Durante is still hard at work with the constant updates to improve this loveable game, but it seems he wasn't the only one brave enough to take up the fight. A modder that goes by "Nwks" has released a alpha-build mod that allows the game to be played at 60 fps without speeding up animations. Currently, the mod can only be played offline, but folks in this steam thread have found a work-around that. I'm sure that, given time, Nwks will properly update the mod to fix this problem.

"How to Sweden the experience?" Re-reading the title made me much less interested.

I've yet to play the game, so I don't know what the issues are with frame rate right now. I did hear it was poorly optimized (if at all), but I'm glad to hear of a method to solve any frame rate issues when I get into it. Thanks for the link @Ghost_Cat

This is actually turning out to be a proper PC game.

Meh that game looks and runs great at 30fps.

Allows the game to run at 60 FPS?

I already run at 60 FPS.. and I'm not recording or anything. Is this guy imagining things, or is he just absolutely disgusted and vilified with 30 FPS? Because it isn't that bad at all...

Turns out ALL the excuses given to gimp the PC version, were bullshit. If would be irresponsible to vote with my wallet for a product like this, even though I love the let's plays. One day I would like to read the story of what has gone so horribly wrong at From Software. Was it maybe one guy, working 12 hour shifts six days a week, who made the PC port in his free time? Or did they want to make a point about piracy on the PC, laggy multiplayer, GFWL, et voilá. Did they made the version so shitty that only the most dedicated fans would gobble it up?

Not to mention that Durante is hesitant to include the frame rate fix into his DSfix in fear or Games For Windows Live - hacking retributions, because it changes the executable.

@Eurobum said:

Turns out ALL the excuses given to gimp the PC version, were bullshit. If would be irresponsible to vote with my wallet for a product like this, even though I love the let's plays. One day I would like to read the story of what has gone so horribly wrong at From Software. Was it maybe one guy, working 12 hour shifts six days a week, who made the PC port in his free time? Or did they want to make a point about piracy on the PC, laggy multiplayer, GFWL, et voilá. Did they made the version so shitty that only the most dedicated fans would gobble it up?

Not to mention that Durante is hesitant to include the frame rate fix into his DSfix in fear or Games For Windows Live - hacking retributions, because it changes the executable.

Look here boys, we have another person who can't accept a game for a game instead of constantly complaining about the bad Console Port it was every time they take 2 steps in the freakin game. Oh wait.. when I say 'boys', I mean 'me', because I'm apparently the only one who's thankful that From Software actually listened to their community. Please just grow up =_=.

I don't think it'll fix the fact that it still doesn't run all that great. New Londo Ruins or Blighttown still kill the framerate on pc. You can enable the game to theoretically run at 60 FPS, but it doesn't mean the game will actually be able to.

@Eurobum said:

Turns out ALL the excuses given to gimp the PC version, were bullshit. If would be irresponsible to vote with my wallet for a product like this, even though I love the let's plays. One day I would like to read the story of what has gone so horribly wrong at From Software. Was it maybe one guy, working 12 hour shifts six days a week, who made the PC port in his free time? Or did they want to make a point about piracy on the PC, laggy multiplayer, GFWL, et voilá. Did they made the version so shitty that only the most dedicated fans would gobble it up?

Not to mention that Durante is hesitant to include the frame rate fix into his DSfix in fear or Games For Windows Live - hacking retributions, because it changes the executable.

I'm pretty sure From Software didn't actually port the game. Hijinx Studios did it or at least most of it. Same guys who did the Silent Hill HD collection. It may be a bad port, but at least people get a chance to buy it on PC. Also, wouaaa wouaaa wouaaaaaaaaaa (that's the sound of you crying like a baby). The whole "DRM makes me pirate" excuse is total bull. Chances are those people would've pirated the game anyway. They are just trying to rationalize doing so.

@Jazzycola said:

I don't think it'll fix the fact that it still doesn't run all that great. New Londo Ruins or Blighttown still kill the framerate on pc. You can enable the game to theoretically run at 60 FPS, but it doesn't mean the game will actually be able to.

@Eurobum said:

Turns out ALL the excuses given to gimp the PC version, were bullshit. If would be irresponsible to vote with my wallet for a product like this, even though I love the let's plays. One day I would like to read the story of what has gone so horribly wrong at From Software. Was it maybe one guy, working 12 hour shifts six days a week, who made the PC port in his free time? Or did they want to make a point about piracy on the PC, laggy multiplayer, GFWL, et voilá. Did they made the version so shitty that only the most dedicated fans would gobble it up?

Not to mention that Durante is hesitant to include the frame rate fix into his DSfix in fear or Games For Windows Live - hacking retributions, because it changes the executable.

I'm pretty sure From Software didn't actually port the game. Hijinx Studios did it or at least most of it. Same guys who did the Silent Hill HD collection. It may be a bad port, but at least people get a chance to buy it on PC. Also, wouaaa wouaaa wouaaaaaaaaaa (that's the sound of you crying like a baby). The whole "DRM makes me pirate" excuse is total bull. Chances are those people would've pirated the game anyway. They are just trying to rationalize doing so.

That depends entirely on your hardware. I have a PC that was built by me this century, so my game runs like butter. The 360s hardware is ancient, so anyone having performance issues must be on an old laptop or something.

For some reason when I tried it last night it didn't work right for me. When loading, the menus and stuff ran double speed and Fraps read 60 fps. However the game itself was still capped at 30 fps and ran at half speed. Gonna wait for more issues to be ironed out.
 
Still only using about 35% of my GPU and 45% of my CPU.

@JackOhara: Nope. I have 2 GTX 460s in SLI(same performance issues when not SLId) with a I7 860 CPU. I get very very choppy framerates in Blighttown and New Londo Ruins. Luckily, I didn't spend much time in blighttown. Also takes like 10 seconds to boot up and for some reason it starts out in Windowed mode then goes to full screen. Meanwhile, I'm playing Sleeping Dogs at the same time maxed with High res textures with no problem at all.

@Jazzycola said:

@JackOhara: Nope. I have 2 GTX 460s in SLI(same performance issues when not SLId) with a I7 860 CPU. I get very very choppy framerates in Blighttown and New Londo Ruins. Luckily, I didn't spend much time in blighttown. Also takes like 10 seconds to boot up and for some reason it starts out in Windowed mode then goes to full screen. Meanwhile, I'm playing Sleeping Dogs at the same time maxed with High res textures with no problem at all.

Dunno what the problem is then. I run a single GTX 570 with an i7 2600k, and my GPU utilization never goes above 30%. Maybe try disabling SLI? I know not all games love dual cards, its definitely caused serious issues with some games in the past.

@MrKlorox: disable vsync ?

@Pieman51: meh im super grateful , everyone who implys its such a bad port really doesnt know what bad ports are .. its not a GREAT port , but its fucntionable , provides a carbon copy experience to console (as long as you stick to a controller) , and prior to the dsfix patch still ran alot better (didnt look any better which durante proved was easy , but they didnt mae it look WORSE)

DID ANYONE PLAY GTA4 on pc when it came out .. it was MONTHS before that thing was playable or didnt have hideous graphical glitches .. the entire game was ported by using a similar method to dsfix , it kept the original xbox code and assets and pushed it thru a wrapper that had some pc functionality , this is pretty much how they all do it unless they build the pc engine from the ground up or port the engine to console afterwards etc.. what we expect from a port hasnt actually been done that frequently , and the ones that do meet our expectations usually have such a high budget that we dont see any more from them because the pircacy and lack of profitss cant justify the expense at developing multiple engines etc..

rant over .. if it werent for shoddy gfwl connectivity , dark souls would be godlike on pc .. the only thing we can blame from software for there is being bullied into using it , the fact we even got any response on it .. like "we will try but most likey it will still be gfwl" means there was probably quite alot of internal debate , but the bamco train doesn't wait for ppl to decide on best pracitces

can we all stop raggin on from software for this , and start ragging on them for the piece of shit that is armored core V ?

@envane said:

@MrKlorox: disable vsync ?

@Pieman51: meh im super grateful , everyone who implys its such a bad port really doesnt know what bad ports are .. its not a GREAT port , but its fucntionable , provides a carbon copy experience to console (as long as you stick to a controller) , and prior to the dsfix patch still ran alot better (didnt look any better which durante proved was easy , but they didnt mae it look WORSE)

DID ANYONE PLAY GTA4 on pc when it came out .. it was MONTHS before that thing was playable or didnt have hideous graphical glitches .. the entire game was ported by using a similar method to dsfix , it kept the original xbox code and assets and pushed it thru a wrapper that had some pc functionality , this is pretty much how they all do it unless they build the pc engine from the ground up or port the engine to console afterwards etc.. what we expect from a port hasnt actually been done that frequently , and the ones that do meet our expectations usually have such a high budget that we dont see any more from them because the pircacy and lack of profitss cant justify the expense at developing multiple engines etc..

rant over .. if it werent for shoddy gfwl connectivity , dark souls would be godlike on pc .. the only thing we can blame from software for there is being bullied into using it , the fact we even got any response on it .. like "we will try but most likey it will still be gfwl" means there was probably quite alot of internal debate , but the bamco train doesn't wait for ppl to decide on best pracitces

can we all stop raggin on from software for this , and start ragging on them for the piece of shit that is armored core V ?

Is armored core 5 a piece of shit? I was waiting til that went down in price, what's wrong with it? Also, what is everyone's complaint with GFWL? My use of it with Dark Souls has been totally seamless so far

Not to derail, but for some reason I read the thread title as "How to Sweden the experience?" (probably because of the capital S). Now I'm going to ask myself this whenever I play games.

@JackOhara: mabye im raging a bit , ac5 was a supreme disappointment , alot of the changes they have made to the series havent really worked to its benefit (the thing that worked most is the change of scale of acs so fighting in a city enviroment was alot more immersive , and improved natural cover etc , ) the mission structure and single player experience is pretty janky tho , as the game is mostly built around the online play and either playing missions co-op or hiring a mercenary etc .. not to mention the fuckin story ... wtf .. , after the heights the ac series reached , this reboot seemed to really go int he wrong direction , the online play is very lacking too unless you can organize a large group of people , and your oppenents are doing the same .... the inbuilt chat system is useless and voice chat is pretty bad too but thats not the games fault. i had some fun with it for a while wth some people and we used a teamspeak server to organize , but we were allll goibng to crazy extents to make this happen .. definitely a flawed game that we tried desperately to enjoy , also the new SUEPR WEAPONS are a joke .. and the new damage model with kinetic,chemical,thermal damage types is a good idea but is kind of fucking stupid when it becomes a rock paper scissors guessing game of what kind of weapon to use. Its just a bit gamey when everything resists 2 kinds of damage reliably but gets 1shot by the 3rd kind

Also since its kind of clear that chrome hounds 2 ended up rolled into ac5 , i dont think either ac fans or chrome hounds fans will get what they are looking for from it .. unfortunately ..

as for dark souls the gfwl on pc isnt any worse than console , when it works , but ive seen a lot more failed summons (probably due to a strict nat on my end or the other end) and clealry my summosn arent working for some ppl , (or ppl trying to invade me hehe) as it will go thru the state of preparing to be summoned / invaded .. but then it times out or something ..

but yeh i be fine saying the pc version was 100% superiror , even without dsfix , if it wasnt for clearly worse connectivity , at elast for me, mabye xbox users are used to this since its similar netcode?

@envane:

Saying that PC players get the same or better experience as on console isn't right or fair, simply because console players tend to sit further away from a bigger TV, to the point where muddy resolution up-scaling isn't visible, and low frame rates can be masked with motion blur. On the PC, with the monitor on the desk, it's harder to accept any kind of blur and anything below native resolutions, because of the close proximity to the screen. As I write this, I can clearly see the 3 pixels that form a comma by leaning forward just a bit. Witnessing how crisp and smooth that 1080p 60fps video looks is just incredible. With only the depth of field blur in the distance looking a bit less sharp than need be. In conclusion, this method of porting is really just for people who hook up their PC to a 32+ inch television and treat it like a console.

Granted bad performance optimisation is also an issue for ports, especially at the beginning of a console cycle. But "bad port" typically describes the badly adapted controls with mouse and keyboard. Bad ports usually struggle with low res menus blown up to / or dwarfed by desktop resolutions; often having smudgy fonts as a result of that. From Software's commitment to one resolution seems like a sort of reasonable quick and dirty way out.

We've seen games like Rage (id tech 5 engine), reduce the resolution of the internal frame buffer on the fly in order to maintain a certain FPS. However the decision for the Prepare to Die Edition to eliminate the performance benefits of a low resolution, just seems absurd. It now turns out, they WANT PC-players to have a 30 FPS experience for no good reason.

Reducing the game to a low fixed internal framerate (and resolution), that is unprecedented AFAIK in the long and sad history of ports.

@Eurobum said:

If would be irresponsible to vote with my wallet for a product like this, even though I love the let's plays.

Yeah watch all these people having fun despite a few technical drawbacks while you go and rage on forums.

Seriously, the game was already technically flawed on consoles but that didn't stop it from becoming a true gem of videogaming. Some PC gamers really need to get their head out of their ass and start playing games because they're good games and not because they showcase their beloved hardware.

Because of the odd capitalization of the letters in the title, I read this as "how to Sweden the experience." NO THANK YOU!

@envane said:

@Pieman51: meh im super grateful , everyone who implys its such a bad port really doesnt know what bad ports are .. its not a GREAT port , but its fucntionable , provides a carbon copy experience to console (as long as you stick to a controller) , and prior to the dsfix patch still ran alot better (didnt look any better which durante proved was easy , but they didnt mae it look WORSE)

DID ANYONE PLAY GTA4 on pc when it came out .. it was MONTHS before that thing was playable or didnt have hideous graphical glitches .. the entire game was ported by using a similar method to dsfix , it kept the original xbox code and assets and pushed it thru a wrapper that had some pc functionality , this is pretty much how they all do it unless they build the pc engine from the ground up or port the engine to console afterwards etc.. what we expect from a port hasnt actually been done that frequently , and the ones that do meet our expectations usually have such a high budget that we dont see any more from them because the pircacy and lack of profitss cant justify the expense at developing multiple engines etc..

rant over .. if it werent for shoddy gfwl connectivity , dark souls would be godlike on pc .. the only thing we can blame from software for there is being bullied into using it , the fact we even got any response on it .. like "we will try but most likey it will still be gfwl" means there was probably quite alot of internal debate , but the bamco train doesn't wait for ppl to decide on best pracitces

can we all stop raggin on from software for this , and start ragging on them for the piece of shit that is armored core V ?

Thank you for complimenting it for once. Honestly, it is PLAYABLE with Keyboard & Mouse, as long as you have keys that you're used to using to map them to. It's not that difficult really.. their laziness turns into hatred. (What's the dsfix patch? was that the one that fixed the resolution? Because that's another BS excuse to give the game a bad rating)

I did, and like mentioned above, you can map the GTAIV controls to the keyboard and mouse. Once again, once you get used to it, it's not bad at all. No one has the time OR patience to use it though...

GFWL connectivity? Hold on.. the only reason connections are bad in Dark Souls is because of their shoddy NETCODE. Not the GFWL interface. The only reason I know this is because it was JUST as bad on the consoles as it is on PC.. therefore it's no different. The only thing that GFWL offers is online play (being able to actually see the messages) and achievements. Apart from their different server, it's NO different from Xbox Live. =/

Armored Core V? Don't know jack about that game, but I suppose I'll go see what you mean by 'piece of shit'. XD

@CptBedlam said:

@Eurobum said:

If would be irresponsible to vote with my wallet for a product like this, even though I love the let's plays.

Yeah watch all these people having fun despite a few technical drawbacks while you go and rage on forums.

Seriously, the game was already technically flawed on consoles but that didn't stop it from becoming a true gem of videogaming. Some PC gamers really need to get their head out of their ass and start playing games because they're good games and not because they showcase their beloved hardware.

Both things have merit playing games and watching others play. Although the desire for immediate gratification is highest just after release, when everyone is playing and they hype is eclipsing, the game experience doesn't actually change even a year later, at least if the multiplayer isn't big part of it. More often by that time the game is properly patched. So it's just like that experiment where a child can have one marshmallow now; or two marshmallows if he waits 5 minutes, generally it's an empowering trait of character to be able to delay gratification a little, not indefinitely.

Players just want stuff to work to specifications, nobody is expecting graphical fireworks out of an 8 year old DirectX 9 API.

@Eurobum: Too bad your marshmallow won't be fresh because you spoiled it by watching let's plays. Going in blind and discovering stuff by yourself is where the real enjoyment with this game comes from.

I couldn't be happier. I played the console version when it was released and now I'm playing the PC version with fixes. Sounds more like two marshmallows to me.

@CptBedlam: A game or anything really that can be ruined by spoilers isn't worth watching in the first place, and clearly the fact that one could play this game to new game 7+, attests to that. Isn't there more to Dark Souls than the outer shell of grinding it out by trial and error, with only a vague notion of the significance of stats or mechanics.

A state of being a blank slate, complete innocence and ignorance is undesirable to me. It offers nothing but the cheapest of thrills. Take the joy of discovery and contrast it to the feeling of discovering something complex. If the intensity is multiplied by the complexity, learning how to cheese a boss AI for the first time should pale in comparison. Or do you rather think of it as that joy of discovery being the first high that the player is henceforth chasing without ever being able to experience it again?

@Eurobum: The first playthrough is always best if there's the aspect of discovery. You won't have that. Too bad. You'll basically just ape what you haven seen other players do in the game. Not my understanding of "fun" or even "playing". Also, the fun and the feeling of reward in Dark Souls stems from figuring out strategies for beating bosses etc yourself and eventually triumphing over them. It's just not the same if you had others show you how it's done. Watching a let's play before playing Dark Souls is basically the best way to ruin the game for yourself. What exactly do you expect from this game? I played it, I played through to NG++++ or so - and no, the NG+'s are not the ultimate experience. They are significantly less fun (but still fun). The ultimate experience is discovering and beating this game for the first time - by yourself.

Also: "A game or anything really that can be ruined by spoilers isn't worth watching in the first place"

Completely disagree. You are weird.

As of today Durante included FPS changes into DSfix 1.5, it is now possible to set the desired target FPS of the game in the .ini.

Weird. Still getting only 30 fps and everything animates at half-speed when I set the ini to 60 fps. I can't figure out why.