CORECRITICAL
Original gameplay. A modern core.
In developmentAn AI-developed, open-source recompilation projectSee Core Critical in action.
Watch the MW3 announcement trailer: familiar battlefields, upgraded mech visuals, and lighting in development.
More gameplayExplore the modernization
Preserving what made MW3 special, rebuilt for today.
A faithful foundation, modernized for new missions.
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Explore the project familyLatest from the MechLab
All MechLab updatesDaily development summaries from Core Critical.
Photo and replay repairs, weapon lighting and the announcement trailer
Work repaired photo-mode crashes, screenshot colors, frozen texture state and surface-memory pressure, refined mech attachments, and added experimental lighting from weapon effects. Corrected in-game camera captures now feature in the published announcement trailer and the website's new Mechs and Gameplay sections. The work preserves original gameplay while modern rendering and tools continue through testing.
Campaign materials, moving water and replay performance
Work expanded the lighting and normal-mapping previews across original mechs and Campaign 1 scenery, added moving water and cloud detail, and refined roads, shorelines, structures and vehicles. A replay-performance investigation also led to making background video recording opt-in. These changes remain in the development previews while broader gameplay and visual checks continue.
Big Lake lighting, restored performance and terrain CPU investigation
Big Lake's expanded replacement-model setup now has a verified performance repair. A matched route improved from 43.1 to 82.1 average FPS after restoring configuration caches, with scene pixels and original draw records preserved. Terrain CPU removal was investigated separately: a bounded prototype passed its tested visual comparisons but delivered no speedup, so it remains outside Play. Bushwacker skin and shoulder work also progressed.
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