Warnings
- For Games for Windows - LIVE on Windows 8 or later, install the latest Games for Windows - LIVE software.
Key points
- Games for Windows - LIVE was removed from the Steam version on February 16, 2015; product keys activate on Steam.[1]
- Using a controller is highly recommended over keyboard and mouse controls.
- If using keyboard and mouse controls, apply the DSMfix to improve mouse control issues.
- A terrible port of the console versions of the game with few configurable options.[2] Use DSfix to increase rendering resolution along with many other options.
General information
- Steam Community Discussions
- Steam Users' Forums
Availability
- All non-Steam versions require Games for Windows - LIVE.[1]
- All product keys activate on Steam.[1]
Essential improvements
Using
DSfix with in-game anti-aliasing enabled causes the game to only use part of the screen.
- Unmodded and DSfix modded game.
- HD textures, fonts, and controller button prompts are available to download.
DSfix
- A GUI for DSfix is available for inexperienced users
- DSfix increases the rendering resolution for better visual quality; without it the game outputs anamorphic 1024x720. It also allows the 30fps lock to be lifted, HD or other alternate textures to be used, as well as giving options for anti-aliasing (AA), Screen space ambient occlusion (SSAO), Depth of Field (DOF) blurring, anisotropic filtering (AF) and many other features.
- Raising the FPS cap may introduce clipping problems such as occasionally falling through elevators. You can avoid most of these issues by capping the FPS at 59.
Skip intro videos
DS PVP Watchdog
BitBucket
Main thread
Download
- Dark Souls PVP Watchdog is a tool designed to prevent some common forms of cheating and tampering in online sessions, and gives the player the ability to ban offenders from their worlds.
- Disclaimer: read the overview in the first link.
Game data
Configuration file(s) location
Save game data location
-
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\XLive
must also be backed up.
Video settings
Template:Video settings
Nvidia Inspector
Anti aliasing may be forced with the compatibility flag 0x004000C0. Sparse Grid Supersampling gives a blurry effect. Multisampling combined with transparency supersampling seems to work well (this author uses 4x on each). Some dark diagonal line artefacts are visible on my system occasionally with these settings but aren't obtrusive. DSfix's antialiasing should be turned off for this.
Ambient occlusion can supposedly be enabled with either 0x00000029 (Skyrim, soft AO) or 0x00000003 (Fallout 3, stronger AO effect). DSfix's AO should be turned off if you're forcing it here.
Input settings
Template:Input settings
Keyboard
- Unintuitive default keyboard scheme, for example, 'End' brings up menu (and 'Escape' does nothing).
Mouse
- Mouse controls feel very jittery, with very unintuitive results when the camera collides with a wall or the floor.
- 'Hot swap' between keyboard and mouse controls and controller is available.[2]
- Use of controller is highly recommended.[2]
- Works well with the DualShock 3 using XInput Wrapper. PS button textures can be found here
Audio settings
Template:Audio settings
Localizations
Language |
UI |
Audio |
Sub |
Notes |
English |
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Traditional Chinese |
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French |
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German |
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Italian |
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Korean |
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Polish |
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Russian |
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Spanish |
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Network
- Online features in non-Steam versions require a Microsoft account (optional for offline play).
Multiplayer types
Ports
Protocol |
Port(s) and/or port range(s) |
TCP |
53,80,443,3074 |
UDP |
53,88,3074 |
- This game supports Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) for automatic port configuration.
- UPnP is working in the Games for Windows - LIVE version if the Games for Windows - LIVE Network Settings says "UPnP is available, in use"; if not, refer to this guide.
VR support
- The game suffers from poor Nvidia 3D Vision support.
Issues fixed
Performances issues
General fixes
Lower-spec machine fixes
- Certain areas of the game are more demanding on your hardware causing slowdown in-game. It seems that the engine, when faced with an area where it struggles to render 30 FPS, will cut down to 15FPS. The most famous is Blighttown, but large animated characters can also produce this slowdown.
- Unlock the FPS cap with DSfix (unlockFPS 1), set the frame cap at 30 (FPSlimit 30) and enable Vsync (enableVsync 1) For the most part you will have the same experience, but where the game would usually dip to 15FPS it will only drop as far as it needs to (results depend on your machine).
- Unlocking the FPS cap may result in issues involving broken physics and animations. Falling through elevators, corpses sinking through the ground, choppy creature animations are all observed issues.
ATI/AMD-specific fixes
- Appears that ATI/AMD graphics cards are underutilised.
Nvidia Optimus-specific fixes
Crashes
Lifting FPS-cap using DSFix
VSFilter.dll
- Crash occurs after start screen.[5]
Monitor refresh rate
- The crash only happens when trying to access the in-game settings- it is safe to use any frequency after you have finished adjusting in-game settings.
Windows 7
- Crash on startup
Windows 8
Controller issues
Controller not working
DirectInput controllers have wrong mapping
Miscellaneous
Black Screen on startup
- The game's window remains black after launching and is "Not Responding" if clicked on.
- The issue occurs when a Xbox 360 Controller is plugged in.
Minimize with multiple monitors
- Fix binds the mouse to a single screen (DSFix has this feature built in).
Progress bar stuck during installation
- Problem may be caused by setup utility getting stuck whilst installing DirectX and Games for Windows - LIVE.
Manual Save Game conversion from GFWL version to Steam version
Useful if the automatic conversion fails. However, this will only transfer your game state WITHOUT your achievements.
Other information
API
Technical specs |
Supported |
Notes |
Direct3D |
9 |
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Executable |
32-bit |
64-bit |
Notes |
Windows |
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Middleware
System requirements
Windows |
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Minimum |
Operating system (OS) |
XP, Vista, 7 |
Processor (CPU) |
AMD Phenom II X2 545 3.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0 GHz |
System memory (RAM) |
2 GB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) |
4 GB |
Video card (GPU) |
ATI Radeon HD 4870 Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX+ DirectX 9.0c compatible |
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
References