[Announcement] Dark Souls 2: Seamless Co-op Further Information
Hi everyone
It has been just over a year since I made an announcement post detailing the start of the development of the seamless co-op mod for Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First sin.
The date I made that post is the date that I managed to get 2 clients connected to each other without the use of the matchmaking server.
It has been some time since then - in that time this has turned into one of my most complicated and ambitious projects to date. Dark Souls II is an entirely different beast to the other games I've made seamless co-op for, and I've spent thousands of hours reverse engineering the game and writing code to change the way that the game behaves.
As the mod is nearing capability for alpha testing, I'd like to detail some of the aspects of the mod below, to those unfamiliar with my projects
Teaser video:
What is seamless co-op?
Seamless co-op is a mod that allows for persistent multiplayer connections in the Souls games:
Maximum player count of 6
Multiplayer barriers and area restrictions are removed
Critical area boss fights do not end the session
Dying does not end the session, you will respawn in multiplayer
World progression is carried over - meaning killing a boss in a co-operative session will also kill the boss in your own world
You can obtain items, keys, level-up, and more in online sessions without having to disconnect
Many vanilla bug fixes and QoL improvements, such as axial-to-radial deadzone fixes for controller players and double-click disable bug fixing for keyboard and mouse players.
In seamless co-op, it is possible to play from the first bonfire right to the end of the game and beyond in one online play session.
How about difficulty preservation?
It is undeniable that the souls games are significantly easier to beat in multiplayer. The core of this is that the game world and enemies were just not designed to handle more than one player at a time.
That being said, in order to preserve some of the game's difficulty, seamless co-op offers the following:
Customisable multiplayer scaling for enemies and bosses
An optional, punishing world tenancy-adjacent mechanic for more experienced players
What about PvP and covenants?
PvP will not be available during alpha testing. As I am primarily focused on ironing out pure co-operative bugs initially.
Blue/Red dueling arenas and invasions are functional in seamless co-op with capability in the future to expand and add more PvP game-modes and covenants.
Special condition covenants, such as the Rat King covenant, do not work in seamless co-op and their special multiplayer interactions will not be added.
Does it work for the original Dark Souls II?
It does not. The original Dark Souls 2 is a 32-bit game, and Scholar of the First sin is 64-bit. Just as Dark Souls 1 seamless co-op only works for the Remastered game, Dark Souls 2 seamless co-op only works for the Scholar of the First Sin edition.
Why has it taken so long?
Dark Souls II is a bit of an outcast in terms of modding and reverse engineering. Dark Souls 1, 3, Sekiro, Elden Ring, and Nightreign all run on a very similar game engine. If you understand how one game works then you can more or less figure out how things work in the other games too.
Dark Souls 2, from what I understand, is a separate branch of the game engine used in Dark Souls 1, with significant modifications. For reverse engineering purposes it's basically a completely different game.
Is it ready for testing now?
Nope, but it's close. The making of the video and this post is a way for me to officially announce that the mod could be done.
When I made the original announcement in April 2025, I did so a bit prematurely and I probably should have held off until I made more progress.
Alpha testing will be publicly available for free, however bug reporting and support from myself will only be available for my Patreon supporters initially on release.
As always - thank you for your patience and a huge thank you to all of my supporters <3
Take care,
Yui
Comments (111)
My friend and I started playing DS2 "together", and we are very excited for this coop add-on. We hope we don't complete the game before then...
so i cant report bugs if im not on patreaon sub?
No
i would love to test this and play the whole game with my budy thank u for making this game great again
Thanks a lot :)
a-any updates🥺👉👈
I'm busy IRL right now but mid September still ETA
Ein goat einfach bin gespannt
"Thank you so much for your work on the DS2 Seamless Co-op mod! I saw your recent post about adding proximity voice chat – that would be amazing. Do you have any estimate on when it might be added? Thanks again!"
It will be in Dark Souls II Seamless Co-op on release
I cannot overstate my excitement for this release, I hope the development is goin well!
Hello Yui, it has been 24 days since the last update we had. My life and my friend's life depend on this. He is a 24-year-old male who does nothing with his life and weighs 40kg (88lbs), you can imagine the poor guy's situation. Please give us any update at all—even if it's just to say how your life is going, or if you're in good health; just so we know you're alive.
His name is Crey Crey 😭
Awesome work! Is there a beta version we can try? :)
Can I ask a very important question that's been bothering me — are you a girl?
Yes but I'm not sure why it has bothering you
Yui, You have my heartfelt thanks for everything you've done. Thanks to your seamless mods, I was able to get my partner into Souls games, and we've been having an amazing time playing through them together. We started with Elden Ring, then moved on to Dark Souls Remastered, and now we're eagerly waiting for Dark Souls 2. As they say, all good things come to those who wait, and hearing this news has made that wait feel completely worthwhile. Thank you once again for all the hard work, dedication, and passion you've put into these seamless mods. They've created memories that my partner and I will cherish for a long time.
I played DS1 DS3 and Elden Ring with my dad on seamless coop looking forward to DS2
estou ansioso pelo teste do mod, melhor souls, com o melhor mod kkkkkkkkkk BR ansioso
It can’t be overstated how valuable your work has been for this community. I know Miyazaki had a specific vision for the multiplayer and that co-op works the way it does because of an experience he had irl and everything… but man. The way co-op works in vanilla is just insufferable. Having to worry about which bosses you kill and when to kill them, having to play through the same area three times in a row if you and your friends are all starting new characters, not being able to hang out at the hub together… You have made co-op GOOD in these games, lol. Thanks for all your hard work Yui
truly thank you so much for working on this for this long, really proud and really excited!! You're awesome yui :3
You’re the 🐐 thank you! Me and my buddy have played all of your mods and it’s been a blast!
The absolute #$%^ing GOAT of SoulsRing modding
boy oh boy im starvingly excited to experience this with the fellowship
I LOVE YOU THANK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
اوه پسر خیلی زیاد مشتاقشم
I'm so hyped
Now I'm checking the page 3 times a day, hoping to see it's been released
When I have a date in mind I will post the date first
Pls Yui i need this, my homie is kinda homeless and wants to play ds2
I can't wait to try it! I'm so excited!
GOAT, can't wait to try it!
So excited for this, me and a friend have been waiting for this to do our first run through of the game together.
I noticed some NPC's invade only when in offline mode like Bowman Guthry & Rhoy the Explorer (might be more but not sure). Would editing their spawn points to appear even when online be possible for a future update? Being able to fight a rather unseen enemy while also getting their rare loot drops would be cool to see. Either way I look forward to the Seamless Co-Op Mod and the shenanigans my friends and I will likely have during our playthrough.
woo!
im just askin do you ask other modders to help u for this project ? or you're tryin only u made it? Btw thank you so much for that project you are a legend.
I have played through Elden Ring, Dark Souls 1 and Dark Souls 3 with my girlfriend with your seamless coop mods and was able to show her these games and play with her through them and we have both been waiting since last Fall to play DS2. Super excited for this and have been following your work for years now
icant wait anymoreeeeeee
HAPPY SOULS IS REAL LETS GOOOOOO
PT-BR Olá Yui! Tudo bem? estou ansioso pelo mod e gostaria de tirar uma duvida, acha que o mod terá problemas com o "seeker of fire 2.0?" EN Hi Yui! How are you? I'm excited about the mod and I'd like to ask something — do you think the mod will have issues with "Seeker of Fire 2.0"?
i cant imagine it will as long as both you and your friend install it, i think youd have to set it up using me3 manager though, theres guides around incuding on yuis github i think so just take a look
ive been checking the page everyday im so hyped pt 2
Hi Yui, I have a question/suggestion about the Dark Souls II Seamless Co-op mod. Would it be possible to change Dark Souls II’s soft-lock behavior into a stricter hard-lock system? For example, when locked on to an enemy, attacks would always follow the locked-on target instead of being redirected by movement input. I’m not sure whether this is technically possible, but I think it would make the combat feel more consistent for players who prefer hard lock-on.
take your time and work on it tell you have a build your happy with don't feel pressured to release it before you feel your ready you have done wonderful work so far me and my friends love and apricate your work so very much. we wave and always are fully happy to wait
Hello, I wanted to raise some awareness of something. You are making changes within the mod, such as the directional movement fix. I would like to bring attention to how physical defense is almost useless in dark souls 2. Flat defense is almost worthless, but elemental defense works great because it is in percentages. Later souls games correctly made physical operate by the same system. Is changing this within the scope of this mod? I know it deviates from vanilla, but armor is just so weak in dark souls 2 when it comes to physical damage...
It's a multiplayer mod not an overhaul mod. The deadzone changes is just QoL
toda semana eu entrava no seu patreon pra saber o estado do mod, estou ansioso demais por favor LANCE LOGO!!!
I cant wait to play this with my friends :DDD
Thank you very much for your hard work, I cannot wait
can you please please PLEASE, make an option where if a player loots something it's gone for the other players, i believe it would lead to a much deeper and thrilling experience having to deal with limited resources between players where we actually have a reason to organize our inventory and trade items and help each other out and be involved in making each other's build and incentives us to spread out to loot as much as possible instead of all of us just hugging each other to loot the same stuff
i think that really needs an extra work and time, for me personally i don't mind it, just buff the enemy and you both exhaust of resource but that's neat idea if there is a toggle option, i mean even nioh the official first coop even now not having that kinda feature or even trade
you‘r great
Quick question, i know you might add the proximity chat to Dark Souls 3 after this, but is it possible you might do it to 1 as well?
Legend 🔥
THANK YOU!
I'm so stoked. Thank you for everything you're doing.
Im so happy its finally here
Godspeed, you magnificent bastard! And good luck, heeeaaps
Happy souls, we are ! :3
I Love your Work!
we are so back
legend
I’ve been playing Elden Ring Seamless Coop since the very beginning, and was very excited when it came to DS1 and 3. When I heard you were working on DS2, I went straight to Patreon lol. I’m so glad someone smarter than me is working on this, you’ve done a great jobs Yui!
Had the teaser pop up on my timeline. I can't wait to try this with my friends! I love Dark Souls 2 so much and I think this will be a great mod to breath some new life into it!
Me and my friend finished every other game, waitin on this
I can't wait for this mod, you are awesome for making it.
shaking with so much anticipation the friction might start a fire
YESSSSS
Can't wait to play ds2 again I'm ready
This is so exciting to hear is there a possible timeline when the mod will be out?
Fa real
Absolutely amazing, Yui. Your mods are literally the only reason I play on PC at all. Bought all the souls games twice just to play them.
o brasil te ama Yui UwU
Thank you for all the hard work you do!!
THE GOAT
Drip
good!
you're amazing, girl
Awesome! i was reading everything you posted about it since the remaster's one released,i am so excited
Thank you for your work, thanks to you I can spend time playing my favorite games with friends <3
NICEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Yoo finally, when is it releasing?
I've been checking your page everyday for a year for this. Thank you for all your mind melting work. And all for the love of the game. You're a legend
The goat!
LEGEND!!! ty, and looking forward to the release! bros a baddie as well, sheeeesh.
So hyped me and some buddy’s have been waiting for this mod so we can play all three darksouls in a row in co-op
THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND (never dies) posts again.
dudeeeee me and my friends have been waiting for a whole year, we've beaten every souls game that had your mods available, thank you
This is the best birthday gift I could have asked for. 🥹 Thank you Yui
Thank you so much for all your hard work! My girlfriend and I are super excited to play this, and it'll be my first time playing DS2!! We are playing all three together via seamless, so it's been great seeing updates on the project! :D So glad to back you here on patreon - you really deserve it for your dedication.
Thank you Yui! You’re a legend!
Thanks for all the work you’re putting in on this! Can’t wait to drag my friends into DS2 with this
Fucking legend
I could cry.
I'm running up that hill "less than 3" Thank you Yui. Take your time and don't stress yourself. Wonderful times Cheers yours miramax09
Thank you once again for your tireless dedication to improving fromsoft coop, you remain the greatest fromsoft modder of all time 🙏
This is amazing, I really admire your work, thank you so much, sorry for giving you so little Yui
Thank you yui you are the best
Love your work, keep it up and take your time. I'm so hyped for this!!!!
hell yeeeeeeaaaaaaaaa , hypeeee
Thank youuuu YUI, imm tooo HYPE FOR THIS, you are the sweetest!!!
LESGOOOOOO
Extraordinary work yui, you've done a great service to many making these mods. I'm looking forward to to testing out the alpha!
Been eagerly waiting to take my friends through my favorite souls game! Very exciting to see all the hard work!
Thank you for all the effort put into this mod. It is appreciated
Its so beautiful. I could kiss you.
Todos te amamos yui muchas gracias <3
Exciting work!
A monumental update from the GOAT
I’m so fucking hyped
My goat once again