• The game must be up-to-date

(may not work sometimes in case of lack of boosts)

BBCF AND BBTAG IMPROVEMENT MOD VERIFIED LINKS

• BBCF IM's GitHub page by GrimFlash[github.com]
  
• BBCF IM's Steam discussion board by GrimFlash
  
• BBCF IM's Steam guide page <--- YOU ARE HERE!
  
• BBCF IM's GitHub page by LibreOffice[github.com]
  
• BBCF IM's GitHub page by KDing[github.com]
  
  
• BBTAG IM's GitHub page by GrimFlash[github.com]
  
• BBTAG IM's Steam discussion board by GrimFlash
  
• BBTAG IM's Steam guide page

ARCHIVED/OBSOLETE BBCF AND BBTAG IMPROVEMENT MOD LINKS

• BBCF IM's GitHub page by KoviDomi[github.com]
  
• BBCF IM's Steam discussion board by KoviDomi
  
• BBCF IM's Nexus Mods page by KoviDomi[www.nexusmods.com]
  
  
• BBTAG IM's GitHub page by KoviDomi[github.com]
  
• BBTAG IM's Steam discussion board by KoviDomi

WHERE CAN I DOWNLOAD THE IMPROVEMENT MOD?

With the original release of the Improvement Mod by KoviDomi, it has come a long way and has since been taken by GrimFlash and split into multiple different branches done by multiple different people that are offering different features and additions, instead of just optimization fixes, those include:

Replay takeover, wakeup actions/gap actions thru state library, training dummy slot introspection/slot saving/loading to/from local files, wakeup action/gap actions thru dummy slots, local replay file loading (LibreOffice's version), AI learning from recorded replays and being able to play against said AI (KDing's version)

• Latest mod version by LibreOffice is v3.099[github.com] dated from 17th of July, 2025 (highly recommended)
  
  
• Latest mod version by KDing is v3.096[github.com] dated from 17th of June, 2024

Delete or rename dinput8.dll

The mod makes no permanent changes to anything.

• By default the mod's main window can be toggled with the F1 key (can be changed in the settings.ini file).
  
• Double-click on title bar to collapse windows.
  
• Click and drag on any empty space to move the windows.
  
• Click and drag on lower right corner to resize the palette editor window (double-click to auto fit window to its contents).
  
• CTRL + Click on a slider or drag box to input value as text.
  
• Mouse wheel to scroll.

• The custom game mode selector can be accessed under the "Gameplay settings" section on the main window while you are on the character selection screen in the following modes: Training, Versus, Online.
  
• The custom game mode selector is also available in the Replay Theater menu screen, so replays saved after after custom game modes can be replayed. (If a custom game mode that the replay's match was not played on is selected then the replay will desync)
  
• Custom game modes can be played in online player rooms or lobbies with other Improvement Mod users as well. For this both player 1 and player 2 must select the same custom game mode while on the character selection screen. If the players have not settled on the same custom game mode, then it will default back to "Normal".

• The palette editor's button can be accessed under the "Custom palettes" section on the main window while you are in a match in the following modes: Training, Versus.
  
• Custom palettes saved in the editor can be found at
  "..\BlazBlue Centralfiction\BBCF_IM\Palettes\"

• The palette switching buttons can be accessed under the "Custom palettes" section whenever you are in a match.
  
• In online matches you can only switch your own character's palette. (You can reset your opponent's palette with the button found next to the palette switching button).
  
• Using the "palettes.ini" file in the game's root folder you can assign custom palettes to the ingame palette slots.

• See "palettes.ini" file that you placed in the game's root folder.

• The hitbox overlay can be accessed under the "Hitbox overlay" section on the main window while you are in a match in the following modes: Training, Versus, Replay.

• The palette folders are created in the path "..\BlazBlue Centralfiction\BBCF_IM\Palettes\" upon the first launch of the mod.
  
• Place your .cfpl or .hpl files into the character's corresponding palette folder (at "..\BlazBlue Centralfiction\BBCF_IM\Palettes\") to have the mod automatically load them upon start, and making them selectable ingame via the mod's menu.
  
  For legacy .hpl formats:
  
• Effect files for the .hpl format must end with the naming convention of "_effectXX.hpl". Where XX is the index of the effect file.
  (For example, if you have a custom palette file named "Nyx_Izanami.hpl", then in the same palette folder a file named "Nyx_Izanami_effect01.hpl" will be loaded as that palette's first effect, and a file named "Nyx_Izanami_effect06.hpl" will be loaded as sixth, etc.)
  
• A file created with its name ending with "_effectbloom.hpl" will turn on the bloom effect for that custom palette in the game. (Once activated, the bloom effect will keep the color it was first activated on, and can't be changed unless a new round is started)

• Platinum keeps swapping between her current and previous palettes if you change them in match. To prevent this select the palette before the match starts, and do not change it during match.
  
• Hitbox overlay is not aligned properly or is off-screen when the game's window resolution mismatches the rendering resolution. To prevent this, open up the settings.ini file, and set Viewport to 2, while setting the RenderingWidth and RenderingHeight to the resolution values you have in the ingame display options.

1. Make sure that your issue doesn't persist if you remove/rename dinput8.dll
   
   • If the issue still persists, then it has nothing to do with the mod.
   
   
2. The mod's UI is very small, unreadable:
   
   • This happens if you run the game in windowed or full-window mode with a resolution that's higher than what your monitor supports. Try changing your display setting to fullscreen, or lowering the resolution ingame.
   
   
3. Blackscreen problem:
   
   • Make sure that RenderingWidth and RenderingHeight values in the .ini file are correctly set to the resolution of your game. If their values are higher than your monitor's native resolution, then you will get blackscreen.
   
   
4. If you just bought the game and get blackscreen even without using the mod:
   
   • Update your drivers.
   
   
5. Game crashes when launched:
   
   • Make sure that the settings.ini file is present in the game's folder.
     
   • Check if the problem still occurs after you remove, or rename dinput8.dll
     
   • Turn off tools such as MSI Afterburner, Plays.tv, or other recording softwares and overlays that manipulate D3D.
     
   • Make sure you are running both Steam and the game with administrator privileges, and remove any steam_appid.txt file if present in the game's directory.
     
   • Restore the default settings in the settings.ini file.
     
   • Reboot your system.
   
   
6. The mod's windows are off-screen or have disappeared:
   
   • Delete the "menus.ini" file found in the game's root folder to reset the positions of the mod's windows.

Keep in mind that the mod may partially, or completely stop working whenever a new official patch of the game is released.

07-23-2022 -- version 3.04
===============================
- Updated to be compatible with the ver 2103 patch

03-08-2022 -- version 3.03
===============================
- Implemented fix for additional rare rematch crash

02-25-2022 -- version 3.02
===============================
- Implemented fix for crashes when rematching in lobbies

01-20-2022 -- version 3.01
===============================
- Updated to be compatible with rollback implementation
- All FT5 modes have been set to FT3. This is to avoid a crash that happens with FT5 game modes online. Once it's fixed they will be reverted back to FT5
- Vsync is now set to off by default. You can turn it on in the settings.ini file
- Removed CpuUsageFix, fix for CPU usage is already in publictest builds officially
- Removed Region lock settings as they are no longer needed
- With the aformentioned changes, it is highly reccomended to replace your existing settings.ini file if you have a previous version of the mod

01-11-2021 -- version 3.00
===============================
- Complete ground up rework of BBCFIM, online features are incompatible with previous versions
- Added hitbox overlay in Training, Versus, and Replay modes
- Added "palettes.ini" file for assigning custom palettes to the ingame palette slots
- Added Highlight mode in the palette editor, to make it easier to find the corresponding colors
- Added dinput dll chaining to settings.ini to use other dinput8.dll wrappers together with BBCFIM
- Added option to toggle the visibility of the ingame HUD
- Added "Online window" for BBCFIM detection and quick access to certain features in online games
- Added frame freezing option to the palette editor
- Added gradient generator to the palette editor
- Added color box indexing to the palette editor
- Enabled palette editor in Versus mode
- Palettes are now previewed when hovered over their selections
- Custom palettes now use a new CFPL file format (.hpl format is still supported)
- "Drag and drop" of the color boxes now work in the palette editor
- Players now send custom palettes and game mode requests to spectators as well
- All custom game modes are now playable in Training mode as well
- Custom game modes are applied on spectators as well in online matches
- Disabled stage selection slider in game modes other than online/training/versus
- Keyboard inputs are now not being passed to the game while any of BBCFIM's windows are focused
- BBCFIM windows are now hidden when the Steam overlay is active
- Detecting other BBCFIM players in online games is now consistent
- Players you play online games with are now added to Steam's "Recent games" list
- Removed palette placeholders in palette editor
- Fixed the game with BBCFIM not launching on Windows 10 in some cases
- Fixed the title of the main window being always visible
- Fixed online BBCFIM detection mistaking spectators as the opponent player
- Fixed Jubei's stage missing from BBCFIM's stage selection slider
- Fixed Steroid game mode starting a different game mode
- Fixed Vampire game mode's health draining not working when the timer is set to infinite in Versus mode

The entire history of the changelog can be found in the README file.