Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition

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Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition
Dark Souls - Prepare to Die Edition - cover.jpg
Developers
Publishers
Release dates
Windows
August 23, 2012
Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition at WineHQ
Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition at Steam Charts
Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition at SteamDB
 Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition at Wikipedia
Dark Souls
Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition 2012
Dark Souls II 2014

Key points

Information DRM will be switched from Games for Windows - LIVE to Steam for digital copies.[1]
Information Using a controller is highly recommended over keyboard and mouse controls.
Information If using keyboard and mouse controls, apply the DSMfix to improve mouse control issues.
Disadvantage A poor 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

More information Steam Community Discussions
More information Steam Users' Forums

Availability[edit]

Source DRM Notes Keys
Retail Availability Table Icons - GFWL.svg Completely optional Steam unlock.[3] Availability Table Icons - Steam.svg
Amazon.com Availability Table Icons - Steam.svgAvailability Table Icons - GFWL.svg
GamersGate Availability Table Icons - Steam.svgAvailability Table Icons - GFWL.svg
GameStop Availability Table Icons - Steam.svgAvailability Table Icons - GFWL.svg
Steam Availability Table Icons - Steam.svgAvailability Table Icons - GFWL.svg
Information All versions require Games for Windows - LIVE

Essential improvements[edit]

Using DSfix with in-game anti-aliasing enabled causes the game to only use part of the screen.
Information HD textures, fonts, and controller button prompts are available to download.

DSfix[edit]

Information A GUI for DSfix is available for inexperienced users
Advantage 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.
Disadvantage 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.

Fix Install DSfix

  1. Disable in-game anti-aliasing.
  2. Download DSfix.
  3. Extract DSfix into the DATA folder in the installation folder.
  4. Edit DSfix.ini to set your resolution (for example, renderWidth 1366 renderHeight 768).
Information Set a resolution higher than your native display if you want a supersampling anti-aliasing (SSAA) effect.

Skip intro videos[edit]

Fix Skip intro

  1. Install DSfix.
  2. Add skipIntro 1 to DSfix.ini
  3. Save your changes.

DS Connectivity fix[edit]

Information DSCfix is an interception DLL intended to be used with DSfix and functions by adding any online GFWL friends to your P2P connection pool before searching for random peers. This means direct connections to friends are established right away, whereas in vanilla Dark Souls this only happens after the first successful summon or invasion. This greatly reduces the time required to summon a friend, with typical wait times of about a few seconds.
Information Disclaimer: Due to the nature of DSCfix, it must make changes to the internal functionality of Dark Soul's multiplayer networking code. M0tah cannot be held responsible for any potential malfunctioning of the code or GFWL bans. Use DSCfix at your own risk.

Fix Installation of DSCfix

  1. Install DSfix if you haven't done so already.
  2. Download and extract DSCfix-v1.2.
  3. Place DSCfix.dll and DSCfix.ini in <path-to-game>\DATA
  4. Open up DSfix.ini and search for the following line: dinput8dllWrapper none
  5. Replace it with: dinput8dllWrapper dscfix.dll
  6. Boot up Dark Souls, have a friend also using DSCfix place a sign, and behold. ;)

If you're using DSMfix or another DInput hook:

  1. Open up DSCfix.ini and search for the following line: ;dInput8Chain = dsmfix.dll
  2. Remove the ; (comment character) so the line looks like:dInput8Chain = dsmfix.dll (or whatever dll you want to load)

Notes:

Information With DSCfix installed, normal rules for summoning still apply
Information All players involved must be using DSCfix

Fix Uninstallation

  • Delete DSCfix.dll, DSCfix.ini, and DSCfix.log or reset dinput8dllWrapper DSCfix.dll back to none

DS PVP Watchdog[edit]

BitBucket

Main thread

Download

Information 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.
Information Disclaimer: read the overview in the first link.

Fix Installation of DSPVPWatchdog

  1. Download the tool from the link above
  2. Extract it in Dark Souls DATA\ folder
  3. Launch Dark Souls as usual
  4. Should an offender invade your world (or should you invade the world of a cheater), you shall be given the choice to **ban** the offender (F1), or **ignore** the warning (F5). Dangerous effects like curse, petrify and teleport are disabled and prevented during invasions and don't need any user interaction.

Notes:

  1. The tool needs the companion helper tool (DSPWSteam_FirewallHelper.exe) in the same directory
  2. The tool needs Windows Firewall to be enabled

Game data[edit]

Configuration file(s) location[edit]

  Location 
Windows %LOCALAPPDATA%\NBGI\DarkSouls

Save game data location[edit]

  Location 
Windows %USERPROFILE%\Documents\NBGI\DarkSouls
Information %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\XLive must also be backed up.

Save game cloud syncing[edit]

System Native Notes
Steam Cloud Native
GameSave Manager Native

Video settings[edit]

Graphics option Option WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution Hackable WSGF WS Bronze.svg See DSfix.
Multi-monitor Hackable WSGF MM Bronze.svg Use DSfix together with Widescreen Fixer. For v1.0.2 & v1.0.3 use the updated Widescreen Fixer plugin.
Field of view (FOV) Impossible
Windowed Native
Borderless fullscreen windowed Hackable See Borderless fullscreen windowed.
Anisotropic filtering (AF) Hackable See DSfix.
Anti-aliasing (AA) Native Creates an overly blurry effect (does not work with DSfix).
Vertical sync (Vsync) Impossible
High frame rate Hackable See High frame rate.

Borderless fullscreen windowed[edit]

Fix borderlessFullscreen 1

  1. Install DSfix.
  2. Add borderlessFullscreen 1 to DSfix.ini
  3. Save your changes.

3D support[edit]

Information The game suffers from poor 3D support.

Fix 3D Vision fixby Helix

Information Use together with DSfix.
  1. Download the fix from Helix Mod's web site.
  2. Extract the content to <path-to-game>\DATA
  3. Extract DSfix to another folder.
  4. Rename d3d9.dll to res.dll
  5. Copy res.dll to your DATA folder inside Dark Souls.
  6. Open up DX9Settings.ini
  7. Make sure it looks like below, where ProxyLib should be changed to wherever res.dll is on your system. 
[General]
ProxyLib=C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Dark Souls Prepare to Die Edition\DATA\res.dll
UseEndScene = false

High frame rate[edit]

Fix Make changes in dsfix.ini[4]

  1. Install DSfix.
  2. Open dsfix.ini.
  3. Change FPSlimit 60 to FPSlimit 120
  4. Change forcefullscreen 0 to forcefullscreen 1
  5. Change fullscreenHz 60 to fullscreenHz 120
  6. Save your changes.

Input settings[edit]

Control scheme tips from Tru3Magic.
Keyboard and mouse Native Notes
Remapping Native Mouse 4 and 5 cannot be remapped.[2]
Mouse acceleration Impossible Mouse deceleration reported.[5]
Mouse input in menus Native
Mouse Y-axis inversion Native
Controller
Controller support Native See Controller support.
Full controller support Impossible Entering a name for a new character requires keyboard.
Controller remapping Impossible
Controller Y-axis inversion Native

Keyboard[edit]

Disadvantage Unintuitive default keyboard scheme, for example, 'End' brings up menu (and 'Escape' does nothing).

Mouse[edit]

Disadvantage Mouse controls feel very jittery, with very unintuitive results when the camera collides with a wall or the floor.

Fix DSMfix

Advantage This fix maps right analogue stick of a controller to the mouse, producing a much smoother experience.
Disadvantage Some additional problems caused by negative acceleration.[6]
  1. Make sure DSfix is installed first.
  2. open DSfix.ini
  3. Change dinput8dllWrapper none to dinput8dllWrapper dsmfix.dll
  4. Download dsmfix09-DS1.0.2.0 and extract its files to the same folder where DSfix.ini is.
  5. Use the dsmfixgui.exe interface to adjust settings such as sensitivity and mouse inversion.

Controller support[edit]

Information 'Hot swap' between keyboard and mouse controls and controller is available.[2]
Information Use of controller is highly recommended.[2]
Advantage Works well with the DualShock 3 using XInput Wrapper. PS button textures can be found here

Audio settings[edit]

Audio options Native Notes
Separate volume controls Native
Surround sound Native Up to 7.1 output[7]
Subtitles Native
Closed captions Impossible
Mute on focus lost Native Can not be disabled.

Localizations

Language UI Audio CC Notes
English Native Native Native
Traditional Chinese Native Impossible Unknown
French Native Impossible Unknown
German Native Impossible Native
Italian Native Impossible Native
Korean Native Impossible Unknown
Polish Native Impossible Native
Russian Native Impossible Native
Spanish Native Impossible Unknown

Network[edit]

Information Online features require a Microsoft account (optional for offline play).

Multiplayer types

Type Native Notes
Online play Native

Ports

Protocol Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP (outbound) 53,80,443,3074
UDP (outbound) 53,88,3074
Advantage This game supports Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) for automatic port configuration.
Information UPnP is working if the Games for Windows - LIVE Network Settings says "UPnP is available, in use"; if not, refer to this guide.

Issues fixed[edit]

Performances issues[edit]

General fixes[edit]

Fix Data.exe Priority

Information Reportedly working with Nvidia cards.[8]
  1. Open Task Manager.
  2. Set priority of data.exe to a higher value.

Fix Processor affinity

Set processor affinity to only 2 of the available processors.

Lower-spec machine fixes[edit]

Fix Adjust settings in DSfix

  • Disable anti-aliasing. (aaQuality 0)
  • Use lowest quality SSAO (ssaoScale 3)
  • Set a resolution lower than your native display to improve performance on older machines, at the cost of up-scaled blurriness and aliasing.

Fix Adjust settings in game

  • Disable motion blur.
Information 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.
Advantage 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).

ATI/AMD-specific fixes[edit]

Information Appears that ATI/AMD graphics cards are underutilised.

Fix Set Catalyst Control Center 3D Profile

Information This fix sets a new 3D profile for the game.[9]
  1. Enter Catalyst Control Center and 3D Application Settings (advanced view).
  2. Tweak settings by unchecking 'Use application settings' and switching sliders to the left.
  3. Apply the 3D profile to Dark Souls.

Fix Disable AMD Cool'n'Quiet

Disabling AMD Cool 'N Quiet in your BIOS can also fix the issue with low FPS.

Nvidia Optimus-specific fixes[edit]

Fix Force Optimus To Use Nvidia Instead Of Intel Graphics

  1. Go to Nvidia Control Panel (Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > NVIDIA Control Panel).
  2. Go to Manage 3D Settings > Program Settings.
  3. Add both executables (DarkSouls.exe and data.exe), and set the preferred graphics processor for both to Nvidia graphics instead of auto.

Crashes[edit]

Lifting FPS-cap using DSFix[edit]

Fix Fix Data Execution Prevention setting

Ensure Data Execution Prevention (DEP) is set to the default (Windows programs and services only).

VSFilter.dll[edit]

Information Crash occurs after start screen.[10]

Fix Rename VSFilter.dll

Windows 7[edit]

Information Crash on startup

Fix Run DARKSOULS.exe under Windows Vista SP2 Compatibility Mode

Windows 8[edit]

Fix Reinstall gfwlivesetup.exe[11]

  1. Uninstall Microsoft Games for Windows – LIVE Redistributable.
  2. Uninstall Microsoft Games for Windows Marketplace.
  3. Install the Games for Windows Marketplace Client.
  4. Uncheck compatibility mode.
  5. If none of this works, try downloading the latest windows essentials and signing in.

Fix Steam Compatibility settings fix

  1. Go to <path-to-game>\DATA.
  2. right click DATA.exe and go to Properties.
  3. Go to the Compatibility tab and uncheck Run as Administrator.
  4. Click Apply.

Controller[edit]

Controller not working[edit]

Fix Make your controller the 'first' one[12]

Information Game detects 'first' controller driver.<
  1. Uninstall controller drivers.
  2. Reinstall controller drivers. If using Xbox 360 Controller, use these drivers: Wired and wireless drivers

Fix Disable any non-360 controller[13]

  1. Open device manager
  2. Disable any other HID-compliant game controller

DirectInput controllers have wrong mapping[edit]

Fix Use X360ce

Information Use X360ce to fix the issue by emulating the official Xbox 360 Controller.
  1. Download X360ce.
  2. Put xBox360ce.exe into the Dark Souls DATA folder.
  3. Start xBox360ce.exe and confirm creation of all dlls.
  4. Controller should be detected. Test all buttons and sticks.
  5. Close X360ce.
  6. Open x360ce.ini.[14]
  7. Go to section [InputHook].
  8. Add a line HookCOM=1 after HookMode=1.
  9. Save.
  10. Open Dark Souls, which should now detect the non-Xbox 360 Controller as an official Xbox 360 Controller.

Miscellaneous[edit]

Black Screen on startup[edit]

Fix Black Screen on startup

If you have a Xbox controller plugged in, try unplugging it then launching the game again

Minimize with multiple monitors[edit]

Advantage Fix bounds the mouse to a single screen.

Fix CursorLock[12]

  1. Download CursorLock.
  2. Open CursorLockSetup.exe
  3. Shortcut > Program Mode.
  4. Set darksouls.exe in the 'Open Program' field.
  5. Set data.exe in the 'Lock Program' field.
  6. Click 'Create Shortcut', and run the game using this shortcut.

Progress bar stuck during installation[edit]

Information Problem may be caused by setup utility getting stuck whilst installing DirectX and Games for Windows - LIVE.

Fix End Install Processes

  1. Make sure DirectX and Games for Windows - LIVE are individually updated.
  2. Open the Task Manager (Ctrl+⇧ Shift+Esc) and go to the 'Processes' tab.
  3. When dxsetup or gfwlsetup show up, cancel the processes. Note: the gfwlsetup may appear only briefly.
  4. This should allow installation to continue.

1.02 Patch (2013-09-17) breaks compatibility of many mods[edit]

Information The main executable was patched so any mod reliant on locations in the executable/RAM need to be updated.
Affected mods[edit]
  • DSfix - needs update to version 2.2
  • DSVfix - no longer required as all its fixes have been implemented into the game.
  • DSMfix - needs fan-created update.[15]
Unaffected mods[edit]
  • DSCfix

Other information[edit]

API[edit]

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 9
64-bit executable Impossible

Middleware[edit]

Middleware Notes
Physics Havok
Audio FMOD
Input XInput
Cutscenes Bink
Multiplayer Steamworks, GFWL Only digital copies are being migrated to Steamworks.[1]

System requirements[edit]

Windows
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

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 BANDAI NAMCO Games America: We are very excited to announce that next month it...
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 GameSpy: Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition Review - Page 1
  3. ↑ Retail version can now be added to Steam library - Steam Users' Forums
  4. ↑ New 120Hz Games Report 120hz.net: New 120Hz Games Report
  5. ↑ DO NOT BUY - Steam Users' Forums
  6. ↑ Dark Souls Mouse Fix - Steam Users' Forums
  7. ↑ PC Gaming Surround Sound Round-up
  8. ↑ Reddit: AMD Users Having Trouble Running Dark Souls?
  9. ↑ Fix for random FPS drops with ATI card? (now with possible fix) - Steam Users' Forums
  10. ↑ Crashed on Press start screen. - Steam Users' Forums
  11. ↑ Game crashing upon startup (Windows 7) - Steam Users' Forums
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Dark Souls General FAQ - Steam Users' Forums
  13. ↑ Ps3 Controller :: Steam Community Discussions
  14. ↑ Game Compatibility List - x360ce
  15. ↑ Steam Community Discussion - DSMfix: Unofficial update for Dark Souls v1.0.2.0