Dark Souls - the laziest console-to-PC port? (Update: Resolution Rendering Update)

[Jules]

Here's a post from someone who is currently playing the game on PC. Upscaled graphics and lack of options is a bummer, however, the gameplay is very smooth and there are no framerate drops. Seems about right.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/yp78d/just_played_dark_souls_pc_for_an_hour_and_am_not/

Odd because so far ive seen the same slow downs that are in the PS3 version.

 

[Dankk]

Odd because so far ive seen the same slow downs that are in the PS3 version.

Yeah, in the beginning of the game right in the prison area, I immediately noticed various slow-downs as well... that sucks.

Also, the resolution fixer mod apparently has huge framerate issues on AMD cards. I and many others can confirm this. Shit.

Edit: Nevermind, it's running awesome now. Not sure what was happening earlier.

 

[KaOTiK]

Got to play for almost 2 hours. With the render fix the game looks great and runs smooth. I went out and bought a 360 controller, I tried to play with the kb/m but it is horrible controls for this game imo. I may be biased as I played the game when it first came out a lot on my PS3. The only issue with using the render fix is the messages left on the ground don't show up. The guy who made the mod is going to work on that issue tomorrow and hopefully can fix it, if not though, it isn't a big loss and well worth the trade for the higher resolution.

EDIT:

Forgot to mention, good old GFWL struck again. The game was crashing when I tried to launch it, ended up having to uninstall all GFWL crap and reinstall it and then the game launches fine, sigh, I swear MS is trying to piss people off.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

Yeah, the render fix is huge.

Curiously, I started out with the PS3 and after taming the controls via Logitech Mouseware, I'm actually prefering the mouse and keyboard. Analog movement....just isn't very useful, but the tighter camera controls are. But, I use a 10 button mouse, which certainly helps.

Exception to that is the menu controls, which make absolutely no sense whatsoever.

 

[Dankk]

Here's a couple of screenshots using the render mod. I have the internal resolution set to 3840×2160, and the in-game resolution set to 1920x1080, combined they create a sort of AA. (in-game AA option must be set to Off).

The mod has a few issues; there's a few framerate hiccups, and messages on the ground don't show up. The modder is sleeping right now but at the rate he's going, he'll probably have both of those fixed tomorrow. This, combined with a 360 pad, makes me quite satisfied. I have to move the mouse cursor to the bottom right of my screen so I don't have to look at it, but after that I'm good.

After he fixes the mod I might just start over. There's probably a lot of basic stuff I've missed because I can't read the stuff on the ground. (I'm not very far in anyway.)

 

[Red Hawk]

You're supersampling it with a 7870? I can't imagine that it has too much of a performance issue, then.

 

[Dankk]

You're supersampling it with a 7870? I can't imagine that it has too much of a performance issue, then.

None of the textures, models, or effects have been upgraded from the console version. There's also a 30 FPS cap. So honestly, super-sampling the game with a single mid-range card isn't unthinkable.

The framerate cap doesn't bother me, FYI. Feels completely smooth. The motion blur probably helps.

 

[Madia]

The only issue with using the render fix is the messages left on the ground don't show up.

There's a new version that fixes that:

http://blog.metaclassofnil.com/?p=101

I only played 20 mintues or so total but the mod made a huge difference once I installed it.

 

[Ferzerp]

Looks like it's capped at 30fps, and the time keeping of the game is tied to frames displayed, so fixing the cap means everything goes faster.

What is this, 1989?

That means it's a firm no buy now.

 

[McWatt]

I'm impressed at the really nice textures that have spent the last year hiding behind the low resolution and aggressive blurring of the stock engine. The high resolution shots I've seen (I haven't bought it yet, but with this mod available I will) suggest that a texture pack, while probably nice, isn't at all necessary.

I'll probably use a controller considering my hundreds of hours of experience playing the game on a PS3, but camera control while sprinting around 100 foot tall bosses was often annoying and I can imagine a mouse making that much better.

 

[AMDZen]

Just installed NeoGAF's fix. Makes the game look 10 times better instantly. Wow.

Is there a fix to use KB+Mouse

 

[McWatt]

Is there a fix to use KB+Mouse

What sort of fix would you want? If you don't like the mapping, just remap with any of the many, many free mouse and/or keyboard remapping tools available all over the internet.

But you also remind me that mouse acceleration can't be disabled, and yes, that could be a major problem. Does anyone know of a mouse unaccelerator utility that can apply tunable negative acceleration to counteract the acceleration present in so many contemporary games?

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

Is there a fix to use KB+Mouse

Depends. I managed to work around it with Logitech mouseware. There are utilities out there to hide the mouse cursor.

I haven't seen anything to deal with the wacky mouse acceleration thing though - it actually behaves like reverse acceleration - slow mouse movements actually turn faster then fast ones.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

wait. is this game out? wtf? i have this pre-ordered

 

[RussianSensation]

Even if it is a direct port, I can't imagine that it will run as poorly as it did on ps3 and 360. It ran like monkeybutt Console players didn't know any better though.

More evidence that PS3 and Xbox 360 had very slow CPU and GPU and were overhyped. The game runs at 30 fps on a 2.6ghz Athlon X4 620 + GTS 450 and uses just 264MB of video ram and 400MB of system memory at 1080P.

"When I first launched the game, I thought I was playing a game made 15 years ago..." ~ GameGpu.ru

Unmodded

He modded it so the internal framebuffer renders the game at your native resolution. That's it. No textures were changed, but the edges are much smoother. Notice how it doesn't look like cat-shit smeared on your screen (aka like an upscaled console game).

Compare it to the original screenshots in the link I posted before that. The difference is pretty huge.

Ya, it is improved by a lot from your screens. Thanks for posting them and providing info on the mod

NeoGAF user Durante has created "DSfix ", an 80KB download that tells the game to enable higher resolutions ---> LINK

Thank god for PC modding!

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

how much was the 360 controller? i know they make one for pc but can i get a console one and use an adapter for pc or something?

 

[Ferzerp]

how much was the 360 controller? i know they make one for pc but can i get a console one and use an adapter for pc or something?

The bare adapter has been discontinued, but you can still find them in some places. The bundle is $45 I think.

 

[PowerYoga]

how much was the 360 controller? i know they make one for pc but can i get a console one and use an adapter for pc or something?

I use this one. You can also get a wired version.

http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Xbox...troller+for+pc

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

ugh. that's more than i paid for the game. it'll be good for my other games though. I'm going to see if they have one locally. thanks for the link

 

[clok1966]

EDIT:

Forgot to mention, good old GFWL struck again. The game was crashing when I tried to launch it, ended up having to uninstall all GFWL crap and reinstall it and then the game launches fine, sigh, I swear MS is trying to piss people off.

there was a LEAKED memo about MS quietly fazing out GFWL and mreging it inot a APP like store for win8.. this was months ago.. but with the support or lack of for GFWL which has been prety horrible since day one.. it does seem like it.

 

[Dankk]

There's a new version that fixes that:

http://blog.metaclassofnil.com/?p=101

I only played 20 mintues or so total but the mod made a huge difference once I installed it.

Apparently in version 0.3 of the mod, not only does it fix the messages, but it adds Anisotropic Filtering, and it also allows you to turn off the mouse cursor with the F9 key. :thumbsup:

 

[PowerYoga]

ugh. that's more than i paid for the game. it'll be good for my other games though. I'm going to see if they have one locally. thanks for the link

There enough sales going on that you should be able to get a coupon or code for this sooner or later. I got this months ago with a $20 off coupon from newegg, but the controller is rock solid and awesome for all non-fighting games (d-pad seriously sucks in comparsion to PS3's). Absolutely no regrets getting this thing and 100 times better than trying to get motionjoy to work with the ps3 controller.

 

[EDUSAN]

when is this game coming out?

 

[Dankk]

when is this game coming out?

In -1 day.

ugh. that's more than i paid for the game. it'll be good for my other games though. I'm going to see if they have one locally. thanks for the link

Don't buy an Xbox 360 controller only for Dark Souls. Buy it for the hundreds of other PC games that work best with a gamepad.

 

[smackababy]

I use this one. You can also get a wired version.

http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Xbox...troller+for+pc

If you buy an Xbox controller, ensure it is the one for PC. Otherwise, you cannot connect via USB.