I installed the the latest framework version (0.7.0.3). I see the list of my compatible games. I clicked on the game I want and the image updated in the left window. How do I inject it into a game, and is there a visual confirmation that it is active? Must I use DPI scaling? (I play in 1440p on my HDR monitor, and 4K when on my HDR TV).
Special K have a launch banner that will appear at the top in games it is injected in.
You probably have forgotten to start the injection service. Navigate to the first tab in SKIF and click on Start and then launch the game again.
In other aspects the wiki (linked article the top besides Download) can also be helpful.
Edit: The “DPI Scaling” option in SKIF is only for that tool alone — whether it will scale with DPI or not. The in-game UI does not follow that setting.
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I didn’t notice this with the steam version, but SKIF is being confused with SpecialK a lot.
There should be some kind of indication of the correct behavior when we launch the SKIF for the 1st time. And some kind of warning if we use it to launch a game.
Are there different versions? Which version must I use when playing Steam games? (Apologies I’m new to this framework, I only found it today and can only test it in a few hours).
You should always use the last version, unless specified for some game specific fix.
The fix specific for games are carried over to the last version, but Kal may break some of them along the way.
I’ve created a thread over on suggestions to track the presence of a warning:
The “indicator” is typically the Special K banner itself, however… well… DX12 is unsupported so 
A sound indicator could also be used and be universal, but I imagine most users would find it annoying.
I’m not quite sure how to start it/ensure it’s working. After reading the site and the download read me, this is what I did:
- Load SKIF.exe
- Activate HDR in Windows 10
- Select Bioshock Remastered
- Start the game from within the SKIF UI
The game loads in windowed mode but I don’t see any difference visually or any indication that SKIF is running. I also tried CTRL+SHIFT+TAB (as well as CTRL+SHIFT+BACKSPACE) to open the command console but nothing happens (i.e. the command console does not open).
What am I missing here?
Ctrl-Shift-Backspace should show the main SpecialK UI if it injects successfully.
SKIF being built in Visual C++ 2019 should have the same runtime requirement as SpecialK itself and likely the same OS criteria (Windows 8 and newer.) so if SKIF can start nothing should prevent SpecialK itself other than maybe the anti-virus solution if it blocks the hook attempt although at that point you would normally be prompted that such an action was taken / prevented from happening.
Tab opens the command console I believe which accepts command inputs of various sorts (cvars.txt from the main download archive as some examples.) but it’s invisible for some design reason or another so besides locking keyboard input you wouldn’t really see whether it’s active or not from using this.
You wont need SKIF to run, to get SpecialK to work. You dont have to start game from SKIF UI to get SpecialK to work. All you need to do, is activate injection in the first tab in SKIF, after that SKIF can be closed, injection will continue to work. In all steam games, or from whitelisted locations.
Thanks. How do I do this? By simply clicking on the “Global Injection” tab (far left)? Is there a visual queue when I play a game that shows if it injected successfully?
Edit: I tested the global injector on Bioshock Remastered and no luck. The game loads but I don’t see any visual difference. I’ll play around with it and try with another game as well. I’m assume I’m missing something small that I’ll laugh about once I figure it out.
OSD in upper left corner should apper, control panel via CTRL+SHIFT+BACKSPACE should work.
According to PCGamingWiki, Bioshock remastered have support for dx9 and dx11, this may confuse SpecialK. Try holding CTRL+SHIFT while launching game, a compatibility menu should popup.
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Ok I got it to inject. I had to start SKIF as admin. Now I see the console etc. but no difference visually in game. I’ll play around with it from here and hopefully find my way to HDR in non-HDR games.
Edit: I figured out that if I open the HDR widget and adjust peak luminence and gamma, then I start seeing a visual difference. Is there any advice as to what a typical/default gamma should be on the HDR widget? (there is no visual difference at the current default gamma of 1).
Please ugh, don’t do that. It might inject Special K into processes where it can cause unexplained issues.
The reason why SKIF couldn’t inject Special K was because the game itself ran as an administrator for some reason.
You should really go back and remove “run as administrator” from SKIF, the game, as well as on Steam itself.
If the Steam client is launched as admin does that promote all games to admin privileges too?
Normally the Steam client service to my knowledge at least is intended as managing user privileges and things like UAC operating as a service for stuff like client updates even for the normally protected Program Files folders per all the various paths and environments that Windows has as a bit more protected by default.
Maybe that’s why the game is operating in a admin rights mode instead of normal user?
From what I can gather among users, yes, it seems so. We’ve had a couple of users over the years whom reported that Special K couldn’t inject into a game for some unknown reason only to later realize it was because the Steam client itself was running with elevated privileges.
Is there even any reason to run Steam in administrator mode?
None, what so ever.
Users typically mistakenly do it though to work around issues with Steam or such with other third-party stuff that also gets injected into running processes.
Basically by running Steam (and games) with elevated privileges you automatically prevent applications running in user-space (such as Special K / SKIF) to be injected into them – thereby working around any relevant issue that might’ve otherwise occurred.
A user with a fully functioning system with proper and stable third-party injection-type applications and protections have no reason to ever run the Steam client or all games with elevated privileges. The only possible reason would be if you’re trying to play a game in backwards compatibility mode such as e.g. XP, but then that mode should only be applied for the game itself and not the rest of the Steam client.
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I checked my Steam exe and game exe. Neither were set as admin. I stopped the SKIF service and closed the SKIF front end UI (not sure if it was still running as a service). I then started it again using the SKIF.exe and it injected fine.
I’m not quite sure what to do next after the game is running and I can see the control panel. Currently I set the max luminence for HDR and am experimenting with gamma settings.
Well, Control is finally arriving to Steam on August 27. I’m probably going to replay the again, but with both DLCs this time.
God, I loved Control.
And I love this month.
How much will Control Ultimate Edition cost on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Steam and on the Epic Games Store?
Control Ultimate Edition will cost $39.99/£34.99/€39.99
The game for that cheap is a god damn steal IMHO.