The modern frontend used for managing Special K and its global injection service as well as quickly and easily inject Special K into games launched through the frontend.
New versions are distributed through the packaged Special K installer available at https://www.special-k.info/
- Update Special K automatically
- Update local injections of Special K
- Manage the global injection service (autostart/autostop, stop behaviour, start with Windows)
- List installed games on supported platforms and quickly inject Special K into them
- Allow for quicker "Instant Play" launch options that bypasses the default launch process of store platforms (PSA: also stuff like cloud saves sync)
- Adds custom launch configurations (crowdsourced through this repository)
- Reset game profile or apply the compatibility profile
- Disable/blacklist Special K for games or processes
- Detect injected games or processes as well as common conflicts that may cause issues
- Shows active multiplane overlay (MPO) support of the system
- and various other features..
SKIF supports detecting and launching games from the following platforms:
- Epic Games Launcher
- GOG (both standalone installers and GOG Galaxy)
- Steam
- Xbox / Microsoft Store (Win32 games only)
| Argument | What it does |
|---|---|
<empty> |
Launches SKIF. |
Start |
Launches SKIF and starts an instance of the injection service. |
Temp |
Used with Start to indicate the injection service should auto-stop after a successful injection. |
Stop |
Stops running instances of the injection service. Can also be used to attempt to force-eject leftover injections of Special K. |
ServiceMode |
Starts the app in its service mode. Useful in combination with Start and Temp. |
Quit |
Closes running instances of SKIF. |
Minimize |
Launches SKIF minimized or minimizes any running instances of SKIF, to the taskbar or notification area depending on configuration. |
"<path>.exe" |
Uses SKIF as a launcher to start the injection service, launch another application, and then stop the service. Any arguments specified after the path is proxied to the launched application. Called through SKIF %COMMAND% from within the Steam client. |
SKIF_SteamAppID=<int> |
Sets a specific Steam App ID as the environment variable when used as a launcher or launching a custom game. This can replace the use of a special steam_appid.txt file in the game folder. |
SKIF_URI=<string> |
Uses SKIF as a launcher to call a specific command, as a replacement of the ".exe" cmd line argument. This is used for Steam and Epic games in the app jump list. Combine with Start Temp to also start the service temporarily. |
AddGame="<path>" |
Adds the specified application to the library of SKIF as a custom game. |
RestartDisplDrv |
Requires elevation! Restarts the display driver (useful as this can sometimes fix MPOs). |
ResetOverlayMode |
Requires elevation! Resets registry values that controls the state of MPOs on the system. |
RunUpdater |
Triggers a check for update. Used internally by the "Check for Updates" taskbar jump list action. |
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
F5 or Ctrl+R |
Forces a refresh of data on the Library and About tabs. |
F6 |
Appearance: Toggles DPI scaling. |
F7 |
Appearance: Cycles between available color themes. |
F8 |
Appearance: Toggles borders. |
F9 |
Appearance: Toggles color depth. |
F11 or Ctrl+T |
Appearance: Toggles between regular (large) UI mode and service (small) UI mode. |
Ctrl+Q or Ctrl+W |
Closes the app. |
Ctrl+A |
Library: Opens the add game prompt. |
Ctrl+N |
Minimizes the app. |
Ctrl+1 |
Switch to the Library tab. |
Ctrl+2 |
Switch to the Monitor tab. |
Ctrl+3 |
Switch to the Settings tab. |
Ctrl+4 |
Switch to the About tab. |
- Uses Dear ImGui, licensed under MIT.
- Uses DirectX Texture Library, licensed under MIT.
- Uses Font Awesome Free v6.2.1, licensed under SIL OFL 1.1 License.
- Uses JSON for Modern C++, licensed under MIT.
- Uses PicoSHA2, licensed under MIT.
- Uses Plog, licensed under MIT.
- Uses pugixml, licensed under MIT.
- Uses ValveFileVDF, licensed under MIT.
- Uses TextFlowCpp, licensed under BSL-1.0.
- Uses HybridDetect, licensed under MIT.
- Uses code from Custom Resolution Utility (CRU), licensed under a custom license.
- Uses code from ImHex, licensed under GPL-2.0.
- Includes various snippets of code from Stack Overflow, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike.