All you need to know about ReShade and using it in FFXIV

What is ReShade? How do you use it? Can you get banned for using it in FFXIV (is it legal?)

ReShade

What is ReShade?

ReShade is an open-sourced application that gives users the ability to tweak and change their colour, lighting and shadow settings on the fly in a bunch of different games. Although ReShade has been out for a long time, it became really popular during the time of Skyrim. The following can be found on ReShade’s website:

"ReShade is a generic post-processing injector for games and video software developed by crosire. Imagine your favorite game with ambient occlusion, real depth of field effects, color correction and more ... ReShade exposes an automated and generic way to access both frame color and depth information (latter is automatically disabled during multiplayer to prevent exploitation) and all the tools to make it happen.”

ReShade supports all of Direct3D 9, Direct3D 10, Direct3D 11,Direct3D 12, OpenGL and Vulkan.

**A computer with Windows 7 SP1, 8.1 or 10 and .NET Framework 4.5 or higher installed is required.

It allows for the following:

· Add advanced depth-edge-detection

· SMAA antialiasing

· Screen space ambient occlusion

· Depth of field effects

· Chromatic aberration

· Dynamic film grain

· Automatic saturation and color correction

· Cross processing

· Multi-pass blurring ... and more!

How can you get ReShade?

1. Head to ReShade’s website@ https://reshade.me/

2. Click Download (always tryto look for the latest version – as of the time of writing this article, the latest stable version is 4.9.1)

reshade download

3. Run the ReShade_Setup exefile.

4. Click Select Game and then navigate to your game folder.

5. Download and install some preset configurations.

6. Go to the root FFXIV folder in the selected installed drive, right click and go to ''Properties'' then go to the ''Security'' tab. Click on each user and give full access to all known user profiles, you can do this by clicking ''Edit''. Click ''FullControl'' to give write permissions. Your .ini file should now properly save.

7. Press Shift+F2 (defaultmapping) in-game to bring up the ReShade overlay.

8. Enjoy noticeable in-game graphical improvements.

Using ReShade with Final Fantasy XIV

Below is a side-by-side screenshot from FFXIV with ReShade disabled on the left and enabled on the right.

ReShade with Final Fantasy XIV

Ok, so know you know all there is to know about ReShade. Next questions are, should you use it and more importantly…Can you use it with FFXIV?

Let’s start with the more important question first.

Can you use ReShade in FFXIV?

As in, is it legal? Technically it’s a 3^rd party application, and those are a big no-no in online games. Especially FFXIV. Square's official policy actually states that no third-party tools are allowed. Some RTSg ames even ban for actively using ReShade because it provides an unfair advantage (i.e., Fortnite) However, this time the answer is yes. Yes, you can use ReShade in FFXIV. In fact, Robert "Hvinire" Peeler (Community Repon Square Enix forums) wrote: “Utilizing such a tool would not violate any agreements customers have with Square Enix, and we don't plan on doing anything to restrict users from accessing it.”

There you have it. Because it doesn’t alter or analyze any of the game files, and just adds graphical improvements, Square Enix is okay with it.

Should you use ReShade?

Well, if your PC can handle it then yes, yes and yes! It would make no sense not to use it. It can drastically improve the overall quality of the game. FFXIV has been voted as one of the best MMO because of its story and gameplay. However, one can see the graphics are dated.The vanilla (base) variant of the game is overall very grey in color, but thanks to ReShade, the game really comes alive with all the extra color, depth offield and enhanced shadows. ReShade can even improve the in-game graphics of FFXIV. So many users use ReShade in FFXIV that there are a few Discord servers and websites dedicated to it. The two main ones being:

· GShade

· STORMSHADE

You can find and download tons of community-made presets, ask for help, posts creenshots and more. Their websites are https://stormshade.otakumouse.com/ and https://gposers.com/gshade/.

I, personally have been using it since it became available for FFXIV. It almost makes FFXIV feel like a new game. I also use ReShade in a slue of other games.

Below is a screenshot showing the ReShade overlay in FFXIV.

ReShade overlay in FFXIV