Open Downloads, right-click 3d-playground.zip and choose Properties. At the bottom, tick Unblock and click OK.
No Unblock tick box? That's fine, skip this step.
Extract the zip
Right-click the zip, choose Extract All…, then click Extract. Keep the suggested place. A folder with the setup files opens.
Run Setup.bat
In that folder, double-click Setup.bat. A black window opens and shows what it is doing. Leave it open.
If Windows says "Windows protected your PC", click More info, then Run anyway.
It copies everything to D:\3d-playground (or to your user folder if the PC has no D drive) and, the first time, installs Node.js (the program that runs the upscaler). This can take a few minutes.
Sign in to Adobe
A Chrome window opens on Adobe Firefly. Click Sign in and log in with your Adobe account.
If you sign in with your company Google account, Google may ask for 2-Step Verification: approve the prompt on your phone or enter the code. Finish it in this same window.
If Google says "Your sign-in settings don't meet your organization's 2-Step Verification policy", turn on 2-Step Verification for your Google account first (Google Account › Security), then sign in again.
When you see the Firefly page, close that Chrome window. Then go back to the black window and press any key.
Wait for the green status
The black window now starts the upscaler by itself. You don't need to click Start.
A Firefly Chrome window opens again. This one is used by the upscaler: leave it open (you can minimise it), but don't use it.
Once the upscaler is connected, the black window opens this page in front, with this guide showing a green Upscaler connected status. You're done. The black window closes by itself.
If Chrome asks "…wants to access devices on your local network", click Allow.
Still not green after a minute? Click Start at the top of this guide. If Chrome asks "Open 3D Playground upscaler?", tick Always allow and click Open.
Every day after that
Open this page. If it shows Upscaler offline, click Start next to it and wait about 15 seconds. A Firefly Chrome window and a small 3D Playground upscaler window open: minimise them, but don't close them or use them while images are processing.
Something not working?
The installed files are in D:\3d-playground. If the PC has no D drive, they are in your user folder instead. To open that, paste this into the File Explorer address bar and press Enter:
%USERPROFILE%\3d-playground
Clicking Start does nothing
Run Setup.bat again from the 3d-playground folder, or repeat steps 1 to 4.
It stays on "starting…" and then goes offline
Check that you clicked Allow if Chrome asked about your local network (see the next item). Then click the 3D Playground upscaler window on the taskbar and read the message. Running Setup.bat again fixes most problems.
"Upscaler blocked by Chrome"
Click the icon to the left of the web address, set Local network access to Allow, then reload the page.
"Not signed in to Firefly"
In the 3d-playground folder, double-click Sign in to Adobe.bat, sign in, then close that Chrome window.
"Too many requests" or an upscale fails after several images
Adobe limits how fast images can be upscaled. Wait a few minutes and click Generate again.
"Windows protected your PC" keeps appearing
Click More info, then Run anyway, or unblock the zip (step 2) and extract it again.
"This app has been blocked by your system administrator"
Your company blocks these files. Ask IT to allow the 3d-playground folder.
You need to update the setup
Repeat steps 1 to 4 with a fresh download. Your Adobe sign-in is kept.
You don't need AI upscale
Turn off the AI upscale switch. The page then only accepts images of 3000 × 3000 px or more and needs no setup.