DorkNet/docs/easy-setup.md

Easy mode — host your own server

Built for non-technical hosts. If you can install Discord, you can do this.

On Linux or macOS? This guide is for the Windows GUI launcher. For headless hosting from a Linux box / a Mac / a VPS, see server-cli.md. Joiners on those platforms are not supported yet — Rec Room itself is a Windows game.

DorkNet bundles everything you need to run a private Rec Room server on your own machine and hand a join code to your friends. The launcher is a single Windows app that:

• runs the server,
• opens a public tunnel so friends anywhere can connect,
• patches your local copy of Rec Room to point at the server,
• packages a join code your friends paste into their launcher.

What you'll need

• Windows 10 or 11 (Mac and Linux support are not planned)
• A copy of Rec Room 2020.03.10 — the specific old build DorkNet targets. You acquire this yourself; see Getting the 2020 client below.
• A free Photon Cloud account — the launcher walks you through this on first run.
• ~5 GB free disk space
• About 10 minutes for first-run setup, ~30 seconds per subsequent launch

Download

Two flavours on the latest release:

• dorknet-setup-<version>.exe (recommended) — installer. Drops the launcher under %LocalAppData%\Programs\DorkNet, adds Start menu + (optional) desktop shortcut, sets up the auto-updater, registers an uninstaller. No admin rights required.
• dorknet.exe — single-file portable. Drop it anywhere; state lives in %APPDATA%\DorkNet. No shortcuts, no auto-updates.

Either works the same once it's running. Pick the installer if you'd like Start-menu integration and rolling updates; pick the portable exe if you'd rather no system changes.

Windows SmartScreen may warn you on first launch because the binary isn't EV-signed. Click "More info" → "Run anyway".

Auto-updates

The installed launcher checks GitHub on every launch for a newer release. If one's available, a small banner appears in the sidebar with an Install & restart button. Click it; the launcher downloads the new binary, shuts itself down, swaps the exe in place, and relaunches.

Turn this off during setup by un-ticking Check for updates on launch, or any time later by editing HKCU\Software\DorkNet\AutoUpdate (0 disables). The portable dorknet.exe doesn't auto-update — pull a new release yourself when you want one.

First launch — the welcome screen

The very first time you open DorkNet you get a hero screen.

Click GET STARTED to enter the setup wizard. The wizard only runs once; future launches drop you straight into the main view.

The setup wizard

Five steps, top stepper shows your progress. Back and Next sit in the bottom bar; the choice cards on the first step auto-advance when clicked.

Step 1 — Pick a mode

• Run a server — you'll host. The launcher will set up the tunnel and hand you a join code.
• Use a code — a friend already hosts and gave you a join code. See joining-a-server.md for that path.

This page is also reachable later via Re-run setup in the sidebar, so don't worry about getting it wrong.

Step 2 — Find your Rec Room install

The wizard auto-detects common manual-install locations (it never touches your Steam library). If detection works you'll see a green "Detected install" banner with the path; otherwise click Browse… and point at your Recroom_Release_Data folder.

The path should look like …\<install>\Recroom_Release_Data — the *_Data sibling of Recroom_Release.exe. The launcher validates this when you continue.

Step 3 — Set up your server

• Server name — what shows up in your join code. Use whatever your friends will recognise ("Adam's Sunday games", "DorkSquad Test", etc.).
• Who can join? — three options, only one shows extra inputs:
  • Friends anywhere · Tunnelto (default, recommended) — the launcher runs a Tunnelto tunnel that gives your server a public *.tunnelto.me URL. Works for anyone, anywhere. No router config.
  • Tunnelto wildcard base — advanced. If you've got a wildcard Tunnelto subscription, paste the apex domain. Subdomains like api.<base>, auth.<base>, etc. get auto-generated.
  • Same WiFi only · sslip.io — bind on your LAN only. Friends must be on the same network. No tunnel, lowest latency.

Step 4 — Connect your Photon account

Photon Cloud runs the in-room realtime sync (positions, voice, room state). DorkNet doesn't ship one — you bring your own free account.

Click OPEN WALKTHROUGH to launch the in-app Photon wizard. It opens your browser to dashboard.photonengine.com and walks you through creating two apps (Realtime + Voice). The wizard waits for you to paste the AppIds back in. Voice is optional; without it, voice chat is text-only and you can use Discord on the side.

If you've already got AppIds from a previous setup, paste them directly into REALTIME APPID and VOICE APPID in step 4 and skip the walkthrough.

For a standalone screenshot-by-screenshot guide to the Photon dashboard, see photon-setup.md. Useful if you get stuck mid-walkthrough or want to re-do it later.

Step 5 — Done

Confirmation card. Click Finish to enter the main view.

The main view

The launcher's everyday UI:

• Sidebar (left): Host a server, Join a friend, Settings, Re-run setup. The brand-coloured stripe marks the active section. The footer at the bottom shows your server's live status (Idle / Starting / Live / Failed) and the launcher version.
• Header (top of content): a short eyebrow describing the view, the title, and a Screen mode checkbox top-right.
• Content: two panels — Server and Photon Cloud — followed by the action bar.

Everything in the wizard is editable here. If you change anything mid- session, the new values get used the next time you hit Start hosting.

Server panel

• REC ROOM INSTALL — same picker as the wizard. The path shows in monospace so you can sanity-check it.
• SERVER NAME · SHOWN TO JOINERS — text input. Updates the embedded name inside your next join code.
• REC ROOM VERSION TO HOST FOR — dropdown. Pre-selects the version matching your install. Picking a different version means the launcher will fetch that server build the next time you Start hosting.
• WHO CAN JOIN? — the same three options as step 3 of the wizard.
• TUNNELTO BASE HOST — only visible when you pick the wildcard option. Auto-generated otherwise; not needed for the default or LAN modes.

Photon Cloud panel

• REALTIME APPID — required. Realtime is the matchmaking + room sync layer. Click the WALKTHROUGH button (top-right of the panel) any time you want to re-run the in-app Photon wizard.
• VOICE APPID · OPTIONAL — if set, voice chat works through Photon Voice. If empty, players use Discord.
• CLOUD REGION — picks the Photon datacenter. All clients must match. Default is US; change for European / Asian players.

Screen mode

The Screen mode checkbox in the header passes +forcemode:screen when launching Rec Room, opening the game in 2D desktop mode instead of looking for a VR headset. Useful for testing or for friends who don't have VR.

Starting your server

Hit START HOSTING (orange button, bottom of the content panels). The launcher runs through six steps in order:

1. Download server — fetches the matching server build into %LOCALAPPDATA%\DorkNet\servers\<version>\. ~50 MB the first time; reused on subsequent launches.
2. Open tunnel — starts Tunnelto and assigns a public hostname. Skipped in LAN mode.
3. Start server — boots the server process. SQLite database lives in %APPDATA%\DorkNet\dorknet.db.
4. Download patcher — fetches the client-patcher payload that matches your version.
5. Strip Steam DRM — only runs if your install is a Steam build (Steamless does the unwrap; original Recroom_Release.exe is backed up next to itself).
6. Apply patch — rewrites the game's network URLs, Photon AppIds, and embedded keys in place.

Progress steps show inline. If any step fails, the row turns red and Retry appears under the steps list (along with Get help which opens the troubleshooting docs).

Sharing your server

When step 6 finishes, the join code panel appears with the orange "SERVER LIVE" header.

You get:

• a QR code on a white tile — scan with a phone to get the join string into your friend's clipboard,
• the join code itself in monospace,
• three share actions:
  • COPY CODE — copies just the code,
  • Copy as message — wraps it in a friendly Discord-ready blurb that links back to the DorkNet download,
  • Email — opens your mail client with subject + body filled in.

Your friend opens DorkNet, picks Join a friend on first launch (or from the sidebar later), pastes the code, and gets the matching patcher.

Launching the game

Once your server is live, the LAUNCH REC ROOM button (teal, sits next to STOP) becomes visible. Click it; the launcher starts your patched copy with the right command-line args. Toggle Screen mode in the header first if you want desktop play.

Stopping the server

STOP kills the server process and the tunnel cleanly, hides the join code panel, and re-enables START HOSTING. Your data (dorknet.db) persists; relaunching restores everything.

The launcher also stops the server automatically when you close the window. Don't quit mid-game — your friends will get disconnected.

Settings

Sidebar → Settings.

• Cache locations — read-only paths to your state file, server cache, patcher cache, and logs. Useful for "I want to clear the cache" or "where did my db go".
• Dev overrides — only appears when one of the DORKNET_LOCAL_* env vars is set. Lists which overrides are active. Unset the env vars to return to the normal release-fetching mode.
• About — version, license (AGPL-3.0), and a link to the GitHub repo.

The sidebar also has a Re-run setup entry. It clears the "setup-complete" flag without losing your saved values, so the wizard walks again from step 1 — handy if you want to change modes (host ↔ join) or re-do the Photon walkthrough.

Switching from host to join

From the sidebar, click Join a friend. Your host settings are preserved (Photon AppIds, server name, etc.) so switching back later picks up where you left off. The SQLite database also stays put.

See joining-a-server.md for the join-side flow.

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Hosting-mode deep-dive

Mode	Tunnel	Public URL	Best for
Friends anywhere · Tunnelto	yes	dorknet-<random>.tunnelto.me	Default — works for everyone, no setup
Tunnelto wildcard base	yes	<your-apex> + api.<apex>, auth.<apex>, …	Power users with a wildcard Tunnelto plan
Same WiFi only · sslip.io	no	<lan-ip>.sslip.io	LAN games, lowest latency, no internet exposure

Default mode is the right pick for >95% of cases. The wildcard mode is only useful if you've already got a stable apex domain set up. LAN mode is for when everyone's in the same room.

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Getting the 2020 client

DorkNet doesn't ship the Rec Room game itself — that's Rec Room Inc.'s intellectual property. You acquire your own copy through legal means.

Common paths:

• If you bought Rec Room on Steam before 2020, you can use SteamDB depot tools to download the old build (manifest 4651244957411961725 for Recroom_Release_Data).
• Friends who already have a 2020 install can share files with you under whatever license terms apply on their end.

DorkNet's authors can't help you obtain the game. Search the web for "Steam depot 2020.03.10 Rec Room" if you need pointers.

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Troubleshooting

See troubleshooting.md for the full list.

The most common problems:

• Server starts but friend can't connect — Cloudflare Quick Tunnels rotate the URL on every restart. Re-share the join code if you've restarted hosting.
• "Photon CustomAuth 401" in the server log — your Realtime AppId on the server doesn't match what the launcher patched into the client. Make sure both sides use the same AppIds.
• Game launches but stays on the loading screen — your friend didn't run the patcher. Their Join view needs to complete step 3 (Apply Patch) before launching Rec Room.
• Game launches but goes straight back to the title screen — your Photon region setting differs from your friend's. Both clients must match. Set in Photon Cloud → CLOUD REGION.

Logs live at %LOCALAPPDATA%\DorkNet\logs\ and capture the full server output for each session.