Tag Archives: dark souls

DSfix 2.2

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As promised, I fixed the other problems introduced by the recent Dark Souls patch. In addition to that, I added a new, more accurate (but also slower) ambient occlusion (AO) option based on a shader contributed by Asmodean. Also, screenshots are now stored as PNG, which greatly reduces the space required to e.g store silly 4k resolution screenshots.

Full changelist:

  • Updated AA, SSAO and HUD-less screenshot functionality to be compatible with latest Dark Souls version
  • Screenshots are now stored as PNG
  • Reduced number of state changes with AA and SSAO enabled
  • Added “VSSAO2″ advanced AO option (based on a configuration contributed by Asmodean)

You can download DSfix22 here.
And if you want to, you can donate here – though I should mention that I’m not sure whether there will be a lot of additional DSfix development in the future at this point.

Furthermore, I’d like to address a few things that have come up:

  • The source code for the latest version of DSfix is always available at github
  • If you still have issues unlocking the frame rate, make sure that:
    1. You are running a DSfix version which matches your game version (e.g. DSfix 2.1 and 2.2 only work with the latest Steam version of DS)
    2. You have tried disabling windows Data Execution Prevention for Dark Souls
  • I am not the author of DSMfix, so I can’t help you with making it compatible with the latest Dark Souls version, sorry.
  • If you use the FPS unlock, you need to use some other method to achieve Vsync. Options include your graphics card’s control panel, D3DOverrider, or simply running Dark Souls in borderless windowed fullscreen mode using DSfix.

Oh, and thanks to those who wished me good luck in the comments a week or so ago! I’m now a PhD! :D

DSfix 2.1

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This is a quick patch to fix compatibility with the latest version of Dark Souls released 2 days ago.

Changes:

  • Made FPS unlocking compatible with the updated version of Dark Souls released 2 days ago (thanks boowoo90 for providing the updated addresses)
  • Added a configurable pause key (built for taking nice action screenshots. Don’t try to use online. May break stuff horribly)
  • Changed frame rate calculation to perhaps prevent rare 59 FPS issue when playing for a long time

Points 2 and 3 are things I implemented months ago, but which were not yet released.

Note: some graphical features (I noticed at least SSAO) are still affected/broken by the patch. I’ll release a followup later, but I didn’t want to delay the major fix for people who want to play now.

Download DSfix21

I’m hosting this directly on my blog again, in the hope that there are no longer that many people interested in downloading it so that bandwidth isn’t an issue. I think it’s more convenient for everyone than some download site. Oh, and you can of course still donate.

I’m aware of the Dark Souls situation

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Yes, I know Dark Souls has been patched, and that this broke the FPS unlocking feature of DSfix. You can stop emailing me, adding comments on the blog or contacting me through other venues now ;)

I’m currently quite busy (until the middle of next week where I have an important exam – maybe the final exam of my life), and since the FPS unlocking part of the mod is contributed by Nwks it’s not something I can immediately or easily fix.

Until a fix happens, you have two options:

  • Disable the FPS unlock. From early reports it appears like the other parts of the mod still work.
  • Revert to the original (pre-patch) files. Some people uploaded these and you should be able to find them, I don’t want to provide a direct link since I’m quite sure that’s not entirely legal.

Let me know in the comments if anything other than the FPS unlock feature is broken and I’ll have a look. Sorry that I can’t give you any better news (for now).

 

 

Dark Souls online and Amazon deal

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First of all, Dark Souls is currently 19.90 at Amazon.com. So, if for some reason you haven’t bought it yet (or know someone who hasn’t) then now is the time!

More importantly, I wanted to collect some hints for successful multiplayer gaming in the PC version of Dark Souls. Many people seem to have problems with this, and there is a lot of misinformation online, while some good hints are hard to find. Since I played the game for probably 80 hours or so in co-op, killed lots of people who defiled the forest and have tracked down dozens of the guilty, I feel like I should share what I learned:

General:

  • Enable UPNP on your router, and open these ports:
    TCP ports 80 and 443
    UDP and TCP ports 53, 88 and 3074
    More details here.
  • Don’t expect to play multiplayer during the first 5-15 minutes after you started the game and loaded your save. Spend this time doing something different. It may be a good idea, if you want to play MP later, to start the game early, load your save, and let the game idle a bit (in a safe zone of course). Alt-tabbing out is fine!

Coop:

  • Make sure you are at a good level range for the area you are in.
  • If you want to summon someone specific, and need to get their summoning sign to appear, try to run away and back to the spot a few times.
  • Replacing your sign is generally not a good idea, even if it is often suggested online. Only replace your sign if your coop partner absolutely couldn’t make it appear for 10 minutes or so.
  • Once you have connected to someone for the first time, during the rest of the session any summoning attempts will succeed immediately. Also, signs will appear much more rapidly. Clearly, it’s a good idea to play long sessions with the same people.

Ring-based PvP:

  • This applies to Forest defenders and Blades of the darkmoon.
  • Again, there is some “startup delay” here. Equip the ring and go do something else (e.g. farming). I thought when I first joined the Forest defenders that the ring wasn’t working, but I only kept it equipped for a short time. Once you get summoned for the first time, it will continue to happen every few minutes!

Other PvP:

  • Obviously, try not to overlevel.
  • Kill the guilty.

Hope this helps!
Taking all this into account, it usually doesn’t take us more than 10 minutes to get a multiplayer session going.