DorkNet/DorkNet.ClientPatch/README.md

DorkNet ClientPatch BepInEx Plugin

Single client-side artefact that does everything DorkNet needs to patch into the 2020 watch:

1. Rewrites every *.rec.net URL the watch builds → user-configured replacement host (default localhost). Catches the bootstrap https://ns.rec.net/?v=2; every other service URL flows in from the nameserver response which the DorkNet server controls. No more hosts file, no more wildcard mkcert (Cloudflare Tunnel terminates real TLS at the edge of the configured host).
2. Overrides Photon Cloud AppId / VoiceAppId right before PhotonNetwork.ConnectUsingSettings. No more byte-edits to resources.assets, no more hardcoded offsets to chase across game versions.
3. Attaches userid + LoginLock to PhotonNetwork.AuthValues right before any authenticate op leaves the wire, so DorkNet's /photon/customauth endpoint can identify the player and enforce single-session.

Configuration lives in BepInEx/config/sh.dork.clientpatch.cfg. Edit values, restart the client, patches re-apply with the new settings.

Quickstart (recommended)

Use the wrapper script — handles BepInEx install, interop generation, plugin build, and config drop in one go:

.\tools\install-plugin.ps1 `
    -RecRoomPath  "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\RecRoom\Recroom_Release_Data" `
    -PhotonAppId  <your-photon-realtime-app-id>

The script auto-downloads a pinned BepInEx 6 IL2CPP build from builds.bepinex.dev on first run and caches it at %LOCALAPPDATA%\DorkNet\BepInEx-Unity.IL2CPP-win-x64-6.0.0-be.696.zip so re-runs on the same machine don't re-download. To override the pinned build (newer/older), pass -BepInExZip <path>.

After a client update, just re-run with the same args. The script re-builds the plugin against the new game's interop assemblies.

To remove: .\tools\install-plugin.ps1 -RecRoomPath ... -Revert.

The legacy patch-client.ps1 (asset-byte-edit + hosts file + mkcert wildcard) is kept for backwards compat — see the file's header for when you'd still want it.

Manual install (if you don't want to use install-plugin.ps1)

Same steps, just done by hand. Useful for understanding the layout.

Why this exists

The vanilla 2020 client never sets PhotonNetwork.AuthValues — verified by an exhaustive grep across both Assembly-CSharp.dll and the Photon Assembly-CSharp-firstpass.dll (no callers of PhotonNetwork.AuthValues =, new AuthenticationValues(...), AddAuthParameter(...), or SetAuthPostData(...)). Photon Cloud therefore assigns a random per-connection UserId and our /photon/customauth callback receives no client identity, so we can't reject duplicate sessions.

This plugin patches NetworkingPeer.OpAuthenticate / OpAuthenticateOnce (the single chokepoint right before Photon's authenticate op leaves the wire) and attaches:

• AuthType = CustomAuthenticationType.Custom
• UserId = <RecNet account id>
• AuthGetParameters: userid=<id>, LoginLock=<token>

That makes the Photon Cloud {userid} / {LoginLock} placeholders populate, our endpoint validates LoginLock against PlayerPresenceService (Redis), and Photon's own UserId-collision detection kicks duplicate connections automatically.

Prerequisites

• 2020 client build (Steam build 20200306, AppID 471710).
• BepInEx 6.x IL2CPP — not the regular Mono build. Download from https://github.com/BepInEx/BepInEx/releases (look for the BepInEx_unix_x86_64_6.0.0-be.696_*.zip line, Windows variant).
• .NET 6 SDK on the build machine (this project uses net6.0).

One-time Setup

1. Install BepInEx 6 IL2CPP into the client directory. Extract the release zip into the folder containing Recroom_Release.exe. After extraction the layout looks like:

   <RecRoomPath>/
     Recroom_Release.exe
     BepInEx/
       core/
       config/
       plugins/        ← we drop our DLL here
     dotnet/           ← BepInEx-shipped runtime
     winhttp.dll       ← BepInEx loader
     doorstop_config.ini
   

2. Generate Il2Cpp interop assemblies. Run the game once. BepInEx inspects the IL2CPP metadata on first launch and writes interop assemblies to BepInEx/interop/. This is a one-time ~30s step; re-do it any time the game updates.

   You should see lines like [Info: BepInEx] Generating Il2Cpp interop assemblies in BepInEx/LogOutput.log.

3. Quit the game. The interop assemblies are now sitting in BepInEx/interop/Il2CppAssembly-CSharp.dll etc.

Building the plugin

The csproj references BepInEx core assemblies via BepInExCore and generated interop assemblies via BepInExInterop. Build from the repo root:

$env:BepInExCore = "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\RecRoom\BepInEx\core"
$env:BepInExInterop = "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\RecRoom\BepInEx\interop"
dotnet build DorkNet.ClientPatch -c Release

Output lands at:

DorkNet.ClientPatch/bin/Release/DorkNet.ClientPatch.dll

Installing the plugin

Copy the built DLL into the game's BepInEx/plugins/ folder:

Copy-Item `
    DorkNet.ClientPatch/bin/Release/DorkNet.ClientPatch.dll `
    "$env:BepInExInterop\..\plugins\"

Or use the patcher (next section).

Integration with patch-client.ps1

The patcher tool grew an -InstallBepInEx switch. Pass the path to a freshly-extracted BepInEx 6 IL2CPP zip and it'll:

1. Extract BepInEx into the client folder if not already present.
2. Build this plugin against the existing BepInEx/interop directory.
3. Copy the DLL into BepInEx/plugins/.
4. Append a Photon CustomAuth integration step to the patch summary.

.\tools\patch-client.ps1 `
    -RecRoomPath "C:\…\RecRoom\Recroom_Release_Data" `
    -PhotonAppId  cb0880d9-… `
    -InstallBepInEx "C:\Downloads\BepInEx_unix_x86_64_6.0.0-be.696_…zip"

If the interop folder doesn't exist yet (game never launched post-BepInEx-install), the patcher will tell you to launch the game once and re-run with -InstallBepInEx to finish the build step.

Verifying the plugin loaded

Launch the client. Tail BepInEx/LogOutput.log and look for:

[Info   :   BepInEx] Loading [DorkNet ClientPatch 1.0.0]
[Info   :DorkNet ClientPatch] DorkNet ClientPatch v1.0.0 loading…
[Info   :DorkNet ClientPatch] Photon AuthValues injection patches applied.

After login + the first Photon connect, also expect:

[Info   :DorkNet ClientPatch] [auth-injector] set Photon AuthValues — userid=1811750, LoginLock=<set>

On the server side, the [photon-auth] received query={...} log line should now contain userid=1811750&LoginLock=<guid>.

Server-side: flip strict validation back on

Once the plugin is shipping LoginLock in production:

1. Restore the strict-mode body of PhotonCustomAuthController — accept the parameters, look up the canonical lock from PlayerPresenceService.ValidateLock(playerId, loginLock), and return ResultCode 3 on mismatch.
2. In the Photon dashboard, flip "Reject if Auth Failed" ON.
3. Now a duplicate-account login on a different machine fails Photon auth → never reaches the dorm.

Troubleshooting

Could not load file or assembly 'Il2CppAssembly-CSharp' The interop folder isn't where the csproj expects. Set the BepInExInterop env var to your install's interop path before dotnet build.

No interop assemblies found, Il2CppType.Of<…>().GetField fails Game never launched post-BepInEx-install. Launch once, quit, re-build.

Plugin loads but [auth-injector] skip — no LocalAccountId yet on every connect The Photon connect happens before login completes. Inspect the log order — if RecNet auth genuinely hasn't run yet, the plugin can't help on that particular connect; it'll succeed on the next one (post-login Photon reconnect when joining a room).

Game crashes on launch with BepInEx but works without Either the plugin threw on Load (check LogOutput.log for stack trace) or the BepInEx version mismatches — confirm you grabbed the IL2CPP, not Mono, build for Windows x86_64.