How to fix Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition (2012) for PC and get started

Fixes, multiplayer setup, suggestions and tips to get the most out of the PC version of DaS1.

Introduction

The purpose of this guide is to create a quick fix with some explanation on how to get the PC 2012 version of Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition up to a good standard for playing on PC.

Before it was released FromSoftware, Dark Souls' developers, stated the PC port of Dark Souls would be bare bones basic and would have zero optimisation for the PC / Windows audience as they aren't experienced in developing games for this platform. Despite being a 1:1 port of the Xbox 360 version, a PC game without optimisation options is not considered a good port within the community.
13 minutes after release a fan-patch named DSFix by an individual with the online handle of "Durante". DSFix fixed some major problems with the title.

I have published this guide to help any new players, I will try to expand on it whenever important issues are discovered and solved. Be aware that I am not a developer of the game and I am only offering advice.

The most important mod: Dark Souls Configuration Utility

https://github.com/SeanPesce/Dark_Souls_Config_Utility

Changing Button Icons

You need DSFix. You can modify the controller icons in-game using the mods provided here by searching for "interface" or "buttons" mods. http://darksouls.nexusmods.com/
For example; you can download Playstation icons to replace the in-game Xbox 360 set.

The installation is normally popping the files into your "\DATA\dsfix\tex_override" folder and enabling texture overriding for DSFix like so:

enableTextureOverride 1

Multiplayer

While I suggest playing by yourself on your first playthrough, remember that people may be waiting for you should you need help.

Issues & Fixes

Dark Souls creates a P2P IP Pool of other players as you play the game. If you're having trouble with connecting to players, open these ports:

TCP port 27014-27050
UDP port 4379
UDP port 4380
UDP port 3478

Multiplayer Advice

Is it okay to summon on first playthrough? I'd say you might miss out on all a boss may offer but 1v2 boss fights may be daunting to newcomers. I'd recommend trying to place your White Soapstone sign to travel to another world so you can help another player, use the experience to learn the fight to do it solo in your own world, guilt-free!

But, if you want to summon the help of another player, you have to kindle Humanity at a bonfire. This will let you transform to Human form (shown by clearer skin and a white border around the Humanity meter at the top left of the UI) to summon help from other player White Soapstone signs.
You may gain Humanity by helping another player beat a boss to obtain one soft Humanity point and use that to kindle.

Multiplayer Matchmaking

The range in which you can summon or invade is dictated by your Soul Level (SL), insert your SL value into this calculator to work it out for you:
https://mpql.net/tools/dark-souls/

Sugestions of SL ranges you should be to likely find players around to invade or help:

• Undead Burg: 1-15
  
• Undead Parish: 1-20
  
• Darkroot Garden and Basin: 1-25
  
• Darkroot Forest: 1-80
  
• Lower Undead Burg: 10-25
  
• The Depths: 10-30
  
• Catacombs: 15-80
  
• Blighttown: 20-35
  
• Sen's Fortress: 25-45
  
• Anor Londo: 30-55
  
• Painted World of Ariamis: 30-80
  
• New Londo: 40-80
  
• Lost Izalith: 40-80
  
• Tomb of the Giants: 40-80
  
• Duke's Archives: 40-80
  
• Artorias of the Abyss: 45-80
  
• Kiln of the First Flame: 60-80
  
• Newgame+* 80-135

Hover over the black text to reveal area name spoilers.

* NG and NG+ (and onwards) each interact with eachother. e.g. a SL20 invader in NG+7 can invade SL19 players still in NG.

If you've beaten the game before, consider trying to summon everyone you see. Keep the game alive and entertaining for other people while having jolly co-operation!

Invasions

Invading is fun! Invasions is a big reason why Demon's Souls was a cult hit and how this series' multiplayer got so popular it's been copied by other videogames ever since.

Try to be creative with builds focused around a limited Soul Level range around the above areas. Make a SL20 Upper Blighttown invader with Greatbow, make a glass cannon, make a lowbie bullier, anything!

If you're running a high SL invader try not to go above SL135 as the recommend PVP meta is SL125 to SL135.

Important Notes

• DO NOT KILL INGWARD (New Londo sealer) IN NG+ MODE. He may not drop the Key to the Seal. I've been aware of this bug since 2012 and I'm not sure if this bug has been fixed yet.
  
• NVIDIA drivers from January to February 2016 conflict with DSFix.

Miscellaneous Fixes

Below are miscellaneous fixes that mostly focus on improving the performance of your game.

Crashes

Dark Souls crashes referencing vsfilter.dll

Players have reported that renaming vsfilter.dll fixs this problem. Warning: Naturally changing a DLL may cause other programs to not work.

Dark Souls crashes after the intro or endings

Rename the "movWW" folder in "\Steam\SteamApps\common\Dark Souls Prepare to Die Edition\DATA".

Windows 7 crash on start-up

Follow the following instructions for a possible fix:
1. Make a shortcut to 'DARKSOULS.exe' which is found in the game directory's 'DATA' folder.
   
2. Right-click and select 'Properties'.
   
3. Go to the 'Compatibility' tab, check 'Run this program in compatibility mode for:' and select 'Windows Vista (Service Pack 2)'.
   
4. Try running the game through this shortcut.

Windows 8 crash

Follow the following instructions for a possible fix:
1. Navigate to the game directory of Dark Souls and enter the 'DATA' folder.
   
2. Right-click and select 'Properties'.
   
3. Go to the 'Compatibility' tab, check 'Run this program in compatibility mode for:' and select 'Windows Vista (Service Pack 2)' or 'Windows 7'.
   
4. Try running the game.

Windows 10 crash
Disable anti-aliasing through the in-game settings. Use DSFix for anti-aliasing.

In-game settings crash

Make sure you're using Borderless Windowed mode via DSFix or your monitor is set to 60hz before trying to change settings again. Alternatively you may open up DarkSouls.ini in the directory and change the settings from there.

DEP Crash

Windows' Disable Excution Prevention settings may be messing with your game and causing it to crash.To find out how to disable this, click on the following link and add your Operating System to the end to find the instructions from one of Microsoft's own resource websites. https://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en&gws_rd=cr&ei=HgzPVtr7NoPe6QSoqa34Aw#hl=en&q=data+execution+prevention+disable

Performance

General

When Dark Souls is running try opening Task Manager and setting 'DATA.exe' and set its Priority to 'High'. Also check if there's more than 2 cores using it and disable any unnecessary cores. Consider turning off/on the FPS limiter that DSFix provides you with.

Windows 7

Try turning on/off Window's Aero theme.

NVIDIA General

If you're using Optimus make sure it is set it to use NVIDIA for Dark Souls.
1. Open 'NVIDIA Control Panel'.
   
2. Manage 3d Settings > Program Settings and add 'DARKSOULS.exe' (find it by navigating to the game directory's 'DATA' folder) and set the prefered graphics processor to NVIDIA Graphics.

AMD/ATI General

Screen tearing

If you suffer screen tearing try the following:
1. Disabling V-Sync in your GPU control panels.
   
2. Open dsfix.ini, make sure parameter is the following value:

   borderlessFullscreen 1

If either of them don't work, open dsfix.ini and try changing the 'FPSlimit' parameter's values to ONE of the following:

FPSlimit 59

FPSlimit 64

FPSlimit 70

The latter codes may have gameplay issues.

Low-end PC performance boost

1. Open 'dsfix.ini' and make sure the following parameter to the accompanied values:
   

   aaQuality 0

   ssaoScale 3

2. Open the options in-game and make sure motion blur is disabled.

Laptop has slow performance

Find out if you can set up your laptop screen's refresh rate to 60hz. If not possible hook it up ot a TV or monitor with a VGA or HDMI cable.

Low-end NVIDIA GPU performance boost

If you find an old version of NVIDIA Inspector you can mess with the LoD (Level of Detail) values for DARKSOULS.exe and some other tweaks to help run the game better. Be warned as the game will lose a lot of visual fidelity at the cost of this maybe helping your performance.

AMD/ATI GPUs from 2006-2012 performance fix

PhilDogTheMan from the steam forums published the following information on how to fix the performance issues on AMD/ATI graphics cards: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2902805Make a 3D profile for Dark Souls in the Catalyst Control Center and make sure no 'Use application settings' are checked.If that doesn't work, if it's possible try disabling AMD Cool 'N Quiet in your BIOS settings.

Game Tips

• Read orange soapstone signs. Up-vote them if they're handy or entertain you.
  
• Take things slow, look around.
  
• Starting classes only dictate your starting items, stats and sometimes a bonus. Any class can find or use anything if you build them towards it.
  
• Don't worry too much about your first character's build and stats. Experiment and learn from any mistakes.
  
• Play how you like. Don't look up walkthrough guides unless you're very stuck or lost. You can beat the game with anything you want. I like to see creativity, post your experiences here. Infact, maybe you should stop reading these tips.
  
• Use 'Kindle' at Bonfires to increase the amount of Estus you can obtain from it while resting or respawning. You need to be human and have a soft Humanity point.
  
• Endurance is important, it allows you to perform more actions before stamina fatigue (40 endurance the is stamina cap). It also raises your equipment load, which allows you to use heavier weapons and armour without sacrificing your character's speed.
  
• You can equip a spell with 10 in the Attunement stat, Pyromancy spells don't require you to invest in Intelligence or Faith points.
  
• After you find a blacksmith, try to upgrade your weapons & armour before you increase your Soul Level stats. Weapon upgrades > stat scaling.
  
• The director wants you to consider taking the pendant as your starting gift.
  
• If you find a broken pendant, you may want to check a lake in a basin, maybe twice, or three times if you've never seen one.
  
• Consider buying 5-10 'Indictment' items, it'll punish online players who bully you.
  
• If you want to make more characters but don't have enough save slots; navigate to your save folder and make a backup of the folder using copy & paste. Open Dark Souls, delete an existing character and make a new character. To use your old save, do the same thing again but re-name accordingly to the file you want to use. I suggest making a .txt file detailing the characters on each save and place them into their respective folders.

Useful External Links & Credits

Useful External Links
Dark Souls Discord: http://www.discord.gg/darksouls3
Dark Souls Nexus, for your modding needs: http://darksouls.nexusmods.com/
Guide on making your face not ugly: http://imgur.com/a/SARvG
ENB's Lore Videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4825DBA198EBE9B9

Credits
That "Jolly Co-operation!" artist, if you know the original source please tell me!
Dark Souls Configuration Utility's SeanPesce - https://github.com/SeanPesce/Dark_Souls_Config_Utility
DSfix's Durante - http://blog.metaclassofnil.com/
DarkSoulsMouseFix's Methanhydrat - https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/5x6ec9/darksoulsmousefix_v10_beta_released_raw_mouse/
DSMfix's lebbers - http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~petska
Steamworks DSMfix's Jellybaby34 - https://www.reddit.com/user/Jellybaby34
Watchdog's eur0pa - https://steamcommunity.com/id/eur0pa
DSCM's Wulf - http://wulf2k.ca/

[Revenant]

QuantizedAnson's post works as of this posting. Makes things much easier, thanks for sharing.

[A Block of Jelly]

@QuantizedAnson
Hey, checking the link you posted, at first glance it seems as a convenient way to install fixes and the likes, but seems a bit oudated & clumsily made (As well as having issue figuring out where to even download it from) Even if super late, you mind if possible providing more info on said tool?

[QuantizedAnson]

Looks like there's an updated and better version of DSfix
https://github.com/SeanPesce/Dark_Souls_Config_Utility

[Arbie]

Hell yeah

[Cowboy Pikachu]

thank u this is perfect

[Ԍζυς]

On Linux, you have to add a line to the launch box in properties window for the game. It permit dsfix to work, also the HOST_LC_ALL= is only to add if the language ingame is not the one you expect, adapt it to your own locale.
WINEDLLOVERRIDES="dinput8=n,b" HOST_LC_ALL=fr_FR.UTF-8 %command%

[Slava Ukraini]

I need use dsmfix and not only dsfix

[-̶̯͡»̶̥Ş-P-Ŷ-R-Ŏ]

"Loading of specified dinput wrapper failed with error 126: the specified module could not be found"

[Abysswalker]

Hello. Pls help! After alt+tab game not responding and crushing. What can i do? Win10 with DSfix

[Arbie]

You're welcome! Enjoy the game.