DS1 Optimization Project
⚪ Last updated 2017Preview
🔍 Analysis
- 👍 4.3% endorsement rate — high engagement, a strong quality signal
- 🏆 #2 of 39 Visuals and Graphics mods in this game by downloads
📋 About This Mod
This mod gain more FPS by optimizing textures of visual effects, textures with alpha, specular, emissive and some normal maps textures.
You will need DSfix installed to use this mod.
INSTALLATION:
1. Install DSFix 2. Put files from mod`s archive to \Dark Souls Prepare to Die Edition\DATA\dsfix\tex_override
Configure your DSfix.ini like that:
enableTextureDumping 0 enableTextureOverride 1 aaQuality 0 ssaoStrength 0 disableDofScaling 0 dofBlurAmount 0 unlockFPS 1 FPSlimit 60 filteringOverride 0
What it changes:
- Fire Effects
- Lightning Effects
- Footsteps dirt effects
- Dust effects (while smashing objects, etc.)
- Water splash effects
- Shining aura effects (can be seen in woods on white flowers)
- Fog in woods
- Souls "eating" effects
- Soul-guys in the Ooalacile`s caves (they drop FPS hard)
- Rat`s fur
- Cat`s fur (Black cats in Dark Root`s Garden and Alvina)
- Sif`s fur
- Taurus Demon`s fur
- Humanity usage effect
- Flask drinking effect
- Blood stain effect (after player`s death)
- Blood spatter effects
- Phantom summoning effect
- Homeward bone usage effect
- Sky and lightshafts effects
- Effects after defeating bosses
- Specular and Emissive maps (esp. for Bosses)
- Various magic effects
- Vegetation alpha (bunch of flowers and leafs)
- Fog gates (though it does not fix major FPS drop near bosses gates)
More than 800 textures were optimized atm.
Video demonstration (v. 0. 96): tested on i7-3770, gtx970, 16 gb ram
- Quelaag Fight
- Taurus Demon Fight
- Gargoyles Fight
- Moonlight Batterfly Fight
- Hydra Fight
- Sif Fight
Endorse this mod if it helped you.
DS1 Optimization Project boosts FPS by optimizing visual effect textures, alpha, specular, emissive, and some normal maps in Dark Souls 1. It's for players seeking smoother performance on modest hardware, with 1,667 endorsements and 38,901 downloads as proof of its popularity.
✨ Key Features
📊 Pros & Cons
✅ Pros
- Community-approved: 1,667 endorsements and 38,901 downloads.
- Optimizes exactly the texture types that cause FPS loss: visual effects, alpha, specular, emissive, normal maps.
- No gameplay changes, just pure performance tuning — ideal for players who want smoother FPS without altering the game.
⚠️ Cons
- No updates since 2017, so it hasn't been tested against current system configurations or driver updates.
- Optimized textures may look slightly worse than originals in exchange for FPS gains.
- Conflicts with other texture mods that replace the same visual effect, alpha, specular, or normal map files.
For Dark Souls 1 players on low-end or mid-range PCs who need every frame they can get. For those who don't mind slightly lower visual quality in exchange for smoother performance. Skip if you already hit 60 FPS or use high-res texture packs — this mod is about performance, not visual upgrades.
💡 Beginner Tips
- Place files in DSFix's texture override folder for easy removal and testing without altering the base game.
- Test performance in Blighttown — a notorious FPS drop area — to see the actual improvement from this mod.
📊 Mod Details
- Game
- Darksouls Mods
- Author
- diolator
- Version
- 1.2
- Downloads
- 38,901
- Endorsements
- 1,667
- Category
- Visuals and Graphics
- Created
- 5/24/2017
- Updated
- 6/23/2017
🔧 How to Install Dark Souls Mods
Download from Nexus Mods.
📖 Full step-by-step install guide for Dark Souls →
Visit the official mod page for specific installation instructions for this mod.
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