OctoLauncher

Desktop launcher for the OctoWoW (World of Warcraft 1.12.1 private server) client. Built with Electron, React, and tRPC.

What it does:

• Downloads and patches the OctoWoW game client via a manifest-based CDN updater
• Rewrites Config.wtf with the correct realm/patch-list on every launch
• Optionally applies binary tweaks to WoW.exe (FOV, far-clip, large-address flag, etc.)
• Injects client mods (VanillaFixes, DXVK, nampower, etc.) via a DLL chainloader
• Manages git-based addon installations
• Self-updates via NSIS

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Quick start (players)

1. Grab OctoLauncher.exe (portable) or OctoLauncher_Installer.exe from the Releases page.
2. Run it and set your WoW client directory when prompted.
3. Click Verify to download any missing game files, then Play.

No server configuration needed — the launcher connects to octowow.st by default.

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Building from source

Prerequisites

Requirement	Version	Notes
Node.js	20 LTS	Node 22+ breaks dll-inject native bindings — use Node 20
VS 2022 Build Tools	C++ workload + Win SDK	node-gyp v10 only detects VS2017–2022
Python	3.x	Required by node-gyp

Install Node 20 with fnm:

winget install Schniz.fnm
fnm install 20
fnm default 20

Install VS 2022 Build Tools:

winget install Microsoft.VisualStudio.2022.BuildTools `
  --override "--wait --passive --add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.VCTools --add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows11SDK.22621 --includeRecommended"

Install dependencies

npm install

postinstall rebuilds the native modules (dll-inject, stormlib-node) against the Electron ABI — expect C++ compiler output.

Run in development

VSCode users: The integrated terminal sets ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE=1, which crashes Electron. Unset it first:

Remove-Item Env:ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE

npm run dev

Opens the app in a hot-reloading Electron window. The dev build points to http://localhost:5000 by default — create a .env file from .env.example if you want to run against a local server, otherwise it falls back to https://octowow.st.

Build for distribution

Remove-Item Env:ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE
npm run dist

Outputs to dist/:

• OctoLauncher.exe — portable single-file
• OctoLauncher_Installer.exe — NSIS installer

The production build uses .env.production (committed) which points to https://octowow.st. No .env file needed.

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Running the dev backend

The server/ subdirectory is a standalone Express server that simulates the production CDN for local development. It is not bundled into the Electron app.

cd server
npm install

Create server/.env from server/.env.example and set SOURCE_DIR to your local WoW client directory, then:

npm run dev

The server listens on http://localhost:5000 and serves:

• GET /api/file/:version/manifest.json
• GET /client/:version/* — per-file downloads
• GET /api/addons.json

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Architecture overview

Three Vite bundles tied together by tRPC over Electron IPC:

• Main (src/main/) — Electron main process; owns all filesystem/native work and the tRPC router
• Preload (src/preload/) — secure IPC bridge via exposeElectronTRPC()
• Renderer (src/renderer/) — React 18 + Tailwind UI; no direct Node access

All cross-process data shapes are Zod schemas in src/common/schemas.ts. All renderer→main calls go through tRPC procedures in src/main/api/routers/ — never raw ipcMain.handle.

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License

MIT