Dark Souls DSFix Temporarily Taken Down; Now Resolved!
Amid concerns about game information being released through cracking the Dark Souls debug mode, Bandai Namco has been fairly far-sweeping when it comes to DMCA takedown notices. One could say it’s a bit too aimless, as DSfix modder Peter “Based Durante” Thoman has revealed on NeoGAF that his Dropbox account that hosts his DSFix mod (which allows Dark Souls to operate at 1080p and 60 FPS on PC, among a bevy of other, almost crucial, programming fixes) had been taken down by Bandai Namco Games Germany.
Below are the most pertinent quotes related to the takedown message, concerning the Dark Souls fix modification (bold emphasis is mine):
"Hi Dropbox User,We’ve received a notification under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) from BANDAI NAMCO Games Germany GmbH that the following material is claimed to be infringing:https://www.dropbox.com/s/ddwbdpd3qgm9upk/DSfix23.zipAccordingly, under Section 512(c)(1)(C) of DMCA, we’ve removed or disabled access to the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity.As a result of this notice, public sharing on your account has been disabled. We will reinstate your account’s public links if you remove the file(s) listed above from your account."
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Fortunately, it appears as though the DMCA takedown was a mistake on Bandai Namco Germany’s part. Another user on NeoGAF directly contacted the company involved with helping facilitate the DMCA notices, specifically Volker Rieck from File Defense Service. It appears as though the Bandai Namco Europe division hired the company to remove any and all debug mode patches, while Durante’s DSFix was caught up in the net as a mistake. As a result, he made sure to contact Bandai Namco and Dropbox to clear the situation, with assurances that Durante could re-upload the Dark Souls mod file with no problems whatsoever.
As great as that news is, it certainly highlights the problems that inherently exist with the DMCA. If you own a copyright (sometimes even basic ownership doesn’t seem to be the basis), it is quite easy to force others whose works surround or are similar to yours to bend to your will. The DSFix contained absolutely no actual Dark Souls files, meaning that Bandai Namco weren’t at all just in their takedown notice at all! But because of the way US copyright law works, a “presumed guilty before proven innocent” sensibility takes over. It’s a problem that will eventually have to be dealt with via fairer copyright laws.
As terrible as this whole mixup is, with Dark Souls now moving its online PC service from Games for Windows Live to Steamworks, now is the best time to get into Dark Souls on the PC – especially when using Durante’s essential DSFix mod.
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