Remacri: Your Hi-Res Fix Upscaler in SwarmUI
Remacri: Your Hi-Res Fix Upscaler in SwarmUI
What is Remacri?
Remacri (full name: 4x_foolhardy_Remacri) is a 4x ESRGAN upscaling model created by community modeler foolhardy. It has become one of the most widely recommended upscalers in the Stable Diffusion ecosystem, praised for how naturally it handles textures -- sharpening detail without introducing the harsh, over-processed look common in some competing upscalers.
It works particularly well with illustrated, anime, and semi-realistic styles, making it a strong choice for SDXL, Illustrious, and Pony-based generations.
What is the Hi-Res Fix, and how does Remacri relate to it?
If you've come from CivitAI's built-in generator or Automatic1111, you'll know the Hi-Res Fix as a two-pass generation technique: the model first generates at a lower base resolution, then upscales and re-renders the result at the target size. This prevents the compositional artifacts that occur when you try to generate large images in a single pass.
In SwarmUI, this same concept lives under a different name: the Refine / Upscale panel. The logic is identical -- generate at your working resolution, then pass the result through an upscale method before applying a second diffusion pass to restore fine detail.
Remacri is the upscale model you slot into that second stage.
Step 1: Download Remacri
Remacri is available from:
- CivitAI (primary): https://civitai.com/models/147759/remacri
- OpenModelDB (alternative): https://openmodeldb.info -- search "Remacri"
- HuggingFace (alternative): search
foolhardy Remacri
The file you want is either 4x_foolhardy_Remacri.pth or 4x_foolhardy_Remacri.safetensors -- both work. The file is approximately 64MB.
Step 2: Place the file
Drop the downloaded file into:
SwarmUI/Models/upscale_models/
If you're running SwarmUI against a shared ComfyUI model root, the equivalent path is:
ComfyUI/models/upscale_models/
No restart needed -- but do a Server > Refresh Models after placing the file so SwarmUI picks it up.
Step 3: Configure the Refine / Upscale panel
In the SwarmUI Generate tab, open the Refine / Upscale group. Here's what each relevant setting does and what to set it to:
| Setting | What it does | Recommended value |
|---|---|---|
| Refiner Control Percentage | Denoising strength of the second pass. Lower = faithful upscale, higher = more redrawn detail. | 0.3 |
| Refiner Method | When the refiner runs relative to the upscale. | Post-Apply (Normal) |
| Refiner Upscale | Scale multiplier applied before the second pass. | 1.5 or 2.0 |
| Refiner Upscale Method | The upscale model to use. | 4x_foolhardy_Remacri |
| Refiner Do Tiling | Splits the upscaled image into tiles to manage VRAM. | Leave unchecked unless at 2x+ on limited VRAM |
| Refiner Model | Which checkpoint runs the second pass. | (Use Base) |
Once the file is in the right folder and models have been refreshed, 4x_foolhardy_Remacri will appear in the Refiner Upscale Method dropdown.
Step 4: Dialling in the control percentage
The Refiner Control Percentage is the most impactful setting to experiment with:
- 0.1 -- 0.2: Near-pure upscale. Minimal redrawing. Good for preserving fine linework.
- 0.25 -- 0.35: Balanced. Sharpens detail without significantly altering the composition. Good general starting point for illustrated styles.
- 0.4 -- 0.55: More aggressive redrawing. Can recover soft areas but may shift facial features or fine details.
- 0.6+: Effectively a second generation pass. Use deliberately.
For Illustrious and Pony-based models, 0.25--0.35 is a reliable sweet spot.
Step 5: Save it as a preset
If you use this setup regularly, save it as a SwarmUI preset so it's one click away. A name like [upscale] Remacri 2x fits neatly into a bracket-prefix flat-list naming convention and keeps it easy to find.
Quick reference: final panel settings
Refiner Control Percentage: 0.3
Refiner Method: Post-Apply (Normal)
Refiner Upscale: 1.5 (or 2.0)
Refiner Upscale Method: 4x_foolhardy_Remacri
Refiner Do Tiling: unchecked
Refiner Model: (Use Base)