I just wanted everyone who tried out the preset to know that I really appreciate you giving it a shot, and to the people who care enough to comment - that I really appreciate the kind words and feedback. I currently don't have any updates to post, but I thought I'd share a tip or two.
Regarding Anti-Aliasing: - When you enable ENB for Dark Souls II, the game's anti-aliasing is neutralized - ENB series includes an option to enable Edge Anti-Aliasing, a low permance cost AA solution that cleans the picture nicely at the cost of softening the image - Edge AA is disabled in this preset by default. To activate Edge AA, open the enblocal.ini file in a text editor such as Notepad and look for the line 'EnableEdgeAA=false' found under '[ANTIALIASING]'. Change the value from 'false' to 'true' and save the .ini file. The line should read: EnableEdgeAA=true - Those familiar with SweetFX may try enabling SMAA via that injector. As I have little experience with it myself, I can't guide anyone through it.
GeDoSaTo by Durante compatibility: - ENB series for Dark Souls II is compatible with GeDoSaTo version Beta 9. - You'll need to tweak some settings from what's there by default, notably the line 'interceptOnlySystemDlls' from 'false' to 'true' - GeDoSaTo can vastly boost your image quality via downsampling; by rendering the game at a higher resolution than that's native to your display (4K displayed on a 1080p display for instance - this also eliminates a lot of the anti-aliasing.) - GeDoSaTo is highly configurable and is generally very user friendly in the way it describes each setting to the user. Experiment at your own risk and leisure. - I use GeDoSaTo in conjunction with ENB for the best image quality. I also have the aforementioned Edge AA enabled, as the softening issue is less prevalent at higher resolutions. - I recommend disabling post-processing offered by GeDoSaTo when using ENB, as many of the effects may overlap. - GeDoSaTo Beta 9 can be downloaded at http://blog.metaclassofnil.com/?p=560 - DON'T FORGET TO READ THE 'README'. - If you're having trouble getting GeDoSaTo to work, you can download and check the settings I use below. DO NOT use this as a shortcut. https://www.dropbox.com/s/l25o7kpvlwi76ah/Dark%20Souls%20II%20ENB%20%2BGeDoSato.rar?dl=0
DLC compatibility: - ENB series should be unaffected by any DLC released to date. - I don't know how any of the downloadable content looks with my preset. I don't own a season pass.
VAC and ENB series: - I can only speak for myself; I've had zero issues with online play. - I don't know if any recent patches have changed anything regarding ENB or any other graphics enhancing mod for Dark Souls II.
I know it's been a long time with no communication from my end, but I can assure you that I check these comments every now and then. I can also be reached with PMs here on Nexus. We may even trade Steam IDs that way.
Install section is misleading. This ENB works with the curreent version of DS2. First, download this mod manualy and extract all files to the game directory of ds2. Then download enb series v0.257 but ONLY move the d3.d9.dll file in the ''wrapper version'' folder to the game directory. Now your game should run with the enb loaded
It's been a while since I've revisited this page, but having tried downloading the game again last week, dropping ENB 0.257 on top of the most up-to-date Steam version (ROW, non SOFS) of the game, resulted in a CTD immediately upon loading the game (e.g., starting a new game, the game would crash after skipping the initial cutscene and loading the map).
I can only guess that that version works for some people as per your experience, but as far as I know, ENB has largely behaved this way with the game since the last patches for the game landed in 2015. Boris dropped development of the ENB quite quick - and as I recall it, he was reluctant to develop the mod for DSII in the first place.
I did however, upon going back to the game, decide to try and figure out which other patches for the game would work with ENB by downloading previous versions of the game using Steam Depot Downloader.
Long story short, I found that at least three older patches would would function with the ENB version 0.257. Latest of these would also connect online - you could see player phantoms, messages and blood stains despite effectively running an older patch of the game. I can't confirm whether you could summon/invade, since I was working with a fresh save file.
The working, downgraded patch with online functionality intact is patch 1.10.
I was able to download that version of the game through Steam Depot Downloader (note that this app requires Microsoft .NET to function) with a .bat file with this string of text. Note that the 'XXX' after username and password require credentials for an account that has the appropriate license for the game registered.
After downloading that depot, I dropped all the contents of the folder over the existing install of Dark Souls II (as it comes out downloaded through the Steam client).
In order to stop Steam from auto-updating the downgraded game to the latest patch, I set the appmanifest file found in ...\Steam\SteamApps\ (appmanifest_236430.acf for Dark Souls II) to Read-only through the file properties before booting the game after copying over the files.
With all that out of the way, I was able to boot the game, connect online and play the game with ENB enabled. In the few hours I played the game for, I experienced some random crashes, but I can't say if those are related to ENB in any way. Needless to say, I also haven't played through all of the game with this configuration, so I could not say if there are some quirks that will only show up later in the game playing it this way.
So if you're looking for a 'vanilla' Dark Souls II experience whilst you're waiting for Elden Ring and you're willing to take a gamble with this working 100% throughout all of the game with DLC and everything for experiencing some additional eye-candy, there you go.
Hey, a question. I recently bought the og DS2 bundle for sale off of steam and I was just wondering if ENB is still supposed to be working with DS2 after all these years. I heard that one of the updates f***ed something up but it seems that I'm able to use your preset with the exception of CTDs when warping/sometimes loading a save. I assumed that enb wouldn't work but it seems that it's still technically working somewhat fine with a few problems. If it's supposed to still work but is unstable, disregard anything I said before.
Regardless of technical issues, I do love how beautiful your preset is. For now, it's enough for the wait until Stayd's Flames of Old mod. It also gives me an opportunity to try out and see DS2 pre-scholar and see what has been changed albeit with better looking graphics than base SOTFS could ever achieve.
this seems to be the best mod regarding ds2 ENB graphics, a shame it seems to work only on older versions of the game, I really hope to see somebody to fix it or do something as close as good to this one...
Hy, I've tried using this ENB with GeDoSaTo but it would always crash during start-up. I've also gave a look at your GeDoSaTo configs but It still crashed. Anyways, I tried without GeDoSaTo and it work's fine. But for some reason it has a little line right in the midle of the screen. I've searched about and didn't find anyone reporting it about ENB. I don't know why this happens, it's a bit hard to see but it get's really anoying with time.
Late to reply to this one, but it only works with the original (DX9 - 'Vanilla' + it's DLC) version, and even then you need to downgrade to an earlier patch to get it to work. The latest patch CTDs upon load with ENB enabled - Boris did not seem to care much for the game and stopped working on the mod before the last of the DLC for the game was out, if I recall correctly.
In short, it's still possible to use ENB series with Dark Souls 2, but it's a pain to get working. I managed to get it to work as late as last year after a day of just going through different patches. Curiously, even with the game version downgraded, it would still connect to the game's servers - you could see Phantoms and messages. I wasn't able to find any players to summon (early areas), though that could have been due to a low active player count. Unfortunately, I don't believe I have the version number that worked written down.
As far as I know, ENB Series for Dark Souls II is broken - and it has been so for quite some time. The SoTFS version never was supported by Boris and any compatibility the original (DX9) game had broke with one of the later patches (I can't say which) for the game that came along with one of the DLCs.
It's incredibly unlikely that Boris (ENB author) will revisit the game to update the DX9 version of the game, and as such, this and any other ENB presets you will find on this site are more or less unusable. I've tried reinstalling Dark Souls II (non Scholar of the First Sin version) a number of times over the last year or two years and each time, the latest version of the game caused a CTD upon loading the game. Perhaps the only way to experience the game with ENB series is to find an illegitimate copy of the game with a certain patch that still works with the graphics mod (I don't believe anyone has documented which version number that would be), since I don't believe Steam offers up an option to downgrade the game to an older patch. This of course would also mean playing the game offline - which on the other hand doesn't really offer up the best experience. Regardless, it's a sad state of affairs. I personally don't even want to revisit the game without the ENB Series mod, and if I could find a cracked version of the game that still worked with ENB Series for Dark Souls 2, I'd certainly play that over Scholar of The First Sin even if it meant having to play all of it offline.
57 comments
I just wanted everyone who tried out the preset to know that I really appreciate you giving it a shot, and to the people who care enough to comment - that I really appreciate the kind words and feedback. I currently don't have any updates to post, but I thought I'd share a tip or two.
Regarding Anti-Aliasing:
- When you enable ENB for Dark Souls II, the game's anti-aliasing is neutralized
- ENB series includes an option to enable Edge Anti-Aliasing, a low permance cost AA solution that cleans the picture nicely at the cost of softening the image
- Edge AA is disabled in this preset by default. To activate Edge AA, open the enblocal.ini file in a text editor such as Notepad and look for the line 'EnableEdgeAA=false' found under '[ANTIALIASING]'. Change the value from 'false' to 'true' and save the .ini file. The line should read: EnableEdgeAA=true
- Those familiar with SweetFX may try enabling SMAA via that injector. As I have little experience with it myself, I can't guide anyone through it.
GeDoSaTo by Durante compatibility:
- ENB series for Dark Souls II is compatible with GeDoSaTo version Beta 9.
- You'll need to tweak some settings from what's there by default, notably the line 'interceptOnlySystemDlls' from 'false' to 'true'
- GeDoSaTo can vastly boost your image quality via downsampling; by rendering the game at a higher resolution than that's native to your display (4K displayed on a 1080p display for instance - this also eliminates a lot of the anti-aliasing.)
- GeDoSaTo is highly configurable and is generally very user friendly in the way it describes each setting to the user. Experiment at your own risk and leisure.
- I use GeDoSaTo in conjunction with ENB for the best image quality. I also have the aforementioned Edge AA enabled, as the softening issue is less prevalent at higher resolutions.
- I recommend disabling post-processing offered by GeDoSaTo when using ENB, as many of the effects may overlap.
- GeDoSaTo Beta 9 can be downloaded at http://blog.metaclassofnil.com/?p=560 - DON'T FORGET TO READ THE 'README'.
- If you're having trouble getting GeDoSaTo to work, you can download and check the settings I use below. DO NOT use this as a shortcut.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/l25o7kpvlwi76ah/Dark%20Souls%20II%20ENB%20%2BGeDoSato.rar?dl=0
DLC compatibility:
- ENB series should be unaffected by any DLC released to date.
- I don't know how any of the downloadable content looks with my preset. I don't own a season pass.
VAC and ENB series:
- I can only speak for myself; I've had zero issues with online play.
- I don't know if any recent patches have changed anything regarding ENB or any other graphics enhancing mod for Dark Souls II.
I know it's been a long time with no communication from my end, but I can assure you that I check these comments every now and then.
I can also be reached with PMs here on Nexus. We may even trade Steam IDs that way.
Thanks.
Thank you. Sorry for the trouble with providing feedback with past versions, with the comments being locked in this tab.
I can only guess that that version works for some people as per your experience, but as far as I know, ENB has largely behaved this way with the game since the last patches for the game landed in 2015. Boris dropped development of the ENB quite quick - and as I recall it, he was reluctant to develop the mod for DSII in the first place.
I did however, upon going back to the game, decide to try and figure out which other patches for the game would work with ENB by downloading previous versions of the game using Steam Depot Downloader.
Long story short, I found that at least three older patches would would function with the ENB version 0.257. Latest of these would also connect online - you could see player phantoms, messages and blood stains despite effectively running an older patch of the game. I can't confirm whether you could summon/invade, since I was working with a fresh save file.
The working, downgraded patch with online functionality intact is patch 1.10.
I was able to download that version of the game through Steam Depot Downloader (note that this app requires Microsoft .NET to function) with a .bat file with this string of text. Note that the 'XXX' after username and password require credentials for an account that has the appropriate license for the game registered.
After downloading that depot, I dropped all the contents of the folder over the existing install of Dark Souls II (as it comes out downloaded through the Steam client).
In order to stop Steam from auto-updating the downgraded game to the latest patch, I set the appmanifest file found in ...\Steam\SteamApps\ (appmanifest_236430.acf for Dark Souls II) to Read-only through the file properties before booting the game after copying over the files.
With all that out of the way, I was able to boot the game, connect online and play the game with ENB enabled. In the few hours I played the game for, I experienced some random crashes, but I can't say if those are related to ENB in any way. Needless to say, I also haven't played through all of the game with this configuration, so I could not say if there are some quirks that will only show up later in the game playing it this way.
So if you're looking for a 'vanilla' Dark Souls II experience whilst you're waiting for Elden Ring and you're willing to take a gamble with this working 100% throughout all of the game with DLC and everything for experiencing some additional eye-candy, there you go.
If CTDs are a concern, that is.
Regardless of technical issues, I do love how beautiful your preset is. For now, it's enough for the wait until Stayd's Flames of Old mod. It also gives me an opportunity to try out and see DS2 pre-scholar and see what has been changed albeit with better looking graphics than base SOTFS could ever achieve.
Anyways, I tried without GeDoSaTo and it work's fine. But for some reason it has a little line right in the midle of the screen. I've searched about and didn't find anyone reporting it about ENB. I don't know why this happens, it's a bit hard to see but it get's really anoying with time.
Thank's for all.
(also this is machine translated)
In short, it's still possible to use ENB series with Dark Souls 2, but it's a pain to get working. I managed to get it to work as late as last year after a day of just going through different patches. Curiously, even with the game version downgraded, it would still connect to the game's servers - you could see Phantoms and messages. I wasn't able to find any players to summon (early areas), though that could have been due to a low active player count. Unfortunately, I don't believe I have the version number that worked written down.
Removed the files and it still keeps crashing.
Nice...
Also, fantastic ENB. Will be using this forever.
How do i know that it even worked?
It's incredibly unlikely that Boris (ENB author) will revisit the game to update the DX9 version of the game, and as such, this and any other ENB presets you will find on this site are more or less unusable. I've tried reinstalling Dark Souls II (non Scholar of the First Sin version) a number of times over the last year or two years and each time, the latest version of the game caused a CTD upon loading the game. Perhaps the only way to experience the game with ENB series is to find an illegitimate copy of the game with a certain patch that still works with the graphics mod (I don't believe anyone has documented which version number that would be), since I don't believe Steam offers up an option to downgrade the game to an older patch. This of course would also mean playing the game offline - which on the other hand doesn't really offer up the best experience. Regardless, it's a sad state of affairs. I personally don't even want to revisit the game without the ENB Series mod, and if I could find a cracked version of the game that still worked with ENB Series for Dark Souls 2, I'd certainly play that over Scholar of The First Sin even if it meant having to play all of it offline.