ArkWeb README

The project's README from github.com/luki-1/ArkWeb. As one markdown file: README.md.

ArkWeb

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6Mkm_NGCX8

Spider-Man's web swinging in Batman: Arkham Knight's Gotham.

Set it up with Claude (no technical knowledge needed)

You don't build or configure anything yourself: Claude does it on your PC and explains each step. You need both games on Steam, a controller, and a PC that can run both games at once.

  1. Download the Claude desktop app from claude.ai/download, install it and sign in. (The part of Claude that can work on your PC, Claude Code, comes with Claude's paid plans.)
  2. Make an empty folder for the mod, for example a folder called ArkWeb in your Downloads.
  3. In the Claude app, open the Code tab, start a new session and choose that folder.
  4. Copy this message, paste it into Claude and send it:
    Download https://github.com/luki-1/ArkWeb into this folder, then follow
its AGENTS.md: set ArkWeb up for me and guide me through my first session.
  5. Claude asks before it does anything on your PC. Allow its requests, and do what it asks you to do when it asks. It will:
    • check that both games are installed and that Spider-Man is version 4.0630, the only version ArkWeb works with
    • install the free tools it needs to build the mod
    • build the mod, ask you to close both games, install it, and back up your Arkham Knight save
    • tell you which game settings to change
    • walk you through your first session: what to load, where to stand, when to start moving, and the controls

To play again later, open the Claude app, start a new session in the Code tab with the same ArkWeb folder, and say "Let's play ArkWeb". While you play, just tell Claude what's wrong, like "I'm stuck in a building", "Spider-Man looks dark" or "I can see Batman". To remove the mod, say "Uninstall ArkWeb".

Spider-Man stuck inside a building? Just tell your AI agent to teleport you 200 m into the air.

For the agent: write the line hero tp 0 200 0 to logs\sm_cmd.txt (meters relative to Spider-Man; the second number is up). The guest DLL runs it within half a second and logs teleport ... held to logs\sm_guest.log.

Other AI agents that can work on your PC (Codex, Cursor and the like) can follow the same guide.

What it is

ArkWeb runs Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered alongside Batman: Arkham Knight. You play Spider-Man's own movement (swinging, wall running, wall crawling, point launches) with a controller while looking at Arkham Knight. Gotham's collision is streamed into Spider-Man's physics world, so he swings off and runs on Gotham's buildings. His own rendered frame is cut out and drawn into Arkham's view in Batman's place.

The architecture follows SkyCraft: a hidden guest game drives the moveset, and the host game shows it.

Status: experimental. It works end to end but is a research project with rough edges. See the known issues below.

How it works

Part What it does
src/sm_guest/ → winmm.dll in Spider-Man Publishes the hero and camera, plays a virtual controller, fakes window focus, and builds Gotham's collision (Havok compressed meshes) about 2 km above New York so New York's own ledges are out of reach. It also patches the hero's transition manager for zip-to-point and perching, and captures Spider-Man's frame (D3D12) for the host.
src/ak_host/ → dinput8.dll in Arkham Knight Drives Batman as a hidden puppet at Spider-Man's position, mimics Spider-Man's camera, and draws the captured frame (D3D11). It also scans Gotham with the game's own traces and exports its PhysX statics and grapple points.
protocol/, src/common/ Shared-memory link (Local\ArkWeb_v1): seqlock state slots, rings and coordinate conversion (UE3 Z-up cm ↔ Spider-Man Y-up m)
tools/gotham_stream.py The streamer. It follows the hero, asks Arkham for tile scans (50 m tiles) and PhysX exports, builds collision tiles and swing hints, and sends them to Spider-Man.
tools/ (others) Reverse-engineering helpers (PE, RTTI, strings, disassembly, xrefs), offline fakes of either game, debugging viewers

Zip to point uses Arkham's grapple points as targets (L2 + R2, with a marker drawn in Arkham's view). With nothing pressed, Spider-Man perches on the point. A jumps or launches off; B drops.

Combat

When Arkham says Batman is fighting (its own IsInCombat check), the mod hands the fight to Arkham Knight automatically, and hands it back two seconds after the fight ends:

Spider-Man's joint hierarchy isn't stored anywhere the mod could find, so it was worked out from recorded motion (tools/sm_pose_sampler.py, tools/sm_skel_probe.py, tools/ak_skel_probe.py). tools/retarget_v2.py is the same pose transfer in Python, for checking it offline.

Requirements

Build and install

  1. Edit the game paths in install.bat and uninstall.bat.
  2. Run build.bat. It builds both DLLs and the link test into bin\, at low priority on one core.
  3. Close both games, then run install.bat. uninstall.bat removes the DLLs again.

arkweb.ini next to either DLL can override [ArkWeb] LogDir= and a few switches (see PHASE1.md). Logs go to logs\.

Pro Tip: Just tell your AI agent to do it for you

For the agent: AGENTS.md walks you through checking the setup, building, installing, and guiding the player.

Playing

  1. Start both games and load into the open world in each. Keep Arkham Knight in front.
  2. Stand still with Spider-Man, then start the streamer: cd tools and python gotham_stream.py. It waits for both games, builds the area around you and lifts Spider-Man onto Gotham.
  3. Play with the controller. If you restart the streamer while still in game, use --resume.

Your Arkham Knight save follows Batman. Arkham autosaves while Batman is the puppet, so don't leave Spider-Man under the map. The host refuses to move Batman far below the streets, and tp x y z (feet, UU) in logs\ak_cmd.txt moves Batman back to a safe spot.

Live commands

Write one command per line to logs\sm_cmd.txt (Spider-Man) or logs\ak_cmd.txt (Arkham Knight). Results go to logs\sm_guest.log and logs\ak_host.log.

Game Examples
Spider-Man hero tp 0 200 0, zip status, zip perch on|off, gotham stream status, gotham surface <hex>, cap status
Arkham Knight tp x y z, batman hide|show|auto, overlay on|off, overlay gamma <g>, shot, cam mimic on|off, px info

Known issues

Repository layout

Path Contents
src/, protocol/ The two DLLs and the shared link
tools/ The streamer and reverse-engineering scripts (tools/README.md)
tests/ Offline link test
recon/PHASE0*.md, PHASE1.md, PHASE2.md Findings and phase notes, with addresses
recon_dll/ The passive recon probes used at the start

Not included: logs/, build output, and the raw dumps of the game executables (strings, RTTI, the UE3 SDK, disassembly). The scripts in tools/ regenerate those from your own copies of the games.

Disclaimer

An unofficial fan project, not affiliated with Insomniac Games, Nixxes, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Rocksteady Studios or Warner Bros. Games. It contains no game files; you need your own copies of both games.

ArkWeb (luki-1/ArkWeb)

game-modding
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168 ·GitHub
ArkWeb
What is this?ArkWeb is an experimental Windows mod that lets you play Spider-Man Remastered's own movement (swinging, wall running, wall crawling, point launches) with a controller while looking at Batman: Arkham Knight's Gotham, with Gotham's collision streamed into Spider-Man's physics world.
Is this a standalone game or a mod for existing games?It's a DLL-injection mod that runs two existing Steam games at once: a hidden guest DLL in Spider-Man drives the hero's movement and physics, while a host DLL in Arkham Knight renders the captured frame and secretly puppets Batman, linked together over shared memory.
How do I get it running?You can tell Claude Code to set it up automatically from an empty project folder (it checks installs, builds, installs the mod and guides your first session), or do it manually by editing the game paths in install.bat/uninstall.bat and running build.bat to build the DLLs before running install.bat.
What do I need besides the two games and a controller?A PC that can run both games at once, Visual Studio 2019 Build Tools (x64 C++) with the Windows 10 SDK, and Python 3.12 with numpy, scipy, numba, pefile and capstone for the collision-streaming tools.
Does the collision streaming always work perfectly?No, this is an experimental research project with rough edges: Arkham's building collision is often hollow so thin spires and narrow buildings can still be swung through, fast swinging into an unloaded district leaves temporary gaps, and combat pose transfer only works for the suit skeleton it was recorded with.
Will it work with any version of Spider-Man Remastered?No, it only hooks Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered v4.0630 on Steam, since every address is bound to that specific build; other builds refuse to hook.
How does combat work when Batman starts fighting?When Arkham detects Batman fighting, it automatically takes over with its own freeflow combat and camera while Spider-Man is pinned to Batman's position and re-posed to match his skeleton every frame; control returns to Spider-Man two seconds after the fight ends.
How do I zip to a grapple point?Zip-to-point targets Arkham's own grapple points with L2+R2 and a marker in Arkham's view; with nothing pressed Spider-Man perches on the point, A launches off, and B drops him.
What inspired ArkWeb's dual-game architecture?The hidden-guest-drives-moveset, host-game-shows-it architecture follows the same approach used by the SkyCraft mod project.
Can I teleport Spider-Man if I get stuck?Yes, writing a line like 'hero tp 0 200 0' to logs\smcmd.txt teleports him within half a second, which is handy if he gets stuck inside a building.
What are similar projects?universal-modder, CnC_Remastered_Collection, bgfx, ReSkate, CircuitLordVRModInstaller, Fable-2-Recomp, Petari, dxvk
Which topics is it in?d3d11, d3d12, physics-engine, unreal-engine, steam, game-modding, modding, game-development, game, gaming, reverse-engineering, cpp
Creator
luki-1
Size
0.3 MB
Stars
168
Updated
CommitOct 03
Age
17d
Commits · 90 Days