[Update] Dark Souls 2: Seamless Co-op - Matchmaking & Online PvP mechanics
Hi everyone
This post is free to access as I'm answering some commonly asked questions about matchmaking and how online play works.
I wanted to make a quick update to the state of the PvP mechanics in Dark Souls II seamless co-op.
Friendly fire / PvP
Similar to the other seamless co-op mods, one of the mod-specific items - the Hallucinogenic Elixir - can be used to cycle between three different world 'rules'
Friendly fire and PvP off (Default)
Friend fire on | PvP off
Friendly fire off | PvP on
'Friendly fire' is a state where you can damage friendly players, however you cannot lock on to them as you can normal enemies, which forces you to be more strategic with your party as dog piling enemies will result in you also damaging your friends.
'PvP' is a state where you can damage friendly players, and lock on to them as if they were enemies. This is intended for players who want to duel each other, or have a bit of fun between play sessions without needing to rely on random matchmaking to fight.
Invasions
As in other mods that I've made, invasions will be optional but toggled ON by default in the ini file.
Matchmaking between players is based on the highest soul level in the session. Anyone can invade from anywhere to anywhere else.
Soul memory plays NO role in online matchmaking in seamless co-op.
Current map plays NO role in online matchmaking in seamless co-op.
Invaders and phantoms CAN use the Estus Flask during active invasions. Consumable heals are restricted.
Having invasions enabled makes your online session available to random matchmaking with other players who may intrude on your world. Unlike traditional invasion mechanics, in seamless co-op the invader must kill every single player who is on the hosts' team. Just killing the host alone is insufficient.
When an invader is in your world, you cannot rest at bonfires, warp, or respawn until the invader has been defeated. Players who die will enter spectate mode as if the session was fighting an active boss.
Due to the nature of seamless co-op, invaders can re-use the invasion item in a certain time-frame to re-request a target in the current session.
This means, if two players are split up (e.g. the host is in Majula and a phantom is in the Lost Bastille) then once the invader has killed the host they can re-use the item and appear at a point near the phantom in order to prevent inaccessible kills. Below is a short video demonstrating re-using the item mid-invasion.
Arenas
Covenant arenas are a vanilla feature in Dark Souls II where players in the Blue Sentinel and Brotherhood of Blood covenants can matchmake with other players in 1-on-1 duels in specific maps.
These are available in seamless co-op. As with invasions, they do not rely on soul memory for matchmaking.
Players cannot heal in duels, and once one player is dead the match is over and both players return to their respective worlds.
Final note
PvP and invasions can be a dividing topic in these games. There is no 'correct' way to experience the online in Dark Souls. If players would rather have invasions off, and not engage with the arenas then you can safely ignore this post :)
As always - thank you for your patience and a huge thank you to all of my supporters <3
Take care,
Yui
Comments (52)
Can’t wait to play ts
Niceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Hoping it comes out soon, even if it's just a demo.
you are the best
Me and my frienst are so ready
Keep going, we all waiting for it and ty
absurdly excited for this. Already spent 100s of hours in the other games. frankly more excited for this than for any other game coming out
Chad Souls 2
Kickass. Your mods make me happy dude
PEAAAAAAAAK
this mod is on for play?
Agradeço por seus esforços, seu trabalho esta espetacular.
The greatest to do it, thank you for all you do!
funny note. i once got banned from online play in elden ring because seamless had glitched out and i went to jokingly hot the statue to do pvp and it actually tried connecting to the servers. this back in 2023
If you could connect to the servers then seamless was not loaded
AHAHAH ONE DAY CLOSEER THANK YOU YUUII HAPPY SOULS HERE WE COMEEEEE
is somone already ask this but can you change the damage % on friendly fire? if so that would be nice adition, if not then it's already enough
good lord almighty dayum, yui you're bringing the best news of the last decade. ds2 must be playable in co-op again
Thanks Yui, take care too!
Absolute Yui
mi señora
Yui solo quiero agradecerte por todo. Muchas gracias por todo en serio, te deseo lo mejor para ti en tu vida y en todo. Bendiciones y que te vaya bien ♡
yui i will forever love you, i swear, it's insane the amount of progress you've done
this is looking insane your incredibly good at this man
Been following for about a year and check this page everyday. Can't begin to describe how excited I am. You're killing it Yui!!!!
Yui you are genuinely amazing
Muchas gracias por tus grandes aportes, espero con paciencia y a la vez con ansias a que lances este gran mod para este gran juego
Your work is amazing Yui, keep up the good work, I cant wait to play this, but take all the time you need <3
Will there be an invasion level range? Like I believe in vanilla ER it is approx 20 levels above and below?
Yeah there will be matchmaking parameters
Today we are one day closer to DS2 seamless co-op being released 🙏🙏🙏
Woohooo very nice to see all that progress !
This is a wild request but when you are done with the mod. Anychance you could apply your genius to making a og mgs3 VR mod haha
Nope, sorry ^^ I don't know those games
22 ms of latency? Awfully inaccurate representation of DS2 netcode. It should be at least 220 ms no matter irl distance. Thank you for your work Yui. Can't wait to play it!
Percent wise how close are we to release
Yui amazing work as always, thanks for the update. Hope you are taking it easy when necessary ❤️
Soon...
can't wait tbh. this mod going to make pvp and pve with homies easier.
I cannot fathom how much work this is. But I know that you are the best. I can finaly touch another guy on the game (platonically)
I really appreciate the amount of care you put into this.
Words cannot describe how excited I am to whoop some people saint riot style once this is out.
I'm really looking forward to your announcements about this mod. I love your work and appreciate the effort you put into it, also take it easy so you don't overwhelm yourself, don't put pressure on yourself or feel pressured by the people. Keep up the amazing work and take care 🫰🏻
ohhh ta muito top o projeto, queria pode testa, mesmo instável ou coisa do tipo, tomara que de tudo certo.
Woohoo I can't wait. Me n my bud back in the day were pretty much the duo from happy souls. Can't wait to be havin some sunbro shenanigans in Drangleic again.
Anyway, thank you for what you do for us. your amazing
Is it possible to release a beta version of this mod? I’d really love to play it; you released betas for the other two *Dark Souls* games, and even though those mods were unstable, they were still playable.
When it's ready. It's not ready yet
Is it possible to have some kind of compass for the red phantom to find the host? Not like it is a must have, but while reading this post I thought about that while you can teleport mid-invasion to find the other phantom after killing the host, what if both of them are fleeing a lot from the area where you got spawned in? If the compass is not possible to add, what if there is also a cooldown mode for the teleport item even if you do not kill the host? Like after 15-20 minutes you can teleport to the same zone where the host is. Just saying!
Nope, I think a compass kind of defeats the point of invasions. It made sense in Elden Ring where the map was enormous, but the levels are much smaller here. There is a cooldown on the teleport item, it does not require that you kill the host specifically, but if you use it it'll probably just teleport you back nearby the host.
Peak souls 2
Your amazing, keep up the good work but still take it easy