I recommend using this mod only with DS2LightingEngine SotFS. It's amazing, please go endorse and vote for it if you can! My mod can technically work with the base renderer, but I only recommend doing that if you are having performance issues when using the lighting engine mod. Otherwise, it's a huge downgrade. I made this mod with the lighting engine mod being the target renderer. 

My goal with this visual overhaul is to restore the pre-release look DS2 had, prior to it being downgraded to fit on xbox 360 / PS3 consoles. Enhanced LODs in many areas. Added torches, torch pyres to light, and overall scene lighting edited to be based on light souces. Changed countless light sources to cast shadows now. Almost all of the gameworld should now have shadows cast on it from your torch. All bonfires cast shadows, as well. And more is coming! :)

***PLEASE READ ABOUT ONLINE USE***
I've had zero issues using this mod online. But I have gotten reports recently saying that if playing co-op, you might have issues opening doors or using elevators if you're in a host's world. But, as the host you should be fine. Not entirely sure why this would be. Perhaps an instance limit? Perhaps both players need to have the visual overhaul? Hard to QA this. Reports are currently from Bastille and FOFG, but only from a handful. Just wanted to put this out there for anyone downloading the mod. It won't get you banned, but you might face issues like this in certain co-op scenarios. For me, as a pretty basic online player, I get invaded, and there's no issue I've faced with that. Besides just getting killed because they are better than me.

Installation:
Option 1 (requires UXM):
1. Install UXM and use it to "unpack" your DS2 game files (skip if you already have unpacked game files)
2. Download my mod, extract it wherever you want. (try the beta release first, if you have issues, use the STABLE version)
3. Open my mod folder you just downloaded and copy the folders inside straight to your DS2 game folder. Overwrite when asked.
4. Download DS2LightingEngine and drag the files from the folder straight into your DS2 game folder. Overwrite when asked.
5. Open UXM again, and select "Patch" //  this will tell the game to use the new files from my mod copied in step 3. 
6. Enjoy!

Installing updates:
just copy the downloaded files into your DS2 game folder. Done. Easy peasy. Except with 0.41 where I need you to uninstall previous versions first.

Uninstallation:
Delete the map, model, model_lq, and param folders in your DS2 game directory. Open UXM and click on "unpack" // this will replace the files you just deleted with the default ones.

Things to note / current issues:
In very rare circumstances, there's too many shadows being rendered at once, and the torch will stop emitting light. I've only had it happed a couple times testing the mod, but wanted to mention it. It has to do with how the engine culls and your torch will start emitting very quickly again with camera turns or moving away from the area that caused it. Working on stamping this bug out. 


Future plans:
I'd like to improve the reflections and appearance of water in the game. Some looks okay, and some looks awful. 

If you like my work here, you can support me by subscribing to my YouTube or directly donating via PayPal :) also launched a patreon!