried 2560x1440@60 but I still get lag, whats the next option down I can go to or is there nothing more after for 1366x768?

[)v(asquerade]

using
ForceFullscreen=True
forceBorderlessFullscreen=true

seems to fix the presetinterval=1 halved fps issue,while giving a working v-sync.

Now,on the issue.I managed to get gedosato to work,meaning that i can change fps,apply AA and such.I can't seem to downsample the game tough,if i press + while in game a small box says "Not downsampling".
I tried a bit of everything,setting multiple resolution,borderless-->fullscreen-->borderless trick in game,set presentwidth/height,presenthz, fps limiter,everything.
The only work around about this was
forceRenderRes true

With this when i open the game i have a pop up saying
Downsampling level 1 3840x2160@60->1920x1080.
Sadly,this brings a full black screen,i can hear the sound of the game still running (the voices,the opening) and rivatuner reports 60 fps.But nothing is rendered on my screen..

I just gave up after 8 hours of smashing my head on this issue.. any help is appreciated..

[Yuno]

@Joe Beezy
Try these settings in GeDoSaTo:
presentWidth 1920
presentHeight 1080

Or just set your desktop resolution to 1080p, which you should be able to do by right-clicking the desktop and selecting something like "Screen resolution". You can also change desktop resolution through your GPU control panel.

[1A Gaming]

Neat. Seems to be wroking. Just one thing: It smashed it down to 1680x1050. My desktop res is that, but most of my games use 1920x1080, which makes more sense since it's a 1080p monitor (TV). (I have no idea why my desktop wants 1680x1050).

How do I get it to use 1080? Too much black border at the top and bottom on 1050.

And every time I Alt+Tab out and click back on the game window, it crashes. This doesn't happen without GDST. Confusion between the forced fullscreen and borderless window settings perhaps?

Also, there's usually an Argument you can add to the game's command line to force 60 fps. Can't we do that? Or will GeDoSaTo override it?