Late last month, modder David Matos addressed in the PC version of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth' one of its most critical visual issues - its flat open-world lighting - with a custom Shader Injector mod which breathes new life into the second entry of the Square Enix remake trilogy. Not content with the impressive results of the mod's very first version, work has continued to further improve the game's lighting, and soon enough, fans will be able to experience the game with transformative changes that wouldn't look amiss in an official remaster.
"I've been working on the 2.0 release (which should release pretty shortly) which seeks to completely eliminate the manual shader searching steps required for setup (so shaders should get found automatically regardless of GPU Vendor/Driver/Game Version)," the modder wrote on the FFVII Remake subreddit, "along with introducing a couple of new reverse-engineered and modified game shaders that adds revamped tonemapping, experimental screen-space global illumination with new AO, and automatic exposure, transforming the game to another level now beyond just the initially added contact-shadows for lights and adjusted material BRDFs."
Like the previous versions of the Shader Injector mod, version 2.0 will also have tons of customization options to tweak the game, allowing users to disable certain features such as experimental SSGI (Screen-Space Global Illusion), adjusting contact shadowing, and tweaking ambient occlusion (AO) parameters. Looking at the new comparison screenshots the modder shared, this will indeed bring the game's visuals to a whole different level, extremely close to the quality seen in cutscenes.
Although no specifics were provided on when the new version of the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Shader Injector mod will be released, I can confirm after a brief chat with David that it should be released "within the week." In addition, the modder confirmed that SSR (Screen-Space Reflections) has been completely revamped for version 2.0, fixing many of the game's light-leak issues.
The Shader Injector mod couldn't have come at a better time. With the recent Summer Game Fest reveal of Final Fantasy VII Revelation, both Remake and Rebirth are enjoying renewed popularity as players prep for the trilogy's conclusion. Although version 2.0's additional modified shaders will impact PC hardware performance - though still manageable according to the modder - I believe this is a good trade-off for the significant improvements it brings and to better enjoy what is, in my opinion, one of the best RPGs by Square Enix.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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