<p align="center"> <img src="src/logo_wide.png" alt="Torchlight Rekindled" width="300"> </p>

Torchlight Rekindled

An engine that runs Torchlight (Runic Games, 2009) on a homebrew-enabled Nintendo Switch, Android and desktop. Its game logic follows Runic's own Xbox 360 port of the game (Xbox Live Arcade, 2011). It draws with OGRE 14 and ParticleUniverse.

No game data is included. You need your own copy of the full game: any purchased PC release (Steam, GOG, Epic, retail) or the Xbox 360 release. The engine reads it at runtime.

This is a fan project. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Runic Games or the owners of the Torchlight trademark.

Supported platforms

platform	notes
Nintendo Switch	homebrew (hbmenu)
Android	arm64, Android 12 or newer
iOS	iPhone and iPad (unsigned build; sign before installing)
Windows	desktop build
Linux	desktop build

About the desktop builds: I don't own a Steam Deck or any similar handheld PC, so the Windows and Linux builds have only been tested on a laptop with a gamepad connected. Reports from handheld PCs are welcome.

Screenshots

Nintendo Switch: the town of Torchlight at night.

<img src="switch.jpg" alt="Torchlight Rekindled on the Nintendo Switch: the Destroyer and his wolf by the burning shrine in the town of Torchlight" width="100%">

Android: Orden Mines, floor 1, with the on-screen controls (a Galaxy Z Fold6, 120 fps).

<img src="android.jpg" alt="Torchlight Rekindled on Android: the Destroyer in the Orden Mines with the on-screen gamepad" width="100%">

Why

The PC and Xbox 360 versions of Torchlight both received their last update in 2011. That is more than fifteen years without a patch.

The main motivation for this project is to make Torchlight properly playable on today's portable devices. The PC version does run on handheld PCs like the Steam Deck, but it was made for a mouse and keyboard: it has no real gamepad support and no interface designed for a controller. The Xbox 360 version had both, and that is the version this engine follows.

Runic Games, the studio behind Torchlight, no longer exists. The Torchlight IP now belongs to another company whose focus is Torchlight Infinite. With no sign that the original game will ever be revisited by the people who made it, this project had to be made.

Game data

The engine needs two things from your copy of the game:

file	where it comes from
pak.zip	the game archive, from either release: the Xbox 360's pak.zip or a PC release's Pak.zip (from its install folder). See PC or Xbox 360 game data for which to use
music/	the music folder from your game install. The level themes are not inside the archive. The game runs without it, silently

Either spelling, pak.zip or Pak.zip, is accepted.

PC or Xbox 360 game data

Both releases' archives are supported, and the engine tells them apart by their contents. There are three ways to play:

1. The Xbox 360 pak.zip. This is the reference: the engine follows the Xbox 360 release, and its archive carries the console's own HUD, menus and fonts. Nothing else is needed.

2. A PC Pak.zip on its own. It works on every platform, but a PC archive has no console interface: it carries the PC's mouse-driven one instead. The engine therefore draws the port's own interface pack, built in. Its art and layouts are drawn for this port by scripts/build_ui_pack.py, with nothing taken from the game. Every build makes it: the Switch .nro carries it inside, the Android APK carries it and unpacks it, and the Windows and Linux builds put it beside the program as ui_pack/. This interface is basic and still under construction.

3. Hybrid: a PC Pak.zip with the Xbox 360 interface. The game's assets come from the PC archive, and the HUD and menus from the Xbox release's pak.zip (ten files, about 4 MB), taken out with scripts/extract_console_ui.py:

   python scripts/extract_console_ui.py <path to the Xbox 360 pak.zip> console_ui
   

   The first argument is the Xbox archive and the second is the folder to write. The script will not write into the repository's source folders (src/, scripts/, tests/, ...). console_ui/ at the repository root is ignored by git. Put console_ui/ beside the PC Pak.zip, and it is used in place of the built-in pack. On Windows and Linux that is when the program runs from its own folder; from anywhere else, name it: --console-ui console_ui (a path relative to where the program runs, or an absolute one). Besides the console's own art and fonts, it brings what only the Xbox release has: the Chakawary pet, the three Xbox 360 armour sets and two fish.

With the Xbox 360 archive, console_ui/ and the built-in pack are not used: the archive already has the console interface. --console-ui none runs a PC archive with neither: no HUD, and the menus as plain lists.

	Xbox 360 pak.zip	PC Pak.zip	PC Pak.zip + console_ui/
HUD and menus	the console's own	the port's built-in pack: basic, under construction	the console's own
main menu and character creation	the console's	the built-in pack's	the console's
levels, monsters, items, quests	the Xbox 360's	the PC's	the PC's
monsters on a floor	fewer	about half as many again (on one late floor, 137 against 87)	as the PC's
Chakawary pet, Xbox 360 armour sets and fish	yes	no	yes
materials, lights and effects	the Xbox 360's	the PC's (a few props and effects look different)	the PC's
archive size	about 140 MB	about 320 MB (Steam)	about 320 MB, plus 4 MB

On lower-spec machines, such as the Switch, the Xbox 360 archive is the better choice. It places fewer monsters on a floor, and a crowd fight is what costs a frame most: on the Switch, the same floor ran at about twice the frame rate on the Xbox 360 data.

Configuration: config.txt

config.txt holds the engine's own switches. These are not the game's settings, which are kept with the saves (save/settings.txt). Each line is key=value, where 1 is on and 0 is off, and # starts a comment.

key	default	does
debug	0	the debug tools: the debug menu, the bestiary, the wardrobe editor, Choose Level, frame dumps, and the log file. When off, the menus do not offer them at all
logs	0	the log file on its own (debug=1 turns it on too)
mods_menu	1	the Mods page before the game (not on iOS); 0 skips it and starts without any mods
fps_limit	0 (Android 60)	the most frames a second the game draws; 0 for no limit. On Android the display is asked for that rate too, so a 120 Hz screen can run at 60
width, height	1280, 720	desktop builds only: the window size, or the screen resolution in fullscreen
fullscreen	0	desktop builds only: 1 fills the screen at width x height
vsync	1	desktop builds only: 1 waits for the screen's refresh; 0 draws frames as fast as the machine can

Resolution is a desktop setting. The Switch renders at its screen's own size, Android at the share of it chosen in the launcher (below); both ignore width, height, fullscreen and vsync. They do not write those lines into a new file. If the screen cannot show width x height (the window is clamped to the desktop, or the window manager makes a fullscreen window the monitor's size), the game is laid out for the size the window really has.

Where the file lives:

• Switch and Android: beside the game data. It is created with the defaults above on first start.
• Windows and Linux, run from a player folder (a pak.zip in the working directory, as laid out below): in that folder, created on first start with the defaults above.
• Desktop, run from the build tree (with --game-data): read from the working directory if one is there, and never created. Without a file the debug tools and the log stay on.

On the desktop, --width and --height on the command line take precedence over the file.

Directory structure

Each platform keeps the game files in one folder: the program (or the APK's chosen folder), pak.zip, music/, and optionally console_ui/. The game writes config.txt, its saves and its log into that same folder.

Switch

sdmc:/switch/torchlight/
├── torchlight.nro      the engine (OGRE's shader library is inside it)
├── pak.zip             the game archive
├── music/              the game's music
├── console_ui/         only beside a PC Pak.zip
├── mods/               PC Torchlight mods, one folder each (optional)
└── config.txt          made on first start

Start it from the Homebrew Menu (hbmenu).

Android

The APK holds the engine and OGRE's shader library, but no game files. On first start it asks for All files access, then for a folder chosen through the system's folder picker:

<any folder you choose, e.g. /sdcard/Torchlight/>
├── pak.zip
├── music/
├── console_ui/         only beside a PC Pak.zip
├── mods/               PC Torchlight mods, one folder each (optional)
└── config.txt          made on first start

The launcher remembers the folder and checks it on every start. If pak.zip is missing it asks again, and if music/ is missing it offers to play without music. Before each start it shows two sliders: the resolution, 25% to 100% of the screen's (the system scales the frame up to the screen), and the frame limit, config.txt's fps_limit (no limit at either end); and the Mod menu switch (mods_menu, see Mods below). Android 12 (API 31) or newer is required, on an arm64 device.

iOS

The Xcode app bundle contains the engine and OGRE's shader library. If game data is bundled with a local build, the app copies pak.zip, music/, and console_ui/ into its Documents folder on first launch. Otherwise, in Files, open On My iPhone/iPad → Torchlight Rekindled and copy those folders there. The app reads and writes its saves and settings in that same Documents folder. Touch controls appear on screen when first touched. On iOS, the right stick rotates the camera horizontally and adjusts its pitch vertically; pinch with two fingers anywhere in the play area to zoom. On the other platforms the camera is the console's and the right stick zooms. The Free Camera mod (mods/FreeCamera/, which the game makes on its first start: on for iOS, off elsewhere, or as an older config.txt's free_camera line said) turns on the free camera on any platform: the right stick across turns it, a pinch zooms on a touch screen (iOS, Android, the Switch in handheld), and R3 puts the view back (otherwise R3 still toggles the map). Switch it on the Mods page (below), or in mods/mods.dat (PRIORITY:-1 is off).

The iOS build supports unpacked mods. Put each extracted mod in its own subfolder under Documents/mods/, keeping the mod's media/ directory structure intact. Mod files can override game data, and town Merge/*.layout files can add placed content such as merchants. Baklah's Unique Gear has been verified in game, including his vendor interaction and inventory.

Windows

Torchlight/
├── torchlight.exe
├── *.dll               the MinGW runtime, FreeType, zlib, ... (copied by the packaging script)
├── RTShaderLib/        OGRE's shader library, with Main/ inside
├── LICENSE.txt, README.txt, licenses/   the licences of everything in the folder, and where its source is
├── pak.zip
├── music/
├── console_ui/         only beside a PC Pak.zip (run with --console-ui console_ui)
├── mods/               PC Torchlight mods, one folder each (optional)
└── config.txt          made on first start

Started from this folder with no arguments, it reads the game from the folder and opens the main menu. Missing files are reported in a message box.

Linux

Torchlight/
├── torchlight
├── torchlight.sh       starts the program from its own folder
├── RTShaderLib/        OGRE's shader library, with Main/ inside
├── LICENSE.txt, README.txt, licenses/   the licences of everything in the folder, and where its source is
├── pak.zip
├── music/
├── console_ui/         only beside a PC Pak.zip (run with --console-ui console_ui)
├── mods/               PC Torchlight mods, one folder each (optional)
└── config.txt          made on first start

Run ./torchlight.sh. The system's own libraries are not bundled: X11, OpenGL/EGL, ALSA, FreeType and zlib. A gamepad is read through evdev. If the pad is not picked up, add your user to the input group.

Mods

A mod is a PC mod's folder (the one holding its media/) dropped into mods/, found without anything else to do. On the Switch, Windows, Linux and Android the game opens on a Mods page before the main menu. On the left, one row switches all the mods, then there is a row for each mod; the list scrolls when there are more than fit, and up and down go round it. The highlighted row's description and author are shown on the right, and under them a Don't show this menu again checkbox, which only right reaches (left goes back). A switches the highlighted row or ticks the checkbox; Start (or B) goes on to the main menu. The choice is kept in mods/mods.dat, as the PC game keeps it. A mod's music/ stands in for the game's. Two mods are the engine's own, made on the first start: the free camera, mods/FreeCamera/, and FPS Overlay, mods/FpsOverlay/, the frame rate in a corner (on as an older config.txt's fps line said; L3 still hides and shows it for the run).

Ticking Don't show this menu again sets mods_menu=0 in config.txt: the game then starts without the page and without any mods. Set it back to mods_menu=1 (on Android, the launcher's Mod menu switch) to bring both back. iOS has no page and takes mods/mods.dat as it is.

Building

How to build the engine for each platform (Windows, Linux, Nintendo Switch, Android and iOS) is in docs/building.md.

Legal

Torchlight Rekindled is free software, released under the GNU General Public License, version 3: see LICENSE. The third-party components it bundles or links, and their licences, are listed in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.

No part of the game's data is distributed with this project. To play, you need your own legally obtained copy of Torchlight.

Torchlight is copyright © 2009 Runic Games, Inc. All rights reserved. Torchlight and Runic Games are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Torchlight Rekindled and its maintainers are not associated with or endorsed by Runic Games or the current owner of the Torchlight trademark.