Enhancing Game Visuals

Install Workflow

Phase 1: Find the Game

Locate the game executable in the Steam library:

# Search Steam common directory for the game
find ~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/ -maxdepth 1 -type d -iname "*<search term>*"

# Find the main .exe within the game directory
find "<game dir>" -name "*.exe" -not -path "*/redist/*" -not -path "*/prereq/*"

Identifying the correct exe: Many games have multiple executables (launchers, crash reporters, redistributables). Look for:

• The exe in a Binaries/Win64 or Bin directory
• The largest exe file
• The exe matching the game's name
• PCGamingWiki can confirm the correct exe path

Phase 2: Research the Game

Detect hardware first:

lspci | grep -iE 'VGA|3D|Display'
cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep "model name" | head -1

Research the game with hardware context. Run these searches:

1. PCGamingWiki — graphics API (Vulkan/DX11/DX12), known issues, config file locations
2. ProtonDB (protondb.com/app/<appid>) — Linux-specific issues, working Proton versions, required workarounds for this hardware
3. Game + Linux + GPU (e.g., "Doom Dark Ages Linux Proton RTX 5080") — driver-specific bugs, DLSS/FSR issues, performance problems
4. Game + visual enhancement — existing ReShade/vkBasalt presets (Nexus Mods), art style analysis, rendering approach (photorealistic, cel-shaded, stylized)
5. Anti-cheat / DLL compatibility — whether the game blocks DLL injection or post-processing layers

Key things to identify:

• Graphics API determines the approach: DX9/DX10/DX11/DX12 → ReShade (DLL injection via reshade-linux.sh), Vulkan → vkBasalt (native Vulkan layer with ReShade FX shaders)
• Known Linux/Proton bugs for this GPU (e.g., DLSS Ray Reconstruction + Variable Rate Shading conflicts, HDR breakage)
• Proton version recommendations and required launch flags
• Whether path tracing, ray tracing, or specific denoiser options have known issues under Proton

Collect findings to inform shader recommendations in Phase 6 and present any Linux-specific gotchas in Phase 7.

Phase 3: Install ReShade

Download the script (if not already present):

curl -LO https://github.com/kevinlekiller/reshade-steam-proton/raw/main/reshade-linux.sh
chmod +x reshade-linux.sh

Check if ReShade is already installed for this game:

ls -la "<game exe dir>/" | grep -E 'dxgi.dll|d3d11.dll|ReShade'

If already installed, skip to Phase 4 (shader packs).

Run the installer with piped answers. The script asks 5 interactive questions:

printf '%s\n' \
  "i" \
  "<path to directory containing game exe>" \
  "y" \
  "y" \
  "y" \
| RESHADE_ADDON_SUPPORT=1 bash reshade-linux.sh 2>&1

The 5 answers in order:

1. i — install (not uninstall)
2. Game exe directory path
3. y — confirm the path is correct
4. y — auto-detect DLL override
5. y — confirm detected architecture and DLL (typically 64-bit, dxgi.dll)

If auto-detection is wrong (e.g., 32-bit game or OpenGL), run interactively instead and specify manually.

The script installs:

• ReShade DLLs (linked as dxgi.dll or d3d11.dll)
• d3dcompiler_47.dll
• Default shader packs: SweetFX, qUINT, AstrayFX, prod80, reshade-shaders
• A global ReShade.ini with pre-configured shader/texture paths

Clean up the downloaded script after installation:

rm reshade-linux.sh

Phase 4: Install Additional Shader Packs

The default shader repos cover basics but lack free GI/RT options. Install these into the external shaders directory:

EXTDIR=~/.local/share/reshade/External_shaders

# DH_UBER_RT — free GI + AO + reflections
git clone https://github.com/AlucardDH/dh-reshade-shaders.git "$EXTDIR/dh-reshade-shaders"

# YASSGI — best free screen-space GI quality
git clone https://github.com/Pentalimbed/YASSGI.git "$EXTDIR/YASSGI"

Link into the Merged shaders directory:

MERGED=~/.local/share/reshade/ReShade_shaders/Merged/Shaders
MERGED_TEX=~/.local/share/reshade/ReShade_shaders/Merged/Textures

# Link DH shader .fx files
bash -c 'for f in '"$EXTDIR"'/dh-reshade-shaders/Shaders/*.fx; do
  [ -f "$f" ] && ln -sf "$f" "'"$MERGED"'/$(basename "$f")"
done'

# Link DH textures
bash -c 'for f in '"$EXTDIR"'/dh-reshade-shaders/Textures/*; do
  [ -f "$f" ] && ln -sf "$f" "'"$MERGED_TEX"'/$(basename "$f")"
done'

# Link YASSGI (main shader only, not game-specific variants)
ln -sf "$EXTDIR/YASSGI/Shaders/YASSGI.fx" "$MERGED/YASSGI.fx"

Verify all GI options are available:

ls "$MERGED" | grep -iE 'uber_rt|yassgi|radiant'
# Should show: dh_uber_rt.fx, RadiantGI.fx, YASSGI.fx

Phase 5: Configure ReShade.ini

The global ReShade.ini lives at ~/.local/share/reshade/ReShade.ini. Verify it exists before editing:

ls -la ~/.local/share/reshade/ReShade.ini
# If not found: find ~/.local -name "ReShade.ini" 2>/dev/null

Apply these Linux-specific fixes:

Overlay keybind — Home key doesn't pass through Proton reliably. Change to F10:

[INPUT]
KeyOverlay=121,0,0,0

Input processing — Set to 1 so ReShade captures input alongside the game:

InputProcessing=1

Effect search paths — The SweetFX shaders are in a subdirectory that ReShade doesn't search by default. Add it:

[GENERAL]
EffectSearchPaths=Z:\home\<user>\.local\share\reshade\ReShade_shaders\Merged\Shaders,Z:\home\<user>\.local\share\reshade\ReShade_shaders\Merged\Shaders\SweetFX

Replace <user> with the actual username. Read the existing ReShade.ini first to preserve other settings — only modify these specific keys.

Phase 6: Recommend Shaders (APPROVAL CHECKPOINT)

STOP — Present shader recommendations and wait for approval before proceeding.

Based on the game research from Phase 2, build a recommendation table. Use the shader catalog as the source of truth for exact performance costs, GI shader comparisons, and effects to avoid for the game's graphics API.

Recommendation framework:

Present to user as:

• Recommended effects with reasoning tied to the game's art style
• Performance impact estimates (see shader catalog)
• Which GI shader to try first and why
• Effects to avoid for this specific game and why
• Note: only enable ONE GI shader at a time

Processing order (top to bottom in ReShade):

1. Color effects (Vibrance, Curves, LiftGammaGain)
2. GI/AO (RadiantGI OR DH_UBER_RT OR YASSGI OR MXAO)
3. Anti-aliasing (SMAA)
4. Sharpening (CAS / LumaSharpen)

Phase 7: Finalize

After shader selection approval, present the final setup summary:

Steam launch options — The user must set this manually in Steam (Properties > Launch Options).

First, check which DLL the installer linked:

ls -la "<game exe dir>" | grep -E 'dxgi|d3d11|d3d9'

Then use the matching DLL name in the override:

WINEDLLOVERRIDES="d3dcompiler_47=n;<detected_dll>=n,b" %command%

For example, if the symlink is dxgi.dll: WINEDLLOVERRIDES="d3dcompiler_47=n;dxgi=n,b" %command%

First launch instructions:

1. Start the game
2. Press F10 to open ReShade overlay
3. Go to Settings tab — verify shader/texture paths
4. Go to Home tab — click Reload to compile shaders
5. Enable effects from the approved list in the recommended order
6. Adjust parameters to taste — changes save to ReShadePreset.ini in the game directory and persist across launches

Present any game-specific issues found during Phase 2 research (API switching, known crashes, required launch flags).

Update Workflow

Re-run Phase 3 (the installer checks for updates automatically), then update external shader repos:

cd ~/.local/share/reshade/External_shaders/dh-reshade-shaders && git pull
cd ~/.local/share/reshade/External_shaders/YASSGI && git pull

Re-link any new shader files using the same commands from Phase 4.

Remove Workflow

Same as Phase 3 but pipe u (uninstall) instead of i: answers are u, game exe directory, y. Then remove WINEDLLOVERRIDES from Steam launch options.

To fully remove ReShade from the system: rm -rf ~/.local/share/reshade

Pre-Launch Checklist

Before declaring setup complete, verify:

• WINEDLLOVERRIDES set in Steam launch options
• DLLs linked in game exe directory (ls -la <dir> | grep dxgi)
• EffectSearchPaths in ReShade.ini includes SweetFX subdirectory
• KeyOverlay=121 (F10) and InputProcessing=1 set in ReShade.ini
• Only ONE GI shader will be enabled at a time

Troubleshooting

See troubleshooting.md for depth buffer issues, crashes, performance problems, and other common Linux/Proton ReShade issues.

Shader Reference

See shader-catalog.md for a complete list of installed shader packs, what each effect does, and performance impact.