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Dark Souls Path Tracing mod, yay or nay?

Do you prefer the original or the path tracing mod?

  • The original looks better

    Votes: 8 17.0%

  • The path tracing mod looks better

    Votes: 29 61.7%

  • Path tracing just looks different, not necessarily better

    Votes: 10 21.3%
  • Total voters
    47
Gaiff

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
Or should I say "Passu Turacing"? It's still in development but is coming along nicely.



Seems there's also a texture mod in there because the surfaces clearly change. Yes, this channel is banned but only for comparisons. This is just a visual showcase.

As for performance, DSOGaming says it runs at ~60fps on a RTX 4080 at 4K DLSS Balanced. I'm guessing a 4070 can do 1440p DLSS Quality. It should still look quite good.
 
It's not perfect because the light sources wasn't calibrated for GI (some areas looks too dark) but when it works... It looks atmospheric and gorgeous AF.

HEMMgA9WsAAVh8g-scaled.jpg
 
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corgiix3 said:
lol at anyone saying the original looks better.
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The PT version clearly has better shadows and lighting, and is far more crisp, but it completely kills the art style and colors. It doesn't even look like the same game and it's actually kinda gross.

I guess if you don't care about art direction this is a clear victory for PT, otherwise it's not so clear cut.
 
In some parts the modified version looks a lot better, in others looks different. I wish the comparison used the same textures. The modified version quite different, it definitely has some extra things other than the path tracing.


Anyway, that's pretty cool. But I think I like the original more, in this comparison the game loses a a bit ot the art style and the atmosphere the original has.
 
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It looks great. That being said, Dark Souls 2 gameplay will always be mid for me. I hate the hit boxes and I dont know, I just don't enjoy that much that game
 
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RafterXL said:
The PT version clearly has better shadows and lighting, and is far more crisp, but it completely kills the art style and colors. It doesn't even look like the same game and it's actually kinda gross.

I guess if you don't care about art direction this is a clear victory for PT, otherwise it's not so clear cut.
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The art direction in the original is pretty poor, it's extremely flat looking.
 
Can someone make one of these path tracing mods that are actually close enough to the original game's art direction? Feels like every time someone does this it looks like generic lighting #14353456254.
I know these things can be tweaked so fucking tweak them
 
It looks different. Better in some ways, but it's a big change from the original art style. I would play DS2 again and use this just to have a different flavor.
 
I just played through DS2 last summer using the Lighting Engine Mod, which looks fantastic and is a massive upgrade over the original lighting. But it wasn't PT. This looks even better.
 
RafterXL said:
The PT version clearly has better shadows and lighting, and is far more crisp, but it completely kills the art style and colors. It doesn't even look like the same game and it's actually kinda gross.

I guess if you don't care about art direction this is a clear victory for PT, otherwise it's not so clear cut.
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The art direction in Dark Souls II is shit and it's no small part due to them butchering the lighting so the game could run on PS360 consoles. By far From's ugliest game. I looks way better.
 
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Doesn't look as blindingly awful as most of these but there are a lot of goofy shots and it does significantly change the look and atmosphere of the game. If Bluepoint did this, people would be pissing and shitting their pants in anger.
 
64gigabyteram said:
Can someone make one of these path tracing mods that are actually close enough to the original game's art direction? Feels like every time someone does this it looks like generic lighting #14353456254.
I know these things can be tweaked so fucking tweak them
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Nop, because the developers didn't calculated light source in a way that it works with pure GI/RT.

The modders would need to insert other light sources in game (map editing) in a way that would be make it "similar" to the original style. It isn't an easy job.
 
Look I don't love DS2, but that just doesn't look like DS2. Majula is all about that glaring dusky sunlight, which is totally gone in the mod. Some people might like it better, but it totally changes the original feel.
 
The one thing I will agree is that I prefer the more contrasty/saturated colors. The mod makes everything too dull and grey, but aside from that, it elevates the visuals.
 
Danjin44 said:
I disagree, visuals no "high tech" but I like Dark Souls visual style.

People's obsession to make every hyper realistic kills game's artstyle.
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If we were talking about Dark Souls, III, or any other From title released in the past 15 years, I'd agree, but Dark Souls II's art style is noticeably worse than I. The only good-looking place is Mujula. Rest of the game looks like a turd. The first one has beautiful places like the bridge in the Undead Burg, Anor Londo, Darkroot Gardens, and more. The tech might be dated, but the art carries it. II's art and tech both look bad.
 
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Replayed fully(all achievments) ds2 scholar edition on my ps4 durning xmas/newyear break and its og setting have that nostalgia feel, if we talking what looks better obviously pt looks better but i would still advice for new ppl to play ds2 as it was intended, replay/2nd playtrough ofc play it modded however u like.
 
Gp1 said:
Nop, because the developers didn't calculated light source in a way that it works with pure GI/RT.

The modders would need to insert other light sources in game (map editing) in a way that would be make it "similar" to the original style. It isn't an easy job.
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I think this stuff needs to be built within the game from day one, slapping it into an existing game just messes with it too much.
 
diffusionx said:
I think this stuff needs to be built within the game from day one, slapping it into an existing game just messes with it too much.
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Exactly. My issue with this mods is they just put it in without any thought they think will "fix" it which to me it just makes it worse.
 
The path tracing looks incredible. I'm someone who legitimately prefers 2 over 3 btw, and the PT looks brilliant here, not getting the negative takes on it at all.
 
Some of it looks better for sure, others would be massively different from an art perspective and would be designed much differently.

Also, I think there is more than just a path tracing mod added, no?
 
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It looks better, but then again it's not difficult to get lighting that looks better than regular Dark Souls games. The lighting in them is awful.

Color is a bit off though.
 
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Gonzito said:
It looks great. That being said, Dark Souls 2 gameplay will always be mid for me. I hate the hit boxes and I dont know, I just don't enjoy that much that game
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Supposedly, it's not the hitboxes, its about the agility stat. Agility gives you more invincibility when you roll, and you have less i-frames per roll at the start than in DS1.

I have seen a video showing how the hitboxes are fair, but the game wants you to tightly circle the enemy instead of rolling...supposedly.
 
Something looking good or bad, better or worse is extremely subjective.

I will say that...... sometimes I think its better to have an "inaccurate - stylized" looking game than an "accurate-realistic" looking one.
 
R6Rider said:
It looks better, but then again it's not difficult to get lighting that looks better than regular Dark Souls games. The lighting in them is awful.

Color is a bit off though.
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Yeah, I wish they'd kept the color grading closer to the original.
 
Looks great, but I would adjust the color temperature, the light seems to be a little bit too yellow/orange most of the time.
 
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I've been saying... lighting is the single most important thing to how a game looks, and that you can slap PT on a 10yr old game and it will look next gen. But here we are in 2026 and people are still trying to use TFs to measure performance.
 
diffusionx said:
I think this stuff needs to be built within the game from day one, slapping it into an existing game just messes with it too much.
Click to expand...

I don't know if the current modding tools can change map assets. If it can, it will probably work the same way if they're inserting RT on the rest of the game, but it would need a ton of calibration.
 
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