Open VanillaChapter 3 · Play
The launcher
The Windows launcher page by page: Home and PLAY, client setup, the Workshop, realms, account, settings, updates, and where your files live.
Install #
Download from the home page (Desktop Client):
OpenVanilla-Setup-<version>.exe: the installer (recommended). It installs for your user only, no admin needed, and updates itself.OpenVanilla_<version>_Win64.zip: a portable copy. Unzip anywhere and runOpenVanilla.exe; your data stays beside it.
Needs Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit. Run OpenVanilla.exe, never Game\Open Vanilla Game.exe directly.
Home and the PLAY button #
Home has one PLAY button. The switch at the bottom left picks how you play:
| Mode | PLAY does |
|---|---|
| Online | Starts the game client and signs you in to the selected realm |
| Solo | Starts your own offline realm and logs you in (Play Solo) |
| Browser | Opens the realm's browser client in its own window |
The bar above PLAY says what's ready or missing, for example READY TO PLAY, CHOOSE YOUR GAME'S DATA FOLDER, YOUR WOW FOLDER NEEDS A FIX or SERVER OFFLINE. Pressing PLAY fixes what it can. In Online mode the ▾ menu next to the client picks which client to use, and ends with More clients in Workshop ›. News, Discord and Support buttons sit around it.
Set up Vanilla Client v1.3 #
The launcher's game setup page (it opens when PLAY can't find a client) has two choices:
- Install a fresh copy → Download & install: downloads Vanilla Client v1.3 from the Internet Archive (a few GB; it resumes if interrupted). Open Vanilla doesn't host Blizzard's files.
- I already have it → Select existing folder: pick the folder with
WoW.exe. The launcher checks it and never changes the game's files.
The checker needs build 5875 and the eleven standard archives in Data (dbc, speech, fonts, interface, misc, sound, wmo, terrain, texture, model, patch). If one is missing or damaged it says so ("Missing texture.MPQ", "This is build 4297; Open Vanilla needs Vanilla Client v1.3 (build 5875)") and offers to pick another folder. When you press PLAY it writes realmlist.wtf for you, keeping a backup of the old one.
The Workshop page #
Tabs: Addons, Projects, Clients, Installed (and GitHub in Advanced mode).
- Addons: browse and install. Installs go into
AddOns\Enabledand are used by every client you play with. - Projects: community projects and forks from the directory.
- Clients: add or remove game clients (Add to my clients, Download, Open clients.txt).
- Installed: your addons, with Enable/Disable each, Install from .zip and Open folder.
Compatibility labels: Works, Partly, Needs fixes, Not checked, and Ours for the Open Vanilla addons. Install buttons on the website open the launcher directly (they use openvanilla://workshop/install/... links) and every download is checked against its fingerprint. Full details in Publish to the Workshop.
Note: With the browser client selected, the page tells you the browser manages its own addons.
Realms #
Realm browser, My servers and Community list, plus the invite box. See Realms and friends.
Account #
Sign in to Open Vanilla → Continue with Discord: the same button for new and returning players. It finishes in your browser and comes back Signed in as …. Realms with their own passwords: Have a realm password instead? Sign in with it ›, with Remember me on this PC (saved encrypted).
Settings #
| Section | What's there |
|---|---|
| Account & security | Forget saved password, forget trusted servers, ask before sending your password to a community server |
| Game clients | Your clients and which one PLAY uses |
| Folders | Open the data, addons, screenshots and logs folders |
| Launcher | Close when the game starts, start muted, animated background, particles, Windows title bar, browser window full screen |
| Downloads | Update in the background, and (Advanced) torrent seeding |
| Privacy | Share what you're listening to (off by default) |
| AI (optional) | Set up an AI workspace: see Connect an AI |
Advanced (off by default) shows client download links, GitHub search and torrent seeding. Clear all local data… resets the launcher. The launcher sends no analytics or crash reports.
Updates #
The launcher checks for updates by itself and ignores anything that isn't signed by Open Vanilla's release key or is older than what you have. Updates download quietly in the background ("Downloading update 42%"), are checked against their fingerprint, and then a gold UPDATE READY · RESTART button appears above PLAY. Updating replaces only program files: your addons, settings, realms and screenshots are never touched. If an update fails, it says so and tries again next time (details in Logs\update.log).
Where your files live #
Your data folder is %LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenVanilla for the installer (an install from before the rename keeps its older data folder), or the folder beside OpenVanilla.exe for the zip.
| Folder | What's in it |
|---|---|
AddOns\Enabled, AddOns\Disabled | Your addons, on and off |
Realms\Solo, Realms\Hosted | Your offline and hosted realms |
Screenshots, Logs, Backups | As named; logs are what to attach to a bug report |
Settings\settings.json | Launcher settings |
Cache\ | Live content, update downloads |
clients.txt | Extra game clients you added by hand |
Program files (OpenVanilla.exe, app\, Game\, Server\) are replaced by updates; don't keep anything of yours there. The engine keeps its game settings and saved variables in Game\benilla-config.
Help and support #
The Help medallion has four cards: Playing, Play Solo, Hosting, Folders & Updates. Support the realm opens the tip jar (Tips). And this manual is always one click away from the website.