Octo Updater

A standalone desktop updater and mod manager for the OctoWoW client. It updates and patches the game client, manages community mods, addons and content patches, applies client tweaks, and shows server news.

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Features

Game updates

• Game files are synced over BitTorrent using a bundled, checksum-verified aria2c — only missing or wrong-sized files are downloaded, transfers resume automatically, and an optional integrity pass re-checks every piece hash to catch same-size corruption.
• Legacy locale folders and old client patch archives are pruned automatically after a sync.
• Reads and displays the installed game client version straight from WoW.exe.

Mods

Curated set of client modifications, installed from their official GitHub / Codeberg releases and registered in dlls.txt:

Mod	Purpose
AuctionQueryThrottle	Removes the fixed 5-second wait between auction house searches
ClassicAPI	Adds later-version Lua API calls to the client; required by some addons
DXVK	Vulkan-based rendering for better performance
Nampower	Reduces input lag on higher latency; expands the addon API
No1600x1200	Fixes incorrect resolution when the monitor's native res isn't detected (optional)
SuperWoW	Backported client API features; required by some addons
TransmogFix	Fixes transmog-related frame drops on character death
UnitXP_SP3	Frame limiter, improved targeting, anti-aliased combat text, and more
VanillaFixes	Eliminates stutter and animation lag (also the DLL loader; required by other mods)
VanillaHelpers	Raises the max supported texture resolution and improves memory allocation
VanillaMultiMonitorFix	Fixes multi-monitor resolution issues (optional)

• Essential mods auto-install on a fresh game folder, or on any game folder when Install essential mods is enabled in Settings.
• Per-mod update / retry actions and an update-count badge on the tab.
• When VanillaFixes is installed, PLAY launches through it instead of WoW.exe directly.

Tweaks

Patches WoW.exe and writes Config.wtf for quality-of-life settings, grouped by category:

• General — in-game language (English, Deutsch, Русский, 中文, Español, Português), auto-loot, nameplate range.
• Camera — field of view (with a recommended value per aspect ratio), camera zoom distance.
• Graphics — world/terrain render distance, ground clutter distance.
• Sound — allow sound to play while the game is in the background.

Invalid values are clamped; Apply/Reset appear only when something changed.

Addons

• Installs addons directly from Git hosts (GitHub, GitLab, Gitea, Codeberg) by downloading the repo archive pinned to a commit SHA — no Git client needed.
• Curated recommended list plus everything from the server catalog.
• Add custom git addon dialog for any allowed host; a custom addon is never silently overridden by a same-named recommended one.
• Update detection by comparing the installed commit against the latest, one-click Update / Update all, and an update-count badge.
• pfUI gets a curated "Default" profile injected and added to its firstrun picker after each install/update.

MPQ patches

Optional content patches distributed as .mpq files, separate from mods and addons — currently Octo Raid Visuals, which adds ground markers and sounds for boss abilities in raids. Each patch is downloaded over HTTPS and verified against a published checksum before it's placed in the client's Data folder; the tab flags available updates.

News

Shows the latest Announcements post and the current Patch Notes list from the server's forum feed.

Settings

Change the game folder, check download mirror status, verify game files, view session logs, and add the game folder to Defender exclusions. General options include clearing the client's WDB cache on every game launch, minimizing Octo Updater when the game launches, auto-installing essential mods and recommended addons, and keeping a custom speech.mpq untouched by verification/updates.

Security & robustness

• Hardened TLS (system trust store, hostname check, TLS 1.2+ floor).
• HTTPS-only with per-host allowlists for all downloads; redirects stay HTTPS.
• aria2c itself is fetched once and SHA-256-verified before it's ever run.
• Atomic config writes (temp + rename) with a lock — safe against concurrent workers and interrupted saves.
• Path-traversal-safe archive extraction.
• DPI-aware layout — the UI scales as a unit on high-DPI displays instead of fonts overflowing a fixed-pixel layout.
• Automatic self-update check against this repo's GitHub releases (once a day).

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Requirements

• Windows, or Linux via Proton/Wine — Octo Updater is a Windows build, but it runs on Linux under Proton/Wine. A couple of Windows-only conveniences (Defender exclusions, DPI-scale auto-detection) simply don't apply outside Windows.
• Python 3.10+ — only if running from source. Runs on the standard library, and will also use certifi if installed, for more robust TLS verification on machines with an out-of-date root store (otherwise falls back to the system trust store).
• The prebuilt OctoUpdater.exe needs nothing installed. aria2c is downloaded automatically the first time a game update runs.

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Usage

Prebuilt executable

Download OctoUpdater.exe from the latest release and run it. Point the Game folder (Settings) at your OctoWoW game folder — or let the default create one next to the executable — then click UPDATE, and PLAY when it finishes.

From source

python octo_updater.py

The updater keeps its data in a per-user app-data folder.

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Building

Compile a single-file Windows executable with PyInstaller:

pip install pyinstaller certifi
pyinstaller --onefile --windowed --name OctoUpdater --icon OctoUpdater.ico octo_updater.py

Installing certifi before building bundles an up-to-date CA certificate set into the executable, so TLS verification works even on machines whose Windows root store is stale. aria2c does not need to be bundled — the app fetches and verifies it itself on first run.

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Support the Developer

If Octo Updater is useful to you, consider supporting its development:

• Ko-fi
• Buy Me a Coffee

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License

See LICENSE.