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Dead Island Helper: Automatically improve performance and apply tweaks without having to edit files

UPDATE #16 1/06/2016: For information regarding a helper tool for Dead Island: Definitive edition, please read this post.

NEW! I’ve released an updated version of DIH for Dead Island: Riptide. You can read about (and download) it from here: https://www.theplaywrite.com/tools-and-utilities/tweak-visual-settings-controls-and-performance-with-dead-island-riptide-helper/

UPDATE #15 22/09/2011: v1.94 beta, out now for the brave! I finally managed to track down the crash problem that was causing issues for so many people.

This update also fixes a crucial bug with the save game backup feature – it is strongly recommended you update to v1.94 beta if you use this feature and please, DO NOT use any of the save backups you’ve created with versions of the tool before 1.94 beta because they won’t work!

  • Fixed a critical bug with the save game and backup feature. This now also backs up the “remotecache.vdf” file, which contains important size and timestamp data.
  • Fixed a bug that would cause Dead Island Helper to crash on non-Administrator accounts and accounts without application compatibility enabled.

UPDATE #14 22/09/2011: v1.93 beta is available for download. Hopefully people will have less (or no) issues with this version. Changelist below:

  • Added extensive error handling – hopefully we’ll get more constructive information when something goes wrong.
  • Added “Create diagnostic file”. This option will produce a simple text file on your desktop that contains some useful debug information. I can use this info to help troubleshoot problems, so please use it when you contact me!
  • Added “Launch via Steam” checkbox, under “Play Dead Island”. When this checkbox is set, Dead Island Helper will launch the game using the Stream protocol (steam://) when you click “Play Dead Island”. Movies will still be enabled (unless you disable them with “-nologos” in the launch properties). Use this option if things don’t work quite right when running the game directly via “Play Dead Island”.
  • Added “Clear all settings” option. This will clear the settings folder, game directory and all non-tweak related settings from Dead Island Helper’s memory and restart the program. This will give you a clean slate to work from when using new versions.
  • Dead Island Helper will automatically exit on startup unless it detects the correct settings folder, or you’re able to manually select the correct settings folder.
  • Dead Island Helper will no longer demand administrative privileges when it runs. However, you may need to use “Run as Administrator” if some features do not work.

UPDATE #13 19/09/2011: v1.91 beta has just been uploaded. Here’s what’s new:

  • Added a save game and profile backup and restore. Once activated, you can press F5 in-game to create a backup of your save game and profile (up to a maximum of 10, at which point, the Helper will replace the oldest backup with a new one). Important: This is not a quick-save! It only backs up what the game has saved, in case it becomes corrupted.
  • Added black screen fixes – one changes the “Monitor” value in Video.scr, while the other disables Desktop Composition while Dead Island is running. These aren’t guaranteed to fix every black screen issue under the sun, but it should help with those caused from having more than one monitor.
  • Slight bug fix for the vertical synchronization tweak. Shouldn’t have cased problems for a majority of cases.

UPDATE #12 18/09/2011: Released v1.9 as a beta! It contains some experimental features that have been tested as much as possible on a single machine. However, to make sure it’s as good as possible, I’ve released it as a beta. Changelist follows:

  • Removed the process priority enforcement from v1.8.
  • Reverted to the old keyboard hook-based micro-stutter fix as it is more reliable. The way it works has been tweaked so it should consume less CPU cycles (not that it was ever processor-intensive).
  • Settings restore points: It is now possible to set restore points for your settings. This feature will take a snapshots of your “Documents\DeadIsland\out” folder, compress them as a ZIP file, and store them in “Documents\DeadIsland\Restore Points”. Note that snapshots must be taken / restored manually. The snapshot feature at this stage does not save “Disable event logging” or “Enable micro-stutter fix”
  • Added “Fix auto-equip delay” tweak.
  • Added “Rebind hardcoded instances of the Use key” tweak. If you’re using “F” for something other than “Use”, this is the tweak for you. Limited to alphanumeric keys for now.

UPDATE #11 17/09/2011: Changes in v1.81:

  • Replaced the keyboard hook-based micro-stutter fix with a FilterKeys one. Should fix any issues people have been having with weird sound or framerate issues when this tweak is active.
  • Updated the disable bloom, weapon refraction and dust tweaks to use the files in Data02.pak. This should hopefully fix the issues people have been having where effects seem to disappear while these tweaks are active
  • The auto-update feature can now be disabled
  • Laid some groundwork for an in-game save feature. Should be in for v1.9
  • Added a periodic check for the Dead Island process that will set the process priority to “Normal” if it ever drops to “Below Normal” or “Low”

Because of the updated code for the bloom, weapon refraction and dust tweaks, you will need to reapply them using the tool.

UPDATE #10 15/09/2011: Changes in v1.8:

  • Split up the categories a bit more. FOV and motion blur moved to “Camera Tweaks”
  • “Disable in-game audio” removed. I had so many reports of it not working, and I can’t provide support for it, so it’s gone
  • Added an option to force the max refresh rate. Settings for 59Hz, 60Hz, 100Hz and 120Hz are available
  • Auto checks for updates. The tool now checks to see if a new version is available and, if so, lets you know. That’s the call it’s doing to the internet. It does it once on start-up. I’ll add an option to disable the check in the next version

I added the head bob tweak, but it didn’t seem to do anything for me, so I’ve disabled it for now.

I should note I’m no longer providing support for people who can’t get the tweaks working because the configuration folder is “apparently” wrong. It seems to be an issue only with less-than-wholesome versions of the game, and being a developer myself, I have no interest in supporting that behaviour.

UPDATE #9 14/09/2011: Minor bug fix release, v1.7a. It addressed a crash on program start-up. This would happen if the Dead Island registry settings could not be found.

UPDATE #8 14/09/2011: New version, we’re up to v1.7 now. No new tweaks, but some significant structural changes and a few bug fixes.

  • Smart tweak detection: Dead Island Helper now reads edited files for changes and intelligently sets the enabled / disabled state of each tweak. Now you can see exactly what tweaks you’ve set – even ones you didn’t activate with Dead Island Helper!
  • Alternate configuration folder option replaced with custom folder selection. Users can now hunt down the exact directory configuration settings are stored. Don’t worry, it still tries to autodetect them if it can
  • Autodetection of the game’s main directory via the registry
  • Fixed a bug that would require the user to constantly re-enable the micro-stutter tweak in order for it to work
  • Added a “Start with Windows” option
  • Added a “Play Dead Island without intro movies” option. Start the game directly from the Helper! This option will also set Dead Island’s CPU priority to “Normal”
  • Dead Island Helper now starts on the lowest possible CPU priority setting to minimize any interference with the game while it’s running

UPDATE #7 13/09/2011: Version 1.6 is now available! I’ve made quite a few changes under the hood to make the program more powerful and user-friendly. Here’s a changelist for the curious:

  • Tweaks have been split up and categorised. The result is a cleaner interface and an easier time finding the tweaks you want
  • Alternate settings folder support. You can now switch between My Documents and your game folder, if you’re finding that the tweaks aren’t working
  • Added the following tweaks: Disable event logging, Disable in-game voice and Enable simple shadows
  • Small reminder when Video.scr is read-only or writeable and the ability to easily switch between these settings
  • The program should now prompt the user for administrative privileges
  • Renamed the keystroke repetition feature to make its usefulness more obvious
  • Corrected a typo with the field of view settings
  • Added a Close menu option along with Exit program
  • Various checks and balances for missing files and directories
  • Added a passive check for the micro-stutter fix so it only limits keyboard repetition while Dead Island is running.
  • Fixed a potential memory leak in the file extraction rountine

UPDATE #6 12/09/2011:It seems some people are having trouble getting the tweaks to work. I’ll be investigating the issue the moment I have the opportunity. FYI, I can’t, and won’t, be troubleshooting issues with pirated or cracked versions of the game.

If tweaks don’t seem to be applying, you may need to run the program with administrator privileges. To do this, please see the following guide: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/11841-run-administrator.html.

UPDATE #5 11/09/2011: Okay, last update for today, I promise. Changelist follows:

  • The tweaks menu no longer closes automatically when you check/uncheck an option
  • Shadow maps: You can now set the shadow map resolution to 512, 1024, 2048 or 4096
  • Field of view: Expanded selection of values ranging from 62.5 (default) to 90 degrees
  • Added an option to enable overcast weather
  • Fixed a bug that could cause the program to crash when selecting non-option menu items

UPDATE #4 11/09/2011: The fun never stops. Version 1.4 is available now, and allows you to change the weather to overcast. You can now also reselect your Dead Island folder, if you somehow managed to choose the wrong one initially.

UPDATE #3 11/09/2011: Yet another update! We’re now at version 1.3. Here are the changes:

  • Added an option to enable vertical syncronization
  • Added an option to disable dust
  • Added an option to disable the desaturation effect
  • Disabling bloom and weapon refraction now affects front30.ppfx and indoor30.ppfx

Thanks to the hard work of the folks over on the Dead Island Steam forum for isolating the files and locations for these changes.

UPDATE #2 11/09/2011: I’ve uploaded a new version, which removes the routine that detects if Dead Island is running in the foreground. So the program is no different to something like X-Mouse (actually, it’s even less intrusive than X-Mouse). I’ve done this to minimise any chance of this resulting in a VAC ban.

UPDATE 11/09/2011: People have been asking a few questions about the tool, here’s what I can say.

Will it get you VAC banned? It’s highly unlikely. The tool doesn’t modify any of the game files directly, which is what VAC looks for. It simply extracts the required files from the game’s data packs, puts them in the Dead Island folder in “My Documents” and makes the necessary alterations.

Now, the game does install a keyboard hook and does run a routine to detect if Dead Island is running in the foreground. If it does detect DI, it prevents multiple keystrokes from being processed, otherwise, it lets them through. It doesn’t send keystrokes, inject code or do anything else bot-like, so I’d be very surprised if it resulted in a VAC ban.

Does the helper need to be running while I’m playing? Only if you use the “Prevent keystroke repetition” option, as it installs the keyboard hook. All the other options, like overriding the field of view, disabling motion blur, etc., work without the helper running once they’ve been set.

Any other questions, don’t hesitate to ask!

UPDATE 10/9/2011: I’ve uploaded a new version, 1.1, which allows you to also disable bloom and weapon refraction.

So, Dead Island.

It’s 6:30AM in the morning here and I have yet to sleep, so I’m going to make this quick and bed-shaped. Spent the last couple of hours putting together a little helper app for the game to address some of the problems people have been complaining about.

Here’s what it can do:

  • Remove stuttering / jerkiness caused by repeated keystrokes… without using Filter Keys
  • Fixes sluggish mouse in menus
  • Disable / enable SSAO shader for increased performance on some configurations (NVIDIA only)
  • Disable / enable motion blur, as some people just don’t like it
  • NEW in v1.1: Disable / enable bloom and weapon refraction

Depending on how popular this tool proves to be, I might add in more stuff like removing bloom and weapon refraction. For now, it addresses the bigger issues. Well, the ones that bothered me.

Grab it below, and extract it wherever you like. Run it, and then right-click the little green tree that appears in the notification area (near the time and date). To enable the advanced options, the Helper needs access to the data packages to extract and alter the required config files.

Don’t worry, if you’ve already extracted some and made your own tweaks, the app is smart enough to just edit those, rather than overwrite them. It can also undo any changes it makes, so you’ve got nothing to lose, other than your sanity from not trying it.

Requires the .NET 2.0 Framework, which anyone running Windows XP SP3 and above should have.


Download the Dead Island Helper:
http://downloads.zafehouse.com/deadislandhelper/dih_latest.zip.

Simply extract it anywhere convenient (it doesn’t have to be your Dead Island folder), and run the program.

~ by Logan on September 9, 2011.

306 Responses to “Dead Island Helper: Automatically improve performance and apply tweaks without having to edit files”

  1. Thanks, this helped out a lot with running the game on my laptop.

  2. Wow! This really is a great tool! Makes the game ALOT for fluid. Please keep updating it! I’ll tell everybody I know to use it. :-D

  3. Sorry to ask, but does the helper have to be running when I play, or is it just for setting the options?

  4. Ppl (and me) are asking; is this helper VAC safe? Don’t want to be banned.

  5. Hi, how can I change the selected directory if I mistakenly chose the wrong one?

  6. Was skeptical of this. But turned out to be great.

  7. […] Fixes: Dead Island Helper v1.1, the easy way: -Disable Blur, Bloom, vanderen van FOV, … download Manueel: Voor elke manuele actie dien je de betreffende mappen aan te maken in /documents/dead […]

  8. I love you so much. I messed up trying to do this on my own. I cannot express my gratitude in words, sir. You are a noble and a scholar.

  9. @Sinclaire: The latest version now lets you reselect your game folder. :)

  10. This does not work on mine. I select the Dead Island folder in program files, select the tweaks, open up Dead island and nothing changed. Then I look at my documents and see a ”DeadIsland” folder, with a folder called ‘out’ in it. Is there anything I am doing wrong?

  11. Will it add a function to be able to move Dead Islands window around while on Windowed mode? I can’t play because of that…

  12. @Dan: Hmm, I’m not sure that’s something that can be fixed through file tweaking. But I’ll see what I can dig up.

    @T: Can you look inside the “My Documents\Dead Island\out” folder and tell me if you can see a folder called “Data”? If you can, tell me what folders are inside the “Data” folder. I want to see if the files are being extracted correctly.

  13. @Logan: Inside the Data folder, there are three other folders, Postprocess, Scripts and Skills. I assume I have to move these to where they are supposed to go in the actual Dead Island program files folder?

  14. @T: Nope, they’re exactly where they should be. Files in the “out” folder override those in the game files.

    Are there any files inside these folders? If there are, can you tell me a tweak you’ve enabled via the program, so we can check if it’s being set properly in the file?

  15. @Logan: I have Disabled Bloom, Disable motion blur, Disable dust effects, Enable vertical synchronisation and Enable overcast weather turned on. Inside Postprocess, I find front30.ppfx, indoor30.ppfx and scene30.ppfx. inside Scripts, varlist_blur_camera_motion _desaturate, _ssao and weather_none. Inside skills, default_levels.

  16. @T: Thanks. Okay, can you open up the “weather_none” file and copy and paste the contents in a comment? To open the file, just run Notepad and drag and drop the file into it.

  17. @Logan: import “weathers.scr”

    sub main()
    {
    use Rainy( f_value = 0.0, s_name = “Start” );
    use Rainy( f_value = 1.0, s_name = “End” );
    }

  18. Only one issue , the vertical sync acts erratically sometimes its only 60fps other times its all over the place 150+, i have no idea why its doing this.

  19. @T: Alright, that means the program is correctly setting the tweaks, so I think the problem is that the game isn’t loading the files.

    Let’s make sure they’re indeed in the right place. In your “My Documents\DeadIsland\out” folder, is there a folder called “Settings”? If not, is there a file called “FirstRun”?

    If that folder and file are there, then that’s where Dead Island is saving its own files, and I can’t explain why the tweaks aren’t working. If they’re not there, then it means Dead Island is looking elsewhere for the settings. If that’s the case, you’ll need to check the “My Documents” folder of every user on the machine, until you locate another “DeadIsland\out” folder. If you do, let me know.

  20. @Billy: Not sure myself! All the app does is set vsync to on in the configuration file, so it’s probably to do with the game. Unfortunately there’s not much I can do.

    I have read that changing “MaxRefresh(60)” to “MaxRefresh(59)” in “My Documents\DeadIsland\out\Settings\Video.scr” might help.

  21. where the hell is the file download?

  22. @bob: At the bottom of the post, where it says “Download Dead Island Helper V1.4”.

    If you’re still having trouble, here’s the direct link: http://downloads.zafehouse.com/deadislandhelper/dih_latest.zip

  23. Ok thnx i seem to have got it to work, fps is holding at 60. The issue appeared after i had set my shadow maps size from 1024 to 2048, putting that back to 1024 seems to have fixed it. Not really sure if this is what caused it or not but ill roll with it.

  24. There seems to be no DeadIsland folder anywhere, not even in the other users in My Documents.

  25. Do these fixes work in multiplayer with VAC on?

  26. Fabrok seems to be working on manual mods similar to your, more efficient, mod. I noticed he had a few ideas not included in your mod (longer button how for auto equip on pickup for example). Perhaps a combined effort or at least a merging with shared credits is in order?
    Anyway, your effort is commendable and I am looking forward to trying DIH when I get home from this god forsaken train ride. 30 minute delay and still we have to wait for passing trains? Are you kidding me? But I digress. Enjoy your evening.
    Love, from Sweden.

  27. Forgot to post a link to Fabrok’s work: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showpost.php?p=24977786&postcount=268
    God damn trains.

  28. where is the link to download it?

  29. any chance you could add an option to disable depth of field for ranged weapons?

  30. I use the helper but none of the things I set actually change ingame. I’ve got the STEAM version of the game and putting edited files in the DeadIsland folder in my documents does nothing either.

    Anything that I try to change or remove just seems to be overwritten both through the program or through manually editing the my documents files. Any idea guys?

  31. thanks for this, so much! i would love it if you made it so i can change my resolution aswell. as i am unable to change it from all the things suggested on the forums

  32. Hi, nice software but it don’t works(bloom and blur still in the game) on cracked version.

  33. Is this VAC safe?

  34. By chance is a fix for the auto mic ever going to see light? or at least an option to mute it. Would love to see that.

  35. Which folder does it have to be set to? I’ve got it set to the folder named Dead Island, and it’s not working. Does it have to be set to the out folder?

  36. @Soot: I do link to that thread in this post. His work has definitely been of great help, and I’m definitely not trying to take credit away from the work of everyone on the Steam forums. I just wanted to make applying/removing as painless as possible.

    To everyone who’s having problems getting tweaks to work, please try running the app in Administrator mode and reapplying all the tweaks. The “Dead Island Helper.exe” file can be placed anywhere, it doesn’t need to be in the game folder (though that’s a convenient location). The folder you need to select is the game folder itself, usually located in “Steam\steamapps\common\Dead Island\” – basically wherever the DeadIslandGame.exe file is located.

    The Helper app creates all the files and directories it needs – you don’t need to move or copy anything. If the tweaks aren’t working, it’s probably because you’re not running the program with elevated privileges. For an explanation on how to run the app with these permissions, see this thread: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/11841-run-administrator.html. When I get the opportunity, I’ll make it so the app asks for elevated permissions when it runs (don’t worry, you’ll still need to give it the okay before it runs).

    I’m integrating new tweaks into the tool all the time, but there are some things I won’t be implementing:

    1) Anything that affects gameplay or could be considered a cheat. Not really interested in tempting a VAC ban, sorry.
    2) Any changes that require editing binary files, or files inside the game directory for the same reason as above.

  37. @PhilllipJokar: I wish I had a decent explanation for you – it seems to be an isolated issue with a few users. I’ll see what I can do, but it might be out of my hands if it’s affecting files you edit yourself.

  38. Woohoo nice tool and nice mods, community ur letting this gem shine. I wonder if the devs can keep up with your work *fg*

    I do have a quick feature request:
    Let us switch the games language in the tool:
    /dead island/DI/Data/game.ini
    Locale(“En”)

    Valid values I know of:
    Cz = Czech
    De = German
    En = English
    Es = Spanish
    Fr = French
    It = Italian
    Pl = Polish
    Ru = Russian

    If we had this feature we wouldn’t need to use steam to re/install the pak files after each change (DataEn.pak is always there any none DataEn.pak gets deleted when switched via steam if im right)

  39. Evening,

    I love this Dead Island tweak utility. A must have for all Dead Island gamers in my opinion. Thank you for giving us light at the end of the dark tunnel we were trapped in.

    Now, at first this utility didn’t work. I would load the tweaks I wanted to use in DI and none of them would activate. So I did some trial and error testing to find the problem. Seems like it has to do with the game’s shortcut from my testing. Go to your Steam’s folder and locate your Dead Island game directory. Now copy the DeadIslandGame.exe and paste it as a shortcut to your desktop. Now once you are done with making your tweaks, run it from your new short cut you just made.

    The shortcut I was using at first was “Dead Island”, the new one I am u sing now is “DeadIslandGame”.

    Hope this works out for you or maybe it was just coming from my end only? I did test both shortcuts out and one worked, the other didn’t.

  40. @Echozan: Thanks heaps for that report, should help me figure out what’s going on.

  41. Oh god, I love you sooo much for this utility. As soon as I’m back in Germany I’m going to donate you a beer or something.

  42. I’ll just leave this link here
    http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showpost.php?p=25015672&postcount=547

    it explains how to disable the in-game voip and is definitly a feature i would like to see added to this program.

    also, for a full list of current tweaks and fixes u can consider to add to the program. http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2106453

  43. @Chris: That’s pretty much the exact thread I used to implement the tweaks (in fact, the Helper is linked to and mentioned in the first post), but thanks anyway!

  44. Hey, this is a silly little error, nothing major, but when I highlight 82.5 degrees as the field of view, it says “Set’s the field of view to 75 degrees” :P

  45. Also, my copy throws up an error whenever I try to activate vertical sync

  46. @Nick: That’s no good. Are you able to copy/paste the error?

  47. Is 3rd person an option with this helper? If not, is it possible?

  48. @ubtri: It might be possible, but it’s not in the helper right now. The tweaks themselves are created by the folks in this Steam thread: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2106453. All I do is add them to the helper so they’re easy to turn on and off.

    I’d suggest following the linked thread. If they find a way to enable a 3rd person view, you’ll read about it there.

  49. An issue I experienced with Dead Island was that I had to set my mouse sensitivity really low (5 clicks from the left) but since the menus use the same sensitivity, my mouse was useless for UI. Had to move the mouse appr 5 inches for each inch of cursor movement. Is there a way to mirror desktop sensitivity in menus?

  50. @Straid: Try the override mouse sensitivity option in the helper. To use it correctly, you should set the in-game mouse sensitivity to as high as it can go. Then, activate the “Override mouse sensitivity” option and restart the game.