portingpete/The-Darkness-Recomp v0.1.6

v0.1.6 - Commit updates, Russian PC menus, and SMAA/MSAA

on GitHub

Download and play

Download The-Darkness-Recomp-v0.1.6-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.

Windows 10/11 x64, an SSSE3-capable CPU, a Direct3D 11-capable graphics device, and the original supported default.xex with matching game assets are required. The packaged Windows game plays without Python, a compiler, or a separate audio installation.

Changes since v0.1.5

• LaunchWithUpdates.cmd now follows the latest official main commit. It builds and tests that exact commit locally before installing and playing. Source checkouts fast-forward only when clean; downloaded installations retain a separate build clone and a physical copy of the user's own dump. Updates verify packaged file hashes, preserve game files, saves, achievements and settings, and retain logs and recovery backups. The explicit tools/update_release.ps1 updater remains available for published releases only.
• Added Russian translations for the PC video menu, keyboard/mouse bindings, live values, binding feedback and Exit dialog. The editable UTF-8 catalog and translation guide are included. Use an approved Russian dump with matching assets and choose English, or System default on Russian Windows, to use its translated content slot.
• Added SMAA and MSAA 2x/4x/8x alongside Off and FXAA, including multisampled depth handling and exposure-query preservation during attachment growth.
• Improved fractional shadow filtering and preserved native shadow-atlas detail.
• Fixed mouse capture when resuming gameplay through Continue, and corrected input, startup-video and menu transitions.
• Restored persistent tentacle-menu glow and corrected backdrop colors; adjusted Darkness-arm emission for a softer bloom halo.
• Fixed invisible Darkness guns granted through developer tools and preserved developer speed selection.

Implementation and the initial Russian PC-menu wording include assistance from OpenAI Codex.

Updating

From v0.1.5 or earlier, extract this complete ZIP once. The older updater does not accept the newly added Russian-menu files. Close the game and extract over the folder containing your existing Launch.cmd, replacing included program files. Keep Darkness, saves, and DarkRecomp.settings.ini.

Future commit updates through LaunchWithUpdates.cmd require Git, Python 3.11+, CMake 3.24+, Visual Studio 2022 C++ and Clang tools, MSYS2 MinGW64 build tools at C:\msys64, and LLVM at C:\Program Files\LLVM. Allow disk space for another copy of your game and build outputs. The first build may take several minutes. The updater checks prerequisites without installing global tools; missing tools or a failed build stop the update. Use Launch.cmd to play the installed version.

To update only published releases without compiling, run:

powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File tools\update_release.ps1

For an existing WSL installation, rerun SetupLinux.cmd to update its Linux copy while retaining Linux saves and settings.

Validation

• Packaged from clean merged source commit 8f3a41d, whose Git tree is identical to the tested PR head 8f3fcf3. Strict AOT verification checked 93 generated files with zero semantic diagnostics. The audio codec was rebuilt from pinned source with its patch and license notices included.
• All 118 Windows automated contracts passed, including SMAA/MSAA, Russian glyph/menu checks, native shutdown, and live/staged XMA decoding. Developer captured-XMA oracle checks also passed using private fixtures; fresh source builds retain the ordinary decoder checks without requiring those fixtures.
• 92 latest-commit updater assertions and 134 release-updater assertions passed on Windows PowerShell 5.1. Checks cover real CMD execution, exact commits, fast-forward/divergence handling, shared locking, build/installation rollback, self-replacement, user-data preservation, and missing-tool errors. Real installed toolchain preflight passed.
• Independent integration, updater and package reviews found no remaining blockers. All 49 manifest file hashes, the ZIP CRC and the downloadable SHA-256 checksum verified. Game dumps, saves, settings, logs and debug symbols are excluded. Extraction preserved game/save/settings fixtures, and the extracted launcher setup check passed with build tools removed from PATH.
• Private runtime captures verified readable Russian main-menu, Exit-dialog and Video-settings text, including all six anti-aliasing values. The final run exited normally through the Exit dialog with code 0, no diagnostic timeout, and no reported audio device errors. All three test profile/settings files were restored to their exact baseline SHA-256 hashes. This is menu validation rather than a complete gameplay playthrough.

Known limits

This remains a prerelease without 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 is still under investigation in issue #61; the automated rendering checks and Russian-menu smoke test do not establish that every power effect matches the original. The Video menu's bottom hint can overlap the original Russian Back footer, as in the preexisting layout reported in issue #91.

Include the newest build_native/run/desktop-*/runtime.log when reporting a problem. Do not upload game files.

Full changes since v0.1.5