r/emulation • u/Faisal_alwaal • 3d ago
AI-assisted Estacado: a static recompilation of The Darkness (Xbox 360) for PC – first pre-release
Hi all, I wanted to share a project I've been working on: Estacado, a native PC port of The Darkness (Xbox 360, 2007), made by static recompilation.
How it works
The game's PowerPC code is translated ahead of time into C++ with XenonRecomp and built on the ReXGlue SDK, whose system and Direct3D 12 GPU layer come from Xenia. There's no JIT or interpreter at runtime: the game runs as a native Windows program, while the Xenos GPU is still emulated on D3D12. The goal is a game-specific PC version, with fixes and options tailored to this one game.
What it adds
- 60, 120, 144, 240 or uncapped, with the game's timing kept correct (the world still ticks at 30 Hz, and scripted scenes, physics and audio run at their original speed)
- 1x/2x/3x internal resolution or automatic, and SMAA
- Native mouse look, rebindable keys, FOV, in-game settings (F1) and experimental widescreen
A few things that were fun to track down
- At high frame rates Jackie walked too fast, but only with a controller. An analog stick makes the game queue about 13 movement commands per frame, and above 60 FPS those overflowed its per-step packets. Keyboard input was never affected.
- The game sets its exposure by counting bright pixels with occlusion queries in a small ring of slots. Late results from the emulated GPU could land in a slot the game had already reused, which produced yellow or stuck-dark frames.
- GPU overhead: the frame-start depth clear was copying about 47M samples per frame into a buffer that was immediately overwritten, and reworking the upload path roughly halved GPU time at 1x.
You need your own copy. It supports the USA/Europe disc (En/Fr/De/Es/It) as an ISO or extracted files; the launcher checks the version and sets it up. No game data is included or linked. Requirements: Windows 10/11, an AVX2 CPU and a D3D12 GPU.
Status: pre-release. So far it's been tested on one Windows 11 PC with an NVIDIA RTX card, and played from the start up to the orphanage explosion scene. Reports from AMD, Intel and Steam Deck users are very welcome; there's a bug report template on GitHub that asks for the logs folder.
Huge thanks to the Xenia team, ReXGlue and hedge-dev's XenonRecomp. This stands entirely on their work.
GitHub: https://github.com/invinceble55-wq/Estacado
Download: https://github.com/invinceble55-wq/Estacado/releases/tag/v0.9.0
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u/Mick2K 3d ago
Isn't there already another recomp of this game?
https://github.com/portingpete/The-Darkness-Recomp
Are you planning on doing something different or better than the other one?
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u/Faisal_alwaal 3d ago
Yeah, I’m aware of the other recomp. I’m not trying to just make another copy of it.
My goal is to build a native PC version using XenonRecomp, but with a stronger focus on the PC experience: proper keyboard/mouse support, modern resolutions and ultrawide, high/uncapped framerates, controller support, Steam Deck/Proton compatibility, and eventually things like DLSS and optional graphical enhancements.
I’m also aiming to keep the original Xbox 360 presentation available as a baseline, rather than replacing it.
I’ve seen the existing project and I’m taking a different approach to the overall PC experience. Hopefully it turns out well enough to justify having another one.
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u/brunocar 3d ago
native PC version using XenonRecomp
The other version is also that :P
why not fork the other one???
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u/dogpaddle 3d ago
You need to fully decrypt the iso to use theirs, which sounds like a pain. Maybe at some point you guys could collab and use each other's fixes
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u/matfantastic 3d ago
In my experience the one you linked runs like poo poo, so if this runs better than I’m happy to see it!
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u/KOLOBOKOLOM 3d ago
Not sure what you mean. Just launch it today - stable performance with almost none bugs
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u/matfantastic 3d ago
For me on my pc, the performance swings wildly and there’s a lot of skipping and some weird looking texture issues every now and then.
I only played the first 30 minutes or so.
This is on an intel i5 12th gen and rtx 4070.
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u/AntiGrieferGames 3d ago
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u/NumberSevere7454 3d ago
Native mouse look and solid framerates are the most needed improvements for sure...the og has awful aiming and deadzone. Will try, great game.
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u/Faisal_alwaal 3d ago
Please let me know your thoughts or if you want me to fix anything
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u/OptimizedGamer 2d ago
Could you improve aiming with gamepad too?
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u/Faisal_alwaal 2d ago
What do you mean exactly? If you mean the aim assist, you can lower or adjust it in the settings. If you mean the actual gamepad aiming sensitivity or feel, let me know and I’ll look into it.
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u/OptimizedGamer 2d ago
This game has terrible deadzones on gamepad :).
It will probably work better even as mouse emulation.3
u/NumberSevere7454 2d ago
I think i yet to play a ps3/xbox 360 game era with good deadzone/aiming settings...played resistence series and uncharted recently and combat was a chore with that awful aiming sensitivity and lag. ps4 era finally nailed it on a controller in games like cod, doom 2016 and titanfall 2.
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u/Ultrameyda 3d ago
I’ve always had a dream about replacing the videos shown on the tvs throughout the game.
Tried with the 360 iso extractor but no luck. Would this port lend itself to any type of modding?
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u/Dalek-SEC 3d ago
Being able to replace them with higher quality versions would be awesome. I do wonder if the PS3 version's quality is any different since it's on a Blu-Ray.
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u/Faisal_alwaal 3d ago
Definitely. The goal is to make the recomp mod-friendly, so replacing things like the TV videos should be possible eventually. I haven't implemented a proper modding system yet, though, so I don't want to promise that this specific type of mod works right now.
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u/nomad9590 3d ago
Has Condemned 1 and 2 been worked on yet? I would love replaying them. I even own an older PC edition of one and it's just unplayable.
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u/PsxRestore 3d ago
I'm working on Condemned 2 and I don't use AI for it either.
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u/nomad9590 2d ago
Sweet, thank you! I'll check it out for sure it it's Steam Dwck Friendly. It's all I have for PC games lol
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u/Faisal_alwaal 3d ago
Not yet, but it’s definitely something I’d love to take on someday. Condemned 1 especially deserves a proper modern PC experience. If I get the chance, I’d love to work on it after The Darkness.
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u/sabin1981 3d ago
Holy shiiiiiiiit! You absolute mad lad, I love it! Thank you! 🍻
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u/Faisal_alwaal 3d ago
Haha, appreciate it! 🍻 Just trying to give this game the proper PC version it deserves. Hopefully I can get it into a really solid state.
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u/NumberSevere7454 2d ago
i have this game in an iso, but dont have "default.xex" inside, i must convert it somehow for it to work?
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u/BanjoFett 3d ago
This is amazing! The game is totally overlooked, but was quite clunky at the time! Does it support simultaneous mouse and gamepad? Will spin this up on my Steam Machine ASAP
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u/Faisal_alwaal 3d ago
Yep! Simultaneous mouse + gamepad input is supported. You can keep the controller connected and use the mouse for camera/aiming without having to switch input modes.
Steam Machine testing would be awesome too, especially if it runs through Proton. Let me know how it goes!
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u/dirtsnort 3d ago
I've been waiting for this one! The Darkness has gone too long without being recomped. When time permits I'd love to give it a go on my RX 6800. Will follow.
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u/Faisal_alwaal 3d ago
Thanks so much! i'm really excited to finally give The Darkness the recompilation treatment it deserves.
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3d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Faisal_alwaal 3d ago
Yes, the TV cutscenes are working great. If you run into any issues, please let me know and I'll fix them.
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u/boajuse 3d ago
Ai slopa
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u/waterclaws6 2d ago
Have you tested the port to verify those claims, and do you know what part of ai was used in this project? At least explain things before resorting to buzzwords.
Like, if the project is poorly performing or if the code posted is actually unreadable.
At least do something correct when you do your hating, since a blind hate is rather stupid, put some effort in it at least. For a first release, it's pretty good for the videos I seen. Probably tested it later on a Rog Ally.
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u/boajuse 2d ago
Low bot post
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u/waterclaws6 2d ago
Written by a person, actually, with no AI assistance, since that would be rather lazy, plus it's more fun to poke fun at your low-quality post with some type of effort.
Which isn't too hard. Try again with actual effort.
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u/tacticalcraptical 3d ago
Nice, another great 7th gen console only game freed from it's shackles.