Dark Souls 2, the time has finally come. Modder ‘Ganaboy’ has released a new beta version of DS2LightingEngine that has support for Path Tracing. As such, you can get your first taste of Dark Souls 2 with real-time Path Tracing.
The mod removes almost all fake lights in the game. As such, torches and items that produce light are invaluable in the early parts of the game. Otherwise, it will be difficult to see your surroundings. The modder has also manually reconfigured most areas and lights for each zone.
To run Dark Souls 2 with Path Tracing, you will need an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 20 series or equivalent AMD/Intel RT capable GPU. NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FSR4 are both supported.
The modder recommends playing with minimum player light possible. Torch mechanics and light mechanics are crucial in early game, and timers should be preserved as much as possible when not needed. Plus, there is native support for HDR.
Since this is a beta release, you might encounter some bugs and graphical issues. If you encounter any, you should let the modder know about them.
Those interested can download this public beta version of the DS2LightingEngine Mod from Ganaboy’s Discord server. I should also note that the mod is for the Scholar of the First Sin Edition.
Speaking of Dark Souls 2, you may also be interested in these other mods for it. The First Sin InfiniDetail is a mod that aims to eliminate texture LOD pop-in. It will also greatly increase the game’s draw distance. In theory, it should work with the Renewal Project.
Dark Souls 2 Renewal Project upgrades every texture in the game to 4096×4096 resolution. It also adds roughness maps to every texture, along with fixes to missing/low-quality normal maps, vanilla displacement maps, and the occasional texture seam present on the vanilla files.
If you want more free content for the game, you should try the Firelink Edition Mod. Dark Souls 2 Firelink Edition adds new weapons, shields, armor pieces, and two whole new miracles. It will also allow players to sell the Soul items at their actual soul value. Soul items display their soul value in the descriptions, and we get some buffed ring effects.
These three mods are for the Scholar of the First Sin version. If you are still playing the first/vanilla version of DS2, you can use this mod to overhaul its graphics.
Have fun!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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