portingpete/The-Darkness-Recomp v0.1.8

v0.1.8 - Steam Deck AppImage, 4:3 output, and media packs

on GitHub

Downloads

Windows: download The-Darkness-Recomp-v0.1.8-windows-x64.zip, extract the whole ZIP, copy your own supported extracted Xbox 360 dump into Darkness, and run Launch.cmd. Use LaunchWithSettings.cmd to choose settings first. Windows 10/11 x64, an SSSE3-capable CPU and Direct3D 11 graphics are required. Audio and Visual C++ runtimes are included.

Steam Deck / Linux x86_64: download The-Darkness-Recomp-v0.1.8-steam-deck-x86_64.AppImage. “Make it executable” means giving Linux permission to run the file as a program.

On Steam Deck, switch to Desktop Mode, then:

1. Open Dolphin (the file manager) and find the AppImage in Downloads.
2. Right-click the AppImage and choose Properties.
3. Open the Permissions tab and tick Is executable.
4. Click OK, then double-click the AppImage to start the installer.

On other Linux desktops, the checkbox may be called Allow executing file as program. See the official AppImage quickstart.

Alternatively, if you saved it in Downloads, open Konsole and paste:

cd "$HOME/Downloads"
chmod +x The-Darkness-Recomp-v0.1.8-steam-deck-x86_64.AppImage
./The-Darkness-Recomp-v0.1.8-steam-deck-x86_64.AppImage

The chmod +x command sets the permission; the ./...AppImage command runs the installer. If you get a FUSE error, replace the last command with:

./The-Darkness-Recomp-v0.1.8-steam-deck-x86_64.AppImage --appimage-extract-and-run

Choose your extracted game dump and an installation parent folder in the wizard. It installs the Windows game with verified UMU/GE-Proton tools and creates a desktop launcher. It requires Python 3.10+ and KDialog or Zenity; tool/runtime downloads require internet unless verified local archives are supplied. First play may download Steam Runtime. See the bundled STEAM_DECK.md for Gaming Mode setup and updates.

Optional diagnostics: download The-Darkness-Recomp-v0.1.8-diagnostic-launchers.zip and extract it beside the installed Launch.cmd when troubleshooting. The ordinary Windows ZIP keeps these diagnostic launchers separate. All three packages have SHA-256 sidecars; SHA256SUMS.txt lists package and START_HERE.txt hashes.

Changes since v0.1.7

• Added the Steam Deck AppImage installer with folder selection, verified release payloads, persistent installation, and preservation of existing saves, settings and Proton prefixes.
• Added opt-in 4:3 stretch presentation and matching pointer coordinates.
• Added configurable wheel and dialogue-choice bindings, improved localized subtitle sharpness and actor-caption layout, and preserved original Darkness quote lettering.
• Kept ultrawide movie side bars black and corrected narrowly scoped scaled menu blur-copy sampling.
• Added experimental external DDS texture and WMV/Theora file packs, with source authoring tools and read-only inspection/export tools for XWC audio. Original game assets remain external.
• Improved startup message handling and added isolated diagnostic user-data paths, graceful diagnostic quit and bounded evidence capture.

Implementation includes assistance from OpenAI Codex.

Validation

• Fresh strict Windows build from merged main 8e4016c. All 134 Windows automated contracts passed in the final complete-data run, including hardware and WARP renderer tests. AOT verification checked 93 generated files with zero semantic diagnostics. The pinned audio codec was rebuilt from source; its source, patch, provenance and notices are included.

• 48 Rust tests and Clippy with warnings denied passed. Linux checks passed: 30 AppImage packaging, 44 setup, 10 installer process, and 30 release checks, with 8 Windows-only release checks skipped on Linux.

• Both ZIP CRCs, all 48 Windows manifest hashes and 3 diagnostic manifest hashes, x64 binary headers and package checksums verified. Package allowlists and scans found no copied game files, private saves/settings/logs, debug symbols or credential patterns.

• The real AppImage successfully ran its --appimage-extract-and-run --help entrypoint and extracted successfully under Ubuntu. All 50 Windows payload files matched the Windows ZIP byte for byte; installer metadata, corresponding source, GPL license, static x86_64 musl binary and PNG icon verified.

• The extracted Windows game verified 22,127 native functions, initialized D3D11 at 1280x720, and rendered the legal screen and original intro video in inspected GPU-readback frames. It processed the diagnostic quit request and exited normally with status 0 after 59.5 seconds, with no watchdog termination. All 593 copied test-input files and their originals retained their preservation hashes. This verifies startup rendering and graceful shutdown; title/menu interaction and gameplay were not validated by this run.

• Follow-up released-build verification with Tera Ultra reached the actual title, main menu, Options, Video Quality, difficulty selection and New Game opening. An independently copied test checkpoint was then loaded through Continue into Canal Street Station, where automated camera-look and two-second forward inputs produced visibly different views and player movement. These controls used the runtime's diagnostic input bridge; this is not a physical peripheral compatibility test.

• The same released executable filled a 640x480 gameplay window with 4:3 STRETCH configured in an isolated test INI. The in-game Video Quality screen showed 480P / 4:3 STRETCH, and these values persisted through a normal shutdown and restart. Issue #133 is completed. Physical CRT hardware was not tested.

• All five follow-up game runs exited normally with status 0. Preservation checks passed for all 593 copied and original game-input files, the six frozen checkpoint files, the published ZIP, all 48 extracted release manifest members and the clean source checkout. The images and detailed logs are retained locally. This follow-up does not establish completion of the New Game prologue, a full playthrough, or live dialogue-wheel behavior in issue #129.

Updating and limits

Close the game and extract the complete Windows ZIP over your installed program files, preserving Darkness, saves and DarkRecomp.settings.ini. For an AppImage installation, run the new installer against the same dump and installation parent; consult STEAM_DECK.md if an existing modified file is reported as a conflict.

This remains a prerelease. Physical Steam Deck gameplay, controls, performance and suspend/resume remain unverified. Authored HD/Theora scene playback, loop/seek/audio synchronization and broad material coverage remain experimental. This release does not claim a complete playthrough, an overall FPS improvement, or fixes for every reported story crash, progression problem or glow effect. XWC tools do not implement PCM replacement.

Do not upload game files or private saves when reporting issues.

Full source changes since v0.1.7