alterware-launcher/README.md

AlterWare Launcher

Official launcher for AlterWare Call of Duty mods

IW4x | IW4-SP | IW5-Mod | IW6-Mod | S1-Mod

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Important

Only legitimate copies of the games are supported. If you don't own the game, please buy it.

Table of Contents

• Installation
• Supported Games
• Command line arguments
• Config file
• Building from Source
• Support

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📦 Installation

Windows | Debian/Ubuntu | Other Linux OS | macOS

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🪟 Windows

1. Download the game from Steam.
2. Download the appropriate version of the AlterWare launcher:
   • Windows 64-bit: Download the latest alterware-launcher.exe.
   • Windows 32-bit: Download the latest alterware-launcher-x86.exe.
3. Place the alterware-launcher.exe in the game directory.
4. Run alterware-launcher.exe. After updating, the game will launch automatically.

Note

Windows 7 is no longer supported. v0.6.12 is the last version that will run on Windows 7. To keep using it set "skip_self_update": true in the alterware-launcher.json config file.

Important

Information for server owners:

On Windows the launcher self-updates and restarts by spawning a new console. For automated processes, use --skip-launcher-update and manually download the latest launcher from here.

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🐧 Debian/Ubuntu (amd64/arm64)

1. You can download the game from Steam using either SteamCMD or the official Steam desktop app.
2. Follow the instructions provided in this forum post to install the alterware-launcher using our self-hosted APT repository.
3. Once installed, run the launcher from your game directory to download the client files automatically. For updates, use the launcher from the terminal with the --update command-line argument as explained in this guide.

Note

The steps above can be used for any Debian-based distribution that uses the APT package manager.

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🐧 Other Linux OS

1. Consult the Steam documentation to learn how to download the game from their servers.
2. Visit the latest release page for the AlterWare launcher and choose the release that matches your system requirements.
3. Once installed, run the launcher from your game directory to download the client files automatically. For updates, use the launcher from the terminal with the --update command-line argument as explained in this guide.

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🍎 macOS

1. You can download the game from Steam using either SteamCMD or the official Steam desktop app.
2. Download the latest alterware-launcher.
3. Once installed, run the launcher from your game directory to download the client files automatically. For updates, use the launcher from the terminal with the --update command-line argument as explained in this guide.

Warning

Running the AlterWare launcher on macOS has not been officially tested. However, since WINE has a macOS port, it should theoretically be possible to run our clients on this platform.

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🎮 Supported Games

Important

Only legitimate copies of the games are supported. If you don't own the game, please buy it.

IW4x Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Multiplayer

IW4-SP Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Singeplayer

IW5-Mod Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 - Singleplayer, SpecOps

IW6-Mod Call of Duty: Ghosts

S1-Mod Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

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⚙️ Command line arguments

• iw4-sp, iw4x, iw5-mod, iw6-mod, s1-mod
  • Skip automatic detection and launch the specified game
    • Must be the first argument if used
• --help
  • Print help
• --update, -u
  • Update the game without launching it
• --skip-launcher-update
  • Skip updating the launcher
• --bonus
  • Download bonus content
• --force, -f
  • Force file hash recheck
• --path, -p
  • Set the game installation path
    • Do not include a trailing backslash in the path
• --pass
  • Pass additional arguments to the game
    • See client-args.md for more details
• --version, -v
  • Print the launcher version
• --ignore-required-files
  • Install client even if required files are missing
• --skip-redist
  • Skip installing redistributables
• --redist
  • Install or reinstall redistributables

Example:

alterware-launcher.exe iw4x --bonus -u --path "C:\Games\IW4x" --pass "-console"

Tip

Some arguments can be set in alterware-launcher.json, args generally override the values of the config.

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🔧 Config file alterware-launcher.json

• update_only: Set to true to only update the game. Default: false.
• skip_self_update: Skip launcher updates. Default: false.
• download_bonus_content: Automatically download bonus content. Default: false.
• ask_download_bonus_content: Ask before downloading bonus content. Default: false.
• force_update: Force file recheck. Default: false.
• args: Pass additional arguments to the game. Default: "".
• use_https: Use HTTPS for downloads. Default: true.
• skip_redist: Skip redistributable installations. Default: false.

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🔨 Building from Source

Prerequisites

• Rust - Install the latest stable version
• Git - For cloning the repository
• Perl - [Linux only] Required for OpenSSL

Build Steps

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/mxve/alterware-launcher.git
   cd alterware-launcher
   

2. Build the project:

   cargo build --release
   

3. Find the executable: The compiled binary will be located at target/release/alterware-launcher(.exe)

Additional Notes

• For debugging, you can use cargo build without the --release flag. The debug build will be slower but includes additional debugging information.
• To run tests, use cargo test

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❓ Support

Need help or have questions? We're here to help you!

• AlterWare Forum: Visit our official forum for in-depth discussions, troubleshooting, and community support.
• Discord Community: Join our Discord server for real-time chat, quick questions, and to connect with other users.

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