Silk & Ash

What this is

Silk & Ash puts the Hornet's way of fighting into Dark Souls III. You keep Dark Souls III's own character, but her weapons are in the opening shop and fights resolve fast.

What it changes

Enemy health down to 35%, across 878 enemies. Bosses keep their identity rather than becoming trivial: Vordt of the Boreal Valley goes from 1190 to 416 HP, Nameless King from 1590, Champion Gundyr from 1451, Pontiff Sulyvahn from 1952.

Two new weapons, in the shop beside the Uchigatana so you can pick one up at the first bonfire:

| Weapon | Attack | Weight | Poise | Scales with | |---|---|---|---|---| | Hornet's Needle | 175 | 1.3 kg | 18 | Dexterity | | Hornet's Thread | 140 | 2.0 kg | 26 | Dexterity |

Both hit harder than an Uchigatana while staying light, and lean on dexterity instead of strength. No weapon that ships with Dark Souls III is changed.

What it does not do

• You are not the Hornet. This is her fighting style, not her body. There is no Hornet model, rig or animation.
• No Silksong enemies, bosses or creatures.
• No new assets of any kind: no models, textures, sounds or music.
• No Silksong text. Because Dark Souls III's item names live in an encrypted file, the two weapons appear in-game without a name of their own.
• No multiplayer changes.

Those are not bugs, they are simply not in this release.

How it works

The game asks for param/gameparam/gameparam_dlc2.parambnd.dcx, which cannot be read out of an install: the archive holding it is encrypted with a key that was never published. The same tables ship inside Data0.bdt, which is readable, so on first run the setup decrypts your own Data0.bdt, edits the tables, and rebuilds the bundle for the game.

Dark Souls III's parameter field definitions were never published either, so every field edited here was identified from the data itself and checked against values the game is known for.

Requirements

• Windows 10 or 11.
• Dark Souls III, version 1.15.2.0.
• Hollow Knight: Silksong installed locally.
• You must own both games. No game files are redistributed.

Licence

CC BY-NC 4.0, remixes welcome. ModEngine2 and Python keep their own licences; Dark Souls III and Hollow Knight: Silksong remain the property of their respective copyright holders.