DorkNet/launcher/RELEASES.md

Release artifact contract

The DorkNet Launcher (on main) reads /versions.json to find every supported per-version branch, then fetches release artifacts from each branch's GitHub Releases.

Per-version branches must publish releases that follow this contract, otherwise the launcher reports "no release found" / "manifest missing" to users on host / join.

Tag naming

A release's tag must start with the release_tag_prefix declared for the branch in versions.json. Recommended scheme:

v1-{month}-{YYYY.MM.DD}

Examples (matching the current release_tag_prefix values):

Branch	release_tag_prefix	Example full tag
december-2020-12-18	v1-december	v1-december-2026.06.15
march-2020-03-10	v1-march	v1-march-2026.06.15

The launcher picks the most-recent release (by published_at) whose tag starts with the prefix, then looks for the two asset names below.

Required assets

1. dorknet-server-{version_key}-win-x64.zip

A self-contained .NET 9 publish of DorkNet.Server for win-x64. The launcher unpacks this and spawns the executable directly.

Build with:

cd DorkNet.Server
dotnet publish -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained -p:PublishSingleFile=true
cd bin/Release/net9.0/win-x64/publish
Compress-Archive -Path * -DestinationPath ../../../../../dorknet-server-{version_key}-win-x64.zip

The zip's root must contain DorkNet.Server.exe (or any .exe; the launcher scans for it).

2. dorknet-clientpatch-{version_key}.zip

The MelonLoader-based client patcher, packed into a single zip with a manifest.json at the zip root telling the launcher what to do. The launcher performs every step in C# — no PowerShell scripts run.

Required layout inside the zip:

manifest.json                       (described below)
MelonLoader.zip                     (optional — the MelonLoader install tree)
DorkNet.ClientMod.dll               (required — the DorkNet MelonLoader plugin)
dorknet-clientmod.json.template     (optional — UserData config template)

manifest.json schema (v1):

{
  "$schema_version": 1,
  "loader_archive": "MelonLoader.zip",
  "plugin_dll": "DorkNet.ClientMod.dll",
  "plugin_dest": "MelonLoader/Mods",
  "config_template": "dorknet-clientmod.json.template",
  "config_dest": "MelonLoader/UserData/dorknet-clientmod.json",
  "old_plugin_paths": [
    "BepInEx/plugins/DorkNet.ClientPatch.dll"
  ]
}

All fields except $schema_version and plugin_dll are optional. Defaults:

Field	Default
plugin_dest	MelonLoader/Mods
config_dest	MelonLoader/UserData/dorknet-clientmod.json
loader_archive	(none — assumes user has MelonLoader installed)
config_template	(none — no config written)

config_template placeholders rendered before write:

Placeholder	Source
{HOST}	Host's tunnel hostname (or join code's host field)
{PHOTON_APPID}	Host's Photon Realtime AppId
{PHOTON_VOICE_APPID}	Host's Photon Voice AppId (falls back to Realtime if empty)
{PHOTON_REGION}	Photon Cloud region (us/eu/asia/jp/sa/kr/in/au); defaults to us

Example template:

{
  "ServerHost": "{HOST}",
  "PhotonAppId": "{PHOTON_APPID}",
  "PhotonVoiceAppId": "{PHOTON_VOICE_APPID}"
}

What the launcher does on Apply

Given the manifest above, the launcher does (in this order):

1. Extracts loader_archive over the user's Rec Room install root (the parent of Recroom_Release_Data). MelonLoader's version.dll and MelonLoader/ tree land in the right places.
2. Deletes any old_plugin_paths (cleans up an old BepInEx-era DLL, a previous plugin filename, etc.).
3. Copies plugin_dll to <recroom-root>/<plugin_dest>/.
4. Renders config_template (placeholder substitution) and writes to <recroom-root>/<config_dest>.

No PowerShell, no separate Steamless invocation, no byte-level metadata patching in v1 — keep the patcher zip declarative. Future schema versions can add fields for those without breaking older launchers (they ignore unknown fields).

Verifying a release before publishing

$tag = "v1-december-2026.06.15"
gh release view $tag --repo DorkSquadRR/DorkNet
gh release download $tag --repo DorkSquadRR/DorkNet `
  --pattern "dorknet-server-december_2020_12_18-win-x64.zip" `
  --pattern "dorknet-clientpatch-december_2020_12_18.zip"

Then unzip + inspect: the patcher zip should have manifest.json at root, the named DLL should exist, the config_template (if listed) should exist, etc.

Future: GitHub Actions workflow

Each per-version branch should land a .github/workflows/release.yml that builds + packages the artifacts on tag push. Not yet implemented; releases are manual for now.