Modder ‘Le Corbeau’ has released a new version of NewDark with support for Hardware Transform & Lighting. NewDark is a mod for the first two classic Thief games. And now, thanks to version 1.29, we get new major graphics features, such as dynamic shadows, parallax occlusion mapping, screen space ambient occlusion, and more.
As the modder explained, the HWTL (Hardware Transform & Lighting) version of NewDark uses the GPU for vertex transforms instead of the CPU. This allows the engine to use new pixel-shader effects, such as soft shadows and normal mapping.
It’s worth noting that the SWTL path is still used for newsky and inventory models. This means both rendering paths are still available in the engine. For those wondering, SWTL obviously stands for Software Transform & Lighting. You can switch between HWTL and SWTL at any time with the toggle_hwtl_enable command.
Going into more detail, version 1.29 adds many new graphics features to the game. These include Percentage-Closer Soft Shadows (PCSS), normal mapping, Parallax Occlusion Mapping (POM), and Screen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO).
It also adds dynamic environment mapping and soft particles. Materials can now use normal maps, height maps, and specular maps. Specular maps can control intensity, glossiness, environment reflections, and self-illumination.
Water also gets several new effects. It can use normal maps, environment reflections, and air-to-water refraction. The update also adds incidence alpha for water.
Volumetric effects are another major addition. These include fog, light volumes, and underwater light shafts. Underwater areas also get distance blur.
Furthermore, NewDark 1.29 adds several post-processing effects. These include light streaks, such as star-shaped streaks, and luminance adaptation. And finally, we get an experimental player shadow system. What’s cool here is that AI can detect the player’s shadow, which may affect how enemies react.
Overall, this is a must-have mod for everyone who wants to replay the first two Thief games. If you are one of them, you can download it from here.
Speaking of Thief, there is also an RTX Remix Path Tracing mod that you can download. Sadly, the mod is still in a very early stage. Still, it can give you a taste of what the first Thief game could look like with Path Tracing. So, if you have a high-end NVIDIA RTX GPU, you may want to give it a try.
Back in 2020, I also shared HD Texture Packs for Thief 1 and 2. These packs use AI tools to upscale the original textures. As a result, they keep the art style of the original games. However, I don’t know if these texture packs are compatible with the latest version of NewDark.
Have fun!
Kudos to our reader ‘durka durka’ for bringing this to our attention!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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