Reshade Assistant mangles pipeline.cfg

Attempting to add a shader that I have been using to post-process movies .. the steps I took to do so:
Created ReShade/Shaders/dustymonkey.undef
Created ReShade/Shaders/dustymonkey/foobar.fx
Added #include EFFECT(dustymonkey, foobar) to ReShade/Presets/Default/Pipeline.cfg
Created Reshade/Presets/Default/Shaders_by_dustymonkey.cfg

When I use the assistant, my shader initially shows up in the shaders tab when creating a profile, but afterwards pipeline.cfg is mangled and only has 3 entries (none of which were selected in the assistants shader tab, and the one selected in the shader tab isnt there)

The entire contents of pipeline.cfg become:
#include EFFECT(CeeJay, HDR)
#include EFFECT(CeeJay, CA)
#include EFFECT(CeeJay, DisplayDepth)

thats it .. now, because THERE ISNT A STEP-BY-STEP TUTORIAL ON CREATING AND ADDING A SHADER, I am left completely lost. Did I do anything wrong? What can I do so this doesnt happen?

Anyone?

Same here. I never got it to work with custom shaders. After a few failed attempts I defaulted to edit all files manually in notepad++. it works. and if it fails at least doesn't delete your files.

does it work if you doesn't use the assistant?

I dont know (have not tried yet.) I am new to reshade, but not shader programming. I have mainly done "painterly" stuff to spice up movies (dvd) using both Media Player Classic Home Cinema and Media Player Dot Net which both offer nice and simple methods of adding/removing shaders.

Edited to add this example image, click me.

Just trying to understand the structure and flow of this unfortunate reshade.fx #include monolith is a task in and off itself, but I have invested that time. I have gotten everything back to default by deleting my reshade folder and re-extracting. I believe the pipeline.cfg mangling may have been the result of not having any presets, however:

After creating a preset, and then adding my files back into both the default and the new preset where applicable, and editing both pipeline.cfg's, my shader *still* does not show up in this Assistant regardless of which of the presets is selected.

Since there is literally zero documentation, I have come here to consult the High Priests that have the secret recipe, the well guarded secrets that create the exclusive High Priest Club of people that can successfully add their shader to the Grand Assistant.

If this isnt resolved quickly (by next week at the latest, perhaps) then I will lose interest entirely in the reshade framework. I will not not go through life continually being frustrated by the thought that I am a second class citizen of a community that I want to contribute to.

Its just not in me. If help isn't forthcoming from the High Priests, if that is not in them, then we are at an impasse.

It's a mess currently, I agree to that. And I doubt there's much I can do to help right now.

I can only tell you that the work-in-progress ReShade 3.0 simplifies all that a lot. It removes the ReShade Framework and gives full power to every shader file. You don't have to do any complicated stuff to set up a new one. Just drop the fx file somewhere, add the directory to ReShade's effect search paths (if not already there) and it will pick the file up and compile it. Then it's a matter of activating the shader in the in-game UI with one click (see reshade.me/forum/general-discussion/1977...gress?start=20#14493 ).

dustymonkey wrote: Attempting to add a shader that I have been using to post-process movies .. the steps I took to do so:
Created ReShade/Shaders/dustymonkey.undef
Created ReShade/Shaders/dustymonkey/foobar.fx
Added #include EFFECT(dustymonkey, foobar) to ReShade/Presets/Default/Pipeline.cfg
Created Reshade/Presets/Default/Shaders_by_dustymonkey.cfg

When I use the assistant, my shader initially shows up in the shaders tab when creating a profile, but afterwards pipeline.cfg is mangled and only has 3 entries (none of which were selected in the assistants shader tab, and the one selected in the shader tab isnt there)

The entire contents of pipeline.cfg become:
#include EFFECT(CeeJay, HDR)
#include EFFECT(CeeJay, CA)
#include EFFECT(CeeJay, DisplayDepth)

thats it .. now, because THERE ISNT A STEP-BY-STEP TUTORIAL ON CREATING AND ADDING A SHADER, I am left completely lost. Did I do anything wrong? What can I do so this doesnt happen?

Anyone?

The easiest is to skip the assistant altogether for this. Below is what I do when I write a new shader

- In your game's bin folder (where the .exe is located), copy the reshade64/32.dll (depending on the game if it's 64bit or 32bit) and rename it to dxgi.dll
- copy reshade.fx and the 'Reshade' folder to the game's bin folder.

from now on all actions below take place in that copied folder, so e.g. in
C:\Games\Assassin's Creed Syndicate\ReShade\

- Go to ReShade\Profiles\Default, load global.cfg into notepad++ and alter the settings so it works for your game, save.
- Go to ReShade\Presets\Default
- create in this folder: Shaders_by_DustyMonkey.cfg, and open it in notepad++. In there, add your #defines.
- open Pipeline.cfg and add your shader files. The format is as follows:
#include EFFECT(Foldername, shaderfilename). So for you:
#include EFFECT(DustyMonkey, SomeShader)
- Go To ReShade\Shaders
- Create a file called foldername.undef. In your case DustyMonkey.undef. Open it in notepad++ and add for each #define in your Shaders_by_DustyMonkey.cfg an #undef. Every #define you forget to undef will be given a 'multiple define' error
- Create a folder called 'DustyMonkey'. Go into that folder
- Create a file per shader, so e.g. SomeShader.fx.
- Open the SomeShader.fx file and also the files Shaders_by_DustyMonkey.cfg and DustyMonkey.undef in notepad++. This way you can quickly add #defines to both your config file and undef file and edit your shader file.

When you're done, make sure you copy the files to a different location. If you use sourcecontrol (and you should!), like git or mercurial, you should first create a repository in a folder. Then create a .cmd or ps1 script file which copies the files from the Reshade folder to the repository folder.
The easiest is to fork the reshade shaders repository on github and clone it locally, then copy your files on top of that folder and commit the changes. this way you won't lose your work!

Run the game you use for testing your shader and if you didn't make any errors, you should be able to use the shader.

Thanks but I already knew that.

However, this just isnt acceptable if I am to distribute my shaders. The posts in the forum indicate a lot of people use that assistant, as people with win10 (why they would have win10 I do not know) post quite a bit about how they cant work the interface properly.

Surely SOMEONE knows the secret incantations of getting a shader to work with the assistant, after all, there are a bunch of shaders already set up for it in the reshade distribution.

My guess about what fails with the assistant when adding new shaders to the pipeline is that the file parsing may be too strict. A character or a space in the wrong place and the file reading crashes, leaving half the list empty. Just a hunch. I couldn't be bothered with more testing as I decided to remove the tool from the equation.

dustymonkey wrote: Thanks but I already knew that.

Well, good to know. You see, I just spent some time writing a guide for you to get started and if all you want to do is vent about some free software made by volunteers who apparently owe you the documentation you need, then please next time just say so, so I can save myself the time and trouble writing said guide and do other things. Ok? thanks.

It's not hard. I have figured it out too, others too. If you can write a shader you can add it to the lib too.

However, this just isnt acceptable if I am to distribute my shaders. The posts in the forum indicate a lot of people use that assistant, as people with win10 (why they would have win10 I do not know) post quite a bit about how they cant work the interface properly.

Surely SOMEONE knows the secret incantations of getting a shader to work with the assistant, after all, there are a bunch of shaders already set up for it in the reshade distribution.

What isn't acceptable? Did you pay for it or something? Did you sign an SLA that's not been met? It's free software written by volunteers who share things with others so they can use it too and have a great gaming experience. They don't owe you anything.

Could things be more smooth and easier? Sure, it always can. But here's an idea: why don't you invest some of your time in researching how things work? Wouldn't be great if there was turn-key documentation which explains everything to the fine detail? Of course! But that takes serious time and as it's a volunteer driven project, you'll likely not going to see that happening anytime soon. It takes you likely less than half an hour, as reshade already comes with files ready to use so there are plenty of examples available to you.

The assistent's parser is very strict, you can't add spaces at places you think a normal parser would skip whitespace. It is what it is.

Hey, no need to get offensive. Both of you

Yes, it's possible to add shaders to the Assistant.
Yes, its parser messes up sometimes (it doesn't like spaces in the wrong places, as mentioned).
Yes, that's unfortunate.
Yes, a better solution is on the way, as mentioned.

OtisInf wrote:

dustymonkey wrote: Thanks but I already knew that.

Well, good to know. You see, I just spent some time writing a guide for you to get started...

None of the questions I asked were answered by you, instead you went out of your way to answer different questions and I even began with "Thanks" when replying to you. Your tone is now that of aggression because... I didnt shower you with gratitude?

OtisInf wrote: and if all you want to do is vent

I've been quite clear about what I want, but you seem to have missed the mark. Instead you are now intentionally mis-characterizing me. That aggression thing of yours, thats on you, not me.

I'm done with you. Thats for sure.

dustymonkey wrote:

OtisInf wrote:

dustymonkey wrote: Thanks but I already knew that.

Well, good to know. You see, I just spent some time writing a guide for you to get started...

None of the questions I asked were answered by you, instead you went out of your way to answer different questions and I even began with "Thanks" when replying to you. Your tone is now that of aggression because... I didnt shower you with gratitude?

In your first post you said:

thats it .. now, because THERE ISNT A STEP-BY-STEP TUTORIAL ON CREATING AND ADDING A SHADER, I am left completely lost

So I gave you a step by step tutorial on creating and adding a shader. To get you on track again. I don't see how that not answers your question, but so be it

That happened to me, after messing around with the Assistant I noticed that it only happened when "auto save" was on, so I disabled the auto save feature and everything is working great again.