# FAQ

### Is this legal?

The DorkNet code itself is original and AGPL-licensed. The Rec Room game
client is not ours — you supply your own copy that you've legally
acquired. The patcher runs locally on your machine and never uploads
modified game files anywhere.

DorkNet's authors don't ship Rec Room IP and don't help users obtain it.
See [DISCLAIMER.md](../DISCLAIMER.md) for the full position.

### Do I need to disable my antivirus?

No, and you shouldn't have to. A lot of closed-source private-server tools
ask you to turn your antivirus off or add exclusions before running them.
That's usually because they ship obfuscated or packed binaries — code
that's been deliberately scrambled so you can't see what it does, which
also happens to trip antivirus heuristics. You're being asked to lower
your guard for something you can't inspect.

DorkNet is the opposite. Everything is open source and nothing is
obfuscated — the server, the launcher, and the patcher are all right here
in the repo for anyone to read, and you can build them yourself instead of
trusting our prebuilt releases. There's nothing hidden for a scanner to
choke on, so there's no reason to weaken your protection to run it.

If a release binary ever does get flagged, that's a false positive on an
unsigned indie executable, not malware — and you always have the option to
build from source and verify it yourself.

### Will Rec Room Inc. shut this down?

Possibly. Fan-server projects exist in a grey zone. AGPL doesn't shield
from DMCA. We minimize friction by never distributing Rec Room IP, never
interfering with their live servers, and being explicit that this is for
educational / private use only.

### Why old 2020 builds specifically? Will newer versions work?

DorkNet targets old 2020 clients because their network protocol is still
small enough to reimplement cleanly. Newer Rec Room builds changed more
of the auth, protocol, and client-side assumptions, so each later build
would need real reverse-engineering work instead of a quick version bump.

The supported builds are listed in [BRANCHES.md](../BRANCHES.md). Builds
outside that table will not work unless someone adds a matching branch.

### Can I run a public server that anyone can join?

Technically yes, if you allow open signups in admin settings. It is
legally risky, though; see the shutdown/legal answer above. Realistically,
"public" private servers attract attention and shorten the project's
lifespan.

We recommend keeping servers small (friends + community), private
(invite-only signups), and not advertised.

### Will mobile / Junior accounts work?

Mobile binaries from 2020 are platform-locked to App Store / Play Store
servers and can't easily be retargeted. Quest standalone is being ported
separately through the December/March branches with LemonLoader and a
resigned APK; it is not part of the public launcher flow yet.

Junior accounts work but DorkNet patches out the chat-permission gate by
default since on a private server with friends, the chat moderation
plumbing is overkill. Toggle in admin → Server settings if you need it.

### Does this work with Quest VR?

Desktop VR via SteamVR works. Quest Link / Air Link puts you back in the
SteamVR case, which works.

Standalone Quest is experimental: the version branches can build the
client mod against LemonLoader's Android runtime, but APK injection,
signing, sideloading, and device smoke testing are still manual.

### How many players can one server handle?

- **Easy mode (SQLite, single-instance)**: ~30 concurrent players in
  practice. Photon does the heavy realtime lifting; the bottleneck is the
  server's SignalR fanout + DB writes, both of which SQLite struggles
  with past ~50.
- **Advanced mode (Postgres + Redis + multi-replica)**: tested at 200+
  in dev. Real bottleneck becomes Photon AppId quotas at that point.

### Can I federate multiple DorkNet servers?

Not supported and not planned. Each server has its own account database;
players are server-local. Same as classic Minecraft realms.

### Is there a Discord?

No official one yet. If you start a community, link it from your fork.

### What about voice chat?

Routes through Photon Voice. You'll need a (free) Photon Voice AppId
separate from your Photon Realtime AppId. Set `PHOTON_VOICE_APP_ID` in
the server config; the client mod handles the rest.

### My friend can't connect

Most common causes, in order:
1. **Stale join code.** Localtunnel hands out a fresh `*.loca.lt` URL
   on every host restart. Hit Start hosting, copy the new join code
   from the launcher, send the new code to your friend.
2. **Photon region mismatch.** Both clients must use the same Photon
   region — set in Settings.
3. **Friend didn't patch.** They need to open the Join view in their
   launcher, paste your join code, and click APPLY PATCH before
   launching Rec Room.
4. **Localtunnel interstitial.** First time a joiner's machine hits a
   given `*.loca.lt` URL, Localtunnel may show a one-time "Click to
   Continue" page. Open the URL once in any browser and retry.
5. **Junior account / accessibility settings.** Server settings → relax
   moderation gates if friends are on accounts with parental controls.