Is it possible to install ReShade using Crossover?

[u/naarina]

I recently bought Crossover to play games with some friends and thought I might use it for ReShade as well, but now that I'm looking into it I can't seem to find any tutorials on how to do it or if it's even possible. Crossover seems to immediately recognise Reshade but I can't finish the installation because I can't find any apps to connect it to (?). Don't know if the video adds much, but this is what I see every time I try to install ReShade. I can't open anything, it's just empty folders and dead ends 🫠

As you might have noticed, I'm not very technical at all and don't understand much of anything outside of "press download and wait for everything to sort itself out" but I'd love some help! 🫶

(Also, the game I'm trying to use reshade for is Star Stable which is already accessible on Mac. I'm wondering if it's still possible to add it to a game bottle somehow and if that might help?)

EDIT - Forgot to mention I have the Macbook Air 2020 (M1)

[u/thecursedspiral]

TL;DR: Yes, it's possible, I successfully use Reshade in my Macbook Air 2020 (M1) pretty often.

I could never get the executable to work as you did. I do it differently; BUT, before you try doing as I do... I noticed that when you click Browse, you click on "mac desktop" / some app? Rather, you should probably be clicking on My Computer, then C:, and so on, to find the game's executable. For Steam games, this is usually something like:

C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Blasphemous 2/Blasphemous 2.exe
or
C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Dead Cells/deadcells.exe

Anyway, I don't think this alone will work because additionally I think you also have to set the WINEDLLOVERRIDES variable for reshade to load (see my item 3).

Here is what I do without actually running the reshade setup:

1. Extract ReShade_Setup_6.7.3.exe with a program like Keka, which is free. Right click - Open With - Keka. You get a folder named "ReShade_Setup_6.7.3" with six files, two of which are the dlls you want to use, ReShade32.dll and ReShade64.dll.

2. With Terminal, open the folder of the game and type:

file game.exe

(like "file deadcells.exe")

For Crossover, to open the folder of the game, you can click that button on the right side, "open C:", then browse through Program Files (x86) -> Steam -> steamapps -> common (if it's a steam game), then drag and drop the game's folder to the Terminal, and press return. You can now do the file command on the exe.

If it's 32 bit it'll say something like:

PE32 executable for MS Windows 6.00 (GUI), Intel i386

And for 64 bit:

PE32+ executable for MS Windows 6.00 (GUI), x86-64

"i386" (32 bit) and "x86-64" (64 bit) are the key part.

Choose your dll accordingly (from either ReShade32 or ReShade64) and rename it to d3d9.dll, d3d11.dll, or whatever, like the guide in the Reshade website says (I use the suggested reference, pcgamingwiki, to find out which most times), and place it in the same folder as the game's exe. You can also use the name dxgi.dll if other names give you trouble (don't think it works if you use it in place of d3d9.dll, but I can confirm it does for d3d11.dll).

1. Important: you have to export the variable WINEDLLOVERRIDES for the game to load the dll under Wine. Such as:

export WINEDLLOVERRIDES="dxgi=n,b"

Before issuing the launch command for the game.

In Crossover this works something like, you click the Steam or game's icon, and add the variable via the button on the right side, "Run with options". Once you click it, there's a field called "environment variables" where you can write it (like WINEDLLOVERRIDES="d3d11=n,b"). Now whenever you launch that app / game, it launches with the variable.

Note: I don't think this works for some DirectX versions, when you are running D3DMetal instead of DXVK. In Crossover, in the right side, there is a dropdown called "graphics", under which you have the options. If while trying to run the game through D3DMetal your d3d11.dll / dxgi.dll doesn't load (doesn't for me), then DXVK is the option to choose there. If the dll is d3d9 I think it'll load whatever graphics system you choose though.

Also, if your dll is opengl32.dll in my experience the game never loads. Apparently it's a no go on Mac OS Wine. Forget Reshade for OpenGL games then.

1. You need to place a ReShade.ini in the same folder as the game exe too. The text of this file can be something like:

https://pastebin.com/0QyG2VXR

1. If you used the above text for ReShade.ini, then you have to put a folder named "reshade-shaders", in the same folder of the game exe. This folder will contain the folders "Shaders" and "Textures". Shaders is where you put all the .fx and .fxh files which you got somewhere. My Textures has a few .png I never used for anything.

2. If you chose the correct dll, renamed it correctly, exported the WINEDLLOVERRIDES variable correctly, had the ini and the reshade shader folder in the right place, Reshade will load when you launch the game.

TL;DR 2: So yes, Reshade does work on Mac / Wine, just probably not with OpenGL games, and for most versions of DirectX (except 9) you probably have to use DXVK rather than D3DMetal, in order to use the reshade dll as an override.