J.A.C.K.

Crystice Softworks / Dec 15, 2016 / Animation & Modeling, Design & Illustration, Utilities, Game Development

windows
Mac
linux

16 playing now

Brand new level editor for games with a Quake-style BSP architecture; a convenient cross-platform tool capable of incorporating the best features of existing editors, such as Valve Hammer Editor, Q3Radiant, and others. J.A.C.K. does aspire to be the universal level design tool for classic games.

Can your PC run it?

Change your PC

Part	Your PC	MinimumNot sure	RecommendedNot sure
CPU	Not set	CPU 1 GHz Can't tell	CPU 2 GHz Can't tell
GPU	Not set	256 Mb video card Can't tell	1 Gb video card Can't tell
RAM	Not set	1 GB RAM Can't tell	2 GB RAM Can't tell

What's new

Beta update: 1.2.4520

2026-01-05

• New feature: ignore fit per-axis in Fit Texture dialog. • New feature: command filter for shortcut list in Preferences. • Improvement: when a node is selected, its index is displayed in Status Bar (Path tool). • Improvement: "Snap to Grid" now works on paths (Path tool). • Improvement: when "Draw entity names" is ON, path name and node indices are drawn (Path tool). • Improvement: offset and rotation spin boxes (Texture Application) now have reduced step when Shift is pressed. • Bug fixed: crash while rendering certain studio models with a lot of bonecontrollers (Half-Life, Xash). • Bug fixed: crash in "Edit shortcut" dialog. • Bug fixed: incorrect Numpad keys handling in "Edit shortcut" dialog. • Bug fixed: "Tie to entity" command was added to the list twice. • Bug fixed: incorrect dragging of paths (Path tool).

Read the full notes

• Bug fixed: "Invalid cross-device link" when creating prefab libraries (Linux). • Bug fixed: hint color in Object Properties now correctly tackles the color scheme.

Open on Steam

What players say

Very Positive

89% positive, 156 reviews

Recommended34 hrs played

The Hammer++ of GoldSrc. Ive been making Source maps for years and always wanted to try out making CS:1.6 maps but couldn't get a grasp of the Half-Life SDK but with J.A.C.K and a few Youtube tutorials, its been a breeze.

13 found this helpful, 2025-12-27

Recommended124 hrs played

I love using it, its got a pretty steep learning curve but with a bit of help with the community, it made it 100x easier to learn how everything worked.

4 found this helpful, 2025-12-18

Recommended76 hrs played

THIS IS THE PERFECT WORLD EDITOR FOR HALF LIFE AND QUAKE!!! It has very user-friendly interface, very easy tools and BOMBASTIC design!!! I really like it and it is definitely worth its price!!! Thanks for giving us such a creative and good tool!

5 found this helpful, 2026-01-25

Recommended3 hrs played

I use Linux (Ubuntu 24.04) and I encountered a lot of problems with the free version of JACK. It failed to find and open models for Half-Life, and couldn't find the existing directory for the compiler tools, so I was forced to seek out this paid version. I've not used JACK extensively at the time of this review, but it was easy to get started and I was able to quickly compile and test a room. All other recent reviews...