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Guide to Installing Forge for Stable Diffusion

Aug 14, 2024

Forge for Stable Diffusion Installation Guide

Introduction

  • Overview of Forge for Stable Diffusion and its advantages over Automatic 1111.
  • Joke: "What do you call a knight that likes to scare people? Surprise AI."

Features of Forge

  • Built upon Automatic 1111 but offers enhancements.
  • Includes additional tabs like SVD (Stable Video Diffusion), not available in Automatic 1111.
  • Faster performance and improved user interface for generating images and videos.
  • ControlNet pre-installed with multiple control units available.
  • Masking feature for precise control over image generation.

Performance Improvements

  • Speed increases:
    • 30-45% speed up with 8GB VRAM GPUs.
    • 60-75% speed up with 6GB VRAM GPUs.
    • Minimal speed increase (3-6%) for high-end GPUs (e.g., 4090).
  • Increased capacity for high-resolution generation with ControlNet.

Installation Steps

Two Methods to Install Forge

  1. One-Click Package Installation

    • Download from the official source.
    • Use 7-Zip to extract the downloaded file.
    • Run the updater and then the application to launch Forge.
  2. Manual Installation (Advanced)

    • Download Dependencies:
      • Install Git and Python 3.10 (do not use 3.11 or later).
    • Clone the Repository:
      • Create a directory for Forge and use Git to clone the repository.
    • Run Forge:
      • Use the command line or navigate to the web UI user bat file to start the application.
      • Auto-launch occurs once the setup finishes.

Configuration

  • No additional command line arguments required for customizing Forge.
  • Automatically detects GPU specifications to optimize performance.

Adding Models

  • Fresh installs will have only one model.
  • Models need to be downloaded and placed in the correct directories:
    • Stable Diffusion models in models/stable diffusion/
    • ControlNet models in models/control net/
  • Refresh in the interface to view newly added models.

Conclusion

  • Navigate the interface to select styles, image sizes, and number of images to generate.
  • Encouragement to explore additional resources on Patreon for more guides and styles.