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Dark Souls internal rendering resolution fix (DSfix)

Wow thats crazy. I guess I'll a have to start playing this with headphones, which use the dolby headphone 5.1 to directional stereo thing. I should be able to output that even through HDMI though right? I'll have to investigate.
 

TheExodu5

Banned
My onboard Realtek 889 can downmix.

Click Configure:
downmix1.png


Select the 5.1 setup:
downmix2.png


Unselect all optional speakers:
downmix3.png


To test it out, simply click on Configure again and hit the test button. You should hear the center and surround channels.
 

mr_nothin

Banned
Oh, which sound card is it? Would you recommend it to others?

Yea I recommend it. It's an oldie but goodie because of the custom drivers for it. It has a configurable DSP where you can add your own EQ's and has different plugins to downsample and you can re-route just about everything :)

Best soundcard I've ever had and makes me scared to move onto another soundcard because they dont support custom DSP configurations.

The card is a SoundBlaster 5.1 and you have to get the KX Drivers for it. The upgrade to that card is an Audigy/Audigy ZS. DO NOT GET THE LE/SE version of ANY of these cards because they dont support KX.
 
Aha! I knew the sound was totally boned right from the start! What I find strange is that even when using 5.1 speakers the sound mix is still off.
 
My onboard Realtek 889 can downmix.

To test it out, simply click on Configure again and hit the test button. You should hear the center and surround channels.

I don't have computer speakers, I just use the digital out to my receiver. Any way to do this with that type of setup? It doesn't output in 5.1, just stereo. Realtek 892 on my motherboard
 
I did all the steps but I only get the left and right stereo sounds during the audio test. Does it matter that I'm using stereo headphones?
 

Sethos

Banned
Any method of testing whether your setup is capable of outputting the 5.1 mix correctly, I have an external soundcard ( Prodigy Cube ). Don't have access to the Windows surround tests.
 

TheExodu5

Banned
I did all the steps but I only get the left and right stereo sounds during the audio test. Does it matter that I'm using stereo headphones?

Did you unselect all of the "optional speakers"? They should be greyed out. Re-run the test afterwards.

Any method of testing whether your setup is capable of outputting the 5.1 mix correctly, I have an external soundcard ( Prodigy Cube ). Don't have access to the Windows surround tests.

You'll need to find yourself a 5 channel test file somewhere. Play it with a music player that can support it.
 

Sethos

Banned
You'll need to find yourself a 5 channel test file somewhere. Play it with a music player that can support it.

Found a few but not sure if they are conclusive.

http://www.lynnemusic.com/surround.html Downloaded the top one ( 5.1 Surround Test File ), I hear all the channels

http://www.jensign.com/bdp95/7dot1voiced/index.html and this and on the 5.1 I hear 1, 2, 3, 5, 6. Assuming 4 was the sub?

Thought VLC could be sampling it all down to regular stereo and creating the illusion of it working.
 

TheExodu5

Banned
Configure is grayed out under the realtek digital output. I think I can send an uncompressed PCM stream to a receiver through HDMI but I don't have hdmi on the receiver in this room

Ah...that's a problem.

One puzzling thing: I recall my 889 chipset (and the 892 chipset, I believe) is capable of doing Dolby Headphone. I can't find the option anymore.

http://www.jensign.com/bdp95/7dot1voiced/index.html and this and on the 5.1 I hear 1, 2, 3, 5, 6. Assuming 4 was the sub?

Thought VLC could be sampling it all down to regular stereo and creating the illusion of it working.

Yeah, looks like VLC is just downmixing it. If I enable proper 5.1 on my setup I still hear 3, 5, 6, when I should not.
 

EasyMode

Member
Yea I recommend it. It's an oldie but goodie because of the custom drivers for it. It has a configurable DSP where you can add your own EQ's and has different plugins to downsample and you can re-route just about everything :)

Best soundcard I've ever had and makes me scared to move onto another soundcard because they dont support custom DSP configurations.

The card is a SoundBlaster 5.1 and you have to get the KX Drivers for it. The upgrade to that card is an Audigy/Audigy ZS. DO NOT GET THE LE/SE version of ANY of these cards because they dont support KX.

I'll be looking for this then. I wasn't happy with the amount of noise I got with my on-board audio anyways.

Also, I just tested TheExodu5' solution and it worked. Realtek ALC662 6-Channel HD Audio, here.
 

TheExodu5

Banned
Heh, I'm actually really happy with my onboard audio. Realtek 889 is the top they have, though. It's actually better than any Soundblaster I've owned. The Asus Xonar STX was a step up from it (I owned it for a brief period of time), but the difference wasn't terribly pronounced.
 

EasyMode

Member
Thanks for the downmixing guide, however when I click Test all the speaker directions work except the Sub, is this normal?

Same thing here, but I think it's normal. I just tested both configurations in Darks Souls at the bridge shown at the beginning of the video. With Stereo, I just got the wind sound. With the downmixing, I got the ambient twinkling and wolf howls... neat!
 

TheExodu5

Banned
It's funny. When I was in Blighttown, I was wondering why I couldn't hear those damned mosquitoes. They were really annoying in the console version. I guess this was the issue.
 
Got it working! I had to do your steps in the Realtek Audio Manager, not the default Windows sound manager.

Sounds amazing, thanks for a simple fix, Exodus!
 
Thanks for the downmixing guide, I will have to test this when I get home. Sadly I am at my cabin for labor day weekend right now and far from my computer and dark souls :( Feels bad man.
 
Intro skip working great for me. Thanks yet again.

I wish there was a way to preload in more of the world to eliminate the hitching you get when moving into a new area. The weird thing is, it almost seems like that data is cached because when you first enter an area you'll get that slight hitch but if you run back through the areas you've already passed, the telltale hitch you get when streaming in part of the world seems to go away.
 
Using a USB X-Fi HD here, which seems to only support stereo, so I get no 5.1 options in the 'choose your configuration' menu. So I guess I'm screwed?
 
I wish there was a way to eliminate the black freeze screen at the beginning but I think it's loading something into the RAM or whatever at that point.
 

EasyMode

Member
Intro skip working great for me. Thanks yet again.

I wish there was a way to preload in more of the world to eliminate the hitching you get when moving into a new area. The weird thing is, it almost seems like that data is cached because when you first enter an area you'll get that slight hitch but if you run back through the areas you've already passed, the telltale hitch you get when streaming in part of the world seems to go away.

Same here. Strangely enough, I'm pretty sure that the PS3 version didn't have these hitches, despite its framerate issues.
 

TheExodu5

Banned
That's a common issue with PC games. In Dark Souls, it's probably remedied by using an SSD, as I don't experience any hitches.

When the PS3 needs drive access, it gets it right away. When the PC needs drive access, there may be a small delay as it's competing with other services using the drive, hence the hitch. An SSD will be dozens or even a hundred times faster in this situation.
 

TheExodu5

Banned
I'm having hitches extremely rarely and even then its maybe one frame skipping and I run the game from a crappy 320GB HDD.

Alright, let's try to pinpoint the issue. Is the OS on the same HDD as Dark Souls?

If so, I'd probably say HDD access is not the issue. They're probably having issues with a lack of VRAM.
 
I actually have the game installed on an SSD and my OS is installed on a seperate SSD, oddly enough.

Also, I have an HD 7970 with 3 GB of vram.
 

EasyMode

Member
That's a common issue with PC games. In Dark Souls, it's probably remedied by using an SSD, as I don't experience any hitches.

When the PS3 needs drive access, it gets it right away. When the PC needs drive access, there may be a small delay as it's competing with other services using the drive, hence the hitch. An SSD will be dozens or even a hundred times faster in this situation.

Disappointingly, I do have an SSD (Vertex 3) but my motherboard only supports SATA-3.

OS and games on the same drive, 8GB system ram, 1.5GB vram. Maybe I could try closing some things like MSE (even though it's not scheduled to scan).
 

Taruranto

Member
My onboard Realtek 889 can downmix.

Click Configure:
downmix1.png


Select the 5.1 setup:
downmix2.png


Unselect all optional speakers:
downmix3.png


To test it out, simply click on Configure again and hit the test button. You should hear the center and surround channels.

I tried this and now i heard no sounds at all. :<
 

Zzoram

Member
Forcing 2xAA in driver for my HD4870 now makes the game run so much smoother even at 1920x1200. Before it would keep dipping and only use 40% of my GPU power.

Nice.
 

TheExodu5

Banned
Disappointingly, I do have an SSD (Vertex 3) but my motherboard only supports SATA-3.

OS and games on the same drive, 8GB system ram, 1.5GB vram. Maybe I could try closing some things like MSE (even though it's not scheduled to scan).

Hmmm...I doubt the SSD is your issue here. Even if you're on SATA-3, the random access times should still be the same.
 

EasyMode

Member
Do you guys experience the intial hitching when you first load the game? You spin the camera around for a couple seconds and it smooths out.

Yeah, the biggest hitch is when I first load. And I do the camera thing as well. But like you said, when wandering into a different area for the first time I'll get those occasional hitches.
 

Haunted

Member
Another mark of shame for bad porting, but another notch on the belt for resourceful PC gamers. Good job, guys.
 
I'm still completely baffled by the GPU usage during frame drops. Some areas in the DLC would have consistent drops for me and when they happen the GPU usage cuts in half.
 

Valygar

Member
The internal resolution is 1024 x 720 initially, right?

I'm using DsFIX with 1280x720, and the first DoF number. The resolution choosed ingame is also 1280 x 720

Oddly enough, the game runs faster (no slowdowns) than in native resolution upscaled.

Good job Durante! Thank you! :)

My gpu is an old 9600 GT, and I'm forcing x4 fxaa
 

TheExodu5

Banned
I'm still completely baffled by the GPU usage during frame drops. Some areas in the DLC would have consistent drops for me and when they happen the GPU usage cuts in half.

That's normal.

Say your usage is 100%, but your game can just maintain 29fps...the game engine therefore cuts your framerate in half to 15fps (as it doesn't support triple buffering). As a result, your usage gets cut nearly in half as well.

settings plz. cant get AA working on my 6950.

The AA is not actually working...it just forces his GPU into a high-power state.
 
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