what does DSfix do?

[Icedfate]

i just downloaded DSfix and followed the instructions.
my game looks exactly the same.

what is this supposed to actually do?
I did not notice any difference...except

I don't know if this is related but i had R ctrl bound as my heavy attack key and now every time i hit that key it toggles my hud display on and off.
I have 33+ hours in this game and that never happened before, the time this started happening seems to conincide exactly with when i installed DSfix

[Nicholas Steel]

Well, you need to tweak the DSFix.ini file to enable most tweaks, otherwise it will indeed not have much of an impact.

[Nicholas Steel]

Here is a list of changes I recommend: http://steamcommunity.com/app/211420/discussions/0/864980153118827181/#c864980277679531443

Note: Change Render Width and Render Height to match your display resolution and don't set Depth of Field higher then your resolution.

Alternatively replace the entire contents of DSFix.ini with the below text (Note the changes you may need to make, mentioned in the previous paragraph):

# 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 1920
renderHeight 1080

# 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 4

# 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 1

# 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 VSSAO2

############# 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 810

# 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 1

# 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 30

# 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 1

###############################################################################
# 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 1

# backup interval in seconds (1500 = 25 minutes)
# (minimum setting 600)
backupInterval 600

# 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 0

###############################################################################
# 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

###############################################################################
# The settings below are not yet ready to use!!               
###############################################################################

# You can only set either forceFullscreen or forceWindowed (or neither)
# 0 = off, 1 = on
forceWindowed 0
forceFullscreen 0

# turn on/off Vsync
enableVsync 0
# adjust display refresh rate in fullscreen mode - this is NOT linked to FPS!
fullscreenHz 60

[Nicholas Steel]

You can edit DSFixKeys.ini to change or disable hotkeys that let you alter DSFix settings during gameplay, such as the R hotkey you've discovered.

[Icedfate]

just wondering...the nexus website i got dsfix from, specifically says to disable anti-aliasing or the game will crash, but you have it set to 4 = ultra?

[Nicholas Steel]

The in-game anti aliasing setting must be disabled (Start the game, go to PC Settings menu, disable it). The one available within DSFix's configuration file is perfectly safe however.

Also make sure you are using the latest DSFix, which is currently version 2.2. Download link and author's website: http://blog.metaclassofnil.com/?tag=dsfix