News Dark Souls trilogy lighting mod WIP (not a reshade)

[texhnolyze]

Courtesy of CenturionNami from Era.

Dark Souls II "Original" vs Vanilla lighting comparison video showing gameplay and visibility impact

Just a minor bump, someone's rebuilding Dark Souls 2's lighting from the ground up as a mod, it isn't a reshade, but a true replacer/overhaul. Old New

www.resetera.com

The mods are not released yet and still WIP, but what is this sorcery...

Dark Souls

Dark Souls 2

Dark Souls 3

 

[lashman]

daaaaaaayum, that's impressive!

 

[Ge0force]

Amazing!

 

[lazerfox]

Is this mod for the whole trilogy? I don't like DS2 but I'd love to replay DS1 with the mod.

 

[beep boop]

That's really dark! No Man's Wharf must be fun too. Those monsters skulking in the shadows made me turn up the brightness...

So this is eventually coming out publicly? Couldn't find links to the project.

 

[ISee]

That's impressive. I'll give it a try, once it gets released.

 

[hankenta]

That looks like a typical make things dark just for the hell of it. The DS2 scene is set during overcast daytime and should generate a lot more light in the hallway. The light from the window is extreme (direct sunlight?), and it's somehow all absorbed by the walls around with no sense of bounce light. There is also another exit right up the stairs in front of the character that for some reason is pitch black here, and another entrance around the corner behind the player.

 

[Alextended]

I mean, it doesn't look universally dark, like the DS3 shot where it's far brighter and you can make out all the details in the environment with the mod. Realistic or not I prefer how the modded DS2 shot looks too. It's not that dark and if that window is the only light source it doesn't look unbelievable the rest remains darker.

Well, where direct light isn't hitting it's quite dark there too. I couldn't find an exact shot because it seems in reality things are usually built smarter so the light doesn't hit at a 90 degree angle but instead enters from a direction where it can reach deeper in whatever structure, rather than only hit a small part of it.

 

[texhnolyze]

That looks like a typical make things dark just for the hell of it. The DS2 scene is set during overcast daytime and should generate a lot more light in the hallway. The light from the window is extreme (direct sunlight?), and it's somehow all absorbed by the walls around with no sense of bounce light. There is also another exit right up the stairs in front of the character that for some reason is pitch black here, and another entrance around the corner behind the player.

It's inline with the topic of that thread, the mod is trying to imitate the original lighting that was downgraded at release. The darkness were significant gameplay relevant mechanics and this mod tries to bring it back to life.


And yeah, it's not that dark.

 

[BernardoOne]

As if I needed an excuse to play 2 for the 8th time!

 

[hankenta]

I mean, it doesn't look universally dark, like the DS3 shot where it's far brighter and you can make out all the details in the environment with the mod. Realistic or not I prefer how the modded DS2 shot looks too. It's not that dark and if that window is the only light source it doesn't look unbelievable the rest remains darker.

Well, where direct light isn't hitting it's quite dark there too. I couldn't find an exact shot because it seems in reality things are usually built smarter so the light doesn't hit at a 90 degree angle but instead enters from a direction where it can reach deeper in whatever structure, rather than only hit a small part of it.

The DS3 example is the complete opposite take where they brightened up the entire scene in a more realistic and visually pleasing way.
I thought about situations like the above picture, but I figured it didn't make sense for the DS2 example since there's supposed to be another huge light source a few meters in front of the character, and the entrance behind. I have been to plenty caves like that picture that seem to just suck up the light, but I assume that picture doesn't have several other holes around the camera. Also difference in how eyes and cameras understand and process light. I like games that try to emulate how our eyes work instead of cameras.

 

[texhnolyze]

OP updated with DS1 screens.

 

[Kuro]

Looks most impressive.