Worlds Adrift Reborn

About

This is a mod for Worlds Adrift that attempts to recreate the original MMO experience by replacing the official infrastructure with custom, self-hosted substitutes.

Technical Overview

The project consists of four main components:

• A client mod that patches the game at runtime using BepInEx and Harmony
• A custom replacement for the SpatialOS SDK written in C++
• A custom HTTP server written in C# that handles player login and character creation
• A game server responsible for sending and receiving ENet packets

Current State

This project currently demonstrates:

• An outline for an API handling login and character creation
• A functional replacement layer for SpatialOS
• Spawning entities and loading a client into the game world
• Basic handling of player state, such as clothing items and the glider

Install Instructions

1. Obtain a supported version of the game using DepotDownloader:

   DepotDownloader.exe -app 322780 -depot 322783 -manifest 4624240741051053915 -username <yourusername> -password <yourpassword>
   

   Copy the downloaded files into the game root directory.

   ⚠ The latest Steam version of the game is not supported, as a final update before shutdown removed most of the game content.****

2. Download the latest BepInEx 5.x release from https://github.com/BepInEx/BepInEx/releases and extract it into the game root directory (installation details: https://docs.bepinex.dev/articles/user_guide/installation/index.html).

3. Create a steam_appid.txt file in the game root directory and fill the contents with:

   322780
   

4. Download the latest bleeding-edge release from the repository’s Releases page and extract it.

5. Copy the WorldsAdriftReborn folder into:

   <game root>\BepInEx\plugins
   

6. Start WorldsAdriftRebornGameServer.exe, then WorldsAdriftRebornServer.exe.

   ⚠ Temporarily replace the following DLLs in the WorldsAdriftRebornGameServer folder with the versions from <game root>\UnityClient@Windows_Data\Managed:

   • Improbable.WorkerSdkCsharp.dll
   • Improbable.WorkerSdkCsharp.Framework.dll
   • Generated.Code.dll
   • protobuf-net.dll

7. Launch the game from the game root directory.

Build Instructions

1. Obtain the correct game version

You must use a supported version of the game.

• Download DepotDownloader from
  https://github.com/SteamRE/DepotDownloader
• Run the following command (replace the placeholders with your Steam credentials):

DepotDownloader.exe -app 322780 -depot 322783 -manifest 4624240741051053915 -username <yourusername> -password <yourpassword>

• Once the download completes, copy the downloaded files into the game root directory.

⚠ Important The latest Steam version of the game is not supported. A final update before shutdown removed most of the game content, making it incompatible.

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2. Clone the repository with submodules

Clone the repository including all submodules:

git clone --recurse-submodules <repository>

If you already cloned the repository without submodules, run:

git submodule update --init --recursive

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3. Install BepInEx

• Download the latest BepInEx 5.x release from https://github.com/BepInEx/BepInEx/releases
• Extract all files into the game root directory.

Detailed installation instructions are available at docs.bepinex.dev.

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4. Create steam_appid.txt

• In the game root directory, create a file named steam_appid.txt
• Add the following single line to the file:

322780

This App ID is required to launch the game; without it, a Steam-related error will occur.

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5. Open the solution

• Open the project .sln file using Visual Studio 2022

⚠ Notes

• Visual Studio versions older than 2022 are not supported (the project requires .NET 6.0).
• Only the Any CPU (default) and x64 solution platforms are currently supported.

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6. Using Rider (optional)

JetBrains Rider can also open and build the solution.

• Create an empty directory named LocalPackages inside the solution root before opening the project.

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7. Configure non-default game paths

If your game is not installed at:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\WorldsAdrift

Your IDE should show an error and generate a DevEnv.targets file at the root of the repository.

• Edit this file to point to your actual game installation path
• Save the file
• Reopen the solution in Visual Studio

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8. Building the mod

Building the WorldsAdriftReborn project will automatically:

• Build the required WorldsAdriftRebornCoreSdk (CoreSdkDll.dll)
• Copy both the Core SDK DLL and the compiled BepInEx plugin into the game's BepInEx/plugins directory

If the game version is incompatible, the build process will fail with an error.

Relevant projects:

• https://github.com/sp00ktober/WorldsAdriftReborn/tree/main/WorldsAdriftReborn
• https://github.com/sp00ktober/WorldsAdriftReborn/tree/main/WorldsAdriftRebornCoreSdk

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9. Running the game locally

To run the game locally, you must first build all projects in the solution, then start the following components in order:

1. Start WorldsAdriftGameServer https://github.com/sp00ktober/WorldsAdriftReborn/tree/main/WorldsAdriftGameServer
2. Start WorldsAdriftServer https://github.com/sp00ktober/WorldsAdriftReborn/tree/main/WorldsAdriftServer
3. Launch the game

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10. Launch configurations

The solution includes launch profiles for:

• WorldsAdriftReborn
• WorldsAdriftGameServer
• WorldsAdriftServer

⚠ When launching the game from Visual Studio, ensure it is started without debugging.

You can start all components simultaneously by configuring the solution to use Multiple Startup Projects.

Protobuf Information

WorldsAdriftRebornCoreSdk is dependent on Protobuf. To avoid external package managers we opted to include a build and publish nuget package.

To export the package via vcpkg: vcpkg export protobuf:x64-windows-static-md --nuget --nuget-id=WorldsAdriftReborn-protobuf-x64-windows-static-md (More Info)

Nuget URL: https://www.nuget.org/packages/WorldsAdriftReborn-protobuf-x64-windows-static-md/

To update the package, reinstall protobuf via vcpkg and re-run the export command. The generated .nupkg can be uploaded to NuGet or placed in the repo’s LocalPackages folder to use it locally via the NuGet Package Manager.

The following package variants are available:

• https://www.nuget.org/packages/WorldsAdriftReborn-protobuf-x64-windows/
• https://www.nuget.org/packages/WorldsAdriftReborn-protobuf-x64-windows-static/
• https://www.nuget.org/packages/WorldsAdriftReborn-protobuf-x64-windows-static-md/

⚠ Switching to a differently named variant (or a local package) requires updating proto.targets to reflect the new package path and adjusting the build configuration.

Linking mode is configured in the WorldsAdriftRebornCoreSdk project properties:

• Dynamic linking (DLLs output) Use static libraries: No, Runtime Library: MDd (works with all variants; prefer https://www.nuget.org/packages/WorldsAdriftReborn-protobuf-x64-windows/)
• Fully static (single DLL output) Use static libraries: Yes, Use Dynamic CRT: No, Runtime Library: MTd (requires https://www.nuget.org/packages/WorldsAdriftReborn-protobuf-x64-windows-static/)
• Static libs + dynamic CRT (default, single DLL output) Use static libraries: Yes, Use Dynamic CRT: Yes, Runtime Library: MDd (requires https://www.nuget.org/packages/WorldsAdriftReborn-protobuf-x64-windows-static-md/)

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Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for further details.

Contact us

Any support is welcome! You can find us on Discord