Guide: How to get Dark Souls, GFWL, DSfix, DSCfix and DSVfix working.

[Razgrim]

Hi all,

I decided to make a guide because I see a lot of people still struggling getting this set up properly and getting the game to work with all the fixes.

What the fixes do:
- DSfix will upgrade the visuals of the game and will (of you activate it) make extra savegames which are easy for you to make backups from.
- DSCfix will make it easier for you to connect ingame with your friends from GFWL.
- DSVfix is to prevent hackers from completely and permanently destroying your character.


Step 1:
- Install Dark Souls. When it's finished, go to your Windows control panel, choose 'Uninstall a Program' and uninstall GFWL and the GFWL Marketplace.

Step 2:
- Go to http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/pc/downloadclient and download + install the updated version of GFWL

Note: Step 2 can be done before installing Dark Souls and then you don't have to uninstall the old version of GFWL and the GFWL Marketplace, because the game recognizes a newer version of GFWL is already installed and will skip installing the old version.

Step 3:
Open Dark Souls. Create a GFWL account and enter the serial key from Dark Souls/login to your existing GFWL account.

Step 4:
Go to your settings and turn off Anti-aliasing and Motion-blur. Exit Dark Souls.

Step 5:
Download DSfix, DSCfix and DSVfix from Nexusmods
- DSfix http://darksouls.nexusmods.com/mods/19/?tab=2&navtag=%2Fajax%2Fmodfiles%2F%3Fid%3D19&pUp=1#
- DSCfix http://darksouls.nexusmods.com/mods/334/?tab=2&navtag=%2Fajax%2Fmodfiles%2F%3Fid%3D334&pUp=1
- DSVfix http://darksouls.nexusmods.com/mods/440/?tab=2&navtag=%2Fajax%2Fmodfiles%2F%3Fid%3D440&pUp=1

Step 6:
Unzip DSfix, DSCfix and DSVfix and put all the files (except for the textdocuments like the 'Readme files') in your Dark Souls DATA folder, that is probably at the following location on your harddrive: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Dark Souls Prepare to Die Edition\DATA

Step 7:
Download and install the x86 version of VC++ Redistributable for VS2012. http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30679

Now it's time to set up DSfix, DSCfix and DSVfix. These 3 files need to load in a specific order for them to work without crashing the game. DSfix needs to load DSCfix. DSCfix needs to load DSVfix.

Step 8:
Go to your Dark Souls DATA folder, rightclick on DSfix.ini and choose Notepad as your default program to open the file. Now open it. Search for 'enableBackups 0' and set it to 1.
enableBackups 1
--> This will make backupping your savegames a lot easier.

Now search for dinput8dllWrapper dsmfix.dll and change it to DSCfix.dll.
dinput8dllWrapper DSCfix.dll
--> This will make DSfix load DSCfix.

Step 9:
Now open DSCfix.ini with Notepad and change ;dInput8Chain = dsmfix.dll to DSVfix.dll. Make sure to remove the ;
dInput8Chain = DSVfix.dll
--> This will make DSCfix load DSVfix.

Step 10:
No need to make changes to DSVfix.ini and if you've done everything correctly Dark Souls will start up without any errors but with the improved visuals, improved connectivity to your GFWL friends and with protection against hackers.

Step 11:
To make backups of your savegame, go to your users folder: C:\Users\*yourpcusername*\Documents\nbgi\darksouls\*yourGFWLusername*. Here you'll see a bunch of files that end with .bak and 1 file that ends with .sl
You can copy+paste (don't cut+paste!) these files to a different location to make a backup. If something happens, just copy them back here and you're good to go.


I hope this helps. Enjoy the game! ^^

[Ash]

Pin this please

[Philister101]

WE NEED EVRYTHING IN THIS POST BEFORE PLAYING ITS ESENTIEL ALL.... THIS BLOG IS THE MOST IMPORTANT

[ahaha.wav]

Why not make a guide on Steam Community rather than posting this under discussions? It'll get a lot more attention if you post it there.

[Marques]

You should add the DSMfix too.

[Loki]

Wicked guide. Thanks so much.

[[U306]creich87]

are DSC and DSV still needed as of 1/21/2014? I can't find a place to download them anywhere.

[Bloodyfish]

Originally posted by creich87:

are DSC and DSV still needed as of 1/21/2014? I can't find a place to download them anywhere.

You can find the latest dscfix and dsmfix in the steam forums. Dscfix isn't necessary, but it helps if you want to play with friends. I heard the stat draining was patched, meaning dsvfix isn't necessary, but I've seen posts claiming it still happens.

[[U306]creich87]

what is dsmfix primarily for? I pretty much just want to be able to summon more often and have it work

[Bloodyfish]

Originally posted by creich87:

what is dsmfix primarily for? I pretty much just want to be able to summon more often and have it work

Dsmfix helps if you aren't using a controller. Dscfix makes it much easier to connect to people on your gfwl friends list. That's about the only thing that I can think of to help you summon more often.

[Relicks2]

dsmfix is a must too.

[Razgrim]

Apparently DSVfix isn't needed anymore. Since the latest patch the functionality has been built in DS itself. DSMfix is only neccessary if you play with keyboard+mouse.

[Bloodyfish]

Originally posted by Tierkreis:

Apparently DSVfix isn't needed anymore. Since the latest patch the functionality has been built in DS itself. DSMfix is only neccessary if you play with keyboard+mouse.

I've heard claims that stat draining is still a thing. To be fair though, one of the people claiming it was a hacker who was either a pathological liar or thought we'd be too stupid to realize he was making stuff up.

[Immortal]

All works fine but.. Why the game says to me "Insufficient framerate for online gameplay, bye bye to the main menu!!"? Some tips?

[Bloodyfish]

Originally posted by claudio.boschiero:

All works fine but.. Why the game says to me "Insufficient framerate for online gameplay, bye bye to the main menu!!"? Some tips?

Odd, I only get that if I tab out a lot. Try turning down the graphics in dsfix.

[Sagwa The Chinese Siamese Cat]

i can't get my DSCfix to work... i've done everything on the list. can't even summon friends:/