Reshade is now on version series 3.0.x and has been
open sourced for a while now. The FX injector has basically received a rewrite that makes its interface much simpler to use and it can be used in-game and apply effects real-time. Here is a quick tutorial on how to set up this version to work with the Windows version of Oolite.
Note: OpenGL 4.3 support is the minimum requirement.
The latest version of the app has some problems with Oolite, so we want to get one of the slightly earlier ones. Versions up to and including 3.0.4 are fine, so we can use 3.0.4 for this. You can download the older version from the online repository in the link below.
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/8ar1jh ... 1ko4203njp
Warning: This is a mediafire link. Be very careful where to click to download the app because mediafire is doubleplus evil and I wish people stopped using it forever. Anyway, once you download 3.0.4, all you have to do is run it. It will ask you to point it to the game of your choice. Click the big "Select game" button and browse.
You want to select the oolite.exe inside oolite.app.
Once done, Reshade will try to autodetect the graphics API used (DirectX or OpenGL) and will wait for confirmation.
Click on the already selected OpenGL radio button to confirm API auto-detection.
Next, you will be asked whether you want to download some already prepared effects, currently stored on github.
Choose the ones you want and go ahead to download. Once the download is compelte, you are done.
Close the Reshade installer and go to your Oolite folder. You will notice one added folder and two new files. The folder contains the downloaded shaders and the new files are the opengl32.dll injector dll and the associated ini file. We are good to go.
Launch Oolite normally. You will see that Reshade is now injecting its code in the game, as you will see its startup message during game launch.
Initially all looks just like it always had, because no effects have been applied yet. To apply, we need to bring up the in-game interface. Default key-combo for that is Shift-F2 but I would recommend changing that to something like F9 or F10, because F2 is in use by the game and it makes you switch to rear view at the same time you bring up the Reshade window. The first time you open that window, it will start a very brief 3-step mini-tutorial, where it will ask you to define a settings file for Oolite for storing information about the shader parameters in use and for enabling quick startup of all preferred effects whenever the game launches.
It will then proceed to explain the two parts of the window, namely the effects enable-disable list
and the individual effects parameters directly below it.
You can switch effects entirely on or off using the check boxes in the top and adjust individual effect parameters on the bottom, always while running the game. There is a lot of experimentation to be had. The combinations are practically endless and some use up more system resources than others, so you will definitely have to fine tune it for your system. There is no predefined works-for-all combination. However, some of those effects are really nice and most likely worth the time spent setting them up, as they can enhance the experience significantly. I like the HDR, light bloom and colorization effects, but others may prefer more exotic effect types. Play and experiment and see what works for you.
Each effect can be assigned a toggle hotkey combo and hotkeys can be assigned to the entirety of the effects suite in order to turn them all instantly on or off. Your changes are saved automatically in the ini file you specified at the first step of the in-game tutorial and will be applied automatically upon restart. A clock and an FPS counter are also available from within Reshade, Settings tab.
Enjoy! Here is Oolite running in monochrome, courtesy of Reshade:
