DARKSTAR

A self-contained game optimizer with intelligent thread detection.

Features

• Intelligent Game Thread Detection: Automatically identifies main game threads, render threads, audio threads, and worker threads
• Module-based Thread Analysis: Uses thread start addresses to determine which module spawned each thread
• Thread Description Parsing: Analyzes thread descriptions for classification
• Confidence Scoring: Assigns confidence scores to thread classifications for reliable optimization

Self-Contained Deployment

• No .NET Runtime Required: The executable includes all dependencies
• Single File Deployment: One .exe file + config.json
• Optimized Size: Compressed single-file deployment

Building

Prerequisites

• .NET 8.0 SDK (for building only, not required on target machine)
• Windows 10/11

Quick Build

1. Open the DARKSTAR folder
2. Double-click BUILD.bat
3. Choose option 1 for self-contained build
4. Find your executable at Bin\Release\publish\DARKSTAR.exe

Kernel driver instructions

• building in case of getting the Spectre Mitigation error:
  Developer Command Prompt for VS 2022
  cd path\to\driver
  msbuild DarkstarDriver.vcxproj /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform=x64 /p:SpectreMitigation=false
  

Register DarkstarDriver.sys as a service, disable Driver Signature Enforcement to start (DSEFix and OSR Driver Loader for ease of use, though DSEFix is certain to cause a BSOD after some time)

Manual Build (Self-Contained)

cd DARKSTAR
dotnet publish src\DARKSTAR\DARKSTAR.csproj -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained true -p:PublishSingleFile=true -p:IncludeNativeLibrariesForSelfExtract=true -p:EnableCompressionInSingleFile=true -o Bin\Release\publish

Visual Studio 2022

1. Open DARKSTAR.sln in Visual Studio 2022
2. Right-click project → Publish
3. Configure: Folder → Self-contained → win-x64 → Single file
4. Click Publish

Configuration

Copy config.json next to DARKSTAR.exe:

DARKSTAR.exe
config.json

Runtime Prompt

On startup, DARKSTAR prompts for the game executable name (e.g. MyGame.exe) to ensure the selected game is monitored even without a preexisting entry. You can keep the games list empty and use only this runtime prompt for optimization targeting.

Window Guard Settings

Add these keys under settings in config.json:

• WINBLOCKKEYS (true/false): blocks left/right Windows key while the monitored game window is the active foreground window. Hook is removed immediately when the game loses focus, is minimized, or exits.
• BLOCKNOGAMINGMONITOR:
  • "auto": clips cursor to the game monitor only when the active game window is fullscreen/borderless and covers ~95% of that monitor (with a ~4px tolerance).
  • monitor list ("1,2,3"): clips cursor only when the game is active and currently on one of those monitors (numbering starts at 1).
  • "off": disables monitor cursor clipping.
• DPC_CORE0_LOCK (true/false): experimental kernel-driver toggle that tries to lock DPC behavior away from core 0 by writing KeQuantumEndTimerIncrement. Only applies when the kernel driver is available and a game session is active.

These settings are backward-compatible with lowercase aliases (win_block_keys, block_no_gaming_monitor, enable_dpc_core0_lock).

Hotkeys

• CTRL+SHIFT+V - Toggle verbose logging
• CTRL+SHIFT+H - Show/hide console window
• CTRL+SHIFT+G - Force system optimizations

Intelligent Thread Detection

DARKSTAR uses intelligent thread detection to automatically classify game threads:

Thread Type	Description	Core Recommendation
Main	Primary game logic thread	P-Core (highest priority)
Render	Graphics/rendering thread	P-Core
Audio	Sound processing thread	Either
Network	Networking/socket thread	E-Core
Worker	Background task threads	E-Core
System	OS/runtime threads	E-Core

The detector analyzes:

• Thread descriptions (SetThreadDescription API)
• Thread start addresses and parent modules
• Thread priority levels
• Thread state (Running/Waiting)