Recommended mods for Dark Souls: Prepare to Die (PC edition)?

[Artimise]

So I'm debating on if I want to get Dark Souls for PC. I already know that there is a lot of problems in regards to the port and how trying to play the game with a mouse and K/B can be an exercise in frustration.

 

That said, I have my PS3 controller installed into the computer right now so that part won't be a big issue. However, I also have read that there are some optimization issues, as well as rather low res graphics issues with the game (being a direct port, it's to be expected).

 

So here I am now, asking all of you PC Darksouls vets, what you would suggest for a new comer to the Dark Souls PC edition in terms of essential mods to make the experience the best as possible. DSfix appears to be one of them, and I think a few other high-res mods (Though I'm still looking to see if they'll clash with other mods).

 

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

[Rennn]

Well, you're right that DSfix is pretty much required.

I personally would recommend DSfix 1.9, since it allows antialiasing. Later versions only allow shader AA like FXAA or SMAA, not MSAA or SSAA. Later versions still allow downsampling, ofc, so if you want to use the latest version it's not really a problem.

 

Texture mods are not really efficient in Dark Souls, since they cause a bit of stutter when they load. It's a result of how they're loaded, and as far as I know can't be fixed by getting a stronger PC. I recommend avoiding most HD texture mods, especially since none of them have managed to maintain the great style of Dark Souls.

 

 

These are two mods besides DSfix that I recommend for every Dark Souls PC player:

 

Tree LowRes Texture fix - This is one of my mods. It also made it into the top 10 Dark Souls mods of all time. <3

http://darksouls.nexusmods.com/mods/67/?

 

High-Res UI and Subtitle Fix - At 1080p or above, the text in Dark Souls looks a bit blocky. This fix works perfectly.

http://darksouls.nexusmods.com/mods/21/?

 

 

These are two other mods that can be useful to a lot of people:

 

Quelaag Texture Fix - Not really a 'fix'. It adds nipples to Quelaag, since many players find it just silly that she doesn't have them. NSFW

http://darksouls.nexusmods.com/mods/49/?

 

PS3 and 360 Carbon Icons - This is really a matter of taste for people who use 360 controllers, but since you use a PS3 controller it should help quite a lot.

http://darksouls.nexusmods.com/mods/256/?

 

 

Most of Dark Souls' performance issues seem to be related to CPUs. Dark Souls was meant for 6 cores, but the PC version is locked to only use 2 cores. This is an issue, because all the saving and loading is done seamlessly in the background, which really stresses just 2 CPU cores. A CPU boosting program, such as the one bundled with Iobit Total PC Care, will help. That said, if you have a decent CPU the performance is actually pretty good through most of the game.

Edited September 21, 2013 by Rennn