NkxTool - Advanced Kontakt Archive CLI Utility

NkxTool is a robust, 64-bit command-line utility for managing Native Instruments Kontakt archives. It acts as a specialized wrapper around the inNKX.wcx64 plugin, allowing you to list files, extract, and seamlessly pack libraries.

🚀 Key Features

• Multi-Format Support: Read and write .nkx (Audio/Samples), .nkr (Resources/Scripts), and .nicnt (Library Info) containers.
• Smart Packing (Auto-Split): Automatically handles the strict 1.95 GB (2,090,000,000 bytes) size limit of the NKX format. If a source folder exceeds this limit, NkxTool automatically splits the output into _00.nkx, _01.nkx, etc.
• Filelist Support: Pack archives dynamically using a text file containing relative paths (@filelist.txt), perfect for scripted audio conversions or selective repacking.
• COM STA Threading: Fully initializes Windows COM components natively, ensuring the plugin can properly search for decryption keys and generate .userdb files.
• Update function for internal database: synced with system NativeAccess.xml with exotic / old library unique support.
• Modern Architecture: Built with C# on .NET 10 (win-x64), completely standalone.

📋 Requirements

• .NET 10.0 SDK (For building from source)
• inNKX.wcx64 64-bit plugin file (Must be placed in the project root before building, or in the same directory as the compiled executable).

🛠️ Usage

Open your terminal and use NkxTool.exe with one of the three main commands: list, unpack, or pack.

1. List Archive Contents

Outputs the relative paths of all files contained inside an archive. You can optionally save this output to a text file.

NkxTool list <source_file> [outputList.txt]

# Examples:
NkxTool list "C:\Library\Samples_1.nkx"
NkxTool list "C:\Library\Samples_1.nkx" "C:\temp\filelist.txt"

2. Unpack (Decompress)

Extracts the entire content of an archive into the specified destination folder, recreating the original directory structure.

NkxTool unpack <source_file> <destinationFolder>

# Example:
NkxTool unpack "C:\Library\Samples_1.nkx" "C:\ExtractedSamples\"

3. Pack (Compress)

Creates a new archive from a source folder or a text file containing a list of relative paths.

NkxTool pack <destination_file> <sourceFolder_OR_@filelist.txt> [rootPath]

# Example A: Pack an entire folder
NkxTool pack "C:\NewLibrary\Piano.nkx" "C:\ExtractedSamples\"

# Example B: Pack using a file list (requires '@')
# If the text file is located alongside the source samples, rootPath is optional.
NkxTool pack "C:\NewLibrary\Piano.nkx" "@C:\temp\filelist.txt" "C:\ExtractedSamples\"

4. Update

Update internal inNKX database file nklibs_info.userdb by syncing with system's NativeAccess.xml.

NkxTool update

# Example:
NkxTool update

5. Nki-version

Analyse a NKI instrument and display required Kontakt version

NkxTool nki-version <instrument_file>

# Example:
NkxTool nki-version "C:\Library\Instruments\Piano.nki"

🏗️ Compilation

To compile the project into a single, optimized executable:

1. Place your 64-bit inNKX.wcx file in the root directory next to NkxTool.csproj.
2. Run the following .NET CLI command:

dotnet publish -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained false /p:PublishSingleFile=true

The compiled NkxTool.exe will be located in the bin\Release\net10.0\win-x64\publish\ directory.

⚠️ Notes on Decryption

NkxTool acts as a bridge. If an archive is protected, the underlying WCX plugin will attempt to locate the decryption key on your Windows system using standard Registry/COM calls. If the library is not properly registered on your system, the files may still extract, but they could be unreadable or empty, depending on the plugin's internal behavior.