A new look at Ganaboy's Dark Souls 3 path tracing project shows the Crucifixion Woods with NVIDIA DLSS 5. The mod is still in development, with no public release date and an expected target near the end of 2026.
Dark Souls 3 is getting a major visual overhaul on PC. Ganaboy's path tracing mod makes the 2016 action RPG look close to a modern remake. A new showcase of the Crucifixion Woods combines the lighting work with NVIDIA DLSS 5. FromSoftware has not announced an official remake or remaster.
Crucifixion Woods rebuilt
The latest video focuses on the Crucifixion Woods. It shows the familiar area with much more depth and detail. Path tracing changes how light moves through the environment. Shadows look deeper, and illuminated areas gain more definition. At a glance, the footage could be mistaken for an official remaster.
That distinction matters. This is still a modded version of Dark Souls 3, not a FromSoftware remake or remaster. The showcase shows the project's visuals, but it is not an independent test of a finished release.
The footage still shows why path tracing can change an older game so much. It alters the way the existing geometry is lit. It does not require the developer to build an entirely new world.
Ganaboy previously worked on a similar path tracing project for Dark Souls 2. The Dark Souls 3 effort is much larger. It is being built around a broader reconstruction of the game's environments. Project descriptions reported by TweakTown and WindowsForum say that more than 80% of the game has already been added to the acceleration structure needed for full-scene path tracing. The project presents that figure as a major step beyond the earlier Dark Souls 2 work.
DLSS and lighting
NVIDIA DLSS 5 is applied before upscaling in the showcased setup. Project information says this lowers the performance cost of path-traced lighting while keeping the main visual improvement. It does not make the mod free to run. Compatible hardware should have an easier time handling the demanding rendering workload.
The mod uses an advanced form of NRD-SH as its main denoiser. The creator says its quality is comparable to Ray Reconstruction. The project recommends NRD-SH for RTX 20 and 30 series graphics cards because Ray Reconstruction puts more pressure on those GPUs. That comparison comes from the creator and has not been confirmed by an independent benchmark.
The lighting system will also use fake lights in worst-case situations. Torches will not receive the same priority they had in the Dark Souls 2 project. Players should therefore not need a torch to progress with the default Dark Souls 3 path-traced configuration.
Scale and performance
The current project figures show how ambitious the work is. More than 80% of the game has been added to the BVH. The install size is expected to be around 3 to 4 GB. The creator says the geometry coverage is roughly 10 times greater than in DS2LE.
Performance is expected to be similar to DS2LE. Players who used DLSS Quality mode there may need DLSS Balanced mode in Dark Souls 3. Ray Reconstruction is specifically described as more demanding on RTX 20 and 30 series GPUs.
These numbers come from estimates and project notes. They are not measured results from a completed public build. The mod is still in development, and there is no confirmed public release date. Several recent reports point to the end of 2026 as an approximate target. That is not a firm launch commitment.
Further post-processing and lighting changes are expected during testing. Image quality and performance could therefore change before the mod becomes available.
Support is planned for all AMD cards with ray tracing as well as compatible NVIDIA hardware. The project documentation still warns that a decent GPU is required. The mod is also expected to work with UXM, ME2 and ME3. Online and Seamless compatibility has not been tested, so the project cannot promise that those modes will work correctly.
The PC version gains ground
Dark Souls 3 still plays well since its launch. Its visuals, though, no longer sit alongside newer productions such as Bluepoint Games' Demon's Souls remake. The path tracing project takes aim at that weakness in the PC version. It does so without changing the game's content or combat.
The idea has extra appeal because FromSoftware does not appear interested in remaking or remastering its older games at present. Players who already own Dark Souls 3 and have suitable hardware could get the most substantial modern lighting upgrade the game has seen on PC. The comparison with earlier coverage is limited, but the same player-first test applies: impressive presentation still needs to be separated from verified performance.
TweakTown and iXBT Games both describe the DLSS 5 and path tracing combination as part of the current demonstration. Both also treat the project as unfinished.
Path tracing is not the same as a native remake. It can improve lighting dramatically while leaving the original assets, animation and underlying systems in place. Untested online support is another practical limit for some players.
Ganaboy's project still shows that Dark Souls 3 has plenty of room for better visuals. Until FromSoftware revisits the game itself, this planned PC mod offers the clearest sign that its world can support a credible next-generation look.
