Mini guide: Reshade for CoH3

Reshade is a post-processing injector that allows you to change the way the game looks. I've personally used it for CoH2 for years and now updated it for CoH3, taking into account feedback of people who used it. It aims to make the best of the current visuals.

Preview
1 - https://sfx.thelazy.net/games/screenshot/88754/
2 - https://i.ibb.co/1mhBQ1S/awdawdaw.png (pre-alpha vs release vs release with Reshade)

Downloading the configuration
1. Install my latest config here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HhfzfhubfWHJn1bm7jcBqRiSYlUfyqO8/view?usp=sharing
2. Ideally you want to put this file in your CoH3 installation folder, but any folder where you won't accidentally delete it is fine.

Installing Reshade (see below if you've done this before)
Make sure CoH3 is closed during the installation.

3. Go to https://reshade.me and download the latest version without add-on support.
4. After downloading, run the setup.
5. Select the CoH3 executable, it should automatically show up as RelicCoH3.exe, hit next.
6. Press DirectX 10/11/12 for API, hit next.
7. Select the config file you've downloaded when it asks for it, this will automatically make it install all required effects. You can then hit next until the installation is done.

Reshade should now be working for CoH3. If you run CoH3, you should see text appearing in the top left about it compiling the effects. To make the text disappear after first installing Reshade, you can open the in-game Reshade menu by clicking the default key "home" and skipping the tutorial.

This preset only uses essential effects, but you can expect some performance impact if you're CPU limited.


Updating config
Download the Reshade setup and the new config file, run the setup and select CoH3, choose "modify installation" (not "update installation"), select the new config, then keep hitting next till the installation is done. The steps are similar to above. Explanation: I often change which effects I use, so if you would load the file normally, you might be missing certain effects.


Troubleshooting
If you don't see RelicCoH3.exe when running the Reshade installation, you either have to wait a while until the setup can find it, or manually browse for it by going to your CoH3 installation folder. (By default: Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Company of Heroes 3\RelicCoH3.exe)

If you don't have a "home" key on your keyboard, I would advice Googling how to change this in the Reshade settings file. You can find this file in your CoH3 installation folder.

If something went wrong during the installation, you can rerun the setup and select modify to try again.

Nice work!

Sadly I dont think you can turn up the SPECULAR lighting which is why every map except one looks like a low grade mobile game or a bowl of oatmeal to quote Reverb.

See what you have done Relic you assholes! You have me quoting Reverb!!!

Nice work!

Sadly I dont think you can turn up the SPECULAR lighting which is why every map except one looks like a low grade mobile game or a bowl of oatmeal to quote Reverb.

See what you have done Relic you assholes! You have me quoting Reverb!!!

I just wish Relic was at least decent at their job so that we don't need to use things like this. This is what happens when you have former EA Devs (Now Current Relic) who made some of the worst games ever to be in charge of COH 3.

Was just watching AE and he seems to be running ReShade. Curiously when he turned the camera to a very sharp angle you could actually finally see some SPECULAR lighting on the map. All of a sudden it looked better. I think adding some contrast may help the specular pop more.

Something weird going on with specular in the game.

This was a 1v1 map. This and the dark 4v4 map both seem to have more specular than most and look much better.

Great stuff, thanks Jibber!

Hey Jibber, thanks for the guide! But for me, it doesn't work... I did all steps you said and I can see the ReShade menu ingame, but no graphic options are activated, I mean nothing is checked. Therefore nothing changes at all.

I then tried another preset and this one works fine for me. Maybe you can tell me which options I have to check in order to get your preset. Cheers!

I spent some time making a new version:

1. Tweaked Tonemap effect for more correct colors across the maps.
2. Different anti-aliasing effect that is faster than SMAA and looks better than FXAA (CMAA).
3. New Color Isolation effect that allowed me to remove the purple hue from the UI.
4. New mild Vignette effect to calm the image slightly.

And the preset still keeps similar performance as it used to.

To update your config:
Download Reshade and the new preset, run the Reshade setup and select CoH3, choose "modify installation" (not "update installation"), select my preset, then keep hitting next till the installation is done.

Link to new preset: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lQx-SXtXTsMHpIoRW_tAUXjcQu_BEymj/view?usp=share_link

Hey Jibber, thanks for the guide! But for me, it doesn't work... I did all steps you said and I can see the ReShade menu ingame, but no graphic options are activated, I mean nothing is checked. Therefore nothing changes at all.

I then tried another preset and this one works fine for me. Maybe you can tell me which options I have to check in order to get your preset. Cheers!

Not gonna work if it doesn't select them by default I think. Just rerun the setup, select modify installation, select my config for installation and try again.

Thanks for reply, your new preset works fine now! Good job!

New version is out: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MW9G6VKnlGmi2-xY78m3WBalejPXwhUQ/view?usp=share_link

- It adds bloom back from the death, which makes it feel more like there's an actual sun because it mimicks the effect of global illumination.
- Quite heavily reduced saturation cause some grass became toxic green color.

Here's a comparison between all the different versions so far with my thoughts:

Vanilla: Show Spoiler Yucky, undefined and greenish.

Normal V1: Show Spoiler This one was too underexposed, colors were a bit too bland and also used an fps heavy effect.

Lite V1: Show Spoiler Better than normal, but you can get a bit overwhelmed by the details and the slight reddishness looks off on certain maps.

Preset V2: Show Spoiler Honestly a step back from lite. I tried to replicate normal V1 with some new improved effects and without the fps heavy effect, but it's still overdone.

Preset V3 (current): Show Spoiler Brings back some of the blurriness/smoothness of vanilla with bloom and overall toning down of values. This sounds like a bad thing but while actually playing it helps making the image calmer, especially in busy areas. Also the has the most natural looking color between the different maps. I can see some people preferring lite though, there might be a better balance between them somewhere.

V3.1 https://drive.google.com/file/d/13brYOepXXdW2sDUOJjVZP9zKZ8hFEdkN/view?usp=share_link

Just upped saturation a bit and fixed download link.

I forgot to note, I use 30% brightness in-game. 50% again for latest version.

Also I've just turned off bloom myself, not really worth it after all, see what you prefer.

I used it with performance mode but it destroys my fps, I'm playing at 4k, what I can do?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HhfzfhubfWHJn1bm7jcBqRiSYlUfyqO8/view?usp=sharing

I've made a new version, with handtweaked colors, trying to improve the grayscale issue the game has. Imo, it's the best looking one yet. Here's a comparison screenshot between pre-alpha, release and with reshade:



Shows how far off this still is from greatness, but yet the end result is pleasant to look at.

I've disabled the bloom, AA and vignette effects. It's just color grading effects and a mild amount of sharpening now. Configured with in-game brightness being set to 50%.

I used it with performance mode but it destroys my fps, I'm playing at 4k, what I can do?

Latest one disables some effects. If it's still running slowly, open the menu and disable the "SelectiveColor" effect, that one has the highest performance load. It's responsible for the grittier, more cohesive color scheme and improved grayscale.

You can also do it if the colors don't work for a particular map you play. The colors have to be tweaked to look good on every map, so I might miss certain things.

Was just watching AE and he seems to be running ReShade. Curiously when he turned the camera to a very sharp angle you could actually finally see some SPECULAR lighting on the map. All of a sudden it looked better. I think adding some contrast may help the specular pop more.

Something weird going on with specular in the game.

This was a 1v1 map. This and the dark 4v4 map both seem to have more specular than most and look much better.
Show Spoiler

It's mostly because of grayscale and contrast issues, so everything looks flat. A config like this helps, but it has its limits, because you're restricted to the source material. Try it out though. For bigger improvements, Relic would have to step in, and perhaps take some inspiration from how they tweaked their lighting in the alpha.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HhfzfhubfWHJn1bm7jcBqRiSYlUfyqO8/view?usp=sharing

I've made a new version, with handtweaked colors, trying to improve the grayscale issue the game has. Imo, it's the best looking one yet. Here's a comparison screenshot between pre-alpha, release and with reshade:



Shows how far off this still is from greatness, but yet the end result is pleasant to look at.

I've disabled the bloom, AA and vignette effects. It's just color grading effects and a mild amount of sharpening now. Configured with in-game brightness being set to 50%.

why does Pre-Alpha look ten million times better than release?

why does Pre-Alpha look ten million times better than release?

I really don't know, someone must have activated a time machine over at Relic.