Repository navigation
Releases: invinceble55-wq/Estacado-The-Darkness-Recomp
Release list
Estacado 0.9.8 (pre-release)
A native PC recompilation of The Darkness (Xbox 360, 2007): an unofficial
fan port made by static recompilation. Pre-release: tested on one Windows
11 PC with an NVIDIA RTX graphics card; reports from other hardware are very
welcome.
Updating
Extract this version over your previous Estacado folder. Saves and settings
stay in Saved Games\Estacado; older settings are updated automatically where
this release needs it.
In this release
- Temporal upscaling (#23): new settings
Graphics Quality > Temporal upscaler (NVIDIA DLSS on GeForce RTX
cards, AMD FSR 3.1 or Intel XeSS) and
Upscaler detail. The game draws at the internal scale and the upscaler
builds a larger, sharper image from several frames: internal scale 1x with
Performance gives a 1440p image for much less graphics time than 2x
(in the busiest street on my PC the graphics card needs 2.1 ms per frame with FSR 3.1 Performance and 2.8 ms with XeSS Performance, against 1.6 ms at 1x and 4.7 ms at 2x). The HUD and subtitles are taken from the game's own
frame, so they stay sharp and never smear. Quality (1.5x), Balanced
(1.7x), Performance (2x) and Ultra Performance (3x) set how much larger
the image is; Native AA keeps the size and only removes jagged edges and
shimmering (with DLSS that is DLAA). Off by default: nothing changes
unless you turn it on, and if the upscaler can't start on your card the
game runs as with Off. FSR 3.1 and XeSS run on most modern graphics cards;
DLSS is offered on NVIDIA GeForce RTX cards only. This closes
#3 as well. - Cheats (new Cheats section in the launcher and F1, all off): the
game developers' own god mode (nothing can kill Jackie; not kept in your
saves, turn it off and the game is normal again) and give all (every
weapon and the highest Darkness and Demon Arm levels; this one is kept in
your saves). Achievements unlock as usual while cheats are on. - Speed: the same as 0.9.7 at every internal scale, or slightly faster
(busiest street on the test PC at 1x: 164 instead of 162 FPS).
Everything else is as in 0.9.7.
Known issues
- Internal scale 1.5x itself is still not possible (the internal scale is a
whole number throughout the graphics code); the upscaler's Quality mode
at 1x gives that size. - Cheats beyond god mode and give all (noclip, unlimited ammo or Darkness
energy) are not included: the game has no developer command for the latter,
and noclip is not finished.
Full list: changelog.
Known issues.
Install
- Install the Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable (x64) if you don't have it.
- Download
Estacado-0.9.8-windows-x64.zipbelow and extract it to a folder of your choice, or over
your previous Estacado folder. - Run
TheDarknessSettings.exe, choose your disc image (or game folder) if
asked, pick a preset and press Play.
You need your own copy of the game. This download contains no game data.
Legal
No game data is included. TheDarkness.exe contains the game's program code
in translated form (static recompilation) and does nothing without your own,
legally obtained copy of the game. This is a free, non-commercial fan project,
not affiliated with or endorsed by 2K Games, Take-Two Interactive, Starbreeze
Studios, Top Cow Productions or Microsoft. Trademarks belong to their owners.
This product uses NVIDIA DLSS; NVIDIA, GeForce RTX and DLSS are trademarks
of NVIDIA Corporation. AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution and Intel XeSS are used
under their SDK licences. The upscaler runtimes (nvngx_dlss.dll,
amd_fidelityfx_dx12.dll, libxess.dll) are separately licensed third-party
binaries, not covered by this project's MIT licence (see licenses). Details: Legal.
SHA-256 of Estacado-0.9.8-windows-x64.zip: b30cab28fe41491c05db7a156f2357f32afdaec1bd8adb826960a47b6100d613
Estacado 0.9.7 (pre-release)
A native PC recompilation of The Darkness (Xbox 360, 2007): an unofficial
fan port made by static recompilation. Pre-release: tested on one Windows
11 PC with an NVIDIA RTX graphics card; reports from other hardware are very
welcome.
Updating
Extract this version over your previous Estacado folder. Saves and settings
stay in Saved Games\Estacado; older settings are updated automatically where
this release needs it.
In this release
- Crash in the cemetery fixed (#25): the game
ran out of memory. Each time it opened one of its large sound or animation
archives (up to 820 MB), the whole file was copied into memory, and some
are opened many times. Files are now read in pieces as the game asks for
them. Thanks to @Bighead-SMZ for the
crash report and dump. - Voice lines should no longer start late: dialogue (for example in the
Otherworld, and the Darkness's lines) could start seconds after its
subtitles. The likely cause is the same: opening the 424 MB voice archive
copied it into memory first, and the game opens it for many lines. Opening
it is now instant. Please tell me if you still hear a line start late. - Blinking mouse-button prompt fixed (#18):
with keyboard and mouse, a prompt could flash the controller button for a
frame when its icon was loaded (RMB showed RT). The keyboard key now shows
from the first frame. Thanks to @AndylgTom
for the video. - Achievements (#22): an "Achievement unlocked"
notification appears at the bottom right of the game, with the
achievement's name. Unlocks are now saved in
Saved Games\Estacado\content\achievements\545407EE.toml(the format
Achievement Watcher Next reads); your earlier unlocks are moved there
automatically, and the oldachievements.txtis kept up to date for older
versions. New setting Achievements > Achievement notifications turns the
notification off (it applies at once). Thanks to
@thundderbird for the idea and the path. - Update check (#24): when a newer version is
out, the launcher shows a green Update available button beside About
that opens its release page. The launcher only reads the list of releases
on GitHub; nothing is downloaded or installed. About > Check for updates
when the launcher starts turns it off. - Russian interface: the launcher and the in-game settings (F1) are
available in Russian. They follow the Windows display language
automatically; the language picker beside About chooses by hand. The
translations are inlanguages\ru.toml; Russian players, corrections are
very welcome: please open an issue or suggest changes to that file. Other
languages can be added the same way, one file each. The game's own text
stays in its languages (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish). - Speed: the same as 0.9.6 wherever the graphics card sets the pace (internal
scale 3x and 4x within run-to-run noise). In the busiest street at 1x and
2x, where the processor sets the pace at over 160 FPS, this version is
about 2% slower (165 instead of 169 FPS on the test PC); the frame rate
settings up to 144 are not affected.
Everything else is as in 0.9.6.
Known issues
- Internal scale 1.5x (#23) is not possible yet:
the internal scale is a whole number throughout the graphics code.
Full list: changelog.
Known issues.
Install
- Install the Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable (x64) if you don't have it.
- Download
Estacado-0.9.7-windows-x64.zipbelow and extract it to a folder of your choice, or over
your previous Estacado folder. - Run
TheDarknessSettings.exe, choose your disc image (or game folder) if
asked, pick a preset and press Play.
You need your own copy of the game. This download contains no game data.
Legal
No game data is included. TheDarkness.exe contains the game's program code
in translated form (static recompilation) and does nothing without your own,
legally obtained copy of the game. This is a free, non-commercial fan project,
not affiliated with or endorsed by 2K Games, Take-Two Interactive, Starbreeze
Studios, Top Cow Productions or Microsoft. Trademarks belong to their owners.
Details: Legal.
SHA-256 of Estacado-0.9.7-windows-x64.zip: 09ce05f638adcd835174dda2e433a0202b5d365b2558184586264e0f300fbcdd
Estacado 0.9.6 (pre-release)
A native PC recompilation of The Darkness (Xbox 360, 2007): an unofficial
fan port made by static recompilation. Pre-release: tested on one Windows
11 PC with an NVIDIA RTX graphics card; reports from other hardware are very
welcome.
Updating
Extract this version over your previous Estacado folder. Saves and settings
stay in Saved Games\Estacado; older settings are updated automatically where
this release needs it.
In this release
- Black dots and flickering squares fixed (#16):
they came from the extra glow smoothing that 0.9.1 to 0.9.5 add above
internal scale 1x, not from the anti-aliasing. The smooth glow is now made
a new way: the game's own glow shaders read console-size copies of the glow
images, kept in separate video memory, and the graphics card filters them as
the console does. On the reporter's card the dots, the squares and the
banding in bright flashes are gone, at the same speed. Thanks to
@blax434-ctrl for the patient testing
that found the cause. - New setting Graphics Quality > Glow reconstruction: On (the default)
is the new glow; Off draws the glow as in 0.9.0, with a little banding
in bright flashes, as a fallback if the glow looks wrong on your graphics
card. It applies at once. Settings from 0.9.5 and from the #16 test builds
switch to the new glow automatically (a choice of Off in a test build stays
Off). - Speed: the same as 0.9.5 at every internal scale, 1x to 4x (within 1.5%
on the test PC). - Building from source: the repository now includes the GPU optimization
profile this release is built with, so builds from source match its speed.
Everything else is as in 0.9.5, including
Multisampling (MSAA) on Always 4x by default.
Known issues
- Black flickering on some cards (#20): probably
the same cause as #16 and fixed by this version; confirmation pending.
Full list: changelog.
Known issues.
Install
- Install the Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable (x64) if you don't have it.
- Download
Estacado-0.9.6-windows-x64.zipbelow and extract it to a folder of your choice, or over
your previous Estacado folder. - Run
TheDarknessSettings.exe, choose your disc image (or game folder) if
asked, pick a preset and press Play.
You need your own copy of the game. This download contains no game data.
Legal
No game data is included. TheDarkness.exe contains the game's program code
in translated form (static recompilation) and does nothing without your own,
legally obtained copy of the game. This is a free, non-commercial fan project,
not affiliated with or endorsed by 2K Games, Take-Two Interactive, Starbreeze
Studios, Top Cow Productions or Microsoft. Trademarks belong to their owners.
Details: Legal.
SHA-256 of Estacado-0.9.6-windows-x64.zip: 72899072db19ed3a1625d1c5d34409708cdb6a3d2ded9f79ee8b869623d2a12e
Estacado 0.9.5 (pre-release)
A native PC recompilation of The Darkness (Xbox 360, 2007): an unofficial
fan port made by static recompilation. Pre-release: tested on one Windows
11 PC with an NVIDIA RTX graphics card; reports from other hardware are very
welcome.
Updating
Extract this version over your previous Estacado folder. Saves and settings
stay in Saved Games\Estacado; older settings are updated automatically where
this release needs it.
In this release
- Black dots and flickering squares (#16,
probably also #20): they come with the game's own
switch to 2x anti-aliasing. The game picks 4x or 2x MSAA every frame from
its last 10 frames: one frame slower than 32 FPS switches it to 2x, and it
only goes back to 4x when all 10 are faster than 38 FPS. On PC a loading
hitch is enough to drop to 2x, and a menu at 37.5 FPS (half of a 75 Hz
screen) never gets back. New setting Graphics Quality > Multisampling
(MSAA): Always 4x (default) keeps the console's normal quality all the
time; Automatic (game) is the game's own switch; Always 2x always uses
the 2x mode. It applies at once. - Whenever the game draws in 2x, the glow skips the bloom fix's extra
smoothing step, the setup the #16 tests showed clean; the glow can look a
little more banded there. - The 0.9.4 glow change is undone (glow passes on the console's grid again,
as in 0.9.2 to 0.9.3.1): it made the dots worse on the reporter's card and
cost 3 to 9% GPU time at 3x and 4x. - Speed: above internal scale 1x, Always 4x is also much faster than the
game's 2x mode on PC (about twice the frame rate at 3x on the test PC).
Against 0.9.4: unchanged at 1x and 2x, 3 to 7% faster at 3x and 4x.
Everything else is as in 0.9.4.
Known issues
- Black dots or flickering dark squares above internal scale 1x
(#16, #20): this
version keeps the game out of the 2x mode they come with; confirmation from
affected cards is pending.
Full list: changelog.
Known issues.
Install
- Install the Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable (x64) if you don't have it.
- Download
Estacado-0.9.5-windows-x64.zipbelow and extract it to a folder of your choice, or over
your previous Estacado folder. - Run
TheDarknessSettings.exe, choose your disc image (or game folder) if
asked, pick a preset and press Play.
You need your own copy of the game. This download contains no game data.
Legal
No game data is included. TheDarkness.exe contains the game's program code
in translated form (static recompilation) and does nothing without your own,
legally obtained copy of the game. This is a free, non-commercial fan project,
not affiliated with or endorsed by 2K Games, Take-Two Interactive, Starbreeze
Studios, Top Cow Productions or Microsoft. Trademarks belong to their owners.
Details: Legal.
SHA-256 of Estacado-0.9.5-windows-x64.zip: c69c3831de3714f16084aafc727cea6e0cc56b850d25f4b4fe622e39e1f5646d
Test build 2 for #16 (not a regular update)
Superseded by Estacado 0.9.6, which makes Test A the default glow. Please use 0.9.6 instead of this test build.
This is a test build for #16 (black dots and flickering squares), not a regular update. If you don't see those artefacts, stay on Estacado 0.9.5.
It is 0.9.5 with one new setting, Graphics Quality → Glow reconstruction. It's in the launcher and in the in-game settings (F1), and it applies at once:
- On (recommended): the smooth glow of 0.9.1 to 0.9.5.
- Off: the glow of 0.9.0, with a little banding in bright flashes. A safe way to avoid the dots until the fix is confirmed.
- Test A: the same smooth glow, made a new way: the game's own glow shaders read console-size copies of the glow images, kept in separate video memory, and the graphics card filters them as the console does.
Keep Multisampling (MSAA) on Always 4x (the default).
Install
Extract Estacado-0.9.5-test2-windows-x64.zip into a new folder and run TheDarknessSettings.exe. It uses the same settings and saves as 0.9.5 (Saved Games\Estacado); without the new setting the game uses On. TEST_BUILD_README.txt in the zip has the details. The requirements are the same as for 0.9.5.
You need your own copy of the game. This download contains no game data.
Binaries only: the source for this test build will be published with the next regular release.
Legal
No game data is included. TheDarkness.exe contains the game's program code
in translated form (static recompilation) and does nothing without your own,
legally obtained copy of the game. This is a free, non-commercial fan project,
not affiliated with or endorsed by 2K Games, Take-Two Interactive, Starbreeze
Studios, Top Cow Productions or Microsoft. Trademarks belong to their owners.
Details: Legal.
SHA-256 of Estacado-0.9.5-test2-windows-x64.zip: c0b0c01a315723217afd3b2a07e3a3f4f2110a0a2af80dc0d5998cec54f6155a
Estacado 0.9.4 (pre-release)
A native PC recompilation of The Darkness (Xbox 360, 2007): an unofficial
fan port made by static recompilation. Pre-release: tested on one Windows
11 PC with an NVIDIA RTX graphics card; reports from other hardware are very
welcome.
Updating
Extract this version over your previous Estacado folder. Saves and settings
stay in Saved Games\Estacado; older settings are updated automatically where
this release needs it.
In this release
- Black dots and flickering squares above internal scale 1x on some
NVIDIA RTX 20 and 30 series cards (#16, probably
also #20): the glow passes now render at the
internal resolution (sampling like the console, so the glow stays smooth)
instead of in console-resolution images that shared video memory with the
game's scaled image and were copied back and forth every frame. The 0.9.3
tests on the reporter's card pointed at exactly these passes; the test PC
never showed the dots, so please report if you still see them.
If you replaced thedraw_resolution_scale_native_grid_rulesline in
TheDarkness.pc.tomlfor the #16 tests, delete that line so the new
default is used. - Speed: at internal 2x slightly faster than 0.9.3.1; at 3x about 3% and at
4x about 6 to 9% slower on the test PC, as the glow passes now run at the
internal resolution.
Everything else is as in 0.9.3.1,
including the four test switches from 0.9.3.
Known issues
- Black dots or flickering dark squares above internal scale 1x
(#16, #20): this
version removes the cause the tests on an affected card pointed at;
confirmation from affected cards is pending. Internal scale 1x avoids
them.
Full list: changelog.
Known issues.
Install
- Install the Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable (x64) if you don't have it.
- Download
Estacado-0.9.4-windows-x64.zipbelow and extract it to a folder of your choice, or over
your previous Estacado folder. - Run
TheDarknessSettings.exe, choose your disc image (or game folder) if
asked, pick a preset and press Play.
You need your own copy of the game. This download contains no game data.
Legal
No game data is included. TheDarkness.exe contains the game's program code
in translated form (static recompilation) and does nothing without your own,
legally obtained copy of the game. This is a free, non-commercial fan project,
not affiliated with or endorsed by 2K Games, Take-Two Interactive, Starbreeze
Studios, Top Cow Productions or Microsoft. Trademarks belong to their owners.
Details: Legal.
SHA-256 of Estacado-0.9.4-windows-x64.zip: bade432314de3121f25fc40803fb7add984e1b600b175706301d898512bd358c
Estacado 0.9.3.1 (pre-release)
A native PC recompilation of The Darkness (Xbox 360, 2007): an unofficial
fan port made by static recompilation. Pre-release: tested on one Windows
11 PC with an NVIDIA RTX graphics card; reports from other hardware are very
welcome.
Updating
Extract this version over your previous Estacado folder. Saves and settings
stay in Saved Games\Estacado; older settings are updated automatically where
this release needs it.
In this release
- Launcher settings with the session log: while the optional
session_log.txtwas next toTheDarkness.exe, the launcher showed every
setting empty and the key bindings as "(none)" (0.9.2 and 0.9.3). The game
and your settings file were never affected. Fixed: the session log now
covers game starts only.
Everything else is as in 0.9.3: the fix for
dark triangles on characters under lamps (#6), low
latency with VSync, #17 and
#19, and four test switches for
#16 and #20.
Known issues
- Black dots or flickering dark squares above internal scale 1x on some
NVIDIA RTX 20 and 30 series cards (#16,
#20). They don't appear on the test PC; four test
switches help narrow them down (see those issues). Until then, internal
scale 1x avoids them.
Full list: changelog.
Known issues.
Install
- Install the Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable (x64) if you don't have it.
- Download
Estacado-0.9.3.1-windows-x64.zipbelow and extract it to a folder of your choice, or over
your previous Estacado folder. - Run
TheDarknessSettings.exe, choose your disc image (or game folder) if
asked, pick a preset and press Play.
You need your own copy of the game. This download contains no game data.
Legal
No game data is included. TheDarkness.exe contains the game's program code
in translated form (static recompilation) and does nothing without your own,
legally obtained copy of the game. This is a free, non-commercial fan project,
not affiliated with or endorsed by 2K Games, Take-Two Interactive, Starbreeze
Studios, Top Cow Productions or Microsoft. Trademarks belong to their owners.
Details: Legal.
SHA-256 of Estacado-0.9.3.1-windows-x64.zip: a212a8a5c341280033ad3bdc3fd777a5d2723d1f6fb9db53728582ab39c76d31
Estacado 0.9.3 (pre-release)
A native PC recompilation of The Darkness (Xbox 360, 2007): an unofficial
fan port made by static recompilation. Pre-release: tested on one Windows
11 PC with an NVIDIA RTX graphics card; reports from other hardware are very
welcome.
Updating
Extract this version over your previous Estacado folder. Saves and settings
stay in Saved Games\Estacado; older settings are updated automatically where
this release needs it.
In this release
- No more dark triangles on characters under lamps (for example on
Jenny's shoulder). Lamps that cast shadows rebuild each pixel's position
from the depth of the anti-aliased frame; the port used the depth of one
anti-aliasing sample, a quarter pixel away from where the game expects it,
and surfaces at a steep angle then shadowed themselves
(#6, thanks icesnake2000). - Low latency (new, on by default): with VSync the game stays at most two
frames ahead of the display, so the picture answers your controls sooner
at the same frame rate (about a third less delay at 144 Hz). Nothing
changes at 60 FPS or with VSync off. Settings > Performance / Frame Rate >
Low latency. - Widescreen on 16:10 and 4:3 screens: with Fill wide and tall screens
on, the bloom fix follows the taller picture, so halos stay smooth at 2x and
above (#17, thanks David Janice). - Installed copies work (for example under Program Files): logs, crash
reports, the session log, language packs, an extracted disc image and the
game location go to%LOCALAPPDATA%\Estacado. A portable copy (with
portable.txt) keeps everything in its folder
(#19, thanks David Janice). - "Settings unavailable" in the launcher now says why
TheDarkness.exe
could not start (for example an antivirus that removed it, or a partly
extracted zip) and what to do. - For bug reports: session logs name the graphics card and its driver.
Known issues
- Black dots or flickering dark squares above internal scale 1x on some
NVIDIA RTX 20 and 30 series cards (#16,
#20). They don't appear on the test PC; four test
switches in this version help narrow them down (see those issues). Until
then, internal scale 1x avoids them.
Full list: changelog.
Known issues.
Install
- Install the Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable (x64) if you don't have it.
- Download
Estacado-0.9.3-windows-x64.zipbelow and extract it to a folder of your choice, or over
your previous Estacado folder. - Run
TheDarknessSettings.exe, choose your disc image (or game folder) if
asked, pick a preset and press Play.
You need your own copy of the game. This download contains no game data.
Legal
No game data is included. TheDarkness.exe contains the game's program code
in translated form (static recompilation) and does nothing without your own,
legally obtained copy of the game. This is a free, non-commercial fan project,
not affiliated with or endorsed by 2K Games, Take-Two Interactive, Starbreeze
Studios, Top Cow Productions or Microsoft. Trademarks belong to their owners.
Details: Legal.
SHA-256 of Estacado-0.9.3-windows-x64.zip: ad1373142e532ca463c86c063fd7eb12dfe7b79bddb2dd5e3ed0c8bb17f6dd73
Estacado 0.9.2 (pre-release)
A native PC recompilation of The Darkness (Xbox 360, 2007): an unofficial
fan port made by static recompilation. Pre-release: tested on one Windows
11 PC with an NVIDIA RTX graphics card; reports from other hardware are very
welcome.
0.9.2 is a hotfix for regressions in 0.9.1 reported in
#16. Thank you, blax434-ctrl, for the detailed
report, the video and the files.
Updating
Extract this version over your 0.9.1 (or 0.9.0) folder. Saves and settings
stay in Saved Games\Estacado; settings from 0.9.0 and 0.9.1 are updated
automatically where this release needs it.
In this release
- Controller with Keyboard / mouse off works again. 0.9.1 reported no
controller to the game until it had read one, and the game never asked, so
a controller only worked while keyboard and mouse were on. - No more shimmering squares, ripples or banded light flashes with motion
blur on at 2x/3x/4x internal resolution (every output resolution above
720p). 0.9.1's bloom fix covered the final image without motion blur; the
motion-blur version of that pass read the glow unenlarged. Both now use the
same fix. (Motion blur is off in the Enhanced preset; it is on in Original
and whenever you turn it on in the settings.) - Button prompts stay on Xbox buttons while you use a controller: small
mouse movements no longer switch them to keyboard keys. - Enter confirms in menus like the A button (E by default), unless you
bind Enter to something else. Since 0.9.1 Space is jump and no longer
confirms. - Back + Start on a controller opens and closes the in-game settings
(F1); D-pad or stick, A and B navigate them
(#7). - For bug reports: F9 saves a screenshot plus a small text file that
describes how that frame was drawn (inSaved Games\Estacado\screenshots).
An empty file namedsession_log.txtnext toTheDarkness.exemakes the
game write its log tologs\session_<date>_<time>.log; the log now also
shows keyboard focus, the first key presses and how the controller is
detected.
Full list: changelog.
Known issues.
Install
- Install the Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable (x64) if you don't have it.
- Download
Estacado-0.9.2-windows-x64.zipbelow and extract it to a folder of your choice (not
inside Program Files), or over your previous Estacado folder. - Run
TheDarknessSettings.exe, choose your disc image (or game folder) if
asked, pick a preset and press Play.
You need your own copy of the game. This download contains no game data.
Legal
No game data is included. TheDarkness.exe contains the game's program code
in translated form (static recompilation) and does nothing without your own,
legally obtained copy of the game. This is a free, non-commercial fan project,
not affiliated with or endorsed by 2K Games, Take-Two Interactive, Starbreeze
Studios, Top Cow Productions or Microsoft. Trademarks belong to their owners.
Details: Legal.
SHA-256 of Estacado-0.9.2-windows-x64.zip: 4a04e3314c5095f2d00f56fe61193150d9add3d7c456cdc0fa1cf95e6e8aae7e
Estacado 0.9.1 (pre-release)
A native PC recompilation of The Darkness (Xbox 360, 2007): an unofficial
fan port made by static recompilation. Pre-release: tested on one Windows
11 PC with an NVIDIA RTX graphics card; reports from other hardware are very
welcome.
Steam Deck: a player reports that with 0.9.1 both the settings launcher
and the game work on the Deck under Proton: the launcher starts there and
launches into the game (issue #2).
Updating from 0.9.0
Your saves and settings now live in your Saved Games folder
(Saved Games\Estacado), so updates never touch them. Extract this version
over your 0.9.0 folder: on its first start it copies the folder's saves,
settings and screenshots there, checks every copied file, and leaves the
originals untouched (SAVES_MOVED.txt says so). Installed into a new folder
instead? Launcher, About, Import saves..., then choose the old
folder. To keep everything inside the game folder (USB drive, a folder copied
to a Steam Deck), put an empty portable.txt next to TheDarkness.exe.
Details: Saves and settings.
In this release
- Bloom at 2x/3x/4x internal resolution is fixed: no more banding or
streaks around lights. Thanks to djanice1980, who found the cause and
contributed the fix (#11,
#15). - Pause menu colours at 2x and 4x: the greenish haze over the paused game
is gone (#10). - No more yellow flashes in the car ride at the start of the game: 0.9.0
showed single over-exposed yellow frames there; 0.9.1 showed none in our
recordings. - Less stutter on the first play: the release carries a data-free list
of the game's shaders and pipelines (hashes, render states and vertex
layouts, no shader code). At startup the game rebuilds those shaders from
your own copy's shader cache and compiles the pipelines in the background
(a small "Preparing shaders" note), so they are ready before you play. In
our first-start test, compile waits from the start to the Chinatown street
dropped from 16 (170 ms) to 1 (2 ms). The list covers the parts tested so
far; later levels still compile some shaders the first time
(#5). - Keyboard prompts: with keyboard and mouse, the game's button icons show
your keys (E, Space, Shift, LMB...) and prompt texts read like "Press E";
Xbox buttons come back when you use a controller (setting: Button
prompts). Jump is now on Space and use on E by default. - Controllers on any port: the profile and saves load when Windows or
Steam Input puts your controller on a port other than the first
(#8). - Other releases with the same code run, for example localised releases;
a version with different code gets a plain message and a local report
(#9). - Quit game button in the in-game settings (F1), with a confirmation,
based on djanice1980's code (#7). - Key bindings show each button's action, for example Y button: jump
(#12). - The launcher names files missing from an incomplete extraction
(#2); non-English folder and user names work.
Full list: changelog.
Known issues.
Install
- Install the Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable (x64) if you don't have it.
- Download
Estacado-0.9.1-windows-x64.zipbelow and extract it to a folder of your choice (not
inside Program Files), or over your 0.9.0 folder. - Run
TheDarknessSettings.exe, choose your disc image (or game folder) if
asked, pick a preset and press Play.
You need your own copy of the game. This download contains no game data.
Legal
No game data is included. TheDarkness.exe contains the game's program code
in translated form (static recompilation) and does nothing without your own,
legally obtained copy of the game. This is a free, non-commercial fan project,
not affiliated with or endorsed by 2K Games, Take-Two Interactive, Starbreeze
Studios, Top Cow Productions or Microsoft. Trademarks belong to their owners.
Details: Legal.
SHA-256 of Estacado-0.9.1-windows-x64.zip: 5fe91e212c842854e3e513c7d86285de6d8653b75210e75f36be0b02a1c27f6e