A note for people who downloaded the old "less than 1080p preset or for people who may be concerned about the fact that they don't run Dark Souls 2 at 1080p or better:
1. Much to my surprise, SMAA does a better job of removing aliasing than FXAA does, at lower resolutions (any resolution, for that matter), in Dark Souls 2. In my past experience with other games, FXAA had usually done a better job on lower resolutions. Not the case, here. As such, I HAVE REMOVED the alternate config I had posted for "less than 1080p". I apologize to the 2 people whom downloaded it.
*note: FXAA is a few frames faster than SMAA. Keep that in mind for performance tweaking. FXAA is used in PerfPreset1.
**added comparison screenshots @ 720p to compare aliasing. 1. No effects or AA / 2. all effects + FXAA/ 3. all effects + SMAA. These shots are on the third image page, just before the comparison shots of the performance presets.
So for direct clarity: I have tested and all presets look/work equally well for everything from 720p up to 1080p, with no need for resolution specific tweaking. I'm sure that higher than 1080p also looks great, but I don't have such a display to test that for absolute certainty.
The only effect that seemed to "appear" a little stronger than usual, at lower resolutions, is the shiny HDR/bloom effect from GeDoSaTo. It wasn't a bad difference, just a bit more of a 'glint' to the effect. If you feel it is too strong, use the "strength" parameter in the "bloom.fx" file in GeDoSaTo's "assets" folder, to lower the effect a little bit.
2. I now offer performance presets. Check the Menu on the main page to read about them and download them from the files page, of SweetGedo64.
3. Big changes have been made to the front page, regarding the setup instructions for SweetGeDo64. If you are looking for setup directions, re-check that section for details!
If you have an older and/or weaker graphics card, I would love to hear about what settings work for you and it could help serve as a reference for others. So let's generally say for AMD: HD5 series or older and for Nvidia: GTX400 series or older. Of course, newer but weaker GPUs are also welcome, such as AMD's new APUs or something like that.
1. tell us your GPU 2. what resolution you run Dark Souls II 3. Give a loose list of the effects you can use from SweetGedo64 and let us know if you are using the main settings file or one of the performance presets. 4. approximate your average framerate. If you don't know a ballpark number for average framerate, then something like "yeah dude, these settings are smooooth", is good enough.
No downsampling! Straight 1080p, compressed using a very good method which just saps a little warmth from the image. Overall, a good representation of my in-game quality.
I myself downsample from 4K so I don't have to rely on AA that much (SMAA activated anyway in GeDoSaTo). I hope all the possible tweakings will make the game playable on my friends' laptops so we can enjoy some jolly co-op action
Hey, if you haven't noticed already, I added performance profiles. They should be helpful for your friend's laptop! I wrote a new section explaining them, as well as comparing screenshots.
I also rewrote much of the section on "dealing with performance issues". It should now be even more clear.
Which "effects" in the bloom.fx file are you telling us to disable? All I see under tweakable variables are a bunch of #ifndef and #define. How exactly do you disable the 4 effects that you talk about?
OK I got it working by launching the game as an administrator. Though for some reason the game freezes when I shaft + tab to bring up the valve overlay, do you know about this glitch?
are you using anything else besides SweetFX and GeDoSaTo? (afterburner, fraps, etc)
and are any of your settings different from my SweetGeDo64 settings?
are you using GeDoSaTo's downscaling feature?
Dark Souls 2 is a little unstable with mods. If you use only GeDoSaTo and then only SweetFX, does the game still freeze when bringing up the steam overlay?
Well, most injectors have potential problems with overlays. To use them, you often should disable overlays in-game. Sometimes there are workarounds. SweetFX has a built in workaround for the steam overlay that is turned on by default. Afterburner has a workaround which may or may not work, that you have to turn on manually. etc.
But I'm wondering a couple of things: 1. do you have problems with ONLY GeDoSaTo running? 2. with only SweetFX running? 3. Are you using GeDoSaTo's downscaling feature? 4. normal fullscreen mode or borderless windowed mode (an option in GeDoSaTo.ini) for Dark Souls 2?
The Bloom and AA types I used are tweakable in SweetFX. See "Settings or Individual Effects Explained".
I just use the in-game depth of field. It is subtle, which I like, and only effects very distant objects. I don't like extreme depth of field effects. But GeDoSaTo has a very high quality Bokeh type DoF. If you want to try it, you can enable and tweak it in "GeDoSaTo.ini".
18 comments
A note for people who downloaded the old "less than 1080p preset or for people who may be concerned about the fact that they don't run Dark Souls 2 at 1080p or better:
1. Much to my surprise, SMAA does a better job of removing aliasing than FXAA does, at lower resolutions (any resolution, for that matter), in Dark Souls 2. In my past experience with other games, FXAA had usually done a better job on lower resolutions. Not the case, here. As such, I HAVE REMOVED the alternate config I had posted for "less than 1080p". I apologize to the 2 people whom downloaded it.
*note: FXAA is a few frames faster than SMAA. Keep that in mind for performance tweaking. FXAA is used in PerfPreset1.
**added comparison screenshots @ 720p to compare aliasing. 1. No effects or AA / 2. all effects + FXAA/ 3. all effects + SMAA. These shots are on the third image page, just before the comparison shots of the performance presets.
So for direct clarity: I have tested and all presets look/work equally well for everything from 720p up to 1080p, with no need for resolution specific tweaking. I'm sure that higher than 1080p also looks great, but I don't have such a display to test that for absolute certainty.
The only effect that seemed to "appear" a little stronger than usual, at lower resolutions, is the shiny HDR/bloom effect from GeDoSaTo. It wasn't a bad difference, just a bit more of a 'glint' to the effect. If you feel it is too strong, use the "strength" parameter in the "bloom.fx" file in GeDoSaTo's "assets" folder, to lower the effect a little bit.
2. I now offer performance presets. Check the Menu on the main page to read about them and download them from the files page, of SweetGedo64.
3. Big changes have been made to the front page, regarding the setup instructions for SweetGeDo64. If you are looking for setup directions, re-check that section for details!
1. tell us your GPU
2. what resolution you run Dark Souls II
3. Give a loose list of the effects you can use from SweetGedo64 and let us know if you are using the main settings file or one of the performance presets.
4. approximate your average framerate. If you don't know a ballpark number for average framerate, then something like "yeah dude, these settings are smooooth", is good enough.
Thanks!
Edit : btw, you aren't using downsampling in the screenshots, are you ?
Thanks for the sentiments!
I also rewrote much of the section on "dealing with performance issues". It should now be even more clear.
You need to open "Post.fx", that's where those 4 shaders are that need to be set to "0".
*additionally, are you running DarkSoulsII.exe as an administrator?
and are any of your settings different from my SweetGeDo64 settings?
are you using GeDoSaTo's downscaling feature?
Dark Souls 2 is a little unstable with mods. If you use only GeDoSaTo and then only SweetFX, does the game still freeze when bringing up the steam overlay?
But I'm wondering a couple of things:
1. do you have problems with ONLY GeDoSaTo running?
2. with only SweetFX running?
3. Are you using GeDoSaTo's downscaling feature?
4. normal fullscreen mode or borderless windowed mode (an option in GeDoSaTo.ini) for Dark Souls 2?
I just use the in-game depth of field. It is subtle, which I like, and only effects very distant objects. I don't like extreme depth of field effects. But GeDoSaTo has a very high quality Bokeh type DoF. If you want to try it, you can enable and tweak it in "GeDoSaTo.ini".