When the game crashes, the launcher shows The game crashed with a short reason. Press Copy report and paste it into your post. It has your version, GPU, driver, settings and the end of the log.

Use safe mode starts the next run with mods and the experimental engine options off. If the game works in safe mode, one of those caused it.

In the launcher: More › Log, then Copy or Export…. Do it right after the problem happens, before you start the game again.

The log of the last session is also saved as logs\last_session.log in the Lantern Engine folder.

• The log or crash report (above).
• What you were doing: where in the game, what you pressed, how long it ran.
• For anything visual (flicker, missing or stretched textures): a short video or a screenshot.
• Whether it also happens with mods off.

Post it in the #issues forum on the Discord, one thread per problem.

The Discord's bot deletes messages with these words and mutes the sender for 60 minutes, because they are how people ask for pirated game files:

• Anywhere in a message, even inside another word: eboot eboot.bin
• As a word on its own: dump download game files how to download files rom boot

• Say "game folder" or "my copy of the game" instead.
• "Download" counts too, even for the launcher: say "get it from the releases page".
• Send logs as a file, not pasted lines: More › Log › Export…, or Copy report after a crash (Discord turns a long paste into a file). Log lines contain some of these words.

Lantern Engine is free, open-source software (GPL). It contains no game files: no Bloodborne data, no PS4 system files, nothing from Sony or FromSoftware. It is not affiliated with either of them.

To play, you need your own legal copy of Bloodborne, dumped from your own PS4 with your own disc or digital purchase, plus the 1.09 update. Downloading the game from the internet instead of dumping your own copy is piracy, and this project does not support it: nobody here shares or links to game files. Don't ask for them in the Discord.

• Your own legal copy of Bloodborne CUSA03173 with the 1.09 update, dumped and decrypted from your own PS4 (the folder with eboot.bin and sce_module). No game files come with Lantern Engine.
• Windows 10 or 11, or Linux (Ubuntu 24.04 or newer, Arch, Fedora, SteamOS, Bazzite and similar).
• A Vulkan graphics card with a current driver. Players run it on NVIDIA GTX 10 series and newer, and AMD RX 400 series and newer.
• The game takes about 6 GB of memory (RAM plus page file), about 10 GB above 1080p. 16 GB of RAM is comfortable.

1. Download the latest package from Releases and unpack it somewhere you can write to (not Program Files, not a OneDrive folder).
2. Open Lantern Engine.exe (on Linux: Lantern Engine).
3. On the Play page, choose the game folder.
4. Accept Settings for this PC when the launcher offers them. You can get them again later from Graphics › Best settings for this PC › Recommend…
5. Press Play.

The launcher updates itself and the engine: Settings › Updates. Your settings, saves, mods and logs are kept. To get test builds early, see the Beta guide.

If the Play page shows Engine update available, press Update engine. Playing on an old engine means the crash fixes since then are missing.

On Linux the launcher updates itself too beta. Older Linux packages are updated by downloading the new one.

Yes. Download the linux-x64.tar.gz package, unpack it, and open Lantern Engine, or run ./lantern.sh /path/to/CUSA03173 from a terminal. It runs natively on Wayland and X11.

DLSS Super Resolution works on Linux on RTX cards with NVIDIA's driver beta. DLSS Frame Generation is Windows only.

Graphics › Upscaler. The upscaler renders the game below your screen's resolution and rebuilds a sharp image, which gives you more FPS.

Graphics › Quality preset sets how far below your screen the game renders:

• Native AA: no upscaling, only anti-aliasing (with DLSS this is DLAA). Best image, lowest FPS.
• Quality (x1.5) and Balanced (x1.7): a good mix for most PCs.
• Performance (x2) and Ultra Performance (x3): for slower cards, or 4K screens.

Display › Output resolution is the size of the finished picture, usually your screen's. The upscaler renders below it and fills it in. On cards with 3–4 GB of video memory, 1080p is the safe choice.

Display › Frame rate. 30, 60, 90, 120 and 144 are the game's own frame-rate patches. Pick the one your PC holds steadily that is not above your monitor's refresh rate.

• Uncapped has no fixed rate, but it never goes above your monitor's refresh rate: on a 60 Hz monitor it stops at 60. To go past it anyway, add BB_CAP_TO_REFRESH=0 in Settings › Extra variables.
• Uncapped can freeze at the end of a boss intro (Vicar Amelia's). 120 and 144 use another patch and don't.

On the Display page, Presentation mode:

• Mailbox (default): low latency without tearing.
• FIFO (VSync): classic vertical sync. On a 60 Hz monitor at 60 FPS it can be smoother than Mailbox, which drops a frame now and then.
• FIFO Relaxed: VSync that tears instead of stuttering when a frame is late.
• Immediate: lowest latency, may tear.

Graphics › Frame generation adds generated frames between the game's own. It needs an upscaler (or TAA) on.

• DLSS frame generation: NVIDIA RTX 40 and 50 series, with Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling on in Windows. RTX 50 can generate several frames, and dynamic frame generation picks how many for your refresh rate beta.
• FSR 3.1 frame generation: any GPU. Not in menus, movies or with HDR output.
• NVIDIA Reflex lowers input lag, and also keeps NVIDIA cards at their boost clocks.

Frame generation feels best when the game already runs at 50–60 FPS or more.

Display › HDR output. Windows HDR has to be on (Windows Settings › Display › Use HDR). Turning it on or off applies after restarting the game.

Press Insert on the keyboard, or L3 + R3 on a controller, to change graphics settings while you play: upscaler, sharpening, the FPS counter and more. Most changes apply at once.

The first time the game shows something new, the engine builds its shaders, which can cause a short hitch. It only happens once: shaders are saved and built at the start the next time.

• After an engine update the first start takes longer: it rebuilds the saved shaders before the game starts, so you don't get them as stutters in play.
• A small Building shaders note shows in the corner while it happens beta. A stutter with the note is shader building; one without it is loading.
• You can share shaders: Settings › Shader catalog › Export catalog, and a friend with the same kind of graphics card adds it with Add catalog.

Usually not. A new engine version recompiles it by itself. Clear it (Settings › Shader cache › Clear) only if something draws wrong in every save, such as missing skin or hair. The next start compiles everything again and stutters for a while.

Your shaders go into the next release, so players with the same kind of graphics card stutter less the first time they visit an area.

1. Play for a while first: the more areas you have visited, the more your catalog holds.
2. In the launcher: Settings › Shader catalog › Export catalog, and save the .zip.
3. Send the .zip as a DM to awakenkn on Discord, and say which graphics card you have (for example "RTX 4070" or "RX 7800 XT").

Catalogs from AMD and Intel cards help the most: Intel cards don't have one yet.

1. Both players: in the game's Settings › Network, set the same Password Matching, and Matching Regions to Worldwide.
2. The host rings a Beckoning Bell, the helper rings a Small Resonant Bell. Both can be bought in the Insight shop.
3. Wait for the bells to resonate. It can take a while.

1. In the launcher open the Online page. If you have no account yet, press Open website and sign up on The Hunter's Dream.
2. Connect your Hunter's Dream account on the Online page.
3. Start the game and choose Play Online. A welcome message appears when you are connected.

Server problems go to The Hunter's Dream's own Discord.

Not yet.

Unpack each mod into its own folder inside mods, so that it holds dvdroot_ps4:

mods\Mod name\dvdroot_ps4\chr\…

Then turn it on and set the load order in More › Mods. The lowest mod in the list wins when two mods change the same file. ZIP or 7z archives have to be unpacked first. Mods that replace eboot.bin, DLL injectors and script plugins don't work.

Mods also work on exFAT and FAT32 drives beta.

In Controls, click an action and press the new key or mouse button.

The + next to an action adds another key or a combination like Shift+E or Ctrl+Mouse4, up to five per action beta. A combination wins over its plain key.

Mouse sensitivity goes down to -10 for high-DPI mice, each step below 0 is 20% slower beta.

The debug menu needs the font files DbgFont14h.ccm and DbgFont14h.tpf in dvdroot_ps4\font, either in your game folder or in an enabled mod (More › Mods). The fonts are on Nexus Mods.

They have to be the packed files. A DbgFont14h-tpf-dcx folder (unpacked with WitchyBND) does not work: repack it. Don't copy them into an out\mod-game-… folder. The engine makes that folder new at every start.

The Trophies page lists them. You can use your own trophy sound and set its volume. Trophy pictures, and sounds in MP3 or MP4/M4A as well as WAV, are in the beta beta.

• Check that the engine is current: the Play page shows Engine update available when it isn't.
• Update the graphics driver.
• An antivirus can block the engine's files. Allow the Lantern Engine folder in it.
• Don't install into Program Files or a OneDrive folder.
• If it started after a beta update, check the Beta guide: it may be a known beta problem, and you can go back to the version before.

The GPU hung or lost the game's memory.

1. Update to the newest version and update the NVIDIA or AMD driver.
2. If it keeps happening, try once with BB_GUEST_IN_PLACE=0 in Settings › Extra variables, and say in your report whether it helped.

• Lower Display › Output resolution to 1080p or less, and use a lower Quality preset (Performance).
• Use fewer texture or model mods: HD texture packs need much more video memory.
• Close browsers and recorders while playing.
• Keep More › Engine › Use more VRAM for textures off on cards with 4–6 GB.

The game needs about 6 GB of RAM plus page file (about 10 GB above 1080p).

• A game left running in the background holds it: end bb-probe.exe in Task Manager (Details), or restart the PC.
• Set the page file to System managed size: Windows Settings › System › About › Advanced system settings › Performance Settings › Advanced › Virtual memory › Change.
• Or choose a lower output resolution or upscaler preset.

If the crash report mentions missing files or FileTransferTask, the game folder is incomplete or damaged. Turn mods off first. If it still crashes, dump or extract the game again (base game plus the 1.09 update), and keep it out of OneDrive.

• Update to the newest version. The current beta fixes shaders reading the wrong buffers, which caused stretched geometry and flicker, especially on older AMD cards (RX 400/500) and on NVIDIA.
• If it happens in every save (missing skin or hair), clear the shader cache once: Settings › Shader cache › Clear.
• Try with mods off, and with frame generation off.
• Still there? Post a short video and your log.

Set Presentation mode to FIFO (VSync) on the Display page. At 60 FPS on a 60 Hz screen, Mailbox can drop a frame every so often, and that feels like a micro-stutter. Stutters the first time you see an area are shader building, see Why does the game stutter.

The game runs slower while its window is in the background, to save power. Click into the game window. If it stays slow after you switch back, that is fixed in the current beta.

The saves folder can't be written. Move Lantern Engine out of OneDrive and other synced folders, and out of Program Files. If Windows' Controlled folder access is on, allow the Lantern Engine programs in it.

This happens on exFAT and FAT32 drives: move the game and Lantern Engine to an NTFS drive, or use the current beta, which reads mod files in place there. Also check that each mod's folder holds dvdroot_ps4 (see How do I install mods?). The start's log says how many game files each mod replaced.

If the log says Wayland display connection closed by server, the compositor ended the connection, a driver and compositor mismatch (NVIDIA 615 drivers on KDE Plasma did this; 580 runs clean). Try another driver version, or start with SDL_VIDEODRIVER=x11 ./lantern.sh to run through XWayland.

Yes, see the graphics settings guide. The quickest start is Graphics › Best settings for this PC › Recommend…

It opens, black screen, closes. (RX 9070 XT)

An engine bug that hit AMD cards at every start of 0.9.37 beta 6. Fixed in the current beta.

The graphics driver stopped responding. (RTX 2070, RTX 3070 Ti, GTX 1660 Super)

The current beta fixes the likely cause. See also "The graphics driver stopped responding", and tell us if it still happens.

Uncapped stops at your monitor's refresh rate on purpose (60 on a 60 Hz monitor). Add BB_CAP_TO_REFRESH=0 in Settings › Extra variables to go past it, or pick FIFO (VSync) for smoother 60.

Mostly shaders built the first time something shows; they are built at the start from then on. At 60 FPS on a 60 Hz screen, try FIFO (VSync).

Mouse sensitivity goes from -10 to 20 in the current beta.

Yes: the + next to an action in Controls adds up to five keys, mouse buttons or combinations.

See The Debug Menu won't start: the fonts have to be the packed files in dvdroot_ps4\font of the game folder or an enabled mod.

Tell us which menu or message pop-up it was, and send the log right after it happens.

Try the current beta first: it fixes a shader bug behind flicker on NVIDIA. If it stays, try with frame generation off and post a short video.

• Falling snow missing in Cainhurst.
• Grey flicker on textures in underground areas (GTX 1660 Ti).
• Flashing on GTX 1070 Ti, and a blue image after fast travel.
• A graphical glitch when fighting the slimes at the end of the DLC.
• Flicker at the title screen on ultrawide monitors.
• Crashes on graphics cards with 3 GB of video memory.