Dark Souls PC - Confirmed Facts - 30FPS Lock, Internal Resolution Locked To 1024x720

DSOGaming writes: "Before continuing, let us tell you this: we don’t like bringing you bad news. Hell, we are PC gamers and we love to have each and every day good news for all PC gamers. However, when we say something is bad, it obviously is. And no, we do not make up stories for hits. Now some of you may be wondering why we are starting this news story this way. Well, the reason is obvious. A couple of months ago, we were criticized for our Dark Souls story. People started yelling that we were lying and such, beautiful and wonderful things. Fast forward a couple of months and here we are today, bringing you solid facts about the PC version of Dark Souls."

[LightofDarkness]

If this remains true for release, then this is pitiful. A truly pi**-poor job. There is no good reason why any of this should be true, and when coupled with the insistence of using GFWL, it is effectively unacceptable. You have no one but yourselves to blame if this game receives laughably low sales and a high piracy rate.

For shame.

More to that, how has it taken them nearly a year to achieve something BELOW the bare minimum requirement for a PC release? They've haven't really even changed anything, just added a few little bits of content here and there. This harkens back to those awful Capcom ports of DMC and RE4 from years back.

[Summons75]

Well they didn't want to but the PC fanboys wouldn't stop crying because they were to lazy to play it on the PS3 like it should be played.

PC gaming isn't bad in the least but the people who are overly dedicated to it are a bunch of cry babies like any system fanboys.

It's not fair PC users get all this extra content when ps3 players supported demon souls, support this and then get the shaft because of a bunch of crying little girls.

It's all whatever to me cause I own the game, I enjoy it and when the dlc comes out I'll enjoy that too. I just get annoyed when people cry because they didn't get a game and then when they do get it plus more than the original they keep crying because of something so trivial. PC is lucky to have gotten it at all, be grateful.

[LightofDarkness]

Here's a suggestion: if you don't understand this situation or PC gaming, don't comment on it. Simple, right?

I didn't want this game on PC, I played it on PS3 and got what I wanted out of it. This is akin to a developer porting a Wii game to the PS3 and having it look and play exactly the same (locked @ 640x480/30hz), except with broken online capabilities and potentially wiping save-games. Do you think people wouldn't cry foul about that? Do you not think PS3 gamers would say "why'd they even bother?"

The problem here is these devs are going to cry foul when nobody buys it, and blame it all on PC gamers (just like you're doing). Just about every PC game is released with a certain set of features as standard, including adjustable resolution, a variable frame rate (these are practically a given) and myriad other adjustments, but the first two are practically sacrosanct, and have been since the '90s. When you remove those options, it sends a message that you basically do not care about the audience enough to even know that. That this game isn't meant for them, it's left-overs from somebody else and you're not important enough to cater towards.

Plus, PS3/360 gamers ARE getting the extra content as DLC, so that's a moot point.

[Captain Qwark 9]

@lightof darkness

regardless if most* pc games have a certain set of features standard or not, it doesnt entitle you to them with every game and it is certainly not required. the game is the same game whether its 120fps with a laundry list of graphical features or its a copy and paste port, the fact is that it is now available to those who only have a pc as a gaming platform or just prefer that platform. summons is completely right, pc gamers should be grateful that they made it available on their system to begin, and added a bunch of gameplay too becuase thats something they didnt have to do either of but they did becuase every pc fanboy was crying.

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

Lets be honest your happy the pc version is not a good pc version right?

[DigitalAnalog]

You completely missed LOD point. Imagine right now if the Wii was the dominating console with all the third party support, and then port the likes of Batman: Arkham City with the same WII settings on the PS3/360? Would you not cry foul either? Why try to justify the PC port in such a manner?

They have already been given a chance OPT OUT of the port if they can't give the standard PC settings and yet they still persist. This is like the merchandiser who puts his foot at the door the moment you tell him that you're not interested in his product. This is not a problem for PC gamers or any buyers for that matter, we CHOOSE what we want to buy, nobody should tell us how we should spend our money regardless of intention.

[2v1]

this game never run good on ps3

[sriki007]

hey idiot. We are paying the same price as the console owners... And deserve a proper port like other games in the market!!!!

[Awesome_Gamer]

My favourite Rpg this gen, i don't care what anybody says.

[Morrigan-Aensland]

Best gaming platform now is a PS3. It has a lot of beautiful and tech advanced gamed of all genres. Most ps3 games and experiences aren't available elsewhere. I love pc because of its potential and advance tech but most games don't make use of pc advance hardware. Apart from MAG on ps3 bf3 imo is an amazing shooter when played on ultra.

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

Ask sony to put planetside 2 on ps3 then.
They won't do it cause they can't. But it is coming to mac :)

MAG is nothing in comparison.
It is now a mini action game.

ps3 shooters are not so good & I like shooters & crawlers.
Find something like this on ps3 & will give you $1.
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
this will be a 64 player game.
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Now if you are completely obsessed with AAA third person action games the ps3 is hands down best console.

I actually like ps3 and will get ps4. But PC gamers like pc games so they don't care about the fact that you like console games.

[taquito]

lol.....the ps3 is last gen and is EXACTLY the same graphics as the 360

i play wii games on pc with dolphin emulator that look better than ps3 games

[one2thr]

@Taquito
I have the same thing, and I can tell you that there isn't an emulated Wii game that looks better than a Gears of War, let alone Heavy Rain or L.a. Noir, or even Little Big Planet...

[yabhero]

Sad guys... Your looking at a comment from a person who trolls every WiiU article. Calls you a fanboy or an idiot for presenting facts and says every PS3 games runs at native 720p/1080p and 60FPS. Also they believ that PS4 will support 4k resolution.
I own and love and PS3 and am getting a PC but this is pathetic. Just ask. They'll confirm everything I said.

[grahf]

Here is where I disagree entirely.

They made a game and an engine to work exclusively with the the PS3/360. They built it with their strengths and weaknesses in mind. So they essentially created a world were the settings were 720p & 30 FPS (*cough* most of the time...).

Do you honestly think that their animators PLANNED for a PC release? If you are a digital animator, and you are working on a game where you output 30 FPS... what do you think they're going to program? HONESTLY? Do you really think that they are going to animate 60 FPS + just for the hell of it?!?!!? And the Texture department... do you think they just created a ton of extra high res 1080p art/maps that they would NEVER USE? REALLY?

The game is a PORT. P. O. R. T. If they were going to bring a PC optimized version to the table, it would have drastically increased development time & cost.

Keep complaining. Don't insult those of us that bought the game already and love it and just do what PC gamers do best... pirate. When the next Souls game comes around and the decision to make a PC optimized version is presented right from the start, they will give you all a big middle finger.

[Ducky]

I wasn't expecting them to make new high-res art, but locking the internal buffer... really?
The animations aren't that hard, because the source animation isn't capped at 30. I can't even think of the last time a PC port was capped at 30fps.

This game becomes worse than a typical port because of GFWL. Couple that with the previous limitations and you have quite a deterrent...

... which directly affects the gameplay. You know DarkSoul's online? Well, it's going to be pretty much dead on PC when only a few people buy it and only fewer even play it online because of GFWL.

The people complaining are doing so because they don't want the game to fail, and that means having features that are in pretty much every PC game (port or not), or at the very least not being bogged down by GFWL which is PC's equivalent of cancer.

So keep supporting the game you love on your platform. I appreciate the devs listening to PC fans and trying to port the game to PC, but their effort appears to be half-hearted.

[Laika]

i think you should be happy you at least have the option to play it on pc if you dont have a console. if a lower frame rate and res makes you miss out on a great game then i pity you. ya its a missed opportunity but not a good reason to dismiss the game.

[Kanzes]

'Crappy' console port for PC, again.

[kingdavid]

Tbh I saw this coming when they announced it as GFWL. Alot of these games are basically up-ressed 360 ports.

[Irishguy95]

Still worth a buy/ MY fav game this gen. Unless you don't want it because it is a 'port' instead of getting the upgrades that should be standard for Console to PC ports.

[chak_]

Yeah, buying this nonetheless

[synchroscheme]

If only for the sole reason of supporting the series and hopefully get a MUCH better port next time around.

Edit: Though I would have gladly waited longer for a proper port or even the next game if it meant it would have the bare PC essentials.

[DragonKnight]

Well at least we know PC fans don't care about the actual game and only care about its fidelity. Oh well, its real fans will continue to support it just as long as Demon's Souls fans have supported that game.

[MadLad]

The point is if you are going to port it at all, you do it right.

Locking a pc game at thirty FPS and not even offering resolutions up to 1080p is laughable.

They aren't asking for a lot with that. They were fine with the game not getting anything in the way of graphical improvements. But to purposely restrict the port such as this is nonsensical.

[DragonKnight]

Did you ever think that, oh I don't know, they don't care about PC elitism and want everyone to experience the same game? Have you heard about console parity? That stupid idea where all versions of a multiplatform game across all consoles MUST look and play the same? Well welcome to it. It sucks doesn't it? But here's the thing, we don't sit there and throw hissy fits over it forever and threaten piracy. If the game is good, that's what matters. It's not like that resolution renders the game unplayable. You just don't like it.

If this is such a big issue, then it's clear that the interest isn't in what the GAME offers people at all. Instead, it's all about the looks. And that's sad because people will miss out on an incredible game or pirate it and essentially give the middle finger to great developers all because of some fidelity.

**EDIT** There is also the fact that they aren't PC devs, likely weren't fully prepared for that kind of development, and that Bamco wouldn't foot the bill for a different studio to do it.

At least this means we won't have to hear "I'm playing the REAL version of this game" in the future, and that's always a good thing.

[led1090]

@DragonKnight Yes we crib when games don't have that PC quality because we have that choice. And you console folks don't. Consoles are locked and there is nothing you can do about it. Had you owned a high end PC, you would have acted in exactly the same manner. Cause when you know that something can be improved upon, and when that does not happen, you have every right to complain. Come to think of it, we always crib when we have choices. You wouldn't settle for any kind of food if you have the money. You'd want the best that you like and which that money can buy. So why must PC gamers expect any less when they're getting a console game? If you're doing something, do it right, or don't do it.

[MadLad]

It's not PC elitism to expect the bare minimum of a pc game. This is a port in its worst form and shows a complete lack of care and effort on their part.

They ported this because they saw potential profit in doing so. Well, it's a different platform with its own set of standards, and they didn't care enough to offer the bare minimum.

They might as well have not ported the game at all, because very few people are going to support this sort of effort.

And no. Upping the resolution to full HD and not locking the FPS requires virtually no work on their part.

And don't take the statements of a couple of idiots talking about pirating the game as anything but a few vocal idiots being idiotic. The loudest tend to have the least of worth to say. Most people are simply going to avoid the game altogether, or buy it on the cheap somewhere down the line.

[Bobby Kotex]

Spoken like someone who knows NOTHING about PC gaming.

[chasegarcia]

It shows they had a hard time with the port. If it runs smoother than LA Noire(another game with locked fps) I will be happy for their work. Also, a lot of times mods will fix it.

Still it does sck and I understand the frustration.

[kingdavid]

The FPS is not a big problem because its a slow moving RPG.

Most people are concerned with the resolution.

[chasegarcia]

It seems like they did not planned to release the game at all on pc(or spend a lot of money on it). Hence the bad resolution. Expect a lot of old gaming pc's to run this game.

[Hisiru]

Tbh all I want is steam support.

[iNcRiMiNaTi]

Well it's been up for preorder on steam for almost a month now. It was even on the front page of the store

[Hisiru]

Thanks, that's all I wanted to hear. I can't say I am not disappointed with the resolution, but I am glad it's coming for steam.

[phoenixdown]

You got what you asked for right PC gamers?

[r21]

that sucks for the pc peeps. why would the devs choose to limit the pc crowd? :L

[Dougz_G]

time and money constraints maybe? I'm just happy it's coming to pc, such an amazing game after all

[r21]

ya, thats cool and all but the hardcore pc crowd have the rigs to play 60fps and 1080p games, why limit this one? in any case, to the pc folks, enjoy this somewhat limited yet intense game :D

[MRMagoo123]

hardcore pc crowd lol

[chukamachine]

Wasn't planned for pc. But still limiting rez is a joke.

[Toman85]

I must stay away from this title. Played it on PS3
This happens when the lowest donimatrix X360 rules for devs, lol PC can handle much more than 720p and certainly more than 30 FPS.

Take Max Payne 3 on PC a great example how it can be done. There I have 90 FPS on max with 4xAA and 16AF with DX 11 on with HDAO.
Of course we can find more great more multiplat titles such as BF3, The Witcher 2, Skyrim that looks and plays alot better than the console counterparts

[Machioto]

But max Payne was designed with Pc's in mind so it runs better and John carmack said while Pc's are powerful than consoles they are hampered by their drivers.

[harveydanger]

I created an account just to let you know that you're a moron. "Lowest donimatrix?" Really? Did you mean "lowest denominator?" That's not even something that English being a second language can excuse.

[Toman85]

You created an account to be a moron on, nice job there, you nailed it. I dont care what I type, I just type whatever I want.

So a new word for that is bad? I dont think so.
Thats not even part of discussion. It about Dark Souls on PC with console FPS and 720p, ughh..

[ichdich]

lol what a joke

[Statix]

Do you really expect developers to spend a lot of effort and resources to port a game that will probably be pirated to hell and not sell that many copies anyway?

Yes, locking the resolution in a PC game is terrible and inexcusable, but it seems like From Software didn't want to even do the port in the first place. Why spend extra money on a port that might end up losing them money, let alone break even?

[jimmywolf]

it that kind of thinking why they make half ass ports an why people will pirate versus paying even if the game starting sales are poor it still sale well in the end because steam 25-75% off in the future

[ipe]

Rofl 75% off.
Like 5,10$ sale- valve margin, they d be happy about that?

[Statix]

You really think they'd make their money back by selling the game at 50-75% off?

[CrimsonessCross]

Yes. Because when you are a developer you want to do everything you can to get that sale. Then there's the people who won't pay regardless of enjoying the game in its entirety...and it's sickening.

Both resolution and frames locks is horrible. If they didn't want to do the port then they shouldn't have done it at this point. We aren't playing our games on CRT monitors anymore...so in the least they should have made it so there were or are many or at least a handful of resolutions viable for the person to play the game at.

If people pirate a game and never bother to actually get the game...I don't know what to say. I will pay a company for doing a good job on a game I enjoy, and pretty much follow them if they have good etiquette and ethics towards customers. It depends on the company and their practices, the game and how they treat their customers.

I was going to get this game and was quite interested in getting it on my PC...but now i see that the resolution is lacking and the frames lock is laughable. Thanks for the port, but no thank you until it drops price or I might just not pick it up at all. I'll treat them the same way they treated the PC port. ;D

[sedx]

this game should have been a ps3 only title, too many crybabies.

[taquito]

pass on this turd then, was excited, if i want to play a last gen game I'll dust off my ps3/360/ps2/wii/gamecube ect/

I'm certainly not going to spend more than $10 on this game, and judging by these reports, it won't be long

I played it on ps3, it looked terrible, bloody awful, ran bloody awful, covered in jaggies and muddy garbage resolution, but it was a very good last gen game

I had hoped the devs wanted to make their game the best it could be, obviously thye just want to rush out a turd and use the last gen console settings/code

Steam sale and I'll grab it or off amazon, no more than $10

Cannot wait to hear the devs cry

when the devs cry>>>ba,ba,na,na
when the devs cry

I see a ship in the distance, a large black flag is being raised, it bears the crest of, ahhhh, it is as we feared

ARRRRRRRRRR

I don't pirate games, I buy them cheap or not at all if the dev does something stupid like this, but this game will be lucky to sell 50,000 copies, and it will get pirated a million times

and they did it to themselves

*edit, the internal resolution is 720p, but it will output 1080p and we can force 16x anti aliasing and there WILL certainly be away to remove the frame cap (there is in every other retarded game that tries this) so it will still make the ps3/360 versions look awful and it will run much better, but the dev should have went all out and really tried to make their engine shine, they will see no more than $10 from me

[MetalProxy]

Turd? smh. Go ahead ignore the game. People are right when they say PC guys have a piss poor elitist attitude ...and wait a minute PC guys pay for games? >>

[MadLad]

The decent ones do, yes. The world is full of greedy little shits, and the pc is an open platform. These things are bound to happen.

It would be just as bad on console, if the process of pirating games wasn't that much harder.

[taquito]

did u miss the part where i said i played it on ps3???

i just wanted to play a version that didnt look like crap, thats whhy i play pc, i care about graphics, if u dont, fine , get an 8 year old console and only play that

[TardcoreGamer]

Thanks for the game, guys. You really didn't have to.

[Coach_McGuirk]

720p @ 30fps? LOL

[Tomonobu Itagaki]

Actually, this is not 720p. 720p is 1280*720, Dark Souls is rendered at 1024*720. It's even lower than a XGA signal, which is 1024*768.

It's just the worst portage ever, and no PC gamer should actually buy such shame.

[Coach_McGuirk]

agreed. i was playing on a lcd w/1024x768 resolution 10 years ago, haha

[Raider69]

i will buy it when it hits 10€,with this crap port the price will come down very fast,all those pre-orders lost due to a crap port work!

[Raider69]

Just read IGN preview and it states that the framerate drops are still visible on this PC version!The reviewer even says that does that have the console version have no reason to get this bad port,and simply wait for the new content that comes in the winter.

[h311rais3r]

For all those that don't understand the res debacle.

Imagine buying a bluray movie only to have it be fuzzy and blurry because it's running as a VHS.

THAT'S the issue. Many pc gamers game above 1080p. It's not that we're complaining that it will be gross looking. It will be blurry and fuzzy and hard to make things out. That's the issue.

It's a standard feature and EVERY pc game allows resolution changes. We don't feel entitled, we aren't crying, we're just upset were getting the finger.

All you ps3 fanboys were pissed about skyrim and you didn't see us calling you whiners.

I've already preordered and payed for it because I'll mod it to meet standard pc needs but still....most pc gamers play at a res 6x greater AND at 60fps to boot. This is sad

I'm pretty sure you consolers would be mad if you bought a game that didn't fill up your whole tv with major black spots and had to force ur tv to stretch the image making it extremely fuzzy and ugly to look at.

[aliengmr]

Do the console gamers know that FPS on PC can go beyond just looking good? Depending on the game it can effect quite a bit. Anybody who has played Dead Space 1 on PC with KB/M can tell you that.

I applaud the devs effort but they should have just not even tried to begin with.

[Bladesfist]

I will not even download this game as lowering res in a multiscreen configuration f's everyone up

[beerkeg]

I bought this for ps3 and made it quite a way into the game until I started playing something else and it went on my list of games to finish.

But I was going to buy it again for pc as the only thing I didn't like about it was that the framerate sucked in places, it was nigh on unplayable at some points. Which was why I was going to buy it for pc, it wouldn't have these problems and I could also play it at a higher resolution.

That was what I thought until now anyway. I may still buy it, but this is kinda off-putting. This isn't about elitism or high expectations, just something that is common practice with pc gaming - options. Something they haven't included.

[harveydanger]

Same - I own the 360 version, enjoyed it despite the shoddy matchmaking for online and some of the actual mechanics relating to it. Was hoping for better fps in Blighttown etc. and maybe some HD textures. I am disappoint.

On the one hand the only reason they even did this was because the PC gamers asked, on the other hand, they never asked for this. /Adam Jensen voice

[LAWSON72]

I love hearing all people do on PC is pirate, well console gamers buy used I don't see that money going to the dev either so that is a stupid argument

[Omnislash]

LOL @ all these silly PC fanboy elitists.....

Maybe when you neckbeards move out of your moms basement you can learn to not have a sense of entitlement.

This is a great game and just because you dont want to play it on a console doesnt mean the devs have to go out of their way to make their game better for you.

[MRMagoo123]

I completely agree its like a crying baby fest in here, my pc is plenty fine to play any new game at max setting even BF3 runs on ultra yet you dont see me complaining. mainly cos i have it on the ps3 already but still.

[harveydanger]

Complete and total lack of understanding of the topic at hand, hurray!

[Omnislash]

Complete and total lack of understanding the fact that I based my comment on the comments I had read. Hurray!

[Bladesfist]

@Omnislash This is not even allowed on consoles. You HAVE to support the resolutions the Xbox supports for upscaling to have your game on the system. I will not be able to play this screen as lowering the resolution of one screen on a multi screen configuration causes a lot of issues. I do not want to play the game at 30 fps either. Their is a point of how much a company can screw you over before you say. This game is not worth the trouble.

[kesvalk]

wow... i knew console fanboys were obnoxious, but GOD! this is ridiculous...

i almost pre-ordered this game, glad i didn't cuz playing in 1024x720 is stupid, simple as that...