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Dark Souls Guide

Discussion in 'Guides' started by booman, Feb 12, 2016.

  • by booman, Feb 12, 2016 at 12:41 PM
  • booman

    booman Grand High Exalted Mystic Emperor of Linux Gaming Staff Member

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    darksouls91.jpg

    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.

    darksouls100.jpg

    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"
    wine01.png

    Look for the Wine Version: 1.8
    Select it
    Click the arrow pointing to the right
    wine02.png

    Click Next

    Downloading Wine
    wine04.png

    Extracting

    Downloading Gecko
    wine05.png

    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
    darksouls01.png

    Do not click "Install Steam Now"
    It will automatically install Linux Steam
    Select Windows Steam instead
    click "Windows" under the green button
    darksouls02.png

    Navigate to your desktop
    Click Save
    darksouls03.png

    PlayOnLinux Setup

    Launch PlayOnLinux
    Click Install
    darksouls04.png

    Click "install a non-listed program"
    darksouls05.png

    Click Next

    Select "Install a program in a new virtual drive"
    Click Next
    darksouls07.png

    Name your virtual drive: darksouls
    No spaces
    Click Next
    darksouls08.png

    Select all three options:
    • Use another version of Wine
    • Configure Wine
    • Install some libraries
    Click Next
    darksouls09.png

    Select Wine1.8
    Click Next
    darksouls10.png

    Select "32 bits windows installation"
    Click Next
    darksouls11.png

    Configure Wine

    Applications Tab
    Windows Version: Windows 7
    Click Apply
    darksouls12.png

    Libraries Tab
    New override for library
    Type: dinput8
    Click Add
    darksouls41.png

    Type: xinput1_3
    Click Add

    Scrolldown to xinput1_3
    Select it
    Click Edit
    Change to Builtin (Wine)
    darksouls42.png

    Graphics Tab
    Check: Automatically capture the mouse in full-screen windows
    Check: Emulate a virtual desktop
    Desktop size: 1024x768
    Click Ok
    darksouls13.png

    PlayOnLinux Packages (Libraries, Components, DLL's)

    Check the following libraries:
    • POL_Install_corefonts
    • POL_Install_d3dx9
    • POL_Install_tahoma
    • POL_Install_vcrun2008
    Click Next
    darksouls14.png

    Note: All packages will automatically download and install

    Installing Steam

    Click Browse
    darksouls15.png

    Navigate to your desktop
    Select: SteamSetup.exe
    Click Open
    darksouls16.png

    Click Next

    Click Next

    Check: I accept the license...
    Click Next

    Click Next

    Click Next

    Click Install

    Click Finish

    Updating Steam
    darksouls24.png

    Click the "X" to close Steam login
    darksouls33.png

    PlayOnLinux Shortcut

    Select Steam.exe
    Click Next
    darksouls26.png

    Name your shortcut: Dark Souls
    Click Next
    darksouls27.png

    Select "I don't want to make another shortcut"
    Click Next
    darksouls28.png

    PlayOnLinux Configure

    Back to PlayOnLinux
    Click Configure
    darksouls29.png

    General Tab
    Wine version: 1.8
    darksouls30.png

    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
    darksouls31.png

    Close Configure

    Launching Steam & Dark Souls

    Select Dark Souls
    Click Run
    darksouls32.png

    Note: Click debug to see errors and bugs

    Click "Login to existing account"
    darksouls33.png

    Login
    darksouls34.png

    Find Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition
    Click Install
    darksouls35.png

    Uncheck "Create desktop shortcut"
    Uncheck "Create start menu shortcut"
    Click Next
    darksouls36.png

    Click Finish
    Wait for Dark Souls to download
    darksouls37.png

    Click Play
    darksouls38.png

    Optimization

    Click PC Settings
    darksouls39.png

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

    Click Initialize
    Click OK
    darksouls40.png

    Close Dark Souls

    DSFix Setup

    Go to: http://blog.metaclassofnil.com/?tag=dsfix
    Download DSFix 2.4
    darksouls43.png

    Download at Mediafire:
    http://www.mediafire.com/download/bvp287rbdu5zagy/DSfix24.zip
    darksouls44.png

    Save DSfix24.zip to your Desktop
    darksouls45.png

    Extract the files in the zip
    darksouls46.png

    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
    darksouls47.png

    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
    darksouls48.png


    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:
    darksouls82.jpg

    darksouls84.jpg

    darksouls85.jpg

    darksouls87.jpg
    Last edited: Dec 12, 2019
    lyr3, Andrea and natanprog like this.

Comments

Discussion in 'Guides' started by booman, Feb 12, 2016.

  1. mrdeathjr28
    Good guide and very difficult game too, almost forget good screens

    :)
  2. 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???
  3. booman
    I added screenshots using DSfix at 1920x1080
  4. booman
    A few more High Resolution screens

    darksouls200.jpg

    darksouls201.jpg

    darksouls202.jpg
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. oldgaro
    Worked here. Still eager to add the mouse fix mod so I can play DS.
  8. booman
    The only mod I used was the DSfix mod to improve graphics.
  9. oldgaro
    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!
  10. 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
  11. Leonardo Artur Bolato
    So I was following your tutorial (great btw) when this happaned
    Supposibly this strap is my "configure wine" screen
    What should I do?

    Attached Files:

  12. Leonardo Artur Bolato
    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
  13. Leonardo Artur Bolato
    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...
  14. 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.
  15. Leonardo Artur Bolato
    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...
  16. 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?
  17. Leonardo Artur Bolato
    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?
  18. lyr3
    That is why I love online chat...people are just honest! hahaha

    coitadinho! hehe
  19. lyr3

    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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