Special K features Tales of Vesperia specific tweaks and features (collectively known as Tales of Vesperia “Fix” or TVFix) created by Kaldaien. The tweaks and fixes remove or significantly reduce stuttering and provide the ability to adjust the visuals of the game with options to enable/disable depth of field, atmospheric bloom, fullscene blur, and more.
While the official March 6, 2019 update for the game did improve performance compared to the original game on its own, it also broke about half of TVFix’s post-processing adjustments. Additionally, a Steam client update in September 2021 made the game crash on launch when using certain versions of TVFix. For best performance and full compatiblity with TVFix’s features, both a rolledback .exe of the game and a working TVFix (v0.5.2.5, which is the latest TVFix version) are installed by the SpecialK_TVFix_0.10.0.10.exe installer. This also comes pre-configured with recommended settings for TVFix.
| → Aggressive Anti-Stutter | → MSAA support in FlipModel |
| → Continue Running in Background | → MSAA x2 & MSAA x8 options (requires MSAA x4 to be set in the in-game settings) |
| → Reduce Microstutter | → Options to enable/disable Depth of Field, Atmospheric Bloom, Fullscene Blur, and Sharpen Shadows |
| → Aspect Ratio Correction | → Enable/disable Model Animation |
| → Enable/disable Particle Effects | → HDR Display Output (16-bit FP scRGB) |
The provided SpecialK_TVFix_0.10.0.10.exe installer also adds the rolled back executable required to access the full feature set of TVFix v 0.5.2.5 and comes pre-configured with recommended settings for TVFix.
Set the in-game window mode option to Borderless before installing Special K / TVFix for best performance and compatiblity. Setting the in-game window mode to Fullscreen might result in a black screen.
Download and install SpecialK_TVFix.exe.
Launch the game.
Use Ctrl + ⇧ Shift + ← Backspace to access the Special K / TVFix control panel while in-game.
If you experience issues with the Steam Overlay after installing TVFix, try with Maximum Device Latency set to 3 under SwapChain Management in the Special K / TVFix menu (while keeping the default value of 1 for Presentation Interval and 3 for BackBufferCount).
The Generate Mipmaps setting may lead to issues with the game’s textures. Leave it disabled.
If you still encounter performance issues with the game, try setting BackBufferCount to 2 and Maximum Device Latency to 3 (while keeping the default value of 1 for Presentation Interval). In addition or alternatively, you can also try to enable Waitable SwapChain in the dxgi.ini file by setting SwapChainWait=66 or enable it under SwapChain Management in the Special K / TVFix menu, but keep in mind that having Waitable SwapChain enabled can crash the game during display mode changes, if/when pressing ALT + Enter, or after setting the MSAA x4 in-game option (you can then launch the game again and still use MSAA though).
The files from the SpecialK_TVFix_0.10.0.10.exe installer apply TVFix with a 60fps cap on the game. You can unlock the game’s FPS or set a higher limit under the Framerate limit section in the Special K / TVFix menu. However, keep in mind that while the game (and Special K / TVFix) allows you to set the FPS higher than 60, the game’s animations run no higher than 60 FPS. In other words, frames are doubled. Animation cycles only update at 60 HZ. You may notice motion artifacts (from objects holding the same position for two or more frames) if you set a framerate higher than 60.
You can also toggle the framerate limiter on/off with the following macro keys:
Ctrl + Alt + Z
Special K / TVFix comes with the option to disable the game’s interface (HUD) and various options for screenshots.
| Take Screenshot without Game’s HUD: | Num - |
| Take Screenshot without Special K’s OSD: | F8 |
| Take Screenshot and insert Special K’s OSD: | Ctrl + ⇧ Shift + F8 |
| Hide HUD: | Alt + ⇧ Shift + H |
A Playstation and Switch buttons mod with instructions can be found over on Steam.
The available options are DualShock 3, DualShock 3 with × and ○ swapped, DualShock 4, and Switch Pro Controller.
After downloading the mod’s controller texture file from the steam thread, place the file into steamapps\common\Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition\SK_Res\inject\textures\ and start the game.
Using ReShade 4.9.1 (maybe other versions of ReShade too) along with TVFix causes multiple features of TVFix to break - including the Depth of Field and Sharpen Shadows settings, the Render Mod Tools section inside the Special K / TVfix menu, the ability to hide the HUD, and other shader mods.
This option prevents the local installation of Special K / TVFix from injecting into the game.
but Special K / TVFix related files (such as config files or the SK_Res folder that may have modded textures) are not deleted from the game’s folder.
steamapps\common\Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition)dxgi.dll to dxgidonotuse.dllThis option removes the local installation of Special K / TVFix along with all of its components (such as config files and the SK_Res folder that may have modded textures)
installed apps in Windows.Special K (TVFix) for Tales of Vesperia and uninstall it.