¶ Special K Injection Frontend (SKIF)
Special K Injection Frontend (SKIF) is the new frontend that began development in late 2019 and is used to manage the Special K install.
¶ Whitelist an application
SKIF makes it easier to whitelist specific processes for the global injection service of Special K.
-
Run SKIF.
-
Click on the Settings tab.
-
Add the name of the game folder or game executable to the whitelist section.
-
Press [Save Changes].
¶ Disable autostart with Windows
SKIF achieves autostart by using a scheduled task in Windows. This task can be disabled in various ways:
- Run SKIF, click on the Settings tab, and untick the
Start At Logonoption. Confirm the UAC prompt that appears. - Open the Task Scheduler of Windows and locate the scheduled task with the name of
SK_InjectLogon. Right-click on it and select Delete. - Run the following command from an elevated command prompt:
schtasks /delete /tn SK_InjectLogon /f
If SKIF still idenifies the
Start At Logonoption as being enabled, browse to theSpecialK\Servlets\folder and remove theSpecialK.LogOnfile.
¶ Special K Install Manager (SKIM)
)
Special K Install Manager (SKIM) is the old frontend used and distributed before the Steam version of Special K was introduced. SKIM supports toggling global injection, automated install of some game-specific mods, as well as managing additional modules for some of the game-specific mods – a function not yet seen in SKIF.
While SKIM can still be used to install and manage older game-specific Special K-based mods such as TBFix, FAR, etc, it otherwise sees no continued development or maintenance.
¶ Disable autostart with Windows
SKIM makes use of a shortcut in shell:startup to achieve autostarting functionality. This task can be disabled in various ways:
- Run SKIM and right-click on its icon in the notification area of Windows besides the system clock. Untick the
Start With Windowsoption. - Open the Run window of Windows by utilizing the ⊞ Win+R hotkey. Type in
shell:startupand click on OK. In the folder that opens, remove theSKIM64shortcut.
¶ Plugins (load external DLLs)
Special K supports making use of various third-party utilities as well. These are typically stored in %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Mods\SpecialK\ThirdParty\ or in the game folder for local installs.
¶ dgVoodoo 2
Special K can automatically make use of dgVoodoo 2 to extend its supported render APIs to include Direct3D 2-8 and DirectDraw.
¶ ReShade
Special K can load ReShade through its plugin system, which often have a higher compatibility than alternative methods.
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Open the game-specific config.
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Set both
ShowInVideoCaptureandSleeplessRenderThreadtofalseif they are not already. -
Download the official installer of ReShade from https://reshade.me/
-
Create a new folder called
ReShadeinDocuments\My Mods\SpecialK\PlugIns\ThirdParty\and place the ReShade installer inside. -
Launch the ReShade installer from the folder.
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Hold down Ctrl and click on [Click here to select a game and manage its ReShade installation]. If done properly, ReShade64.dll and a few other files will now be created in the folder.
-
Launch the ReShade installer again, however now click on [Click here to select a game and manage its ReShade installation] the normal way without holding down Ctrl. Next click on [Browse…] and browse to the installer in the
Documents\My Mods\SpecialK\PlugIns\ThirdParty\ReShadefolder and select it (yes, really 🙂 ). When asked what API ReShade Setup uses, select Direct3D 10/11/12. Next select all ReShade effect packages and shaders you want to install. -
The previous step should have created a new file called ReShade.ini in the folder. Open the file and add this to the bottom of it:
[APP] ForceVSync=0 ForceWindowed=0 ForceFullscreen=0 ForceResolution=0,0 Force10BitFormat=0 -
Start the game.
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Press Ctrl + ⇧ Shift + ← Backspace to open the control panel of Special K.
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Navigate to Plug-Ins > Third-Party and enable ReShade (Official). Ensure that
Plug-Inis selected as the load order. -
Restart the game a final time, and after the restart press Home to access ReShade’s in-game UI.
-
If you want to manage the ReShade install, simply run ReShades installer and point it to the ReShade installer in
Documents\My Mods\SpecialK\PlugIns\ThirdParty\ReShadeagain.
¶ ReShade (Custom)
ReShade (Custom) refers to a custom fork of ReShade that Kaldaien created back in 2017 and shipped alongside some of his game-specific mods. This fork of ReShade had support for being triggered by Special K before the HUD of games were drawn, allowing the use of custom post-processing shaders without affecting the UI elements of a game.
This fork is outdated and generally not compatible with modern versions of ReShade shaders, and so is not recommended. See ReShade for how to install regular ReShade instead.
¶ Tobii Eye Tracker
One of the more obscure features is the ability to make use of a Tobii Eye Tracker for Special K’s UI in all games.
This plugin ships with Special K but is non-functional in newer versions.
¶ Custom plugin
Please note that compatibility with every single third-party DLL mod can not be guaranteed. This might work, or it might not.
Users can also specify a custom plugin that Special K will attempt to load alongside itself.
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Install the local wrapper of Special K for the game to ensure maximum compatibility.
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Open the game-specific config.
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Add the following to the bottom of the file:
[Import.NameOfPlugin] Architecture=Win32/x64 (should match the DLL file and the game itself) Role=ThirdParty When=Early/PlugIn Filename=<Relative or absolute path to mod file>Example using ReShade and a 64-bit game:
[Import.ReShade64] Architecture=x64 Role=ThirdParty When=PlugIn Filename=E:\Aemony\Documents\My Mods\SpecialK\PlugIns\ThirdParty\ReShade\ReShade64.dll -
Launch the game and see if the third-party mod is loaded in. If it doesn’t load try changing the When property.
List of properties and their possible values:
| Property | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | x64 Win32 |
Architecture of the external DLL to load (should match the game). |
| Role | ThirdParty | Third-party (non-Special K) DLL files. |
| Role | Unofficial | Only used for Kaldaien’s Custom ReShade package. |
| When | Early PlugIn |
Load time for the plugin, should it be loaded before Special K (Early) or after (PlugIn). Loading before Special K means that all effects etc will be applied to Special K as well. |
| Filename | Relative Path Absolute Path |
Path to the DLL file to load. |
¶ Third-party tools
The following are third-party tools that aren’t officially managed or developed by Special K’s primary developer.
¶ SK-TinyInjector (SKTiny)
SK-TinyInjector is a manual injection tool developed by Aemony that can be used to manage older SKIM-based versions of Special K’s global and local injector. While it isn’t in active development any longer, its primary feature (hotkey-based injection) can still be used with modern versions of Special K provided they’re installed to \Documents\My Mods\SpecialK.
¶ Previous versions of Special K
The following are the previous versions of Special K available for download. Versions handled through the Steam platform (0.11.0.0–0.11.0.44) are not available,[1] nor are versions older than v0.8.11.[2]
| Version | Description | Release notes | Archive |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.11.0.50 | Improved Fullscreen Flip | Release notes | Download |
| 0.11.0.49 | Latency Monitoring | Release notes | Download |
| 0.11.0.48 | Framerate Limiter Stuff | Release notes | Download |
| 0.11.0.47 | New “Widget Flash” Mode | Release notes | Download |
| 0.11.0.46 | Control (Steam) fixes and HDR Improvements | Release notes | Download |
| 0.11.0.45 | Final Steam release | Release notes | Download |
| 0.11.0.0– 0.11.0.44 |
Not available outside of Steam. | Release notes | N/A |
| 0.10.3 | Add Percentile Frametime Analysis and Fix Unity (what’s new?) | Release notes | Download |
| 0.10.2.1 | Final 0.10.x stable release Fix for Steam Client shell32.dll issues |
Release notes | Download |
| 0.10.2 | First Wave of Bug Fixes for v 0.10.x | Release notes | Download |
| 0.10.1 | Initial Test Release of 0.10.x | Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.23 | Addressed Special K UI visibility (luminance control) in HDR games + cumulative compatibility updates | Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.22 | D3D11 deferred context ComandList execution merge | Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.21 | Initial working implementation of D3D11 Smart Screenshot Capture | Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.20.2 | Added experimental SteamAPI callback thread-sync avoidance for AC:Origins | Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.20.1 | Added proper (keyboard layout-aware) tooltips for prev/next texture list in D3D11 render mod toolkit. | Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.20 | Final 0.9.x stable release Staging updates for Ys 8 + Initial Implementation of D3D11 Shader Constant Buffer injection using D3D11 Render Mod Tools |
Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.19.1 | Fixed hook address cache invalidation if Windows updates a system DLL | Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.19 | Ys VIII Anti-Aliasing Plug-In + Compatibility Updates + New Version of SKIM | Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.18 | More work on MinHook stability / performance | Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.17 | Finished NtQuerySystemInformation codepath for MinHook; 3x speedup under typical hook init. load. | Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.16.2 | Release notes | Download | |
| 0.9.16.1 | Fix texture upload lock contention and Alt+F4 menu in games that mixup Virtual Key Codes with Character Codes | Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.16 | Add VRAM Residency info (in VRAM, in Shared Memory or Paged) to D3D11 Texture Cache Widget | Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.15 | Significant input processing performance boost; migrate performance critical hooks from user32.dll to system calls in win32u.dll | Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.14 | Build the June 2010 DirectX Redistributables into the DLLs | Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.13.3 | Added disk read/write info to thread tooltip | Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.13.1 | Assigned names to unnamed threads using debug symbols | Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.13 | Add thread widget, reduce GPU mon kernel overhead, allow threads to access TLS owned by other threads (dangerous -don’t use!) | Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.12 | Ni no Stutter Mod (Ni no Kuni 2 Framepacing Fix) is built-in now | Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.11 | Far Cry 5 Support + Compat Updates | Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.10 | Rolled up all of the changes from the standalone FFXV version (0.9.9) | Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.8 | Eliminate a metric ton of static DLL storage at global scope | Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.7 | Various FFX fixes | Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.6 | Reduce D3D11 shader caching overhead | Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.5.3 | Release notes | Download | |
| 0.9.5.2 | Improve AppCache generation on first execution of games w/ launchers | Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.5.1 | Release notes | Download | |
| 0.9.5 | Added Multimedia Class Scheduling support | Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.4.2 | Tweaked global injection behavior for certain non-standard Windows apps | Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.4.1 | More auto-update improvements and quicker global injection boot | Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.4 | Integrate C++14 constexpr hash set for injection blacklisting for better performance | Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.3 | Improved update reliability | Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.2 | Reduced Thread-Local Storage Overhead | Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.1.4 | Add Option to Ignore Texture Memory Leaks in Tokyo Xanadu’s Engine and Allow Injection Anyway | Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.1 | Improved Startup Performance and SteamAPI Quirks | Release notes | Download |
| 0.9.0 | Major Overhaul for Video Capture Compatibility and general performance | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.66 | Window Management and Video Capture Compatibility Changes | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.65.2 | Final 0.8.x stable release (Even More) Improved Startup Performance and Reliability |
Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.65.1 | (Even More) Improved Startup Performance and Reliability | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.65 | Improved Startup Performance and Reliability | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.64 | Fixed the Curious Case of the Missing Overlay (DXGI-based graphics APIs) + Added option to disable CEGUI in D3D11 | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.63 | Fixed the Curious Case of the Missing Overlay (DXGI-based graphics APIs) + Added option to disable CEGUI in D3D11 | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.62.1 | More OpenGL Improvements (OSD in vidcap / CEGUI disable) and DirectInput 7 support (FF VII / FF VIII) | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.62 | More OpenGL Improvements (OSD in vidcap / CEGUI disable) and DirectInput 7 support (FF VII / FF VIII) | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.61.1 | OpenGL Improval Round 3; some browser-based games supported | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.60.2 | Tons more OpenGL fixes | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.60.1 | Improved OpenGL Support and Global Injection Performance | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.60 | Fixed a ton of OpenGL problems | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.59 | Added function to easily delete Steam "“Common Redistributables” | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.58.2 | Added Refresh Rate to Control Panel | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.58.1 | Fixes for global injection into Steam apps with non-Latin characters in name | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.58 | Optimized Global Injection Startup Performance | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.57.1 | Added startup version banner | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.57 | Improved Steam Controller Support (see release notes) | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.56.1 | Critical Section Contention Reduction | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.56 | Addressed Win32 Handle leak in global injection for blacklisted applications | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.55 | RivaTuner Statistics Server Compatibility Update | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.54 | Improvements for OKAMI HD / 大神 絶景版 shader modding | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.53.6 | CEGUI Log Fixes for Unicode Filenames | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.53.5 | RawInput Mouse Fixes for OKAMI HD / 大神 絶景版 | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.53.4 | HOTFIX for non-Latin characters in OKAMI HD / 大神 絶景版’s config file | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.53 | Dynamically Load Dbghelp.dll for League of Legends Compat | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.52.4 | 32-bit Injection Start/Stop Fixes + Dragon’s Dogma Mysterious 5th XInput Controller Fix | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.52.1 | Added options to disable or force window topmost behavior (Star Ocean 4 Fix) | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.52 | Global Keyboard Macros (see release notes) | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.51.1 | World of Final Fantasy Compat Fixes (see release notes) | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.51 | Add compatibility changes for World of Final Fantasy | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.50.4 | .hack//G.U. Black Screen HOTFIX | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.50.3 | Fixed XInput Hook Issues and Auto-Update Deadlock | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.50.1 | New Framerate Limiter Config | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.50 | UI Render Settings, Mouse / Keyboard Blocking Options, ReShade Fixes | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.49.2 | Elex startup fixes | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.49.1 | D3D11 multi-threaded MMIO optimization | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.49 | Half a Dozen ReShades and one Whitelist to Bind them All | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.48 | Window Management Compatibility Updates | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.47.5 | Fix for crashes during update; use a 32-bit game to get this update. // Removes AVX instructions | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.47.4 | Fix for crashes during update; use a 32-bit game to get this update. | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.47.3 | Added rescale-to-fit behavior to Live Render Target and Texture View (D3D11) | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.47.2 | New D3D11 Shader State Save/Restore Function (Added DisableIfTexture predicate to d3d11_shaders.ini) | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.47.1 | New D3D11 Shader State Save/Restore Function | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.47 | New D3D11 Shader State Save/Restore Function | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.46 | Fixes for Steam games with ©,®,™ or ℠ in their name | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.45 | D3D9 Optimizations (full Ys 7 texture injection support) | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.44 | New toys for games that use SteamWorks DRM + Denuvo Anti-Tamper  |
Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.43.2 | Improved performance in games that busy-wait using PeekMessage (…) | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.43.1 | Minor D3D9 fix-up | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.43 | Divinity: Original Sin 2 Texcache Optimizations | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.42 | Last update before Hurricane Irma wipes me off the map  |
Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.41 | Updated D3D9 Texture Mod Support (disabled by default) | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.40 | XInput Controller Slot Reassignment | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.39 | Improved D3D9 Shader Mod Support | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.38 | D3D9 Shader Mod Support | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.37 | Preliminary Native Steam Controller Support (new menu in Gamepad Config) | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.36 | Special K Anniversary Edition | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.35 | Improved D3D11 Texture Mod Support | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.34.1 | Fixed SteamAPI in Dark Souls 3 | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.34 | Includes Unofficial (custom) ReShade | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.33 | Multi-colored Performance Graphs | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.32 | Steam Game Profiles No Longer use <appname.exe> | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.31 | Added Gamepad Input Support to Widgets | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.30.3 | Improved G-Sync / SwapChain Management in D3D11 | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.30.2 | Fixed Fallout 4 Flip Mode and Finished Widget Customization | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.30.1 | Fixed D3D8 and DDraw API Wrapping and Fallout 4 Flip Mode | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.30 | Fixed D3D8 and DDraw API Wrapping | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.29 | Improved Widget UI | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.28 | Increased Log/Config/Startup Performance | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.27 | Added Early Support for OSD Widgets | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.26 | Added G-Sync Indicator to OSD and Cleaned up Log Format | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.25 | D3D11 Code Overhaul for Compatibility with ReShade in Mass Effect: Andromeda | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.24.4 | HOTFIX for MSI Nahimic 32-bit hook injection | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.24.3 | Stable support for debugging engines that use multi-threaded rendering | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.24.2 | New version of SKIM64 and crash log behavior | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.24.1 | Minor changes for SKIM compatibility | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.24 | Fixed input support in Final Fantasy 8 | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.23.1 | SKIM64 Creates Start Menu Link | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.23 | Polished off SKIM for ease-of-install | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.22.8 | Improved Injection Performance | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.22.7 | Global Injector Install no longer Requires Steam Game Startup | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.22.6 | Steam no longer thinks the game is still running after update | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.22.5 | Optimizations for What Remains of Edith Finch | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.22.4 | It is now safe to stop Global Injection while a program is running | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.22.3 | Add Option to Start with Windows to System Tray | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.22.2 | Updated SKIM Installer DLL Version | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.22.1 | Fairy Fencer AD Middleware License Expiry Fix | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.22 | Added D3D11 Fullscreen Scaling options (in-game, under Display menu) | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.21.3 | More recognizable system tray icon for SKIM |
Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.21.2 | XInputGetStateEx fix for games that don’t use this function properly | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.21 | SKIM Minimizes at Start when Supplied +Inject cmdline switch | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.20 | D3D11 Stability Updates + New version of SKIM | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.19.3 | Fix crashes in local wrapper version of Special K | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.19.2 | Improve efficiency of D3D11 stateblocks in Valkyrie Drive | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.19.1 | Fix D3D11 stateblock problem in Valkyrie Drive | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.19 | Fix late-init problems if compat menu is left open | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.18 | Update code changed to use GitLab | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.17 | Auto-Update is back! API auto-detect improvements |
Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.16 | Fullscreen / Windowed overrides extended to D3D11 | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.15 | Enhanced Compatibility Layer | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.14 | Release 0.8.14 | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.12.3 | Interim 0.8.12.3 Release | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.12.2 | Interim 0.8.12.2 Release | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.12.1 | Interim 0.8.12.1 Release | Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.12 | Chaos! Release of 0.8.12 |
Release notes | Download |
| 0.8.11 | Test release Moved to GitLab |
Release notes | Download |
During the development of Special K on Steam, very few point releases saw availability outside of the platform. ↩︎
The original Special K GitHub repository received multiple fradulent malware reports back in May 2017 which caused GitHub to remove it, and as a result older versions of Special K was lost. ↩︎