Modder "Fixes" Dark Souls PC Resolution Issues

UPDATE:On his blog, Durante claims he was working on a DLL intercept, which is what allowed him to deliver this fix, ahead of the game's release. Thus, he was able to release the fix in such a timely fashion.

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Dark Souls on PC no longer has a fixed resolution, all thanks to a skilled fan on NeoGAF.

NeoGAF user “Durante” managed to release the fix in less than 30 minutes, though it comes with come caveats.

“People really shouldn't order the game and expect to play the whole thing at high res just yet,” he warned players. “Again: No one knows yet how well (or if at all) this works for the entire game!”

The difference is impressive, though. Check it out:

Gallery

The celebration around FromSoftware’s decision to bring Dark Souls to PC was followed by grumbling over limitations of the port that From Software outlined as development continued.

"To be completely honest, we're having a tough time doing it due to our lack of experience and knowledge in terms of porting to PC,” said producer Daisuke Uchiyama to Eurogamer earlier this year. “First we thought it would be a breeze, but it's turned out not to be the case. We're still developing right now--we're crunching right now.”

Namco Bandai hasn’t responded to my request for comment yet. Specifically, whether Namco Bandai and FromSoftware intends to patch out Durante’s resolution workaround in a future update for Dark Souls on PC.

editing an ini file and slapping on a d3d9 processing dll is not "modding" and it wasnt 23 minutes, he had the pirated version and clearly was using an illegal copy for atleast a day

Awesome now I can see my failures in more detail

@neverdeed said:

editing an ini file and slapping on a d3d9 processing dll is not "modding" and it wasnt 23 minutes, he had the pirated version and clearly was using an illegal copy for atleast a day

Shut down the party guys because someone invited Mr Hates Fun.

Cool that a dude did that. Sad that he needed to.

I hope they welcome the mod support from the community.

This could be a good thing if From Software handles this the right way.

@neverdeed said:

editing an ini file and slapping on a d3d9 processing dll is not "modding" and it wasnt 23 minutes, he had the pirated version and clearly was using an illegal copy for atleast a day

Not necessarily. I got my physical copy three days ago since some retailers have a habit of shipping them early. The physical copy doesn't appear to feature SteamWorks so the DRM isn't release date-related.

@neverdeed said:

editing an ini file and slapping on a d3d9 processing dll is not "modding" and it wasnt 23 minutes, he had the pirated version and clearly was using an illegal copy for atleast a day

Creating a mod isn't "modding" anymore? Weird.

Still runs like total shit, but it looks prettier that's for sure!

@neverdeed said:

editing an ini file and slapping on a d3d9 processing dll is not "modding" and it wasnt 23 minutes, he had the pirated version and clearly was using an illegal copy for atleast a day

And what he should have done is......shell out 40 bucks for a broken game? How else do you propose he tests the game and FIXES IT for the masses, (which by the way doubled if not tripled From's profit)?

Only an absolute moron pays money for a broken item.

Somehow it's too appropriate for a member of the community to be the one to fix the issue. Sounds about right for every other thing related to Dark Souls as far as information about the game is concerned.

Guys making modifications isn't modding and playing games early is clearly piracy.

Guys making modifications isn't modding and playing games early is clearly piracy.

Of course not. Mods are mods, and developers shouldn't forcibly co-op their fans' work, even though it's often massively improved over their own. Skyrim's ENB series of plugins make the game absolutely gorgeous, but thats fans' perogative, and modding Skyrim is incredibly precarious.

Just for this simple Dark Souls workaround, player messages are still broken. That'll be patched by the author, but it's the kind of issue that warrants discretion.

If you change any part of a released pc game either adding to textures or enhancing textures reguardless of method...that to me is modding also...so chill out modman!!

@neverdeed said:

editing an ini file and slapping on a d3d9 processing dll is not "modding" and it wasnt 23 minutes, he had the pirated version and clearly was using an illegal copy for atleast a day

Someone doesn't know what the definition of modification is. Also Patrick, you have a "come" in the first sentence that should be "some".

"Specifically, whether Namco Bandai and FromSoftware intends to patch out Durante’s resolution workaround in a future update for Dark Souls on PC."

Don't give them any ideas Patrick!

This is the saddest shit, no matter which way you approach it.

@Lunar_Aura:

@VierasTalo

GFWL install was locked out until a specific time and date

maybe you should look up something before acting like its fact

we all know gaming "journalists" don't

@Lunar_Aura said:

Guys making modifications isn't modding and playing games early is clearly piracy.

Who gives a shit?

@neverdeed: ok, that explains that. But you still have to atone for your hackneyed attempt at defining what constitutes game modding.

@mbr2 said:

@Lunar_Aura said:

Guys making modifications isn't modding and playing games early is clearly piracy.

Who gives a shit?

WOOOOOOOOSH. You missed the sarcasm.

@AhmadMetallic said:

Still runs like total shit, but it looks prettier that's for sure!

@neverdeed said:

editing an ini file and slapping on a d3d9 processing dll is not "modding" and it wasnt 23 minutes, he had the pirated version and clearly was using an illegal copy for atleast a day

And what he should have done is......shell out 40 bucks for a broken game? How else do you propose he tests the game and FIXES IT for the masses, (which by the way doubled if not tripled From's profit)?

Only an absolute moron pays money for a broken item.

Dark Souls is just a dirty, grimy looking game. Yeah, it may look cleaner and not have those anti-aliasing jaggies but man, it's still dirty looking.

@neverdeed said:

editing an ini file and slapping on a d3d9 processing dll is not "modding" and it wasnt 23 minutes, he had the pirated version and clearly was using an illegal copy for atleast a day

Actually no. Durante was testing his resolution workaround fix for other games the week before then he applied it to Dark Souls the day it was released. At least get your shit straight...

@Packie said:

@neverdeed said:

editing an ini file and slapping on a d3d9 processing dll is not "modding" and it wasnt 23 minutes, he had the pirated version and clearly was using an illegal copy for atleast a day

Actually no. Durante was testing his resolution workaround fix for other games the week before then he applied it to Dark Souls the day it was released. At least get your shit straight...

Oh sweet. Glad this asshat was wrong on all fronts. He owes all of us rimjobs now.

This is the saddest shit, no matter which way you approach it.

@Jack268: No I think it's more the developers not including a feature, that was fixed by the community in less than a week.

BAWWW A GUY FIXED SOMETHING IN A COUPLE OF DAYS THAT FROM COULDN'T FIX IN MONTHS PIRACY PIRACY WAHHH

Wash the sand out of your cunts.

What's truly sad is how ungrateful the PC community can be. We can be amazing, but also a bunch of assholes when we want it. Durante's work is amazing, no matter how you look at it, and yet people complain about it.

Honestly, I just don't know what to think about PC gamers anymore.

I think this mod is great, hopefully all the small nagging issues will get ironed out as they are found.

I have to say though, people complaining that this game is broken are pretty ignorant. From made it clear from the beginning that this was going to be a barebones port. They never claimed anything else. Even so, it is still by far the best version of this game released.

With enough people buying the PC version of Dark Souls, hopefully their next game gets better treatment.

Can anyone tell me where to put the file? I looked all over for the directory that Dark Souls installed itself into, but when I put it into the steam/steamapps/common/darksouls/data folder the game no longer would launch until I removed it.

Reading the comments here is a timely reminder of why I don't post on this site and probably never will again.

I enjoyed the game on PC before I installed the fix. After installing the fix it's still pretty great on the PC.  

You guys that're calling him a pirate, and saying that he just copied in a dll and edited an ini file, where did you get that from?

If you click the third link in the story - "thanks to a skilled fan on NeoGAF", he pretty clearly explains that he began work on the mod a week before the game was due out. Essentially he built a generic framework in the dll to intercept the D3D calls affecting framebuffer resolution, ie. the hard part, then once the game was out all he had left to do was some small edits specific to the actual game (identify the exact D3D calls that it makes, i would guess). That's why he was able to mod it so quickly after the midnight unlock of the game files on GFWL.

The short of it is, maybe, read the story properly and attempt some research before making wild claims? I think the bloke deserves serious kudos for being so prepared, being smart enough to do it, and sharing it with everyone too.

I don't expect the port of Dark Souls to be excellent, the developers have confessed as much (and I applaud them for their honesty). I just hope that the game is modder friendly enough so that fans can give the game all the love and support it needs to thrive for years to come.

@Jack268: Probably the smart thing to do.

What's truly sad is how ungrateful the PC community can be. We can be amazing, but also a bunch of assholes when we want it. Durante's work is amazing, no matter how you look at it, and yet people complain about it.

Honestly, I just don't know what to think about PC gamers anymore.

@BaconGames said:

Somehow it's too appropriate for a member of the community to be the one to fix the issue. Sounds about right for every other thing related to Dark Souls as far as information about the game is concerned.

People made the joke on neogaf, that the locked resolution is the final puzzle in the game.

@neverdeed said:

editing an ini file and slapping on a d3d9 processing dll is not "modding" and it wasnt 23 minutes, he had the pirated version and clearly was using an illegal copy for atleast a day

I'm glad this comments section has made you look like a complete moron.

@neverdeed: Congratulations on having such a ridiculous and untrue statement be the first comment.

@JoeyRavn said:

What's truly sad is how ungrateful the PC community can be. We can be amazing, but also a bunch of assholes when we want it. Durante's work is amazing, no matter how you look at it, and yet people complain about it.

Honestly, I just don't know what to think about PC gamers anymore.

Show all these people complaining about Durante's fix besides the shitty troll(s) in the comments here.

Just go read the thread on NeoGAF and see how ungrateful people are. Lots of people even donated to him..

@JoeyRavn said:

What's truly sad is how ungrateful the PC community can be. We can be amazing, but also a bunch of assholes when we want it. Durante's work is amazing, no matter how you look at it, and yet people complain about it.

Honestly, I just don't know what to think about PC gamers anymore.

Uh, that's a couple of guys here. There's not a single person on the original Neogaf thread complaining. In fact, they're mostly applauding him and offering donations to his paypal account and the page count of that thread is innumerably longer that what you can see here.

Don't judge PC gamers on the merit of a few idiot GB-ers.

Seriously? People are screaming piracy?

@neverdeed: It's been said before, but it bears repeating: you're wrong, and you make this site's community look bad.

@Mysh said:

You guys that're calling him a pirate, and saying that he just copied in a dll and edited an ini file, where did you get that from?

If you click the third link in the story - "thanks to a skilled fan on NeoGAF", he pretty clearly explains that he began work on the mod a week before the game was due out. Essentially he built a generic framework in the dll to intercept the D3D calls affecting framebuffer resolution, ie. the hard part, then once the game was out all he had left to do was some small edits specific to the actual game (identify the exact D3D calls that it makes, i would guess). That's why he was able to mod it so quickly after the midnight unlock of the game files on GFWL.

The short of it is, maybe, read the story properly and attempt some research before making wild claims? I think the bloke deserves serious kudos for being so prepared, being smart enough to do it, and sharing it with everyone too.

This. Thank you.

I'm seriously tempted to get this port now. Well, after I finish platinuming Dark Souls on PS3. Now that'll take a while lol.

@Mysh: The dude is clearly a genius and deserves a lot of praise but in that same link many people are claiming he is better than the entire From Software team and that Japanese developers are idiots. That is why I think some people are trying to diminish this guy's effort, which in my opinion is a misguided attack.

Anyway, as far as I know you still can't change the resolution while playing the game and all possible resolution combinations have not been tested, which I guess is what From Software didn't wanted to do.

Saying this guy did in 30 minutes what the entire team could not do in several months is kind of insulting the effort that went into making the game available to an audience that complained a lot to get the game on the platform of their choice and then complained a lot because it was not everything they imagined it would be.

@Turambar said:

Seriously? People are screaming piracy?

Nope, one imbecile is.

Why did they release a PC game with a fix res in the firsl place?

'Neverdeed' is probably the biggest troll on GB these days. Want a few more recent examples? He made a comment where many were praising Fez, and he tried very hard to completely bury it and even call it "shovelware", which isn't even using the term correctly. He goes on bombcast comments and says "the quality of the bombcast has gone down drastically recently, dont expect it to be good guys". It's sad he's so persistent, because he's not even funny. At least amusing trolls aren't a complete waste of space.

Unfortunately, I think his stirring everyone up this time was his most successful attempt yet.

@lowestformofwit said:

Why did they release a PC game with a fix res in the firsl place?

If I understand the situation right, it's because, with their resources, it was either that or not release it at all.

I agree that it would be nice if it was a more full-featured port but I think it's cool that Dark Souls made it to the PC at all.