Dark Souls Guide

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Dark Souls is well known for the XBox success because of the unique combat style and visual quality. This is no hack-n-slash game! Your progress is rewarded only by knowing your enemy and knowing when to attack. Select from several classes and play in a dark world of demons, dragons, insanity and consume as many souls as possible.

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Follow my step-by-step guide on installing, configuring and optimizing Dark Souls in Linux with PlayOnLinux.

Note: This guide applies to the Steam version of Dark Souls: Prepare To Die Edition. Other versions may require additional steps.

Tips & Specs:

Try SteamPlay before using this guide as Valve now uses a fork of Wine called Proton and should run most Windows games.

To learn more about PlayOnLinux and Wine configuration, see the online manual: PlayOnLinux Explained

Mint 17 64-bit
PlayOnLinux: 4.2.10
Wine: 1.8

Wine Installation

Note: Wine versions older than 2.0.2 and 2.12-staging no longer work with Steam.

Click Tools
Select "Manage Wine Versions"
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Look for the Wine Version: 1.8
Select it
Click the arrow pointing to the right
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Click Next

Downloading Wine
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Extracting

Downloading Gecko
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Installed
wine06.png


Wine 1.8 is installed and you can close this window

Downloading Steam

Go To: http://www.steampowered.com
Click Install Steam
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Do not click "Install Steam Now"
It will automatically install Linux Steam
Select Windows Steam instead
click "Windows" under the green button
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Navigate to your desktop
Click Save
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PlayOnLinux Setup

Launch PlayOnLinux
Click Install
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Click "install a non-listed program"
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Click Next

Select "Install a program in a new virtual drive"
Click Next
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Name your virtual drive: darksouls
No spaces
Click Next
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Select all three options:
  • Use another version of Wine
  • Configure Wine
  • Install some libraries
Click Next
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Select Wine1.8
Click Next
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Select "32 bits windows installation"
Click Next
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Configure Wine

Applications Tab
Windows Version: Windows 7
Click Apply
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Libraries Tab
New override for library
Type: dinput8
Click Add
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Type: xinput1_3
Click Add

Scrolldown to xinput1_3
Select it
Click Edit
Change to Builtin (Wine)
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Graphics Tab
Check: Automatically capture the mouse in full-screen windows
Check: Emulate a virtual desktop
Desktop size: 1024x768
Click Ok
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PlayOnLinux Packages (Libraries, Components, DLL's)

Check the following libraries:
  • POL_Install_corefonts
  • POL_Install_d3dx9
  • POL_Install_tahoma
  • POL_Install_vcrun2008
Click Next
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Note: All packages will automatically download and install

Installing Steam

Click Browse
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Navigate to your desktop
Select: SteamSetup.exe
Click Open
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Click Next

Click Next

Check: I accept the license...
Click Next

Click Next

Click Next

Click Install

Click Finish

Updating Steam
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Click the "X" to close Steam login
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PlayOnLinux Shortcut

Select Steam.exe
Click Next
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Name your shortcut: Dark Souls
Click Next
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Select "I don't want to make another shortcut"
Click Next
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PlayOnLinux Configure

Back to PlayOnLinux
Click Configure
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General Tab
Wine version: 1.8
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Note: Click the + to download other versions of Wine. Click the down-arrow to select other versions of wine

Display Tab
Video Memory Size: Select the size of Memory your video card/chip uses
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Close Configure

Launching Steam & Dark Souls

Select Dark Souls
Click Run
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Note: Click debug to see errors and bugs

Click "Login to existing account"
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Login
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Find Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition
Click Install
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Uncheck "Create desktop shortcut"
Uncheck "Create start menu shortcut"
Click Next
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Click Finish
Wait for Dark Souls to download
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Click Play
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Optimization

Click PC Settings
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Enable Fullscreen
Select the same resolution as your Linux Desktop
Anti-Aliasing: OFF

Click Initialize
Click OK
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Close Dark Souls

DSFix Setup

Go to: http://blog.metaclassofnil.com/?tag=dsfix
Download DSFix 2.4
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Download at Mediafire:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/bvp287rbdu5zagy/DSfix24.zip
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Save DSfix24.zip to your Desktop
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Extract the files in the zip
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Move them to the Dark Souls Data folder
Path: /home/username/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/darksouls/drive_c/Program Files/Steam/SteamApps/Common/Dark Souls Prepare to Die Edition/Data
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Edit the DSfix.ini

Adjust:
  • Resolution
  • Anti Aliasing
  • Ambient Occlusion
  • Depth of Field
  • Additional Blur
  • Framerate
  • FPS Limit
  • Texture Filtering Override
  • Hud
  • Fullscreen Mode
  • Save Game Backups
  • Texture Dumping
  • Intro Logo's Skip
  • In Game Language
  • D3D Adapter Override
  • Logs
  • Vsync
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Conclusion:
Dark Souls played fine without any crashing on my GeForce 550 Ti. I was able to watch cutscenes, load and save my game. I did experience problems with the mouse, but this is because Dark Souls is a console port meant for a controller. So the mouse will move in large increments causing your character movement to be unsmooth.

DSFix made a HUGE difference in graphics. Everything was crisp and detailed with very nice shadows and ambient occlusion.
I definitely recommend using DSFix when playing Dark Souls.

Now if I could inspire myself to play... because your literally die and have to start all the way back at your last save and am forced to kill all the same minions over again. Rinse repeat.

Gameplay Video:

Screenshots:
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Last edited:
Click to expand...
booman
Thanks!
I'm scared to play it again because I'm just going to die again and start over. I even watched a SpeedRun video and can't figure out what they are doing.... like using some kind of lightning element on the sword and killing bosses in 3 hits???
 
Andrea
Thank you very much for sharing this guide, it worked flawlessly in Arch.

Now if I could only figure out how to connect a generic XBOX 360 controller, that would be amazing hehe.
 
booman
Thanks!
I actually have two Xbox Guitar Hero guitars that have a USB connection. They run great in PlayOnLinux and I am able to play FretsOnFire with them without issues.

So there is a change it will work fine.
 
oldgaro
booman said:
The only mod I used was the DSfix mod to improve graphics.
Click to expand...
I could run with great FPS Dark SOuls with the Overhaul Mod. But DS without a mouse mod is not playable at all. And the MOuse Fix does require Net 4.6 ..too bad!
 
booman
I remember the mouse being a problem... most gamers suggested using a controller. I just got used to it, but maybe that is why the game was too hard for me?

There may be a way to install dotnet4.6 but I have not researched it yet

This is a shot-in-the-dark, but try these steps:

Installing Dot Net Framework 4.6

Start PlayOnLinux
Click Configure
Select virtual drive shortcut (left side)

Miscellaneous Tab
Click "Open a Shell"
Copy/Paste:
Code: 
wget  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Winetricks/winetricks/master/src/winetricks
Press Enter

Copy/Paste
Code: 
chmod +x winetricks
Press Enter

Copy/Paste
Code: 
WINEPREFIX=/home/username/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/darksouls ./winetricks -q dotnet46

IMPORTANT
Replace "username" with your Linux login name
Replace "darksouls" with the actual name of your Dark Souls Virtual Drive (wineprefix)

Press Enter
Wait for confirmation
 
Last edited:
L
So I was following your tutorial (great btw) when this happaned
Supposibly this strap is my "configure wine" screen
What should I do?
 

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L
Actually, I already fixed it! I just changed the wine version for 3.0 and everything worked just fine, except for the fonts, like, there was no text on steam, but I handled just the textless buttoms XD
Also, forgot to mention, my distro is Lubuntu 17.04
Thank you so much for this, man! I fucking love this game and now I fucking love u! XD
 
L
just tryed to play it... it's lagging a lot... like, 5 fps... it's okay... i'll get over it... i guess i'll have to crawl back to mother fucking windows... fells bad man... it's even more painful then when my wife left me...
 
booman
What version of PlayOnLinux are you using?
I was able to play it on my GeForce 550Ti a few years back and didn't have any performance issues, in fact I was able to increase the graphics quality as well.
 
L
booman said:
What version of PlayOnLinux are you using?
I was able to play it on my GeForce 550Ti a few years back and didn't have any performance issues, in fact I was able to increase the graphics quality as well.
Click to expand...
The last one, I presume. It's just that my computer is trash. I am shure it's not a technical problem with the program or something like that. When I had Windows 7 on this same computer, it lagged too. I just thought that it would work better on a vm on linux. But don't worry about it, this is not my computer. Mine is being fixed, and it works just fine on it :)
If you want to be sorry about my wife, though, that would be... conforting...
 
booman
Oh I see... VM's will no really utilize the bare-metal hardware like your video card.
So it would be better to dual-boot so Linux could use all the hardware capabilities instead of sharing with Windows.
So your computer is in "the shop" and you are playing on your Wife's computer?
 
L
booman said:
Oh I see... VM's will no really utilize the bare-metal hardware like your video card.
So it would be better to dual-boot so Linux could use all the hardware capabilities instead of sharing with Windows.
So your computer is in "the shop" and you are playing on your Wife's computer?
Click to expand...
No, my wife left me. Like, divorce. Though we weren't legally maried. I'm using my sister's laptop, 'cause my PC is getting fixed. Then, I'll try your guide again and see if it works at 25 fps or more, like it was before, when I had Windows 7 on it. Got it?
 
L
booman said:
Installing Dot Net Framework 4.6

Start PlayOnLinux
Click Configure
Select virtual drive shortcut (left side)

Miscellaneous Tab
Click "Open a Shell"
Copy/Paste:
Code: 
wget  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Winetricks/winetricks/master/src/winetricks
Press Enter

Copy/Paste
Code: 
chmod +x winetricks
Press Enter

Copy/Paste
Code: 
WINEPREFIX=/home/username/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/darksouls ./winetricks -q dotnet46
IMPORTANT
Replace "username" with your Linux login name
Replace "darksouls" with the actual name of your Dark Souls Virtual Drive (wineprefix)

Press Enter
Wait for confirmation
Click to expand...


Sorry my later reply.

Its works flawless after installing dotnet. Too bad that it requires Windows's SPvoice builtin software.

It yelds a error.

WORKAROUND

Mouse gamers are not out of luck:

There is a early version of the mouse fix yet avaiable that works flawless:

https://www.reddit.com/r/darksouls/comments/3ay9aj/dsmfix_update_for_new_steamworks_patch/

THANKS!
 
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