The launcher
The launcher keeps your accounts, updates the client and starts the game. It looks like part of the game rather than a browser, because we wrote it ourselves instead of rebadging somebody else's patcher.
What it does
- Auto-loginYour accounts live in the launcher and “Play” takes you straight into the game, with no login or password to type.
- PasswordsStored encrypted by Windows, and sent nowhere except the login server.
- Several windowsEvery account starts in its own window.
- UpdatesOnly the changed parts of files are downloaded, not whole files.
- Client checkVerifies the files and repairs broken ones if the game stops starting.
- Signed updatesA file tampered with on the way is rejected.
- First screenNews, the server's online count and links to the account area and voting.
The launcher is the only way to install and update the client: the update service is built for it.