How to Correctly Uninstall GShade for FFXIV to Remove Malware

With all of the recent GShade fiasco that just happened yesterday, everyone’s been turning their backs on the once-beloved shader for Final Fantasy XIV. Its developer admitted to programming a trigger to automatically reboot the user’s computer when certain actions are performed, which is not much different from what a malware usually does.

Despite this function being allegedly removed from the program, according to its own creator, it wouldn’t be wise to take their words for granted, so everyone’s just better off getting rid of the shader entirely. But since some Gshade files still persist on your computer even after running its uninstaller (yeah, it’s THAT level of bad), here’s how to do a complete removal of Gshade from FFXIV without having to uninstall the game entirely.

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How to Completely Uninstall GShade from FFXIV

If you still want to use shaders from a different program after removing Gshade, make sure you backup the shaders and presets folders that should be found in the C:\Program Files\GShade\gshade-shaders folder and in the game’s own folder as well (either C:\Program Files (x86)\SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XIV – A Realm Reborn\game or  C:\Steam\steamapps\common\FINAL FANTASY XIV Online\game if you play on Steam) Don’t worry, those files are safe and have no ill-intentioned executables included.

After backing up (or not) those files, you can run the GShade uninstaller from the same C:\Program Files\GShade folder. Don’t check the “Backup Installations and Settings” folder as that’s related to Gshade itself. You’ll need to restart your computer for complete removal. Well, at least they ask you before doing it.

But not all files were removed quite yet. Head for the C:\Users\Public folder and see if you can find any GShade Backup-related folders there. Delete those too as you’ve already done a previous backup (if you wanted).

Now the final problem is the actual GShade executable file, which wasn’t removed yet. You can find it in the aforementioned FFXIV installation folders inside “\game”. Remove the dxgi.dll file. If you find d3d11.dll, get rid of it too.

And there you have it! Your pc should now be safe from any GShade-related malware actions. While it was stated that most users wouldn’t ever trigger that function, supporting such a program would not be the wisest thing to do, so you are better off without it. 

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As we previously mentioned, there’s another available option called Reshade (the original program from which GShade was based) currently on the way to becoming the main shader option. But once again, third-party tools are still forbidden in the game, so use them at your own risk. We never know when a similar situation may arise.