v0.1.2 - Shadows, Darkness Vision, and high-resolution rendering fixes

Download and play

Download The-Darkness-Recomp-v0.1.2-windows-x64.zip under Assets. The Source code archives are for developers, not the playable download.

Extract the entire ZIP, place your own prepared Xbox 360 game files in the included Darkness folder, then run Launch.cmd. See START_HERE.txt for the supported revision and preparation steps. Game-file requirements and supported hashes are unchanged from v0.1.1. No game files are included. Requires 64-bit Windows 10/11 and a Direct3D 11-capable graphics device; no compiler or Python installation is required to play.

All fixes since v0.1.1

Darkness Vision - #8

• Restored the original golden edge glow around objects in dark areas. The first vision pass now writes its depth mask even when depth testing is disabled, preventing the following pass from painting over the glow.
• Preserved the original intensity, near/far fading, and restoration of distant pixels.
• Added recovery of the vision noise textures after a CPU texture-cache miss, while keeping scene, depth, and effect-atlas inputs on the GPU.

Character and object shadows - #7

• Fixed character shadows disappearing or flickering as the camera moves around them.
• Restored stencil-volume shadows for small props such as stools, including static and skinned casters. The original near/far vertex extrusion is now retained when the game switches shadow techniques.
• Corrected shadow-map comparison polarity and polygon bias, addressing incorrect dark regions and shadow placement.
• Preserved alpha-tested coverage for depth-only shadow casters instead of treating transparent cards as solid geometry.
• Restored the original projected-texture shader and perspective division.

High-resolution lighting and presentation - #6

• Fixed the grey-green cast in dark areas above 720p by preserving the original color-correction lookup texels at higher render scales.
• Fixed rejected 1080p frontbuffer copies at partial tile boundaries, retaining rendered pixels and clearing only the undrawn fringe.
• Restored the original shadow projector and its 4×4 filter at 1×, 2×, and 3× render scales.

Diagnostics and setup - #5, #7

• Added optional F8 frame/shadow captures with ordered rendering data and matching screenshots. Use Launch.cmd preview --shadow-capture to enable the two-capture diagnostic mode.
• A failed diagnostic screenshot save no longer terminates gameplay; existing capture files are protected from overwrite.
• Included the corrected setup guide inside the ZIP. It explains how to generate _uncrypted.xex and basefile.exe from your own default.xex using XexTool, includes the verified commands and hashes, and documents the tested Title ID, Media ID, and version. Region labels alone do not establish compatibility.

Updating from v0.1.1

Close the game. Extract this ZIP into the folder containing your existing Launch.cmd, replacing the included files. Keep your Darkness game files, saves, and DarkRecomp.settings.ini. Start using the updated Launch.cmd; the executables are in build_native/Release.

Validation

• Built from merged main commit 63cc32545db61c1d4dd0eeaf898f156ddd5ea413, including a fresh audio-codec rebuild.
• All 68 automated tests passed, including hardware and WARP rendering, Darkness Vision masks and fades, shadow rendering, high-resolution presentation, and runtime contracts. Runtime asset tests used the complete supported game directory.
• Verified the downloadable ZIP, every file hash in RELEASE.json, and the published SHA-256 checksum file. No game files, saves, or local settings are included.
• Tested extraction over the published v0.1.1 package: existing game files, saves, and settings were preserved.
• The extracted launcher setup check and native renderer smoke test passed with Python and compiler tools removed from PATH.

This remains a pre-release and has not undergone a complete gameplay playthrough. If you encounter a problem, include the newest build_native/run/desktop-*/runtime.log in your report.

Full changes since v0.1.1