Download and play
Download The-Darkness-Recomp-v0.1.5-windows-x64.zip under Assets. Extract the entire ZIP, copy your own supported Xbox 360 dump into Darkness, and run Launch.cmd. Use LaunchWithSettings.cmd to choose settings and language first.
The original default.xex is required. Windows 10/11 x64, an SSSE3-capable CPU and a Direct3D 11-capable graphics device are required. Python, a compiler, and a separate audio installation are unnecessary for Windows players.
Changes since v0.1.4
- Added LaunchWithUpdates.cmd: check official GitHub releases, including prereleases, before playing; choose whether to install. The updater verifies the ZIP checksum and every packaged file, preserves game files, saves, achievements and settings, and keeps recovery copies of replaced files. Network failures still allow the installed game to launch.
- Added persistent local achievements and a native achievement viewer, and fixed crashes when opening the original achievement menu.
- Added support for the Russian localization identified in issue #37, with matching executable and assets.
- Fixed missing apartment floors and ghost-child transparency.
- Improved keyboard prompts and mouse-button remapping, including Alt bindings and chooser clicks. Fixed Darkness gun grants in developer tools.
- Added bounded texture preloading and reduced measured runtime stalls. Added an optional LaunchStallProfiler.cmd for hitch diagnostics.
- Fixed native shutdown hangs when closing the game.
- Corrected high-resolution bloom sampling and restored lamp-flare visibility queries.
- Added Xbox user clip-plane support and corrected flashback picture centering on wide displays.
- Fitted intro, character-name and credit text on narrow displays, preserving authored layout and shadows.
Updating
Close the game and extract this ZIP over the folder containing your existing Launch.cmd, replacing included program files. Keep Darkness, saves, and DarkRecomp.settings.ini. After installing this release, use LaunchWithUpdates.cmd for future updates. The updater prints its recovery folder if program files are replaced.
For an existing WSL installation, rerun SetupLinux.cmd to update its Linux copy while retaining Linux saves and settings.
Validation
- Built and packaged from clean source commit 00cfc8a. The AOT manifest verified 93 generated files with zero semantic diagnostics.
- All 109 Windows automated contracts passed. The updater suite includes 125 assertions on Windows PowerShell 5.1, covering checksum and unsafe-archive rejection, self-replacement, process locking, partial-write rollback, argument forwarding, network fallback, and preservation of user data.
- Verified all 45 manifest file hashes, ZIP integrity and the downloadable SHA-256 checksum. Game dumps, saves, settings and logs are excluded; required runtime DLLs, native menu overrides and third-party source/license notices are included.
- Extraction over game/save/settings fixtures preserved all three. The extracted launcher setup check passed with Python and compiler tools removed from PATH, and the updater successfully queried the official GitHub release API.
- Private 720p/1440p head/eye captures preserved all six original save/settings files. These captures do not validate the red Darkness-arm effect.
Known limits
This remains a prerelease and has not undergone a complete gameplay playthrough. Linux uses the Windows executable through Proton; native Linux and Steam Deck gameplay/performance remain unverified. See STEAM_DECK.md.
Darkness-arm bloom remains under investigation. The general high-resolution bloom and lamp-flare fixes do not establish that the red arm/power-marking effect matches the original. Issue #61 is not fully resolved. Private 720p/1440p captures verified the head/eye draws, but did not reproduce that red effect; original saves and settings were preserved.
Include the newest build_native/run/desktop-*/runtime.log when reporting a problem. Do not upload game files.