Dark Soul's: Prepare to Die Edition (PC)

arc@css said:
Also, I can't yet get the better of the knight that guards the ring of blue tearstone - (though I did manange to get my hands on that item), as well a similar dude (both mini bosses?) that is positioned atop a turret in the Undead Parish, I think.
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Black Knights are fairly difficult enemies, the sword/shield ones aren't too bad though, once you've got enough stamina to block their combo it becomes very easy to backstab them to death. The Greatsword BK near the Parish however is another matter, the best bet for him is either being very fast and again backstabbing him or using magic. You can also lure him into falling down onto the stairs and then doing to fall slash, takes 2/3 of those to kill him.

With back stabbing the trick is generally to be behind them but slightly towards their right shoulder.

A note on Black Knights, personally I would leave them alone until after you have completed Sens Fortress and have the Gold Serpant Ring which massively increases your drop rate, Black Knights drop a set of Black Knight gear which is pretty damn good, once you've killed them all though (there are about 7) you have to wait till the final area of the game to kill more as the ones out in the world don't respawn.
 
Fenris said:
Black Knights are fairly difficult enemies, the sword/shield ones aren't too bad though, once you've got enough stamina to block their combo it becomes very easy to backstab them to death. The Greatsword BK near the Parish however is another matter, the best bet for him is either being very fast and again backstabbing him or using magic. You can also lure him into falling down onto the stairs and then doing to fall slash, takes 2/3 of those to kill him.

With back stabbing the trick is generally to be behind them but slightly towards their right shoulder.

A note on Black Knights, personally I would leave them alone until after you have completed Sens Fortress and have the Gold Serpant Ring which massively increases your drop rate, Black Knights drop a set of Black Knight gear which is pretty damn good, once you've killed them all though (there are about 7) you have to wait till the final area of the game to kill more as the ones out in the world don't respawn.
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Thanks, that's very helpful. I've just started using magic, which I'm sure will be a godsend later on. :)
 
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Does anyone know of anyway possible to stop GFWL installing to the C: drive?

I'm getting a craving for this again, but as long as GFWL decides to **** up I can't play it :/
 
I'd reformat your PC, doesn't take along, maybe an hour from the point of disc boot to the point of having your PC running with all the essential drivers/software. Then use your HDD as your primary Steam drive and split the games that actually need an SSD onto your solid-state. Very few games truly benefit from an SSD, sadly though some do require them as mandatory (Skyrim!).

Steam should be more flexible with their installations, no reason I can't go install a game on my flash drive (no idea why I'd want to but it's an example) and be able to launch it without any fiddling or registry routing, when the rest are on C:.

If none of that appeals to you, and you don't mind not having the online features (basically failing to summon while being invaded 24/7 by DLC spell abusing *****), put an xliveless.dll into your directory.
 
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Tibbz2 said:
I really can't format my PC again, I can't download anything here for a while, and when I can its about 50kb/s :/
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Backup your actual game files mate, just copy them onto portable storage and whack em back in your Steamapps afterwards and revalidate.


Omaeka said:
If none of that appeals to you, and you don't mind not having the online features (basically failing to summon while being invaded 24/7 by DLC spell abusing *****), put an xliveless.dll into your directory.
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Have to say, still loving this game. Just started NG+++ on my first character SL171, I wanted to get 711 but not so sure I can be bothered lol, already 210k souls / level. Still on first playthrough with my Dex char and Str/Faith Cleric, might try a caster of some sort soon. This game is far too good.

Here's hoping Dark Souls 2 is just as good, if not better.
 
I'm having performance problems with this game. often dropping to around 20fps using an i7-2700k @4.4ghz and GTX580s in SLI. From what I can see there is no fix for SLI so I'm running on a single card at 2560x1600 res and what I would consider to be fairly medium settings. GPU usage on the single card sits around 80% and CPU usage around 40-50%.

It seems to be worse near the bonfires and/or water (not played enough to distinguish which yet).

Would a kind knowledgeable person mind looking at my dsfix.ini below and let me know what I should change. I've tinkered with a few of the settings without much difference at all to FPS.

Hoping to get the performance problems resolved before my xbox controller turns up, then I'm really going to get stuck in.

###############################################################################
# Graphics Options
###############################################################################

# internal rendering resolution of the game
# higher values will decrease performance
renderWidth 2560
renderHeight 1600

# 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 1

# 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 2

# Set SSAO scale
# 1 = high quality (default)
# 2 = lower quality, lower impact on performance
# 3 = lowest quality, lowest impact on performance
ssaoScale 2

# Determine the type of AO used
# "VSSAO" = Volumetric SSAO (default, suggested)
# "HBAO" = Horizon-Based Ambient Occlusion
# "SCAO" = VSSAO + HBAO
# VSSAO and HBAO types have a different effect and similar performance
# SCAO combines both, with a higher performance impact
ssaoType VSSAO

############# 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 2160

# 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 0

# 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 3

############# 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 60

# 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 2

###############################################################################
# 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 0

# Scale down HuD, examples:
# 1.0 = original scale
# 0.75 = 75% of the original size
hudScaleFactor 1

# 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 1

# 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 20

###############################################################################
# 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 dsmfix.dll
# 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 1
# adjust display refresh rate in fullscreen mode - this is NOT linked to FPS!
fullscreenHz 60
 
dofOverrideResolution 2160
Is too high, set at 540 or 810. It doesn't need to be higher than that.

dofBlurAmount 3
Same, set that as 1. Higher just isn't needed.

unlockFPS 1
Doesn't always work, just turn it off - 0, game was designed for 30fps. It plays perfectly at that.

filteringOverride 2
Turn off, doesn't work properly. Set to 0

and turn off v-sync.
 
God damn this game is hard, 2 hours on and I'm yet to ring either of the bells at the start. I could blame having to use a controller but I think I'm just rubbish :D
 
I foolishly went into the Catacombs last night (Divine Longsword +0), I managed to get the Gravelord Sword, but I just couldn't fight my way out afterwards, 15 Humanities and 70K Souls gone :( I was trying for a good few hours making stupid mistakes through sheer tiredness, in the end I stripped off for speed, equipped the Grass Crest shield and some Stamina Weeds and Benny Hill'd the whole place (I have no sense of direction so dead ends and all!) I'll be farming Green Titanites a good while before I go back in there again :P This game is just freaking awesome! :D
 
I have been reading this thread with some interest as I quite like the sound of this game (I'm a sucker for RPGs, although the talk of extreme difficulty does give me some pause).

However, I want to ask the same question I asked in the Darksiders 2 thread: as this is a console port (and a fairly rudimentary one so I believe I've heard), is this comfortably playable with keyboard and mouse? Or would using kb/m add further to the already punishing difficulty?
 
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