Ray Tracing with Reshade

Community General Discussion
1

So I found this program called Reshade, it allows you to edit pretty much any of the games graphics, but not in game, it adds a HUD overlay that allows a lot more settings to be changed based on what you have installed.

How it works is that Reshade will pretend to be a GPU driver, the game will send the graphics to the pretend driver which will than modify such information to whatever you have asked it to do and than output it to the real GPU and on to your monitor.

So it does not alter the game files, it simply takes what the game gives it and renders it again. Even when I take a screenshot the game will output the standard non rendered SS into the usual WoW folder and a second SS of the rendered screenshot into a second folder of your choice, default is the WoW folder. So the game is still recognising the original information and taking that data for the SS, Reshade again renders that info into something of your choosing and makes a new and better SS.

So I have been running around levelling a new character to see how it all works and get it all setup and once you have it working on your PC the game looks so much better, like unbelievably better.

On the Reshade site there are some WoW posts with peoples setups and settings and this going as far back as December 2012 that people have been using this program for this game.

So 2 questions I have, and I am hoping I can get a clear answer from a blue poster before I start using this in groups settings.

  1. Given that it does not alter the game files, it only takes the information the game sends it and improves it, therefore not against the ToS/EULA, could Blizzard do anything about us using this program?
  2. Why the hell doesn’t this game have Ray Tracing? Even some settings just to sharpen up the game and remove the blur that everything has.

And yes, even at maximum settings everything has a blur around it. When you sharpen it up, fix the lighting and add some small Ray Tracing options it’s just so much better looking and would be even better if they made these options built into the game.

2

any code and/or software, not expressly authorized by Blizzard, that can be used in connection with the Platform and/or any component or feature thereof which changes and/or facilitates the gameplay or other functionality;

I AM NOT A LAWYER But: So unfortunately it IS against the EULA because this changes gameplay.

They are working on something in this vein allegedly for Shadowlands. Remember the graphics engine takes time to update and RTX wasn’t a thing when BFA shipped.

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Yeah that was my thought… violating the EULA with extra steps

4

Incoming 2 week timeout for me weeeeeeee.

You’re not allowed to modify the game; however, should you do this, I can neither say you can or can’t do it without action being taken on your account. It’s a use at your own risk type of thing.

Blizzard has neither said ReShade is allowed or against ToS. They just nuke threads like this and any tickets opened asking are referred back to the ToS. So, on the Blizzard forums, only thing I can tell you is “use at your own risk but it’s against ToS”. If this wasn’t the Blizzard forums, I could give you a real opinion on this.

5

Yep unfortunately it’s a common way wall hacks or other texture hacks work.

6

But than that means all the addons we use are against the EULA since they also alter gameplay in the same way, you know like changing the default layout. It is not what Blizzard gave us, but yet here we are changing the look of the game and allowing addons to alter how we play.

I even have an addon that can alter my nameplates to such a degree that I can put a line between myself and who I am targeting, like drawing an actual coloured line from point A to point B, and than another line between everyone in combat in the area and who they are all targeting.

If you want wall hacks there are much easier ways than updating the graphics on the game, just find the right addons.

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The most upfront answer you’re going to get on the forums is, It’s a grayarea and this thread will be nuked once a mod sees it.

I asked about this before. Speaking from experience. You’ll get more “real” answers on this not on Blizzard forums; because it’s technically against ToS and talking about this is not welcomed on Blizzard forums.

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There is explicit license terms for Addons:

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So Reshade, technically being an addon, does not negatively impact realms or other players.

And it would help if Blizzard actually gave real information other than just: “UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAMS”, because technically it does not go against the TOS as it does not actually alter the game itself, just what your GPU sees.

Which is in the same vein as using my Nvidia software to change settings and allow the GPU to alter the output rather than allowing the 3D application to decide. Or even running LInux.

And this, if what I am reading is correct, than WoW will still be years behind other games because I can add some simple sharpening only to the game and make things so much clear to look at and not have the blur effect that everything has instantly making the game look better with only one additional graphics setting.

It’s just pathetic with how little customising there is in game and not just sharpening, but lighting, and not even Ray Tracing, just adding light effects to make the game look so much better.

And after reading through older posts about Reshade, one of which got a blue reponse which is no longer on the forums (if a post is old enough it is just not there anymore, or if Blizz decide to delete it):

Here is an old post that got a blue response.

As long as it doesn’t have the ability to change models, such as making stealthed characters a shadow or colour, or give you an advantage over others in any way such as seeing nodes bigger than they are, etc then it should be fine.

And from the Reshade site: ReShade exposes an automated and generic way to access both frame color and depth information (latter is automatically disabled during multiplayer to prevent exploitation) and all the tools to make it happen.

And as many others have noted, it does not inject anything into the game files, it does not replace textures, it does not alter the game in anyway. And the forum posts you can find outside the official forums, with one person noting they did get a response from a GM stating: “The kinds of things that can get an account banned are the ones that provide some kind of in-game advantage or automates a part of the game so it can be done without a player.”

Well I mean yeh I get an advantage, I can see things clearer. But as others have also said, this is just like getting a better GPU and (as I noted above) using the Nvidia settings to alter the look of the game as long as your GPU supports it.

Basically WoW says “Here are your files” and the GPU goes “Thanks, now lets render them”, Reshade, and as I have found, many other programs just render the information prior to the GPU getting a hold of it.

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All reshade is is a graphics post processor.

How that affects gameplay is beyond me.

I use it in other games, very similarly to ENB. Which is also graphics postprocessing.

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Good thing you’re not a lawyer because it does not alter gameplay. None of the game mechanics (aka gameplay) gets affected. Graphical fidelity does, but not gameplay.

12

Ah man, so that’s what happened to my old rogue addon that would play the Mortal Kombat song whenever I started a PVP fight.

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Well you can add some very… shady settings and make the game look absolutely horrible, that affects game play, like making you play worse :laughing:

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or be JJ abrams and add tons of lense flare / dirt / bloom

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So it does, it can alter the opacity of textures etc. It’s very very much against the TOS as best I can tell. It’s not in the whitelisted software regardless. I can’t go into details without violating the forums code of conduct at this time so I’m going to disengage. Let it suffice you can very very much cheat if you modify the graphics pipeline.

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But there isn’t even a whitelist of what is accepted, or a blacklist of what is not. Not at least what I can find.

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I’ve never found such a setting when using reshade in other games, and after searching for reshade texture opacity I am finding no results for it.

irrelevant, people that have the knowledge to modify the graphics pipeline won’t be using reshade, they’ll already know how to without it.

1 Like
18

Apparently even Overlays are grey area.

allows users to modify or ‘hack’ a Blizzard game’s user interface, environment, and/or experience in any way not expressly allowed by Blizzard in the EULA;

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Overlays gave me screen burn in so those are out anyway. Specifically the Discord overlay. It’s gone now.

I’d laugh tho if I got banned because I had a Steam overlay popup happen. Or my GeForce Experience overlay did it.

Because you get your butts I’m not disabling Shadowplay. How does one suppose to record gameplay without an overlay of some sort? Most of them use one.

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I suspect they won’t touch those for political reasons, but I think they want to reserve the right to.