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Special K Helper

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Brandon edited this page Jan 7, 2023 · 10 revisions

Description

Improve functionality when using Special K with Playnite

Functionality:

  1. Automatically start or stop Special K global injection services when starting and closing games.
  2. Configure in extension settings the settings of new profiles created by Special K when a game starts. Be aware that this will not apply if the game has already a profile created prior to using the extension, in which case you can delete the profiles so it can be generated the next time the game starts.
  3. Automatically configure a profile specific for the launched game if Reshade has been configured to work with Reshade. Be aware that from my testing, Reshade may not work for some games, especially 32 bits games.
  4. Allow to use the Steam overlay in non Steam games if Steam is running. For this to be possible, the "Enable Steam overlay" option for new profiles must be enabled.
  5. Allow to open the Steam Controller configuration window for games from the right click menu. This includes non-Steam games that have been enabled to use the Steam overlay.
  6. A editor for Special K profiles.

The extension works in two modes:

  1. Global mode: Services will be started for all games except those excluded by the user using the extension functions.
  2. Selective mode: Services will only be started for games enabled by the user.

The extension also implements a button in the sidebar to completely disallow starting the service no matter the settings or configuration.

Disclaimer: Special K may be detected by anticheat software as malicious and may get you banned. For this reason you should not use Special K with those games, which you can do by excluding the games using the functionality provided by the extension. I won't be responsible if any issue happens if anyone was not careful with this.

Screenshots

Sections:

Requirements

  1. If you don't have Special K installed, check the Install Special K section. (Obligatory)

  2. If you want to use Reshade with Special K, check the Install Reshade for Special K section. (Optional)

Troubleshooting

File not found notification error

A critical file is missing from your Special K install. This can be fixed by doing an install as explained in the Install Special K section.

Special K service could not be started notification error

If you see this notification error, it means there was an issue starting the Special K services. To fix this, please refer to the step 4 in Special K not starting.

Game crashes or has issues when using Special K with the extension

Special K is not compatible with all games and can introduce issues that can range from in-game issues to the game crashing or not booting at all. To fix this, you can exclude the game from using Special K by using the extension functionality

You can also temporarily disable starting Special K with games to test if it is the culprit of the issues by setting the extension button on the sidebar to disabled and trying to launch the game again

Special K not starting

  1. Verify that there isn't a notification error when launching games. A notification can be added if there was an error when starting Special K.

  2. Verify that the extension is not set as disabled mode in the sidebar button as this will make the extension to not launch Special K under any circumstance while in this mode.

  1. Verify if the services are detected as active on SKIF. If it is detected as running, then SK doesn't have the path to enable the game whitelisted in Settings -> Whitelist Patterns or has a compatibility issue with the game

  1. In rare occasions, the Special K services will refuse to start for an unknown reason. In that case, you can try clicking the "Service" button a few times and see if the services get unstuck. As a last resort, restarting your PC can fix the issue.

If there are still issues, please contact me via a new issue or on the Playnite Discord.

Install Special K

Download Special K from Discord server: https://discord.gg/specialk

If you have never installed Special K, make sure to first install Special K using an executable from the #installers channel so Special K files gets configured correctly.

Install Reshade for Special K

Instructions to install Reshade for Special K: https://wiki.special-k.info/en/SpecialK/ReShade

If you install a Reshade version higher than v5.0, you won't get the window with "[Click here to select a game and manage its ReShade installation]." message. In that case, you should install normally to the directory indicated by the tutorial, then rename the Reshade installer to zip extension and extract its contents.

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