Dark Souls III Randomizer Setup Guide

Game Page | Setup | Items | Locations | Enemy Randomization

Required Software

Optional Software

Setting Up

First, download the client from the link above (DS3.Archipelago.*.zip). It doesn't need to go into any particular directory; it'll automatically locate Dark Souls III in your Steam installation folder.

Version 4.0.0 of the randomizer only supports the latest version of Dark Souls III, 1.15.2. This is the latest version, so you don't need to do any downpatching!

Running the Static Randomizer

Before you first connect to a multiworld, you need to generate the local data files for your world's randomized item and (optionally) enemy locations. You only need to do this once per multiworld.

  1. Before you first connect to a multiworld, run randomizer\DS3Randomizer.exe.

  2. Put in your Archipelago room address (usually something like archipelago.gg:12345), your player name (also known as your "slot name"), and your password if you have one.

  3. Click "Load" and wait a minute or two.

Running and Connecting the Game

To run Dark Souls III in Archipelago mode:

  1. Start Steam. Do not run Steam in offline mode. Running Steam in offline mode will make certain scripted invaders fail to spawn. ModEngine3 will automatically make sure that Dark Souls III doesn't connect to the Steam servers, so you won't get penalized for playing a modded game.

  2. Run launch-ds3.bat. This will start Dark Souls III with your mod injected. It will also start a terminal window, but you can ignore this. All your interactions with Archipelago will be in the game itself.

  3. As soon as the game starts, you'll see an overlay in the top right corner. This is the Archipelago client: it will tell you when you're connected to the server, it will show any server messages, and it will allow you to send messages to the server.

  4. In most cases, the overlay will connect without any issue. If the connection fails, that's probably because the server went to sleep or the URL changed. Go to your room page on archipelago.gg to wake it up and then click "Reconnect". If the URL changed, click "Change URL" instead and tell it the new one.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where do I get a config file?

The AP client archive also includes a YAML template that documents all the options. You can customize this to suit your needs.

Does this work with Proton?

The Dark Souls III Archipelago randomizer supports running on Linux under Proton. There are a few things to keep in mind:

Troubleshooting

Enemy randomizer issues

The DS3 Archipelago randomizer uses thefifthmatt's DS3 enemy randomizer, essentially unchanged. Unfortunately, this randomizer has a few known issues, including enemy AI not working, enemies spawning in places they can't be killed, and, in a few rare cases, enemies spawning in ways that crash the game when they load. These bugs should be reported upstream, but unfortunately the Archipelago devs can't help much with them.

If you're running into an enemy randomizer bug that's severely affecting your run, you can re-run randomizer\DS3Randomizer.exe and check the "Disable Enemy Randomizer" option. This will preserve all your item randomization but put the enemies back into their vanilla locations. Once you're past the buggy part, you can re-run it again with randomization enabled.

The game crashes when I go to a specific location

This is almost certainly caused by enemy randomization issues. As above, re-run randomizer\DS3Randomizer.exe and check the "Disable Enemy Randomizer" option.

launch-ds3.bat isn't working

Sometimes launch-ds3.bat will briefly flash a terminal on your screen and then terminate without actually starting the game. This is usually caused by some issue communicating with Steam either to find DarkSoulsIII.exe or to launch it properly. If this is happening to you, make sure:

If you've checked all of these, you can also try:

If none of this works, open me3-config.me3 in a text editor and replace the last two sections with: 

# [[natives]]
# path = "archipelago.dll"
# 
# [[packages]]
# path = "randomizer"

This tells it not to even try loading the Archipelago mod. If launch-ds3.bat still doesn't work, report the bug to ModEngine3.

DS3Randomizer.exe isn't working

This is usually caused by using a version of the randomizer client that's not compatible with the version used to generate the multiworld. If you're generating your multiworld on archipelago.gg, you must use the latest Dark Souls III AP Client. If you want to use a different client version, you must generate the multiworld locally using the apworld bundled with the client.

Other things to check include that your room is running and the URL is what you expect it to be, and that Windows is configured to allow DS3Randomizer.exe to communicate on your network (usually this is a private network).

Reporting a Bug or Requesting Help

If you're having an issue and the troubleshooting guide isn't enough to help, reach out to the Archipelago DS3 Discord for assistance. When you do so, you'll find people will be much more helpful if you provide the following information:

When in doubt, provide more information than you think we'll need!