The Login Hotfix Update

Hey! The last update broke some logic inside of the login code. This has now been fixed.

Thank you! ❤️

The Pretty Tasty Update

Hey! This is quite a large update with some optimisations, tweaks, changes and a couple other additions to make things very nice for you all. This is a recommended update, and all should work well.

Changes:

Upstream

- Merged commit from upstream which adds better compatibility for 1.13+.
- Merged commit from upstream which adds better compatiblity for MacOS clients.
- Merged commit from upstream which tweaks the client java discovery code.
- Merged commit from upstream which updates the client's electron version from 9 to 10.
- Merged commit from upstream which 'greens' the one broken mojang status icon for the time being.

Notable

- Moved the news feed back to supporting the forum posts instead of the Discord. I may however, work on allowing you to quickly switch between discord and forum news inside of the news section, so we can use both if necessary (and hey, more features).
- You can now use your mouse's scroll wheel to horizontally scroll through the servers!
- Added a new animation for the startup sequence. Ooooo!
- Fixed the local distribution not being used as a backup of the remote download fails. This will allow you to startup the launcher if it fails and/or if you have no internet. Being able to play whilst offline may be possible in a future update (as long as there aren't any required downloads (pack updates etc)).

All The Others

- Updated the overlay dismiss colour slightly, to be a little lighter red.
- If a cached distribution file is required (i.e. download failed), you will receive a friendly overlay error letting you know about the issue, but it can be dismissed and you can continue.
- Cleaned up the code for the refresh button.
- Adjusted the window title-frame sizing slightly. The title and window buttons are a little bigger now.
- The setting scroll-bars are now double the size in width (2px > 4px).
- The server-select scroll bar is now half the size in width.
- Removed the 'selected!' text on your selected the server, but increased the clarity of your selected server. Just a little cleaner now.
- Removed the metrics system for the time being, I wasn't a fan of it's implementation and wasn't actually too useful. RLCraft was the most popularly played however.
- Updated the 'new news available' red dot to be text-based, giving it a more bubbly feel.

Thank you! ❤️

The Heeby Jeebies Update

Hey! This update contains a whole bunch of different tweaks and fixes, as well as a few notable changes. All will be detailed below.

Changes:

• Added lots more background images from our new upcoming Uncle Gennys 100% Orangic and Free-Range Modpack server. It will dominate the launcher.
• Fixed the news button rotation arrow to be a lot more consistent and only rotate when clicked on, correctly.
• Updated electron reloader package.
• Updated the Discord URL variable and ensure that it's used correctly in the welcome screen.
• Added more startup information in the Discord presence, such as server loading and downloading files.
• Do not automatically download the distribution.json file again on server launch. It delays the startup for players with slow internet. They can use the refresh button or restart client if needed.
• Merged dependency upgrade from upstream.
• Added an overlay upon refresh as a confirmation screen.
• Fixed the sizing with long modpack names in the play/server-selection area. The divider has also been sized correctly.
• Increased the distribution download timeout from 2.5s to 7.5s.

Thank you! ❤️

The Discord Update

Hey! This is our first official release, and with it comes some slight adjustment changes as well as new Discord RPC integration for you all to enjoy, with different triggers and states that will show in your discord presence, such as:

• Selecting a server
• Sitting on the landing screen, no server selected
• Sitting on the landing screen, but ready to play
• Adding an account/Logging in
• Playing on our server (Exploring the Realm!)
• Launching the game
• In the launcher's settings
• Welcome and continue. (for when you first start up the launcher)
  These all come with various different sub-text depending on what the context is of your action.

Other changes:

• Moved the packplays metric to be in a more reliable trigger spot.

Thank you! ❤️

The Metrics Update

Hey! This is quite a cool one for myself. I've implemented a metrics system that will track things from the list below. However, nothing is player-specific, it's just a global count per server (where applicable) so I can see the performance of our launcher across our community. The data isn't available in any public format, but I'm sure I will reference any useful data in announcements and such. The list is as follows:

• The amount of successful launcher logins
• The amount of failed launcher logins
• The amount of completed launcher setups (and went past the welcome screen)
• The amount of per-server pack plays
• The amount of failed server installations (download errors)
• The amount of successful server logins (into our servers, specifically)
• The amount of automatic Java installations which the launcher installed.

Other Changes:

• Merged an upstream regex fix for detecting the server join.
• Updated the electron-builder to 22.8.1.
• Added a minimum height and width for the launcher.

Thanks! ❤️

The Quick Update

Hey! Just a quick one, there won't be many major changes.

Changes:

• Ensured that the landing logger can be accessable by the entire script and not just the one function.
• Reverted the content-length check for the time being, until we can confirm everybody is able to download the files without issues.

Thanks! ❤️

The MacOS-Fix Update

Hey! This works around a small issue where the app couldn't grab the name of the program on MacOS.

Changes:

• Manually input the program name, instead of using app.getName() for now.

Thanks! ❤️

The Adjustment Update

Hey! This update is just a small one that tweaks a couple things.

Changes:

• Adjusted the maximum memory 'safe zone' shown in the launcher. You should now be able to set it a little closer to the maximum memory of your computer.
• Validate the content-length header of incoming modpack files for the launcher.

Thanks! ❤️

The Public Pre-Release Update

Hey! Welcome to the first public release of the new ModRealms Launcher that has been in development (on our end) since the beginning of the year, which provides a massive overhaul in design and experience compared to our existing launcher, you can imagine it doing a t-pose right now. If you find any bugs or are concerned about anything, you can let us know inside of a ticket on our Discord server. If you are more tech-savvy, please do go ahead and create an issue on this repository too!

Similar to our current one, these .exe files are not signed meaning that there may be a warning when you try to open them. The launcher is open source so you can even check yourself if you are concerned at all. Signing certificates are incredibly expensive, but we will look to purchase one in the later end of the year.

Depending on the amount of bugs we receive (although it has been extensively tested), I expect that we'll be able to mark it as a full release in a week or so.

Lots of images incoming, also.

Changes for the pre-release:

• Make sure that all requests are SSL secure.
• Updated the server-scroll bar colour, removed the eww purple.

Thank you! ❤️

Features

Fresh New Bubbly UI

A disadvantage with the old launcher was how plain and unappealing it looked, and many panels often bugged out and would go invisible. With this one (coded in Node.js), it has a whole new design with large buttons so that you can always click on the things you want to see easily. Each background you'll see on the launcher has been taken by a member of our community too, giving it a much warmer feel ❤️

Automatic Java Installation

One of the primary drawbacks of using our previous launcher is that you had to install Java 8 64bit manually before you could use it properly, and usually it wasn't clear at the time until you came to see us. Whilst 64bit Java is still required to launch into the servers, the launcher will now prompt you about this when you load up the modpack, and will offer to install it for you automatically. This is incredibly handy because it means you aren't delayed from enjoying your favourite modpack!

The launcher will install the latest version of JDK onto your computer inside of the launcher files, meaning that it is only in use for your launcher to use and won't interfere with any other installation on your computer.

Automatic News Feed

With our last launcher, we didn't use the integrated news feed system so most saw a blue error at the top of their screen for the majority of the time they used the launcher. We now have a news feed that is integrated with our discord server's #announcements channel.

Mojang Status Panel

You can now view a realtime status for Mojang and a few of their services. This can be helpful to check if you're having issues whilst connecting to our servers!

Multiple Accounts

Whilst this was also a feature in our previous launcher, you can store multiple accounts on the launcher to make it easy to switch accounts if it's necessary. Whilst we don't usually have alt-accounts on the server, this can be very useful if you want to have multiple members of your family use the same computer!

Refresh Button

If you're having problems with the servers not updating properly, or would just like a general refresh (or a new background picture), you can do so with the highlighted button.

You will also see a few other buttons there:

• Settings - Opens up the settings menu.
• Website - Opens up our website in your default browser.
• Twitter - Opens up our twitter page in your default browser.
• Youtube - Opens up our twitter page in your default browser.
• Discord - Opens up our discord server in your Discord program.

Server Selection Screen

Custom Data Directory

When you install our launcher, the launcher-specific files will always be installed where you choose during the installation. However, your server's modpack files can be in any location you wish and changed on the fly. By default, they will be in your %AppData% directory.

Automatic Server Join

This new launcher will allow you to automatically connect to the server of your choice when your modpack loads up completely. You can now grab a coffee while the modpack loads without worrying about being blasted by the main-screen music, which you can hear from downstairs!

A few others

I'm sure there will be more goodies that you notice, such as the easy mod drop-in system as well as the option to select multiple optional mods that we've put in there for you, such as LagGoggles and Optifine!

The Mixed Update

Hey! These are just a few changes that I put forward to adjust a few things I noticed, as well as different things that were reported.

Changes:

• Don't add mods from the /mods/1.12.2 folder into the drop-mod ui, they usually aren't added manually by players.
• Adjusted the ending of the welcome description slightly to avoid overlap.
• Added a menu setting to enable the devtools console upon server launch.
• Added support for showing multiple server names under one server code in settings.
• Don't adjust the size of the server boxes in the selection menu, even if there are less available.
• When you press the refresh button, it'll now process the landing ui again, including randomising the background.
• Upsized more setting elements (all good now?)

Thank you! ❤️