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.



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"


Look for the Wine Version: 1.8
Select it
Click the arrow pointing to the right


Click Next

Downloading Wine


Extracting

Downloading Gecko


Installed


Wine 1.8 is installed and you can close this window

Downloading Steam

Go To: http://www.steampowered.com
Click Install Steam


Do not click "Install Steam Now"
It will automatically install Linux Steam
Select Windows Steam instead
click "Windows" under the green button


Navigate to your desktop
Click Save


PlayOnLinux Setup

Launch PlayOnLinux
Click Install


Click "install a non-listed program"


Click Next

Select "Install a program in a new virtual drive"
Click Next


Name your virtual drive: darksouls
No spaces
Click Next


Select all three options:

• Use another version of Wine
• Configure Wine
• Install some libraries

Click Next


Select Wine1.8
Click Next


Select "32 bits windows installation"
Click Next


Configure Wine

Applications Tab
Windows Version: Windows 7
Click Apply


Libraries Tab
New override for library
Type: dinput8
Click Add


Type: xinput1_3
Click Add

Scrolldown to xinput1_3
Select it
Click Edit
Change to Builtin (Wine)


Graphics Tab
Check: Automatically capture the mouse in full-screen windows
Check: Emulate a virtual desktop
Desktop size: 1024x768
Click Ok


PlayOnLinux Packages (Libraries, Components, DLL's)

Check the following libraries:

• POL_Install_corefonts
• POL_Install_d3dx9
• POL_Install_tahoma
• POL_Install_vcrun2008

Click Next


Note: All packages will automatically download and install

Installing Steam

Click Browse


Navigate to your desktop
Select: SteamSetup.exe
Click Open


Click Next

Click Next

Check: I accept the license...
Click Next

Click Next

Click Next

Click Install

Click Finish

Updating Steam


Click the "X" to close Steam login


PlayOnLinux Shortcut

Select Steam.exe
Click Next


Name your shortcut: Dark Souls
Click Next


Select "I don't want to make another shortcut"
Click Next


PlayOnLinux Configure

Back to PlayOnLinux
Click Configure


General Tab
Wine version: 1.8


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


Close Configure

Launching Steam & Dark Souls

Select Dark Souls
Click Run


Note: Click debug to see errors and bugs

Click "Login to existing account"


Login


Find Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition
Click Install


Uncheck "Create desktop shortcut"
Uncheck "Create start menu shortcut"
Click Next


Click Finish
Wait for Dark Souls to download


Click Play


Optimization

Click PC Settings


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

Click Initialize
Click OK


Close Dark Souls

DSFix Setup

Go to: http://blog.metaclassofnil.com/?tag=dsfix
Download DSFix 2.4


Download at Mediafire:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/bvp287rbdu5zagy/DSfix24.zip


Save DSfix24.zip to your Desktop


Extract the files in the zip


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


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

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: