FAQ
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Q: What is DarkXL?
A: DarkXL is a faithful remake of Dark Forces, done in the spirit of a port. This means that the engine and game code are written from scratch but that it tries to emulate the gameplay, music, atmosphere and feeling of the original game – to the point of not only supporting the original levels, cutscenes, gameplay and so on but also supporting the user made mods that have been developed over the years. It uses a DirectX renderer to support hardware rendering at high resolutions and color depths.
Q: Does DarkXL use any source code from the original game or engine?
A: No. Lucas Arts has never made the code for Dark Forces or the Jedi engine publicly available. This means that DarkXL and all tools have been written completely from scratch. Thusly DarkXL is not a source port, but is written in the same spirit – trying to remake the original not reinterpret or re envision it.
Q: Are any tools being developed that will aid in modding for Dark Forces and/or DarkXL?
A: Yes. Right now a full featured level editor is being developed that can be used to build levels for Dark Forces and also support new features implemented into DarkXL.
Q: Where can I get these new tools, such as the level editor?
A: The new tools will be built into DarkXL, so no extra downloads are required. However the new tools aren’t available yet, although the next build will have a preview version of the level editor built in.
Q: Are the tools built from existing tools or are they built from scratch?
A: DarkXL and the editor are built from scratch. The editor is built into the DarkXL executable and uses the same engine.
Q: What new features does DarkXL support now?
A:
- Hardware rendering at high resolutions in 32bit color.
- Improved texture filtering including bilinear, trilinear and anisotropic filtering.
- Modernized control schemes including mouse look.
- Increased view range, the ability to look straight up or down.
- Scripting for Logics.
Q: What new features will DarkXL support in the near future?
A:
- True color textures, including alpha.
- Translucent (partially transparent) textures at adjoins (instead of merely transparent).
- Improved model support, including formats other then 3DO.
- Skybox camera, allows for animated, scripted skyboxs.
- Scripting for weapons, scripting integrated with INF (fire scripts from INF and/or control INF through scripts), level scripts.
- Dynamic lights.
- Colored sector lighting (ala Duke Nukem 3D).
- Sector lighting gradients (floor and ceiling colors, with gradient in-between).
- Sector light smoothing (optional).
- Invisible 3D collision primitives that can be attached to 3D objects, allowing the player to interact with 3D objects in more meaningful ways.
- Real colored fog.
- Heightmaps for sector surfaces (could be used for large outdoor terrain sectors).
- Reflective surfaces (i.e. reflective floors in Imperial architecture).
- High quality texture upscaling and high quality edge filtering on transparencies (such as sprites).
- Optional fullscreen glow, where pixels marked as being fullbright (such as lights and blaster shots) will glow.
- Outlaws inspired features such as:
- -Dual adjoins
- -Vertical adjoins (extended to adjoin above and below at the same time instead of just one or the other).
- -Slopes.
- -Deep water that the player can swim in.
- -Adjustable per-sector gravity (this will allow for things such as ladders).
Q: Will multiplayer be supported?
A: Yes. Cooperative, death match, team death match and of course various team based game modes between the Imperials and Rebels.
Q: Is this project open source? Will the source code be released?
A: The DarkXL source code will be released once the project reaches Beta, which will happen very soon. You’ll be able to find the source code on the CodePlex project page.
Q: What is the current state of this project?
A: The project is currently in an “alpha” state. The first couple of levels are playable and there is some limited mod capability. However the near future is very exciting! An editor preview build will be released soon that will allow people to try out the DarkXL’s built-in level editor. After that there will be a beta build where the game can be played and be completed from beginning to end.
Q: Will DarkXL support Outlaws, since it is based on an enhanced version of the Jedi engine?
A: Yes. Once DarkXL reaches BETA, Outlaws support will be implemented.
Q: I try to run DarkXL but it crashes! What should I do?
A: Make sure you have OpenAL. Make sure you have have the latest version of DirectX installed. Also verify that the Dark Forces data is located in the correct directories. See the Downloads page for instructions regarding the most recent build.
Q: What platforms does DarkXL support?
A: Right now DarkXL only supports Windows XP and Windows Vista. Support for other platforms is planned but not until later. Possible platforms include: Linux, Mac (with a volunteer since I don’t own a Mac), XBox 360 (using XNA) and a possibility of a 2.5D version on the DS if I’m feeling up to it (rendering in software similar to the original game). The DS version would be last if done at all – it’ll really depend on the demand and if I still want to do it after all the other versions. 
Also I’ll probably do the Linux version myself (and all non-Mac versions), which will make porting to the Mac pretty easy I think.
Do you have any other questions? Did I miss something that should go into the FAQ? Please let me know.
I agree with you on the question about how many doom ports there are. I read somewhere in this blog that you’re planning on porting it to Linux. Do you need any assistance with that? I would love to help. I love this game, and I would like to see it running on Linux too.
Will there be support for Windows 2000 Pro and ATI AllinWonder 9600 series? Thanks
Well, your work is great, and i was surprised to find that in the world wide web.
But i have a little note for your FAQ, you can to incorporate that the install-path must be C:\DARK. It was a riddle for me, before i have seen your automatic created log-file.
Nonetheless…GREAT WORK, Keep it up!
Greetings from germany.
You can change the Dark Forces data path in the DXL_Settings file. This will be more intuitive in future releases.
I have Dark Forces installed and running great. I can’t get DarkXL to run. What can I do?
So this isnt a source port, does that mean you are recreating all of the actual gameplay? how the guns, items, monsters and movement works etc?