DARK SOULS™: Prepare To Die Edition

DARK SOULS™: Prepare To Die Edition

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How to play DARK SOULS: Prepare To Die Edition on a Steamdeck
By eng1n0ir
This Guide will help you install essential stuff to enjoy original game on Steamdeck
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In-game Preparation
After downloading and installing the game you will need to change some in-game settings.

1. Launch the game
2. PC Settings
3. Disable Full Screen
4. Set resolution to 1280x720
5. Disable Anti-Aliasing
6. Disable Motion Blur
7. Check if everything is same as on screenshot bellow
8. Press OK to save

Steam Preparation
Now we will need to add custom launch options to force the game to work with DSfix.

If something goes wrong and you cannot launch the game just simply remove launch options

1. Go to the game screen in your steamdeck library
2. On the right side from the Play button press on cog icon
3. The choose Properties...
4. Under General tab scroll down to the LAUNCH OPTIONS section
5. Paste the following text:
WINEDLLOVERRIDES="dinput8=n,b" %command%

Final result will look something like this:
Downloading the archive
I've prepared pre-configured .zip archive that contains few mods and configured DSFix file

Google drive link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Wo4M0-9sdcqvHA5HTa2hTP58zS44NHbg

Mods that included:
DSfix[www.nexusmods.com]
High-Res UI and Subtitle fonts[www.nexusmods.com]
Highly Visible Health Bars[www.nexusmods.com]

You can do everything manually if you are afraid of viruses etc, here is content of confiration file:

DSfix.ini
# You can configure DSfix by editing this file # Lines starting with "#" are ignored by the program and contain descriptions of the options ############################################################################### # Graphics Options ############################################################################### # internal rendering resolution of the game # higher values will decrease performance renderWidth 1280 renderHeight 720 # The display width/height # 0 means use the same resolution as renderWidth/Height # (use for downscaling - if in doubt, leave at 0) presentWidth 0 presentHeight 0 ############# Anti Aliasing # AA toggle and quality setting # 0 = off (best performance, worst IQ) # 1 = low # 2 = medium # 3 = high # 4 = ultra (worst performance, best IQ) aaQuality 0 # AA type # either "SMAA" or "FXAA" aaType SMAA ############# Ambient Occlusion # Enable and set the strength of the SSAO effect (all 3 settings have the same performance impact!) # 0 = off # 1 = low # 2 = medium # 3 = high ssaoStrength 0 # Set SSAO scale # 1 = high quality (default) # 2 = lower quality, lower impact on performance # 3 = lowest quality, lowest impact on performance ssaoScale 1 # Determine the type of AO used # "VSSAO" = Volumetric SSAO (default, only option pre-1.9) # "HBAO" = Horizon-Based Ambient Occlusion # "SCAO" = VSSAO + HBAO # "VSSAO2" = Volumetric SSAO with more samples (tweaked by Asmodean) # VSSAO and HBAO types have a slightly different effect. and similar performance # SCAO combines both, with a higher performance impact # VSSAO2 is generally more accurate, but also requires more performance ssaoType VSSAO ############# Depth of field # Depth of Field resolution override, possible values: # 0 = no change from default (DoF pyramid starts at 512x360) # 540 = DoF pyramid starts at 960x540 # 810 = DoF pyramid starts at 1440x810 # 1080 = DoF pyramid starts at 1920x1080 # 2160 = DoF pyramid starts at 3840x2160 # higher values will decrease performance # do NOT set this to the same value as your vertical rendering resolution! dofOverrideResolution 0 # Depth of Field scaling override (NOT RECOMMENDED) # 0 = DoF scaling enabled (default, recommended) # 1 = DoF scaling disabled (sharper, worse performance, not as originally intended) disableDofScaling 0 # Depth of field additional blur # allows you to use high DoF resolutions and still get the originally intended effect # suggested values: # o (off) at default DoF resolution # 0 or 1 at 540 DoF resolution # 1 or 2 above that # 3 or 4 at 2160 DoF resolution (if you're running a 680+) dofBlurAmount 0 ############# Framerate # Enable variable framerate (up to 60) # NOTE: # - this requires in-memory modification of game code, and may get you banned from GFWL # - there may be unintended side-effects in terms of gameplay # - you need a very powerful system (especially CPU) in order to maintain 60 FPS # - in some instances, collision detection may fail. Avoid sliding down ladders # Use this at your own risk! # 0 = no changes to game code # 1 = unlock the frame rate unlockFPS 1 # FPS limit, only used with unlocked framerate # do not set this much higher than 60, this will lead to various issues with the engine FPSlimit 60 # FPS threshold # DSfix will dynamically disable AA if your framerate drops below this value # and re-enable it once it has normalized (with a bit of hysteresis thresholding) FPSthreshold 28 ############# Filtering # texture filtering override # 0 = no change # 1 = enable some bilinear filtering (use only if you need it!) # 2 = full AF override (may degrade performance) # if in doubt, leave this at 0 filteringOverride 0 ############################################################################### # HUD options ############################################################################### # Enable HUD modifications # 0 = off (default) - none of the options below will do anything! # 1 = on enableHudMod 0 # Remove the weapon icons from the HUD # (you can see which weapons you have equipped from your character model) enableMinimalHud 1 # Scale down HuD, examples: # 1.0 = original scale # 0.75 = 75% of the original size hudScaleFactor 0.75 # Set opacity for different elements of the HUD # 1.0 = fully opaque # 0.0 = fully transparent # Top left: health bars, stamina bar, humanity counter, status indicators hudTopLeftOpacity 0.8f # Bottom left: item indicators & counts hudBottomLeftOpacity 0.75f # Bottom right: soul count hudBottomRightOpacity 0.5f ############################################################################### # Window & Mouse Cursor Options ############################################################################### # borderless fullscreen mode # make sure to select windowed mode in the game settings for this to work! # 0 = disable # 1 = enable borderlessFullscreen 0 # disable cursor at startup # 0 = no change # 1 = off at start disableCursor 1 # capture cursor (do not allow it to leave the window) # 0 = don't capture # 1 = capture # (this also works if the cursor is not visible) captureCursor 0 ############################################################################### # Save Game Backup Options ############################################################################### # enables save game backups # 0 = no backups # 1 = backups enabled # backups are stored in the save folder, as "[timestamp]_[original name].bak" enableBackups 0 # backup interval in seconds (1500 = 25 minutes) # (minimum setting 600) backupInterval 1500 # maximum amount of backups, older ones will be deleted maxBackups 10 ############################################################################### # Texture Override Options ############################################################################### # enables texture dumping # you *only* need this if you want to create your own override textures # textures will be dumped to "dsfix\tex_override\[hash].tga" enableTextureDumping 0 # enables texture override # textures in "dsfix\tex_override\[hash].png" will replace the corresponding originals # will cause a small slowdown during texture loading! enableTextureOverride 1 ############################################################################### # Other Options ############################################################################### # skip the intro logos # this should now be slightly more stable, but should still be # the first thing to disable in case you experience any problems skipIntro 1 # change the screenshot directory # default: . (current directory) # example: C:\Users\Peter\Pictures # directory must exist! screenshotDir . # override the in-game language # none = no override # en-GB = English, fr = French, it = Italian, de = German, es = Spanish # ko = Korean, zh-tw = Chinese, pl = Polish, ru = Russian # this does not work in Windows XP! overrideLanguage none # Dinput dll chaining # if you want to use another dinput8.dll wrapper together # with DSfix, rename it (e.g. "dinputwrapper.dll") and put the new name here dinput8dllWrapper none # dsmfix.dll # D3D adapter override # -1 = no override # N = use adapter N # this setting is for multiple (non-SLI/crossfire) GPUs # everyone else should leave it at -1 d3dAdapterOverride -1 # Log level - 0 to 11, higher numbers mean more logging # only enable for debugging logLevel 0 ####
Installing the mods
At this stage i assume that you are already downloaded archive with the mods

Now we need to go to the Desktop Mode

1. Press STEAM button
2. Then Power
3. Then Switch to Desktop
4. After you are loaded to desktop mode, double click on Steam icon on the desktop
5. Then goto your library, choose the game, right click on it and go to properties
6. After opening Properties window goto Installed Files tab and press on Browse button
7. After pressing on it you will see a file browser wit 1 file called installscript.vdf and 2 folder, DATA and REDIST
8. Now you need to put everything from archive to the DATA folder
9. If you are afraid you did something wrong double check installation path with offissial DSFix guide[www.nexusmods.com]
The End
Now you can launch the game and it will run in 60 frames without any issues.

I made this guide mostly for myself from future, but do not hesitate to ask questions if something doesn't look very obvious