Install and troubleshooting guides
Support playbooks
Install and troubleshooting guides
Step sequences drawn from official quick-start notes and common forum failure modes: crashes, overlay conflicts, shader downloads and antivirus flags.
Install ReShade on a game
Quick start
Install ReShade on a game
Official flow: Run setup tool → Follow instructions → Close setup → Start game.
- 1
Download and run the setup EXE
Use ReShade 6.8.0 from the download page. Install .NET Framework 4.8 if the tool will not start (required since the 4.4-era setup update).
- 2
Select the game executable
Point setup at the real game .exe, then choose the rendering API the title uses (Direct3D, OpenGL or Vulkan).
- 3
Check the effect packages you need
Standard effects and SweetFX cover many presets. Optionally browse a preset .ini so only required effects install.
- 4
Close setup, then launch the game
Open the ReShade overlay with the default Home key (unless remapped) and load or build a preset.
When the game or setup crashes
Common failures
When the game or setup crashes
Patterns reported in community troubleshooting threads.
Setup tool will not start
- 1
Install the latest .NET Framework 4.8 package for Windows.
- 2
Re-download the 6.8.0 EXE and compare the published SHA256 if the file looks truncated.
Game crashes right after launch
- 1
Confirm you are on a current ReShade build.
- 2
Fully close MSI Afterburner / RivaTuner Statistics Server and retry. Overlay stacks often conflict.
- 3
For some DirectX 11 titles, community notes suggest renaming dxgi-named injectors to d3d11 when appropriate for that install.
- 4
If a new release is not yet whitelisted by anti-cheat, try an older official build or remove ReShade for that title.
Unable to download shaders
Effects archive
Unable to download shaders
Setup sometimes fails while fetching the standard effects repository.
- 1
Retry the network step from setup when your connection is stable.
- 2
If it keeps failing, place Shaders and Textures folders manually into the ReShade folder beside the game executable (community workaround described in troubleshooting posts).
- 3
Prefer installing only the packs your preset needs to reduce download size.
Antivirus false positives
Security scanners
Antivirus false positives
- 1
Expect heuristic flags after a fresh release. Injectors look similar to malware loaders to some engines.
- 2
Compare SHA256 or the X.509 thumbprint from the download integrity section.
- 3
Restore the file from quarantine only after the hash matches. Do not disable antivirus permanently.
Uninstall ReShade from a game
Removal
Uninstall ReShade from a game
Automatic
- 1
Launch the setup tool and select the same game executable.
- 2
Choose the API, then when asked to overwrite or uninstall, choose uninstall (community: click No on overwrite to remove).
Manual
In the game directory, delete ReShade.ini / preset ini files, injector DLLs such as d3d9.dll, d3d11.dll, dxgi.dll, opengl32.dll (depending on API), and the reshade-shaders folder.
Best practices
Habits that help
Best practices
- PerformanceEnable Performance Mode in the overlay when you are done tweaking, so unused techniques compile out.
- SharingShare only
*.inipresets. Never ship binaries or full shader trees with friends. - GPU loadStack fewer heavy depth effects on mid-range GPUs. SMAA plus a mild grade usually costs less than deep DoF stacks.
- OverlaysKeep one overlay stack at a time while diagnosing crashes (close RTSS / Discord overlay temporarily).