Dark Souls is well known for the XBox success because of the unique combat style and visual quality. This is no hack-n-slash game! Your progress is rewarded only by knowing your enemy and knowing when to attack. Select from several classes and play in a dark world of demons, dragons, insanity and consume as many souls as possible.
Follow my step-by-step guide on installing, configuring and optimizing Dark Souls in Linux with PlayOnLinux.
Note: This guide applies to the Steam version of Dark Souls: Prepare To Die Edition. Other versions may require additional steps.
Tips & Specs:
Try SteamPlay before using this guide as Valve now uses a fork of Wine called Proton and should run most Windows games.
To learn more about PlayOnLinux and Wine configuration, see the online manual: PlayOnLinux Explained
Mint 17 64-bit
PlayOnLinux: 4.2.10
Wine: 1.8
Wine Installation
Note: Wine versions older than 2.0.2 and 2.12-staging no longer work with Steam.
Click Tools
Select "Manage Wine Versions"
Look for the Wine Version: 1.8
Select it
Click the arrow pointing to the right
Click Next
Downloading Wine
Extracting
Downloading Gecko
Installed
Wine 1.8 is installed and you can close this window
Downloading Steam
Go To: http://www.steampowered.com
Click Install Steam
Do not click "Install Steam Now"
It will automatically install Linux Steam
Select Windows Steam instead
click "Windows" under the green button
Navigate to your desktop
Click Save
PlayOnLinux Setup
Launch PlayOnLinux
Click Install
Click "install a non-listed program"
Click Next
Select "Install a program in a new virtual drive"
Click Next
Name your virtual drive: darksouls
No spaces
Click Next
Select all three options:
- Use another version of Wine
- Configure Wine
- Install some libraries
Select Wine1.8
Click Next
Select "32 bits windows installation"
Click Next
Configure Wine
Applications Tab
Windows Version: Windows 7
Click Apply
Libraries Tab
New override for library
Type: dinput8
Click Add
Type: xinput1_3
Click Add
Scrolldown to xinput1_3
Select it
Click Edit
Change to Builtin (Wine)
Graphics Tab
Check: Automatically capture the mouse in full-screen windows
Check: Emulate a virtual desktop
Desktop size: 1024x768
Click Ok
PlayOnLinux Packages (Libraries, Components, DLL's)
Check the following libraries:
- POL_Install_corefonts
- POL_Install_d3dx9
- POL_Install_tahoma
- POL_Install_vcrun2008
Note: All packages will automatically download and install
Installing Steam
Click Browse
Navigate to your desktop
Select: SteamSetup.exe
Click Open
Click Next
Click Next
Check: I accept the license...
Click Next
Click Next
Click Next
Click Install
Click Finish
Updating Steam
Click the "X" to close Steam login
PlayOnLinux Shortcut
Select Steam.exe
Click Next
Name your shortcut: Dark Souls
Click Next
Select "I don't want to make another shortcut"
Click Next
PlayOnLinux Configure
Back to PlayOnLinux
Click Configure
General Tab
Wine version: 1.8
Note: Click the + to download other versions of Wine. Click the down-arrow to select other versions of wine
Display Tab
Video Memory Size: Select the size of Memory your video card/chip uses
Close Configure
Launching Steam & Dark Souls
Select Dark Souls
Click Run
Note: Click debug to see errors and bugs
Click "Login to existing account"
Login
Find Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition
Click Install
Uncheck "Create desktop shortcut"
Uncheck "Create start menu shortcut"
Click Next
Click Finish
Wait for Dark Souls to download
Click Play
Optimization
Click PC Settings
Enable Fullscreen
Select the same resolution as your Linux Desktop
Anti-Aliasing: OFF
Click Initialize
Click OK
Close Dark Souls
DSFix Setup
Go to: http://blog.metaclassofnil.com/?tag=dsfix
Download DSFix 2.4
Download at Mediafire:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/bvp287rbdu5zagy/DSfix24.zip
Save DSfix24.zip to your Desktop
Extract the files in the zip
Move them to the Dark Souls Data folder
Path: /home/username/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/darksouls/drive_c/Program Files/Steam/SteamApps/Common/Dark Souls Prepare to Die Edition/Data
Edit the DSfix.ini
Adjust:
- Resolution
- Anti Aliasing
- Ambient Occlusion
- Depth of Field
- Additional Blur
- Framerate
- FPS Limit
- Texture Filtering Override
- Hud
- Fullscreen Mode
- Save Game Backups
- Texture Dumping
- Intro Logo's Skip
- In Game Language
- D3D Adapter Override
- Logs
- Vsync
Conclusion:
Dark Souls played fine without any crashing on my GeForce 550 Ti. I was able to watch cutscenes, load and save my game. I did experience problems with the mouse, but this is because Dark Souls is a console port meant for a controller. So the mouse will move in large increments causing your character movement to be unsmooth.
DSFix made a HUGE difference in graphics. Everything was crisp and detailed with very nice shadows and ambient occlusion.
I definitely recommend using DSFix when playing Dark Souls.
Now if I could inspire myself to play... because your literally die and have to start all the way back at your last save and am forced to kill all the same minions over again. Rinse repeat.
Gameplay Video:
Screenshots:
Last edited:
