Modder Ganaboy, known for his work on the DS Lighting Engine for Dark Souls 2, is working on a new version of the mod with full path tracing for Dark Souls 3. He has already published two demo videos, which show iconic locations—High Wall of Lothric and Firelink Shrine—looking so realistic that many fans have already declared the visuals superior to the official ray tracing implementation in Elden Ring. The mod’s release date has not yet been announced.
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What the DS3LightingEngine mod shows?
The project is being developed by a modder named Ganaboy, who previously created DS2LightingEngine, which added path tracing to Dark Souls 2. He is now working on a new version of the mod for Dark Souls 3.
The author has already published two working videos demonstrating the current state of development. The videos show updated locations—High Wall of Lothric and Firelink Shrine. Thanks to new technology for rendering light, shadows, and reflections, familiar locations take on a much more realistic appearance and depth. Light sources appear more natural, shadows are more detailed, and reflections are significantly sharper.
The mod is still a work in progress (WIP). Ganaboy hasn’t announced a precise release date, but the published materials suggest the project is in an advanced stage.
Path Tracing vs. Ray Tracing: Why the Mod Looks More Compelling Than Elden Ring
To understand why the mod is causing such a stir, it’s worth understanding the technical differences between the technologies.
Ray Tracing is a rendering method that calculates the path of light from the camera to the source. In Elden Ring, FromSoftware, led by Hidetaka Miyazaki, implemented this technology, but with limitations: ray tracing is used only for shadows and ambient occlusion.
Path Tracing is a more advanced and resource-intensive form of rendering. Unlike classic Ray Tracing, Path Tracing simulates multiple light paths and reflections within a scene. In practice, this allows for global illumination, more realistic shadows, and reflections that appear significantly more convincing.
In Elden Ring, the implementation of ray tracing was modest—essentially just a minor enhancement to shadows and the environment. The mod for Dark Souls 3, however, offers full-fledged path tracing, which completely recalculates the scene’s lighting. This is why even the visually inferior Dark Souls 3 looks fresher and more advanced in Ganaboy’s demos than Elden Ring.
Incidentally, this isn’t the author’s first experience with path tracing: in April 2026, Ganaboy released a public beta of DS2LightingEngine for Dark Souls 2, and the mod received positive reviews from the community.
System Requirements and Performance
Path Tracing is an extremely demanding technology even for older games, so it’s not surprising that the mod will put significant strain on hardware.
Ganaboy has already shared key details about the system requirements. According to the author, the world geometry in Dark Souls 3 is approximately ten times more complex than in Dark Souls 2. This means the GPU load will be significantly higher.
The author also confirmed that the mod will support all GPUs compatible with DS2LightingEngine, including the NVIDIA RTX 20 and RTX 30 series. However, players will likely have to use more aggressive upscaling settings. Here’s what this might look like in practice:
Ganaboy explicitly stated: while you could play DS2 in Quality mode, you’ll likely need to switch to Balanced mode for DS3. Image scaling technologies like NVIDIA DLSS will become practically mandatory for comfortable play.
When will the mod be released?
There’s currently no exact release date. Ganaboy hasn’t even announced an estimated release window.
What’s known is that the mod will only be available for the PC version of Dark Souls 3—console platforms are not supported. The author continues to work on the project, and judging by the videos he’s published, it’s in an advanced stage.
It’s worth following Ganaboy on YouTube (@DS2LightingEngine)—that’s where he posts the latest demos and announcements.
What does this mean for FromSoftware?
This mod isn’t just a technical achievement by an enthusiast. For many fans, it’s a signal of sorts for FromSoftware itself.
The studio had already experimented with ray tracing in Elden Ring, but, as industry media noted, this implementation proved rather limited. Essentially, it was a tentative step toward modern rendering technologies.
The Ganaboy mod clearly demonstrates what a 2016 game can achieve with the right approach to lighting. Considering that art style and atmosphere are among the main strengths of FromSoftware games, full support for path tracing in the studio’s future projects could elevate visual perception to a whole new level.
More and more players are hoping that the Japanese team’s next games will feature native path tracing support—this would further enhance the unique atmosphere for which FromSoftware projects are so prized.
For now, we can only watch Ganaboy’s work and await the release of the mod, which could become one of the most impressive graphical updates for Dark Souls 3.
