| Demon's Souls | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | FromSoftware |
| Publisher(s) | JP Sony Computer Entertainment NA Atlus USA AU/EU Bandai Namco Games |
| Series | Souls |
| Release date(s) | JP February 5, 2009 NA October 6, 2009 AU June 23, 2010 EU June 25, 2010 |
| Release type | PlayStation 3 exclusive |
| Genre(s) | Action, Role-playing |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, Multiplayer |
| GameID(s) | BLES00932 (IRD), BLUS30443 (IRD), NPEB01202, NPUB30910, BCAS20071 (IRD) |
| Quick links | Check Compatibility Open Issues Search Google Wikipedia Page |
Demon's Souls is the first installment in the Souls series of games created by game director Hidetaka Miyazaki, and was produced under supervision by Sony's Japan Studio. Set in a dark fantasy world, players take control of a hero who has journeyed to the fictional kingdom of Boletaria, which is being ravaged by a cursed fog that brings forth demons who feast on the souls of mortals. The gameplay involves a character-creation system and emphasizes gathering loot through combat with enemies in a non-linear series of varied locations, with a heavy emphasis on challenging combat. It has a unique online multiplayer system integrated into the single-player where players can leave useful messages and warnings for other players' single-player game worlds, as well as joining other players in their world to assist and/or kill them.
Configuration
Options that deviate from RPCS3's default settings and provide the best experience with this title are listed below.
GPU configuration
| Setting | Option | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Renderer | Vulkan | Recommended to get the best performance. |
| Write color buffers | On | Fixes missing graphics ingame. |
Advanced configuration
| Setting | Option | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Vblank rate | To be enabled along with the FPS patch | |
| Clocks scale | To be enabled along with the FPS patch |
Known Issues
PSN versions do not work
The PARAM.SFO file in the PSN versions are the same as the ones used in the Blu-ray version. Hence, the emulator identifies the games as Blu-rays and tries to install it as such. Due to this, the PSN versions only display a blackscreen.
Missing Geometry
Issue 4302 - There are certain situations when the game doesn't send geometry to be rendered (like the invisible soldier shield).
Crash after Altus logo - Fixed by PR 5475
There is a known regression affecting 4-core/4-thread CPUs where the game will crash right after the Atlus logo. This issue is being tracked as part of Issue 4861.
For people affected by this issue, use this older build 6718. If for some reason build 6718 does not work, try build 6697.
Special Notes
60/120 FPS patch
Thanks to Whatcookie, an FPS Patch is available for this title. Be sure to set the appropriate Clocks scale and Vblank rate as mentioned above. Do note, that the following issues remain with the patch:
- Pre-rendered cutscenes will only display the very first frame of the video with the patch enabled. However, there are very few such cutscenes in the game (2 at the start of the game and 1 before the credits).
- At 120FPS, running into geometry will cause the player's movement to slow down. It is not recommended to use the 120FPS mode until the movement issue is fixed. Also, due to hardware limitations, many users will find it difficult to hit 120FPS at high resolutions like 4K.
Reducing log spam
Due to the high amount of sceNp warnings spammed in the log, this title tends to crash during extended gameplay sessions. So it is recommended to restrict logging of this error to allow better performance while ingame. Please note that you cannot submit logs in the GitHub tracker or Discord server with this modification. If you wish to report bugs or seek help for this game, you MUST remove the below change before generating the log for this purpose.
If you wish to restrict logging, you must edit settings that are only present within the config file and cannot be modified from the emulator's GUI. For instructions on how to correctly modify the config file, click here. Search for the Log: option and set it to Log: {sceNp: Fatal}.
Incorrect FPS counter
Demon's Souls has an internal technique where it will output duplicate frames if the games performance is not at the FPS cap. This makes the FPS counters report that the game is running at 30FPS (or 60FPS) at all times while the actual performance could be 15FPS as the game is outputting duplicate frames if your performance is too low. This is not a bug, its just an unfortunate result of how Demon's Souls works. The reliable way to check true performance is to record gameplay footage and then use tools to analyze the frame-rate from the footage. However, users may also use the alternative method of setting the Clocks Scale setting, found in the Advanced tab, to half of what it should be. So, 50 if not using the FPS patch, 100 if using the 60 FPS patch and so on. This will break the game's internal frame duplication logic and cause it to output twice as many duplicate frames, as such it's only recommended for checking performance levels.