Play with Overtone

Once Overtone is installed, every way you start the game starts it with your mods:

• One press from Timbre. It keeps Overtone up to date as it starts the game.
• Or the game's own launcher, Steam or Epic. The same mods, the same overlay.
• Changes show as you save. No reload key, no restart.

• Timbre is installed and your mods folder is set (Getting started). Modding breaks Kuro Games' terms of service, and the game runs anti-cheat: play at your own risk.
• The game runs on DirectX 12, its default. Overtone works only there and stands aside on DirectX 11: if you switched the game's launcher to DirectX 11 for WWMI, switch it back.

Press Play. Timbre installs or updates Overtone in the game's folder, then starts the game. Play then says how the game stands:

Play reads	What it means
Installing, Starting	Timbre is putting Overtone beside the game and starting it.
Loading	The game is starting; your mods come with it.
In game, with a face	The game runs with your mods; the face is who is on screen. Press it for the In game panel.
On screen	The same, on that character's own page.
No mods	The game runs without Overtone. Close it, then press Play.
Running	Live link to Timbre is off in the game's settings: your mods draw, but Timbre cannot see the game.

A dot on Play means a newer Timbre is ready; Timbre offers it once the game is up.

The first Play also downloads Microsoft's shader compiler. Afterwards Settings → Play says Overtone is installed. When it says An update for Overtone is ready, the next Play installs it.

If Timbre asks Texture quality, pick the textures you downloaded in the game's launcher. It asks once; Settings → Play → Launch options holds the answer.

Once installed, Overtone stays in the game's folder. Start the game as you always do, from its launcher, Steam or Epic, and Overtone loads with it and draws the same mods.

• On some PCs the game draws with DirectX 11 even when its launcher says DirectX 12, and no mod shows. Start it with Play in Timbre instead, which asks for DirectX 12.
• The overlay works without Timbre, and what you change there is saved for Timbre to see.
• Adding mods and updating Overtone still need Timbre.

A saved change to a mod, in Timbre, in Blender or by hand, shows in game a moment later. That is Reload when files change, on unless you turn it off, under Mods in the overlay's Settings or Timbre's Settings → In game → Options. With it off, F10 reloads every mod.

Press Home, or both sticks (L3 and R3) on a controller. Its sections are down the left side; Ctrl+1 to Ctrl+4 open them.

Section	Use it to
Wardrobe	Turn any character's outfits on and off (Q and E step through characters), and set a worn outfit's switches, sliders and looks.
Loadouts	Put up to eight loadouts on a wheel (Save what I wear here) and put one back on (Wear).
Settings	Change how mods are drawn, loaded and keyed.
Tools	Point at something to see what it is and dump it (Picker), see what Overtone is doing (Report), or change the developer switches (Debug).

Along the top, Mods on turns every mod off and on, as F8 does; beside it are a screenshot button (F9) and Hide the game's UI (F6).

Outfits, mixes and loadouts are in Mix outfits and loadouts.

A setting changed in the overlay lasts until you quit the game. Press Save to keep it. Timbre's Settings → In game holds the same settings. Each game keeps its own.

To hide only your UID and keep the rest of the HUD, turn on Hide UID in Settings → Privacy in the overlay, then start the game again. Other text in the same corner, such as the login status, is hidden with it.

Overtone loads ReShade, OptiScaler, Special K and DXVK after itself.

1. Install the tool into the game's folder as its own guide says, as dxgi.dll or d3d12.dll.
2. Press Play in Timbre. Overtone moves the tool's file aside and loads it after itself.

Settings → Play lists each tool under Add-ons, with a switch to stop loading it.

Problem	Do this
Play says Not started: and that ReShade is d3d11.dll	Reinstall ReShade as dxgi.dll. Overtone cannot load it after itself as d3d11.dll.
Neither of two tools loads	They are installed under one file name: install one as dxgi.dll and the other as d3d12.dll, or turn one off under Add-ons.

In Timbre, open Settings → Play and press Remove. This takes Overtone out of the game's folder and puts back any tool it moved. Your mods are untouched, but mods Timbre made native still do not load in XXMI (What native means).

The next Play installs Overtone again.

Key	What it does
Home, or L3 and R3 on a controller	Opens and closes the overlay
Ctrl+1 to Ctrl+4	Open the overlay's sections
Q and E	Step through characters in the overlay's Wardrobe
F6	Hides the game's UI until pressed again
F7	Stops the game fading your character out when the camera is close
F8	Turns every mod off or on
F9	Saves a screenshot to Pictures\Overtone, without the overlay, the HUD or your UID (Screenshots without the game's UI in Settings → Privacy)
F10	Reloads every mod
F11	Dumps the character on screen as a mod (How to create a mod)
F12	Records the character on screen while she moves, then dumps her; press again to stop early

A mod's own keys, such as the one that takes off a hat, work only while that mod is on screen (A key does nothing).

To change a key, use Settings → Keys in the overlay, or Settings → In game → Keys in Timbre.

One key can be given to several of Overtone's actions, and a press then does all of them. Timbre turns the key amber on each of its rows and names the others (Same key as Reload mods). The overlay's Settings → Keys names them in amber too, along with the game, other programs and your mods where they use that key. Two pairs act otherwise:

Same key	A press
Loadout wheel and Overlay	Opens the overlay; the wheel never opens
Dump character and Record character	Starts a recording

• Mix outfits and loadouts: several outfits on one character, and the loadout wheel.
• Add your mods: more mods, and updates.
• When a mod does not draw right.