wtf is opendereth?

OpenDereth is a Windows launcher that turns an open source server project called ACEmulator ACE into a private, single-player version of the classic online game Asheron's Call. Instead of asking players to set up server files and a database by hand, it packages everything so that clicking one PLAY button starts a local database, starts the game server on the player's own computer, waits for the world to be ready, and then opens the original game client. Nothing is exposed to the internet, and characters and world progress are saved between sessions. To use it, a player needs a complete copy of the original Asheron's Call client with its game files sitting in one writable folder, since the project cannot include those proprietary files itself. After downloading and extracting the OpenDereth release, running the included program and pointing it at the client folder if needed lets a player press PLAY to begin. The very first launch can take a few minutes to set up the private world, and later launches are much quicker. The release bundles a portable version of the MariaDB database and the full ACE World database so nothing else needs to be installed separately. Beyond just launching the game, OpenDereth includes a curated library of optional server mods that can be browsed and installed from inside the launcher, each with a plain-language description of what it does, compatibility notes, and warnings about how it affects saved game data. It also supports importing custom in-game items built with a separate tool called AceForge, previewing and validating them before adding them safely to the world's database. Turning off a mod stops its code but does not undo any changes already saved to the world, and the launcher is careful about not deleting files that saved progress might still depend on. The project is a maintained fork built on top of ACEmulator ACE and is released under the AGPL-3.0 license, the same license as the original ACE project. Optional support for a tool called Decal is included if it is already installed, while other integrations are planned for the future.