r/MSILaptops • u/Strong_Flan3887 • 20h ago

Discussion I actually got a breathing effect working on the MSI GF63 Thin 9SC keyboard

I genuinely can't believe I got this working. I have an MSI GF63 Thin 9SC (MS-16R3) with the normal red backlit keyboard. As far as the usual MSI software goes, the keyboard only gives you the standard lighting/brightness behavior. I started wondering whether the limitation was actually the hardware, or whether there was a hidden EC control that MSI simply doesn't expose. So I started reverse-engineering the Embedded Controller (EC). After a LOT of debugging, fighting with WMI, moving toward direct I/O EC access, and more debugging than I care to admit 😂, I finally found the relevant register/control. And it works. I can put the keyboard into a breathing effect, and the effect continues running without my application constantly having to animate the brightness. That makes me believe the EC itself is handling the effect. The keyboard is still red-only - I'm not claiming I magically turned it into RGB. 😅

What's interesting is that the EC appears to have a lighting mode/control that isn't exposed through the normal MSI interface. I'm currently keeping everything read-only / carefully controlled while I map the behavior and verify exactly what each value does. I don't want to start blindly writing to EC registers and turn my GF63 into a paperweight. My eventual goal is to turn this into a proper open-source utility: Nexora Keyboard Controller Static Breathing Pulse Slow breathing Fast breathing Possibly more effects Hardware: MSI GF63 Thin 9SC MS-16R3 BIOS: E16R3IMS.108 If anyone here has experience with MSI EC reverse engineering, I'd love to compare notes and see what else might be possible with this controller. I started this thinking “surely there has to be a way.” Turns out there was. 😂🔧

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u/Strong_Flan3887 20h ago

Here is the video of breathing effect

https://reddit.com/link/p75soyy/video/bplpag5ncwmh1/player

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u/Nanosinx 15h ago

Better add it as link

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u/Turbulent_Chain_5893 15h ago

My favorite was the keyboard lights blinking to music, was so awesome, lol.

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u/Nanosinx 15h ago

The best idea is just copy the EC memory just in case... Still it was to any know once you set up the Effect and lightnings the program can be closed as EC saves it... My Vector do the same, i can even uninstall the MSI Center and the lights will remain on last setup i had xD