First Launch

The first time you run Chromatics 4, a short welcome wizard guides you through selecting which RGB devices to use. Here's what to expect.

The Welcome screen

When Chromatics opens for the first time, you'll see a Welcome to Chromatics dialog asking you to pick your device providers.

Each tile represents a family of RGB hardware:

  • Razer

  • Logitech

  • Corsair

  • Cooler Master

  • SteelSeries

  • Asus

  • MSI

  • Wooting

  • Novation

  • OpenRGB

  • PlayStation (Beta) - DualShock 4 and DualSense controllers

Tick every provider you actually own hardware for. You need to pick at least one to continue. If you're not sure, it's safe to tick all of them. Chromatics only talks to what's connected.

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Philips Hue and LIFX are not in the Welcome wizard because they need a network setup step (a bridge pairing and bulb picker for Hue, a device picker for LIFX). You can turn either of them on later from Settings → Device Providers.

When you're happy, click Continue. Chromatics will save your choices and open the main window.

Administrator permissions

Chromatics needs elevated permissions to read game memory from Final Fantasy XIV. If it's started without those permissions, you'll see a small prompt on startup asking:

Would you like to relaunch as Administrator?

  • Yes - Chromatics closes and reopens with the rights it needs.

  • No - Chromatics keeps running, but FFXIV-driven effects (HP, job gauges, weather, etc.) won't work.

If you click Yes, a second dialog asks whether you'd like Chromatics to always relaunch as admin from now on. Choose Yes to skip this prompt in the future. You can toggle this behaviour any time from Settings → Advanced → Always relaunch Chromatics as Administrator.

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The main window

Once the wizard is done, you'll land on the main Chromatics interface. It's organised into a few tabs along the top:

  • Console - status messages and the app log.

  • Mappings - where you design what each device does.

  • Palette - where you customise colours.

  • Effects - quick on/off toggles for animated effects.

  • Settings - everything else.

Chromatics loads with a sensible default layer setup, so you can plug in, start the game, and see lighting right away. From there, explore the Using Chromatics section to learn how to make it your own.

What to do next

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