How do you download an old version of reshade

HOW TO USE OLD VERSIONS OF RESHADE + THE CORRECT SHADERS

I’ve posted this information already but scattered through a couple of different posts. I thought it would be useful to have it in one place.

When you install ReShade and it asks you if you’d like to download shaders from github, those shaders will be the most up-to-date. This can mean compatibility issues when you’re installing older versions of ReShade, sometimes leading to errors, other times to your presets not looking as you expect.

Most people keep backups of their preferred ReShade binary (that’s the exe and/or dll that hooks ReShade into your game), but few keep backups of the shaders, letting them be overwritten with each new installation. With each new major ReShade release, a wave of anguished cries soon follows as we all find something isn’t quite right.

TIP: Now is a good time to get into the habit of backing up your shaders and keeping them in folders labelled with the appropriate ReShade version number. 

Thankfully there is an online repository of previous ReShade binaries. Unfortunately the appropriate shaders are not distributed with them. However, it is possible to browse github and find the shaders you need.

DOWNLOADING OLD VERSIONS OF RESHADE

• Navigate through this repository and find the version you need, and download.
  

DOWNLOADING THE CORRECT SHADERS

• Search the releases thread on the ReShade forum for your preferred version.
  
• Work out the dates this version was the official version (this will take a bit of work, and require patience).
• Navigate through the commit page of the Master branch for the shaders on github until you find a ‘commit’ (a line listing a change) to any shader with the date you found earlier.
• Click on the < > button on the right next to that line. That will take you to the full set of shaders from that moment in time.
• Click ‘Clone or Download’ and click ‘Download ZIP’. Save the folder with a memorable name, preferably alongside the ReShade binary that matches (so you can always find them together).

INSTALLING OLD VERSIONS AND THE CORRECT SHADERS

• Install your preferred version of ReShade as you would normally. You can go ahead and download the shaders when it asks, so that it sets up the correct paths for you.
  
• In your bin folder, find the reshade-shaders folder, and inside it delete the shaders and textures folders.
• Now copy the shaders and textures folders that you downloaded in the section above, the ones that match your preferred version of ReShade. Paste them into the reshade-shaders folder in your bin folder.

Now you should have a fully compatible installation of your preferred version of ReShade.

NOTE: It is currently not allowed for us to distribute shaders ourselves because each is authored by different people and subject to different licences. This is why we have to go through these steps to download them from github. I hope this changes in the future, but for now please respect the shader authors’ licences.

DIRECT LINKS FOR RESHADE 3.4.1

This was the last stable release before the change to 4.x. To save a lot of searching, here are links to the correct ReShade version and the appropriate shaders.

If anyone else goes to the hard work of using the method above to find the shaders for other versions of ReShade on github (I know 3.0.8 is still very popular), let me know and I will add the direct links to this post.

EDIT: Thanks to @spook-y-cookie who found the shaders for 3.0.8.