KCTools is a collection of tools for working with NewDark 1.28 files. Currently there are two tools, a lightmapping tool, and a .BIN model export tool. The latest release can be downloaded here.
An external lightmapping tool for NewDark 1.28 fan missions. DromEd's built-in lighting is single-threaded, has a number of bugs, and scales extremely poorly with lightmap scale and large open spaces. KCTools Light uses a multithreaded approach with a modern raytracing library to improve lighting times, reduce lighting artifacts, and often improves in-game performance in complex scenes.
- All DromEd lighting functionality
- Massively improved lighting times
- Better light culling, improving performance in large-scale city maps and eliminating object lighting errors
- Additional warnings to mappers for mis-configured lights
- Produces generally more accurate shadows
- Near seamless integration within DromEd thanks to a custom script module
All tests were performed on a PC with a Ryzen 5 2600 CPU. I've used a variety of mission sizes and types to help show what sort of missions benefit most from KCLight.
| Mission | DromEd | KCLight | Speedup |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alcazar | 00:00:03 | 00:00:02 | ~1.5x |
| Cinder Notes | 00:05:12 | 00:00:12 | ~26x |
| Fierce Competition | 00:00:08 | 00:00:01 | ~8x |
| Godbreaker M2: Impious Pilgrimage | 00:07:21 | 00:00:03 | ~147x |
| Into the Odd | 00:01:41 | 00:00:05 | ~20x |
| Malazars Tower | 00:00:46 | 00:00:06 | ~7.5x |
| TBP M8: Jaws of Darkness | 00:08:23 | 00:00:18 | ~28x |
| The Scarlet Cascabel M2 | 00:01:30 | 00:00:02 | ~45x |
| TPOAIR M2: Collecting it All | 01:00:58 | 00:00:27 | ~135x |
| Winds of Misfortune | 00:15:23 | 00:00:05 | ~185x |
KCTools Light is available as a straightforward GUI (KCLight.Gui.exe) if you don't have much experience using a terminal:
To use the CLI, open a console in the KCTools folder and run KCTools light --help to see the help screen:
light: Compute lightmaps for a NewDark .MIS/.COW
Usage:
KCTools light <install-path> <mission-name> [options]
Arguments:
<install-path> The path to the root Thief installation. [required]
<mission-name> Mission filename including extension. [required]
Options:
-c, --campaign-name Fan mission folder name. Uses OMs if not specified.
-o, --output-name Name of output file excluding extension. Overwrites existing mission if not specified.
-i, --inspect Report light configuration problems without performing any lighting. [default: False]
-q, --quiet Disable terminal output. [default: False]
-a, --auto-campaign Automatically obtain campaign name from `DromEd.log`. Overrides `--campaign-name`. [default: False]
-?, -h, --help Show help and usage information
Exports models as a binary GLTF. Sub-object and joint hierarchy is respected and textures are bundled into the exported .glb.
Open a console in the KCTools folder and run KCTools model export --help to see the help screen:
export: Export models to .GLB
Usage:
KCTools model export <install-path> [options]
Arguments:
<install-path> The path to the root Thief installation. [required]
Options:
-c, --campaign-name The folder name of a fan mission.
-m, --model-name The name of the model.
-o, --output-directory Folder to output exported models to. If not set models will be exported to a `models` directory alongside kctools.
-q, --quiet Disable terminal output. [default: False]
-?, -h, --help Show help and usage information
This project requires the .NET 10.0 runtime and SDK. Raytracing uses a forked version of TinyEmbree with backface culling enabled, a pre-built package can be found in LocalPackages.
This repo operates under a strict "No LLM/AI contributions" policy:
- No LLMs for issues
- No LLMs for PRs
- No LLMs for communication
Any contributor found to be in violation of this policy will have their contribution rejected and be banned from future contributions.
All code within this repository is under the MIT License unless otherwise stated.