Blackbird 1.0

Blackbird 1.0

The stable launcher replacement. It now builds with Dragon or the stock linker, side by side.

• Dragon. With bin\dragon.exe installed, builds use it. Tools > Link with Dragon switches back to the stock linker at any time. Anything Dragon can't link yet goes to the stock linker, and the log says so.
• Which linker ran. A Dragon build log opens with a blue Dragon 1.0.0 (<commit>, built ...) line, the status bar shows Dragon's progress, and it ends with linked with Dragon or linked with the stock linker.
• Stock assets. A map that uses stock assets or sounds by name is never handed to the stock linker silently. If Dragon is missing, Build asks first and Link with stock linker anyway builds without them. If the game has the map open, Dragon stops and the build fails with "close the game".
• Components. Tools > Components lists Apex, Dragon, Stock Library, Ultrasound and the Radiant integration for this game, and whether stock assets can be used directly. Get opens the product's GitHub release page for anything missing.
• Updates for Dragon, Stock Library and Ultrasound. Blackbird checks daily and offers Install or Later in the title bar. Downloads are verified against the release's SHA-256, swapped in beside the old files, and put back if the new one won't start. Help > Updates turns the daily check off.
• Faster builds. The gdtdb update is skipped when no GDT, deffile or database changed since the last clean one.

Needs the .NET 10 Desktop Runtime. The setup is unsigned: Windows SmartScreen may ask you to confirm it.

Blackbird 0.9.2

The build log follows output again while a build runs, staying at the end until you scroll up.

Blackbird 0.9.1

A build where the linker reports errors but still finishes (its closing done: line is reached) now ends as Build completed with errors instead of Build failed. The errors stay counted in the log.

Blackbird 0.9.0

First public release of Blackbird, a replacement for the Black Ops III Mod Tools Launcher.

• Builds maps and mods (compile, lighting, linking) with presets, a streaming log, and counted, filterable errors and warnings.
• Runs the game in a Dev or Ship launch config, offline or through Steam.
• Publishes to the Steam Workshop from inside the app, with several Workshop versions per project and a preflight check before upload.
• Creates, renames and duplicates maps and mods, and finds common project problems.
• Command palette (Ctrl+K), Graphite, Slate and Light themes, and in-app updates.

Install: download blackbird-setup.exe and choose Install. It puts Blackbird in your Black Ops III bin folder as modlauncher.exe and keeps Treyarch's launcher in a hidden .gscode-backups folder, which Uninstall puts back. It needs the .NET 10 runtime (the setup tells you if it's missing).