So has anyone pre-ordered Dark Souls on Steam?

[DrunkOnEstus]

It took weeks, I am jobless right now and spend my days doing odd computer repairs to keep the electricity on. I spent said weeks selling games and old systems on Ebay, and that time has been spent dealing with the excruciating wait time that Paypal places on new members in order for them to receive the money they've earned and is sitting in "pending". But *Ahem*, that's a different discussion.

As funds slowly moved towards "available", all I could hope was that the $40 dollar mark was reached by the 23rd as positive feedback came in. I do what I can to keep the roof over my head, but Paypal began as the "Dark Souls for PC" fund. One hour ago, I received an e-mail that I had $50 dollars available to spend on whatever I wished that accepted Paypal, and I wasted no time immediately opening steam and pre-ordering.

I don't know if this port will be complete balls. The information available has been vague, with a silver lining of recommendation. Frankly, I don't care if it is. From crafted a masterpiece, a vision that at times the PS3 and 360 were unable to handle. They wanted you to see all of Blighttown, every inch you could cover all the way down to the swamp, even if the system fan whirred to its highest speed in aggressive disagreement.

I'm really, honestly, completely satisfied with the concept of considering the $40 an investment, a vote and a hand up that the PC needs games like Dark Souls, and that even if I eat ramen once a day I couldn't fathom stealing the 1's and 0's that assemble into an experience that re-invigorated my love of this medium and the feelings that it's capable of creating. I'm satisfied with a $40 vote that developing for the PC is a worthwhile venture, and in a twisted way I felt guilty at having spent only $40 on the PS3 version. Witcher 2 is the only other game that has not only made me feel like I wasn't ripped off, but gave me a pang of guilt that I paid so little money for what I was given.

Steam says about an hour and a half left, and I'm making all the preparations. The drive is defragged, the Nvidia drivers are up to date, the lights are off and the 360 controller is connected. I know I'm literally gushing with hyperbole here but it's what I feel and I imagine only the escapists would be able to understand this kind of anticipation, more so than rambling on to my wife (who feels like she's in a love triangle with the PS3 version at this point anyway). So has anyone else set the cash down? Excited about how it will run? How it will look?

I look forward to helping completely new players, PC gamers who have missed out on this game and are exploring the twisted world of Lordran for the very first time. In some ways, I feel like this will be like playing it for the first time all over again, despite knowing that it's a straight up port. The new content, and not having to wait to download it as DLC, certainly doesn't hurt either. So, now that I've opened my brain and let it explode into this box of text, is anyone else prepared to die?

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

Heads up to anyone wondering about taking the plunge - So far, Games for Windows Live is a major pain in the ass to deal with (I hadn't had prior experience with it beforehand.) Steam had to install it before the game launched, it had many updates before it was happy, and it took about 15 minutes to import my 360 gamertag to its interface.

After all those quirks were dealt with (I feel like I put something dirty on my PC), the game by default starts in windowed mode and won't accept controller inputs initially. A quick jump to the options lets fullscreen happen and makes the game aware of the controller. They really made an effort to make the keyboard and mouse a viable way to play, but it really is nowhere near as natural as the controller, as the mechanics play strongly to its advantages.

The game looks the same, but for lack of a better word, "crisper". Loading times are radically improved (the initial bonfire intro, item descriptions before respawn.) I'm not at all bothered by this supposed "upscaling" of the native textures to 1080p, but to me it looks better. Apparently someone is already working on a patch/mod to make the textures natively higher, and I can only imagine what the community will be able to do with time given the open platform (relatively, thanks to GFWL.)

Major enhancement? The lack of stutter and weird jumps. The FPS is locked at 30, but the intro journey to Firelink Shrine was locked solid there and felt much smoother. I have no reservations calling this the superior version already.

If anyone wants specs as a reference to give them an idea of their performance (there's not much you can do to "downgrade" it to accomodate lower rigs):

AMD Athlon X2 555 BE with 3rd core unlocked 3.2 Ghz
16 GB DDR3 RAM
Nvidia GTX 465 EVGA

Enough talking about it, I've got a whole night of sleep to lose...I just figured I'd help provide some info. I'll alt-tab if anyone actually has questions (though I don't anticipate an interest, but that's okay.) Praise the Sun!

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

I don't know if I'm annoying everyone with this or talking to a wall, but I found out a lot of useful information for those who both have DS PC and those who are on the fence about it.

Basically, this game can look as amazing as you want, and as far as your rig can push it, and it involves 3 simple lines of code. I won't get into a discussion involving From's inability to do this themselves (for the record I think it's a Microsoft conspiracy involving them not wanting to outshine the 360 version.) Buuuut.....

If you have the game already, head over to this link courtesy of Durante from NeoGAF: http://blog.metaclassofnil.com/?p=92 and download the zip file.

Unpack it into the Dark Souls folder with the .exe (for Steam it would be C:/program files/steam/steamapps/common/dark souls/data.) The "DSFix.ini" file contains the resolution of the framebuffer (which is locked at 1280X720 console res by default regardless of option setting.) You can set this to whatever you want until your rig can't handle it. I currently have it at 2560X720, with steady 30 FPS even in Blighttown. The second number is 720 due to a bug where soapstone messages don't appear unless the second number is 720, Durante is working on that. NOTE: This only works if you disable AA in the game options (which is a blur filter anyway.)

If you want AA, it can be forced through your graphics card's utility. I don't know the AMD equivalent, but for Nvidia it is "3D options", then "override application setting" and setting it at 2X and working up from there until you get stutter. A little work, and this game looks more gorgeous than I could have imagined it and really makes the double dip completely worthwhile for me. Folks are working on the 30 FPS cap, as it brings up issues with animations and game speed. 30 isn't bothering me at all and never did on the PS3 anyway.

Additional information you'd like to know: The game isn't directly and verbatim a carbon copy of the console versions. The translation has been cleaned up, item descriptions have changed, and the enemy damage as well as the stamina of your attacks has been increased. This version has without a doubt been re-tooled a bit to be harder and take the "Prepare to Die" name more seriously. Also, the netcode feels a lot better, it feels more like Demon's Souls where there's more messages, more people running around, and far less lag during co-op and invasions. Speaking of invasions, cracked red eye orbs are no longer used by undead to gain humanity, but used only by humans as a privilege. You must be human to first invade a world, so being human isn't automatically begging to be invaded.

I feel like I'm only cracking the surface of the changes, and suffice it to say From was modest about this being a direct identical port. I'll include some pictures of the graphics tweaks because they speak a thousand words and all that.

Spoiler

Unmodded

After Mods

The pictures don't make it look as drastic, but I promise it's spectacular in motion and can rival any game's graphics if you have the power to push it. This'll be my last post in this thread as it's turned into a talking to myself-deal, but I'd just like to say that even if you have a console version, and a gaming PC of any capacity, this is the definitive Dark souls and I wholeheartedly recommend even a double dip. You won't have to wait for the additional content as DLC, and everything just feels more right. Thanks for listening.

 

[Equlan]

Thanks for these posts! Not having a controller/gamepad I've been on the fence about this game (since getting a gamepad would about double the price of the game, I would probably wait for a sale if keyboard+mouse isn't acceptable). This helps, although I'll have a look at other opinions as well

Happy gaming.

 

[Fr]anc[is]

Can you play it without logging into GFWL? I seem to recall being able to do that for DOW2 and Bioshock

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

Thanks for these posts! Not having a controller/gamepad I've been on the fence about this game (since getting a gamepad would about double the price of the game, I would probably wait for a sale if keyboard+mouse isn't acceptable). This helps, although I'll have a look at other opinions as well

Happy gaming.

I played a bit with the KB/M out of curiosity, and it's really not all that bad. If you've played it on console before, WASD is movement as you'd expect, Shift/Tab are L1/L2 (left hand), E is use item/drink estus, X and C change your left/right hand weapon 1/2, and the H and U keys are R1/R2. Alternatively, you can use the mouse to control the camera (or I/L/J/K, like WASD for the camera) and left click is light attack/R1, right-click is strong attack/R2, and everything is re-mappable. They really did everything they could to accomodate PC player's love of KB/M, and if you really can't afford a gamepad and what I just said doesn't sound crazy it definitely works. You don't have to spend 40 bucks either, there's 7 dollar PS2 controller to USB adapters that work for it, PS3 controllers can be emulated as a 360 controller, and there's 20 dollar logitech/similar brand ones. The button prompts are the icons of the 360 controller but its pretty straightforward.

anc[is]Can you play it without logging into GFWL? I seem to recall being able to do that for DOW2 and Bioshock

You can create a quick "offline" profile that doesn't connect to live and isn't a gamertag, and its basically a handle that stores the savegames for that specific login. You don't need to be online to play (besides steam issues with that), but GFWL is a necessary install to start the game, online or otherwise. I understand there's a program called Xliveless or something like that, but I think it's a piracy related thing and I don't know much about it.

New cool thing I found - There's battlegrounds! PVP in Prepare to Die moves away quite a bit from odd scheduling of invasions, and there's dedicated arenas where you can do duels, 2v2, 4v4, etc. There's a "training ground" to prepare for matches and stuff, and to give yourself time to outfit the gear/weapon/buffs/items you want to use for the battle instead of it being sprung on you, and I totally see it stretching the longevity of the game.

I appreciate the questions, and I'm more than happy to answer any questions anyone has about the game. I've been playing and alt-tabbing to the internet for the last 12 hours (it's 7 AM here, time to get some sleep) and I've made it through the bottom of Blighttown and back up to the shortcut to the Valley of Drakes with the very beta graphics tweaks and forced AA at 8xQ, and it hasn't dropped below 30 FPS once. If you remember the dragon breathing fire, entering the basement with the poison dogs, all of Blighttown in its entirety, and all runs smooth as butter and if you die/homeward bone you're at the bonfire in less than 2 seconds.

Also, after the initial install and tying my Xbox gamertag to GFWL, it hasn't been bad at all. It hasn't been invasive, slow the computer down, or any insidious stuff. It also doesn't have its own program running, just the client within the game. If you buy the game through steam you don't get steam achievements, but there are GFWL achievements that show up as "Dark Souls PC" when you turn on your Xbox and get added to your gamerscore if you're into that sort of thing. I remember GFWL being a horrible pain in the ass and slap in the face when the 3 year old port of Halo 2 was the justification for it and the DirectX 10 it didn't use, and it doesn't feel a thing like it did years ago. Not a glowing endorsement as I'd rather just go through Steam but I don't hate it and it hasn't given me a reason to regret having installed it so far.

It drives me crazy when I see it, but this is not lazy, rushed, or bullshit work. You can tell they really wanted this to be the opportunity to harness the PCs power and make DS the absolute best it can be. It's the #1 selling game on steam, and although I don't have any steam friends I doubt all of those people are crazy. I've seen more hint signs, bloodstains, summon signs, and phantoms than I've ever seen in over 150 hours on the PS3. The netcode really is that much better. Hopefully I've clarified things!

 

[Equlan]

I decided to risk it and bought the game. Played to just after the first boss (I have just arrived in Lordran). I think it's pretty fun so far - playing with mouse and keyboard is fine, but perfect, but functional. The camera is a little wonky, but it doesn't screw around a lot, so it's tolerable.

Game runs fine for me, going to be a lot of fun to explore I think.

One question, for me there's a mouse cursor all the time, moving around as I use the mouse to attack and control the camera. It's far from a dealbreaker, but it DOES feel like a symptom of a lazy port and is slightly annoying.
Another lazy thing is that all tips about controls only show the gamepad buttons - it's no biggie since I have a manual and the options menu, but still.

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

I decided to risk it and bought the game. Played to just after the first boss (I have just arrived in Lordran). I think it's pretty fun so far - playing with mouse and keyboard is fine, but perfect, but functional. The camera is a little wonky, but it doesn't screw around a lot, so it's tolerable.

Game runs fine for me, going to be a lot of fun to explore I think.

One question, for me there's a mouse cursor all the time, moving around as I use the mouse to attack and control the camera. It's far from a dealbreaker, but it DOES feel like a symptom of a lazy port and is slightly annoying.
Another lazy thing is that all tips about controls only show the gamepad buttons - it's no biggie since I have a manual and the options menu, but still.

The fix I mentioned above for the resolution has been updated twice, 16X AF is now forced and you can press F9 to remove the mouse cursor. Gamepad, Keyboard, whatever you do, use this guy's fix because it makes the graphics and everything amazing. He's single-handedly making this a proper PC port. http://blog.metaclassofnil.com/?tag=dsfix