single-player server · 3.3.5a
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First run: from download to entering the world

What you need

  • Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit, with a graphics driver that supports OpenGL 3.3. Linux and macOS: see Linux and macOS.
  • A 3.3.5a game client (build 12340). LonelyIce does not ship the game; it reads the data it needs from your client.
  • Free disk space for the databases and the game data the server builds from your client: about 1 to 1.5 GB, and 6 GB more if you also build navigation for bots (the wizard warns below 9 GB free).

Download and unpack

Download the release and unpack it anywhere, for example next to your game folder. Keep the files together: LonelyIce.exe, the libraries beside it and the setup folder, which holds the databases (sql.pak) and configs (configs.pak) the wizard installs. There is no installer.

The setup wizard

Start LonelyIce.exe. On the first run it opens the setup wizard, "Preparing LonelyIce", with seven steps. Back returns to the previous step, Later closes the wizard (the PLAY button then reads INSTALL and opens it again).

  1. Client. The wizard looks for a 3.3.5a client: the folder you chose before, the folder of LonelyIce.exe and its parent, the folders next to it, and the path Windows has in its registry. It checks Wow.exe (version 3.3.5a, build 12340), the Data\*.MPQ archives, the locales, write access to the game folder, and that the game is not running. If nothing is found, use Choose another folder….
  2. Location. Where to keep the server data: Inside the game folder (a LonelyIce folder there), Next to LonelyIce.exe, or Another folder…. The free space of each is shown. Inside go configs, db (databases), data (maps and other game data), logs and backups.
  3. Data. Where the databases live: Hard drive (SQLite), the default, needs nothing else; other storages (a MySQL server, for example) come from packages. Disk cache unpacks the game tables, maps and cameras from your client (about 0.5 GB, a little faster); without it the server reads them from the client files. Below that, what will be installed:
    • required, installed without asking: Databases (about 0.4 GB, a minute), Building geometry (vmaps) (line of sight, caves; about 0.6 GB, 5 minutes) and Client preparation;
    • optional: Navigation (mmaps), paths for monsters and bots (about 6 GB, 20 to 60 minutes). Without it bots walk through walls. Threads for navigation sets how many CPU threads building it may use.
  4. Realm. Realm name (default "LonelyIce"), Rates (Classic ×1, Faster ×2 or Casual ×5), Random bots (0, 100, 500 or 1000), and your account: Login (Latin letters and digits, up to 16 characters), Password (up to 16 characters, no spaces) and Rights (player or Administrator (GM 3)). Everything here can be changed later in Settings.
  5. Game. How to prepare your client: Set realmlist to 127.0.0.1 (the old realmlist.wtf is kept as realmlist.wtf.bak), Clear the client cache, Fill the login into the login screen, and a Desktop shortcut. Press Install.
  6. Install. The wizard builds everything, with a progress bar per part. It runs in the background at low priority, so you can minimize the window. Abort stops it; if something fails, the message names the part that failed (the databases, the config, the game data, the account or the plugins' patches) and Retry continues with the parts that are not done yet. Details are in the logs folder.
  7. Done. A summary of what was set up. Press Play.

The wizard can be opened again at any time from Maintenance › Server data › Setup wizard…, for example to build navigation later. Run again on your server folder, it starts from your current realm name, rates and bots and changes them only if you change them; your accounts, characters and settings stay. See Updating.

Press Play

The main page shows the server state on the left. Press PLAY: the launcher starts the world if it is not running yet, copies your plugins' add-ons into the client, points the client at your server and opens the game in the launch language (the gold chip on the Game panel). The first world start takes about a minute. Log in with the account from the wizard.

Next steps