The Stoke launcher

The Stoke launcher takes the fiddly part out of joining a modded server. It stays out of the way: one small app, with its settings on the panel.

What it does

• Signs you in to the panel, once.
• Installs exactly the server’s mods, at the versions the server runs, in a profile of its own. Your own game, and any other mod setup you have, stay as they are.
• Keeps them in step: when the host changes the server’s mods, the launcher brings your profile up to date the next time you play.
• Connects through the Stoke tunnel when your host uses it, so you reach the server with nothing to set up.
• Starts the game, ready to join.
• Updates itself from the panel.

Getting it

From your server’s join page, Play with Stoke. The panel hands out the launcher itself, so it always matches your panel. (Play with Stoke appears once the panel is on HTTPS.)

In the game (Valheim)

The launcher installs Stoke Client with the server’s mods. It adds a Stoke box to Valheim’s main menu: pair your game with the panel there, once. Paired, you get:

• voice chat on Stoke servers, nearby and in rooms;
• direct messages and the Lobby in the game’s chat;
• the campfire (F7): Stoke’s own menu in the game, with voice and settings.

Minecraft

The launcher can install and start Minecraft too, as the Modrinth App does. It needs signing in with your Microsoft account, which is waiting on Mojang’s approval of Stoke; until then, join Minecraft servers from your own Minecraft launcher, as Joining a server says. Once it’s approved, playing Minecraft through the launcher also connects you through the Stoke tunnel, as it does for Valheim.

Every game, through the launcher

The launcher is meant to be how you play every game Stoke supports. Valheim works today and Minecraft is next. From here on, each game Stoke adds comes with launcher support as standard: its mods set up for you, the game started ready to join, and the Stoke tunnel connected, all from one Play button.