I've built some tools which can be used to convert level file to other formats and extract/modify game resources like models, animations, textures, sounds etc...
The cndtool can convert CND level file to NDY text based file format which can be edited in any text editor and vice versa NDY -> CND.
It can also extract and convert level geometry to Wavefront .obj file format. Generated obj file can then be imported into any 3D modeling/viewer program that supports obj file format e.g. Blender.

If anyone is interested the main repository can be found on Github: https://github.com/smlu/Urgon

The repository contains also C++ library (and source code) for parsing & writing some of the game resource files (cnd, key, mat).

For editing game's 3D models and animations, I've made an add-on for Blender, a free open-source 3D editor.
The add-on can be found here: github.com/smlu/blender-sith
To edit materials you can use GIMP plugin from here: github.com/smlu/gimp-ijim

Hey! I recently comment on the arachnophobia thread. I managed to install gobext and cndtool but have been unable to install the blender plugin. It shows up when I try to add it but it does not allow me to click the checkbox to enable it. When I hover over the checkbox it says something about incorrect syntax. Would you know how to fix this? Thanks!

Hey!
What version of Blender did you use? At this moment plugin works only with version 2.79.
I haven't managed to port it to 2.8 yet.
I've also tried to install plugin with the latest iteration of 2.79 found here and it works on Linux and Windows 10.

Thanks for the reply! I got it working now. It seemed that there were a lot of different iterations of that version of blender so I must have installed the wrong one

Great to hear that it's working! Please report back (or open new issue on GitHub) if you encounter any problems.

For those interested in modding infernal machine you can read brief overview on this topics here.

I'm now working on cndtool to convert *.cnd level files to *.ndy file format. Once finished, you should be able to open and mod level in any text editor - see attached screenshot for spoiler.

Thanks for those tools! I am working on a "Remake" od the game, just to learn for myself about game development and such and with that tool I can use the original animations for reference!

Thanks a lot!

That's great to hear! I was planning to re-create game's engine but due to lack of time resorted to mod tools and level editor.
If you'll have any question feel free to ask.
We can also move conversation to other platforms to talk about modding this game, game's architecture & design etc...

This would be so cool! I've wanted to do this as well for a long time now (this game was like my entire childhood) but I don't have the knowledge about programming and game development. If you ever need help with something, I'd be glad to help out!

On behalf of the speedrunning community for this game, we were wondering if it's possible to make mod that would allow us to test the game for possible paths and such. We'd need to be able to moon jump, see our collision, hitboxes, see invisible barriers (can be done with changing the textures to something opaque or have yellow lines, etc.), and probably some other things like having no collide with certain objects and entities (a good example would be the door that you have to open with the gems at Meroe). Also being able to see triggers would be nice as well. These mods could be activated by the cheat code system that's within the game, making it so you don't have to make a menu of some kind. If you're able to do some of this stuff, that would be awesome and would help us find new ways of going through the game more quickly and more efficiently. You can contact me on Discord (Zyozz#0176 Remember to capitalize the "Z" or it won't work), or you can sent me an email.

[*Post modded by PainOfSalvation: Please do not post your email address as this is against Foum Code of Conduct.]

New release v0.9.0:
- cndtool can now extract and convert a level geometry resources (level's vertices and UV vertices) to Wavefront .obj file format.
(You can use for example Blender to open created obj file.)
- cndtool can now extract images from mat files in PNG file format.
- added new command-line tool for crating and modifying mat files: matool.

Link: https://github.com/smlu/ProjectMarduk/releases/tag/v0.9.0

Hey there,

Can it extract game audio?

Yes, you can extract game sound files using cndtool command line tool.

command to extract game assets:
cndtool extract --sound-wav <path_to_cnd_file>

command to extract only sound assets:
cndtool extract --no-mat --no-key --sound-wav <path_to_cnd_file>

Executing above commands will extract sound files into 2 directories: sound and wav.
The sound folder contains original audio files encoded in special IndyWV sound format and the wav
folder contains audio files from sound folder converted to WAV sound format.

I'm having trouble getting it to run - when I open CNDTOOL it just flashes onscreen for a moment before crashing.

cndtool is command line tool and unfortunately it doesn't have graphic interface.
You have to use windows cmd.exe in order to run cndtool (I'm assuming you have Windows operating system).

To do so, find and run cmd.exe (click start button and write cmd.exe). After cmd.exe has opended navigate in the command prompt to the folder where cndtool was extracted, with the command: "cd <path_to_folder>". For example, if cndtool is in Desktop folder you would write command: cd C:\Users\<user_name>\Desktop
and press enter to execute command. Replace "<user_name>" with your username e.g. john.
If command executed successfully you can try execute: cndtool.exe
and the help text should print out to the console.

Now, to extract sound assets from cnd file execute following command:
cndtool.exe extract --no-key --no-mat --sound-wav <path_to_cnd_file>
Whrere "<path_to_cnd_file>" is the path to *.cnd file i.e. C:\Users\john\Desktop\00_cyn.cnd
If valid command was entered the cndtool should start extracting sound files to a folder located in the same directory as cndtool e.g. Desktop. Note, when writing file or folder path and file or folder name contains spaces you should wrap path in double quates e.g.: "C:\Program Files\some path\some file".

I hope this helps.