Overview

vkShade is a ReShade-compatible Vulkan post-processing layer, written from the ground up to be a powerful, modern, and maintainable solution for improving visuals in games and other Vulkan applications on Linux.

Caution

This software may trigger bans from anti-cheat. Use it with multiplayer games at your own risk.

Project Status

This project is still in the PRE-ALPHA phase of development - meaning it works, but it's really just a proof-of-concept right now. Over time, I intend to bring it up to speed as the de facto post-processing layer for Vulkan applications on Linux.

Current Features

• ReShade FX integration (see Limitations)
• Interactive GUI overlay with mouse support
• Cross-platform input (Wayland, Xlib, XCB)
• Modern C++ RAII wrappers around the Vulkan C API
• Configuration system

vkShade overlay running in-game (click to enlarge)

Limitations

Some ReShade effects do not work properly yet. For example:

• Effects relying on the depth buffer
• Effects with multiple techniques
• Possibly more...

Roadmap

Near-term (v0.1.x)

• Chain together multiple effects
• Configuration system
  • Application-level (global) options
  • Per-game presets using ReShade's INI format
• Basic GUI overlay (browse/apply effects and save/load config)
• ReShade FX integration
  • Basic ReShade FX support
  • Full support for ReShade's time-based runtime uniforms
  • Stub support for ReShade's other runtime uniforms
  • Image and sampler reflection
  • Support for effects with multiple passes
  • Pipeline state reflection (stencil and blending)
• Various fixes and improvements

Mid-term (v0.2.x+)

• Uniform reflection in the GUI and config system
• Support for effects with multiple techniques
• Full support for ReShade's input-based runtime uniforms
• Full support for ReShade's overlay-based runtime uniforms
• Hot-reloadable effects
• Depth buffer access

Long-term

• Community effect repository
• Performance profiling tools

Packaging Status

vkShade has packages available in the following repositories:

If vkShade is not packaged for your distro, you can build it from source.

Building from Source

vkShade provides a full-featured and easy to use build system, which will build and install the layer in your user's home directory. It can also uninstall the layer, should you decide that you don't want to use it anymore.

NOTE: You should prefer using distro-provided packages, if available.

Dependencies

Before building, you will need:

• GCC >= 12
• X11 development files (libx11, libxcb)
• Wayland development files (wayland-client)
• xkbcommon development files (libxkbcommon)
• SPIR-V Headers
• Vulkan Headers
• Vulkan Utility Libraries
• GNU Make
• Meson
• Ninja

Building

1. Clone the repository, and change directory into it.

   git clone https://github.com/ralgar/vkShade.git
   cd vkShade
   

2. Checkout the latest tagged release.

   git checkout <version>
   

3. Using the included Makefile, build and install vkShade.

   make install
   

4. (Optional): Build and install the 32 bit version.

   make install-lib32
   

Uninstallation

To uninstall, simply run make uninstall, or make uninstall-lib32.

Usage

Enable vkShade by setting the environment variable.

Standard

When using the terminal or an application (.desktop) file, execute:

ENABLE_VKSHADE=1 yourgame

Lutris

With Lutris, follow these steps below:

1. Right click on a game, and press configure.
2. Go to the System options tab and scroll down to Environment variables.
3. Press on Add, and add ENABLE_VKSHADE under Key, and add 1 under Value.

Steam

With Steam, edit your game's launch options and add:

ENABLE_VKSHADE=1 %command%

Configuration

The configuration file is searched for in the following locations (in order):

• A file set with the environment variable VKSHADE_CONFIG_FILE=/path/to/vkShade.ini
• A file named vkShade.ini in the working directory of the game
• $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vkShade/vkShade.ini or ~/.config/vkShade/vkShade.ini
• $XDG_DATA_HOME/vkShade/vkShade.ini or ~/.local/share/vkShade/vkShade.ini
• /etc/vkShade.ini
• /etc/vkShade/vkShade.ini
• /usr/share/vkShade/vkShade.ini

Tip

The default/example configuration file can be found in this repo at config/vkShade.ini and will be installed at either $XDG_DATA_HOME/vkShade/vkShade.ini for a user-level installation or at /usr/share/vkShade/vkShade.ini for a system-wide installation.

ReShade FX

To use ReShade effects, you need to configure the search paths. For example:

[ReShade]
EffectSearchPaths = /opt/reshade/shaders,/opt/reshade/shaders/SweetFX
TextureSearchPaths = /opt/reshade/textures,/opt/reshade/textures/SweetFX

Input

Keybinds are now configurable under the [Input] section in vkShade.ini (single keys only for now). You can set custom keybinds by using the action name and the enum name of the key (src/input/key_codes.hpp):

[Input]
ToggleEffects = KEY_INSERT
ToggleGui = KEY_HOME

Tip

If you don't set any keybinds, vkShade will use the defaults:

• INSERT to toggle the effects
• HOME to toggle the in-game GUI overlay

Note

When interacting with the in-game GUI, only the mouse is supported currently.

Log Output

The log output level can be set with the VKSHADE_LOG_LEVEL environment var, e.g. VKSHADE_LOG_LEVEL=debug. Possible values are: trace, debug, info, warn, error, critical, and off.

By default the logger outputs to stderr, a file can be set as the output using the VKSHADE_LOG_FILE env var, e.g. VKSHADE_LOG_FILE="vkShade.log".

FAQ

Does vkShade work with DXVK and VKD3D?

Yes. It should work with anything that uses the Vulkan API. If you find that vkShade doesn't work with a Vulkan application, please open an issue.

Will vkShade get me banned?

Quite possibly. Other software with similar functionality have been known to trigger bans, so it is likely that vkShade will as well. It is strongly recommended that you only use vkShade with single-player games.

Will there be an OpenGL version?

No, however you can probably use Zink (OpenGL to Vulkan translation) and use vkShade that way.

Acknowledgments

• ReShade - for the ReShade FX ecosystem
• vkBasalt - for the original inspiration

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Ryan Algar (ralgar/vkShade)

BSD 2-clause License (see LICENSE or BSD 2-clause)