arcdEx vs Project IGI Game Converter

arcdEx is a free Linux tool for listing and extracting files from .arcd archives made by the Defold game engine. It handles compressed files and can decrypt files only when they use Defold's default encryption key. The tool can inspect .texturec resources and extract their contained textures, as well as inspect compiled .luac files and extract Lua source code. To work with an archive, provide the .arcd file; arcdEx guesses paths to the associated .arci index and .dmanifest manifest files. The repository says this version supports manifest version 5, while the README also lists versions 1 through 4. Multiple .arcd files from a Defold web game must be combined before use. The README distinguishes desktop applications, which contain compiled Lua bytecode, from web projects through Defold 1.3.4, which contain Lua source code. It supports command-line and batch extraction, and runs as a Java JAR. The project is licensed under AGPL v3, and its author is credited as Christian Weiske. Archive repacking is not supported.

Project IGI Game Converter is a standalone tool for inspecting and converting Project IGI 1 files, intended for modders and researchers working with game assets. It handles proprietary textures, meshes, scripts, archives, terrain, fonts, animations, audio, AI graphs, and lightmaps, with workflows for editing assets and putting them back into the game. Its GUI offers a searchable file tree, 3D model and 2D texture viewers, a texture editor, script and hex inspectors, and conversion actions. It can render MEF and OBJ models, export MEF to OBJ, convert TEX, SPR, and PIC images, and save texture edits in native formats. It also converts between QVM bytecode and QSC source and exports DAT mappings to JSON or binary packages. The CLI supports scripted builds, batch work, and recursive folder processing. Available on Windows and macOS, it is free under an MIT license. The Windows release retains the GUI; the macOS release is an Apple Silicon CLI build for macOS 12.0 or later. Applying model textures in the GUI requires choosing the active level folder in Settings.