Make sure you install everything listed in the system requirements section Special K - PCGamingWiki PCGW - bugs, fixes, crashes, mods, guides and improvements for every PC game
Ignore the Windows 7 requirements ofc. I’m not sure my suggestion will fix whatever’s going on on your end, but worth trying.
I have all the requirements, today i installed all the runtimes from here:
hhttps://www.techpowerup.com/download/visual-c-redistributable-runtime-package-all-in-one/
And updated the DX as well.
Do you have anti-virus software or something else that could be interrupting? I suggest closing as many background tasks as you can, see if that fixes your issue.
Hi, trying SKIF with witcher 3, but it loads fine in main menu, but crashes when loading game. Any specific settings I`ll should look into?
Tried, no success. But the older version works (v 0.6.9), some clue what could be?
Probably a firewall / anti-virus preventing the version check from working. That’s the only difference between 0.7.0.x and 0.6.9, version checks every 12 hours and on first launch were added.
Speaking of which, a lot of people are about to get update notifications… hopefully this goes smoothly, because I’m going to bed 
Upgrading to 0.7.0.2 (here: SKIF v 0.7.0 - [ Manual Update Notifications ]), will make the notification go away.
I like how that person tweeting is shocked… and compares to Yakuza 0
I mean Kiwami 2 was done by QLOC and Y0 was done by a a different smaller team [forget their name]
But yeah QLOC are like a disaster for quality ports [not as bad as Virtuous tho]
But it QLOC ported Yakuza 3-5 HD I’d still buy that shit in a heartbeat. #BringYakuzaToPC [not EGS tho]
He’s not really shocked and more simply perplexed as he hadn’t had the time to look into it yet. He believes it is related to games not handling the DXGI “occluded” status properly.
Silent is a modder (and professional porter) known for a wide array of mods focusing on game-specific tweaks and fixes that generally goes by the name of “SilentPatch,” such as for Yakuza Kiwami 2.
This tweet of his prefaced his own investigations into the matter and I’m sure as soon as he is able to track it down we’ll see its inclusion in SilentPatch for Kiwami 2 as well as future mods he creates where he feels it appropriate.
I’m aware of it. I cannot say it is something I have looked into.
DXGI_PRESENT_TEST is used on Swap Chain presentation if you want to check for DXGI idle state. It is not terribly important in the case where the application is “iconic” (minimized to the taskbar), it is mostly for non-game software that should continue drawing stuff even as a user is working in different applications. For those scenarios, DXGI_PRESENT_TEST identifies when a window is completely occluded and the app is free to go idle.
Software in the “iconic” state should already be in its idle state, running the game loop and presenting the swapchain when software is minimized is just plain stupid. I don’t think I’ve seen any games that do that 
It seems like an easy thing to miss – even Watch Dogs 2 suffers from the issue if the FPS is set to run uncapped in the settings. Minimizing it ends up causing it to go wild and spin both the CPU and GPU fans as a result 
Fun fact about the DXGI_PRESENT_TEST … don’t do it
I had to patch ReShade many years ago because it was trying to post-process the scene during DXGI_PRESENT_TEST checks. If something as widely used as ReShade makes the mistake of thinking the test for DXGI occlusion is an actual rendered frame being presented, you are in for some weird software compatibility issues if you make use of this feature.
Hi. I’m new to Special K. I’m reading what I can on Steam and here on this forum.
Can someone advise me if the premise of Special K is that it can give any PC game genuine HDR? If so, how do I install it? Does it affect trophies? Can the injection be seen as a hack/lead to a ban?
I have a HDR monitor and HDR TV, and I play many games without HDR, and always find myself wishing all games had HDR.
Only D3D11 games at the moment.
Anything you inject into a game can cause a ban if developers are stupid about anti-cheat :-\ If you are using a game with anti-cheat or multi-player in general, it’s best to exercise caution because I cannot answer these questions, it’s game by game and the first I find out about a game issuing bans … is because someone was banned.
Thanks Kaldaien. I play mainly single player so not a big concern, was just wondering. How do I go about installing it and is there a starter guide I can read up on somewhere?
For Steam games, it’s really simple. The Download link at the top of the site contains everything you need. You just “Start Services” and it will inject into all Steam games until you Stop it.
It’s more complicated for other stores, but I’m working on simplifying that.
For HDR, see:
The Wiki link also includes a quick-start guide to HDR.
Thanks. Does Special K add genuine HDR to the games? I.e. as good as HDR if the game was developed with HDR or if the game developers added HDR?
This is HDR… not Reshade Postprocessing fauxHDR if that’s what you are getting at.
That’s why you need a HDR monitor or TV for this to begin with.
Yes that’s what I was referring to. This project sounds too good to be true. I am a big fan of HDR (genuine HDR that requires a HDR monitor/TV). I look forward to testing it. I’m going to start with Bioshock 2 Remaster as I’m about to play it (I’m late to the game with the Bioshock franchise, I know!)
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.