Alexa
b155ae5dbe
UI redesign: - Warm coral + teal palette over deep purple-navy (closer to Rec Room's marketing aesthetic). New wordmark gradient (coral -> pink -> teal). - Chunky 18px rounded cards on the first-run wizard with per-mode accent tinting (coral for host, teal for join) and clear CTAs. - Form fields wrapped in elevated panels with sectional titles + pill status chips in the header (HOST MODE / JOIN MODE / SETTINGS). - Drop-shadow effects on primary buttons + cards for depth. Patcher rewrite: - ClientPatcher.cs no longer shells out to PowerShell; the launcher unzips MelonLoader, copies the DorkNet plugin DLL, and renders the user-data config template — all in C# in-process. - Patcher zip now driven by a manifest.json at root (schema v1). Per-version branches publish: manifest.json + MelonLoader.zip + DorkNet.ClientMod.dll + config template. - RELEASES.md updated with the new MelonLoader manifest contract and the placeholder substitution rules. Rec Room launch path: - New Backend/RecRoomLauncher.cs runs Recroom_Release.exe directly from the picked install folder's parent dir (no Steam). - 'Launch Rec Room' button appears after a successful patch in both host + join modes.
DorkNet Launcher
Single-download desktop launcher for self-hosting / joining DorkNet servers. Native WPF — no embedded browser, no WebView2 dependency. .NET 9 single-file self-contained build.
This README is for developers of the launcher. End-users see
the main README and download a prebuilt .exe from
Releases.
What it does
- Host mode: fetches the matching server binary from GitHub Releases for the user's picked Rec Room version, runs it as a subprocess, opens a Cloudflare quick-tunnel, patches the user's Rec Room install, hands the user a shareable join code.
- Join mode: parses the join code, fetches the matching client patcher from GitHub Releases, patches the user's Rec Room install to point at the host.
Layout
launcher/
├── DorkNet.Launcher.csproj .NET 9 WPF, single-file self-contained
├── App.xaml + App.xaml.cs WPF Application bootstrap, dark-theme palette
├── MainWindow.xaml All views (first-run / host / join / settings)
├── MainWindow.xaml.cs Code-behind: event handlers → Backend/* calls
├── app.manifest Windows DPI-awareness manifest
└── Backend/ Orchestration — UI-framework-agnostic
├── AppPaths.cs %APPDATA%\DorkNet layout
├── AppState.cs Persisted user choices (mode, paths, Photon AppId)
├── VersionsManifest.cs Fetches versions.json from main
├── ReleaseDownloader.cs GitHub Releases API + artifact unpack
├── ServerProcess.cs Spawns the downloaded server binary
├── ClientPatcher.cs Invokes install-plugin.ps1 from the unpacked patcher
├── Tunnel.cs Wraps `cloudflared tunnel --url …`
├── RecRoomPicker.cs Microsoft.Win32.OpenFolderDialog
└── JoinCode.cs base64url-encoded {host, version, photonAppId, …}
MainWindow.xaml holds all four views (first-run wizard, host, join,
settings) as sibling panels; code-behind toggles Visibility to
switch between them. No MVVM framework — direct event handlers in
the code-behind read/write Backend/* services.
Build + run
cd launcher
dotnet run
Window opens immediately on the first-run wizard.
Publish a self-contained .exe
dotnet publish -c Release
# Output: bin\Release\net9.0-windows\win-x64\publish\dorknet.exe (~70 MB)
The published exe is what ships in GitHub Releases on main (use the
launcher release workflow once it exists).
Dependencies on per-version branches
The launcher fetches release artifacts from GitHub Releases tagged on the per-version branches. See RELEASES.md for the exact naming convention each branch must follow.
Adding a new feature
- New backend logic → add to (or create) a
Backend/*.csclass. - New UI controls → add XAML in
MainWindow.xaml. - New event handlers → method in
MainWindow.xaml.cscalling the backend service.
Keep code-behind handlers small: they marshal between WPF dispatcher
thread + the backend services. Long work goes in Backend/*.