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• Dark Souls 2 Lighting Mode

Dark Souls has a reputation as a dark fantasy game where women fused to demons, cannibal executioners, and zombified humans make their home. But it looks a little more like a fun place if you pump the brightness and change some of the lighting effects.

Thanks to this Reshade mod, however, the game almost comes close to the Dark Souls 2 version that FromSoftware showcased using an advanced lighting system (prior to the game’s release).

The video spoils the entire game of Dark Souls. The entire game. I promise you, lots of things are spoiled in this video. Lots.

Created by Reddit user theelfriede, the brightened up Dark Souls experience is the result of some edited parameters in how the game draws its locations. In the description of the video, they explain that the process involved removing the game’s DrawParam folder and fiddling with some of the RGB values.

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In Dark Souls, the DrawParam folder controls how the game handles lighting and visual elements like fog. Dark Souls achieves such unique looks for its areas by assigning each broad zone their own DrawParams that give them distinct ways of handling light. The Tomb of the Giants, for example, is so dark that you can barely see in front of your face, and it’s no coincidence that PureDarkness, a mod that transforms the game into one huge Tomb of the Giants, similarly deploys edits to the DrawParam folder.

Removing the DrawParam folder gives the game a light that’s everywhere all the time, even in underground spaces, and it makes for some weird sights if you’re familiar with the game already.

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As you can see in the video and in the images I’m including before, removing the “dark” from the game gives a pastel look that almost verges on a cartoon for teens. The mound at the bottom of Blighttown doesn’t look like a horrible insect hive. Instead, it’s almost friendly in a Zelda-y way. And, heck, the Gaping Dragon looks positively jolly in its tropical blue water arena.

Anyway, here are some of my favorite areas from this modded Dark Souls experience:

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Mass effect 1 controller mod. Feb 21, 2015  About this mod. This allows you to use the Xbox 360 controller to play Mass Effect. This Mod is dedicated to Sophie. And the file found at the link above isn't a 'patch'. The PC version has never had official support for a controller at all. It's a fan-created fix for your problem. As the Description says: 'This MOD adds full XBOX 360 controller support for playing Mass Effect 1.' Jan 29, 2018  This MOD adds full XBOX 360 controller support for playing Mass Effect 1. The Mass Effect game shipped with all the original XBOX controller interfaces but in a very broken state with some functionality removed. This mod corrects these issues and re-implements features where necessary.

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UPDATE:DSFix, the most essential Dark Souls mod, has been updated in the wake of Dark Souls ditching Games for Windows Live. We’ve changed our list to include this new Steamworks version of the mod.

Dark Souls is a truly great game, but it’s also a shabby one. From Software, bless their hearts, gave us the PC port we were clamouring for even though (as they themselves admitted) they didn’t really know how to make one.

The final result was technically underwhelming, with low resolutions and poor framerates holding back an otherwise stunning game. Thankfully, this is PC gaming, which means when we don’t like something, we fix it ourselves.

Check inside for a collection of mods that will help turn Dark Souls into a port worthy of the PC.

DSFix

I cannot understate how essential this mod is. If you plan to play Dark Souls on PC, you simply must install it. DSFix is called so because it fixes Dark Souls, specifically it fixes the unfortunate graphical issues created by the clumsy porting process. By default Dark Souls doesn’t render any higher than 1040×720, DSFix fixes that.

It also doesn’t run at more than 30 FPS, DSFixes that too.

Plus it lets you scale the UI to better suit high resolution monitors, provides a structure for other modders to replace textures and adds some fancy new post processing effects. Get it, install it, love it.

Morten242s UI for DSFix

This neat little program allows you to edit every aspect of DSFix: things like resolution, SSAO, depth of field, and the HUD options, without having to tinker around with the ini files. Instead just boot up Morten242sUI, and all your changes can be made in a simple options window, without any fuss.

Dark Souls 2 Lighting Mode

Neoshroomish high resolution textures

Despite Durante’s sterling work with DSFix, Dark Souls’ visuals are still blurry and low resolution compared to high end PC games. This is why Neoshroomish has started the long process of replacing those textures with high resolution alternatives, beginning with the Blighttown and Sens Fortress areas. The result looks much sharper and cleaner, but loses something of Dark Souls’ signature grime. You can decide which matters more to you. There’s a second pack available here.

High Res UI and subtitle fonts

While DSFix upscales Dark Souls neatly, one element that comes off badly in the transition is the text. Dark Souls’ fonts are built for 720p, which means they look ugly and jagged on a decent size PC monitor. Thankfully Blackfoggen has produced a simple but effective mod that switches the fonts out for high resolution alternatives, leading to a much cleaner and simpler look.

Andres Cranial Ember

Dark Souls is a lonely, lonely world. So on the rare circumstances that you do actually see a friendly face, it would be nice if it wasn’t the soulless visage of a glass eyed doll. Andres Cranial Ember improves the facial textures used by both the player character and all NPCs, making them just a little bit more convincing and realistic.

Flora Overhaul

Fans of Skyrim may recognise mod maker Vurt for his impressive foliage improvement mods, which is why it’s great to see him bringing his talents to Dark Souls. His current Flora Overhaul mod is still a work in progress, so don’t expect every tree and bush to be as gloriously lush as it could be, but if his Skyrim mod is anything to go by, the finished article will be a treat. Trust me, Vurt knows plants.

Beards

Fact: PC gamers love beards. No noble adventurer would be complete without a spot of manly chin fuzz, proudly proclaiming his determination to go boldly forth. Joking aside, this new extra hirsute version of the male face textures are a serious improvement over the originals. The addition of the new Riker style beard gives him an aura of rugged competence, which will last right up until the first ‘You Died’ message.