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Archipelago Setup Guide
Installing the Archipelago software
The most recent public release of Archipelago can be found here.
Run the exe file, and after accepting the license agreement you will be prompted on which components you would like to install.
The generator allows you to generate multiworld games on your computer. The ROM setups are optional but are required if
anyone in the game that you generate wants to play any of those games as they are needed to generate the relevant patch
files. The server will allow you to host the multiworld on your machine but this also requires you to port forward. The
default port for Archipelago is 38281. If you are unsure how to do this there are plenty of other guides on the internet
that will be more suited to your hardware. The Clients are what you use to connect your game to the multiworld. If the
game/games you plan to play are available here go ahead and install these as well. If the game you choose to play is
supported by Archipelago but not listed in the installation check the relevant tutorial.
Generating a game
Gather all player YAMLS
All players that wish to play in the generated multiworld must have a YAML file which contains the settings that they wish to play with.
A YAML is a file which contains human readable markup. In other words, this is a settings file kind of like an INI file or a TOML file.
Each player can go to the game's player settings page in order to determine the settings how they want them and then download a YAML file containing these settings.
After getting the YAML files of each participant for your multiworld game, these can all either be placed together in the
Archipelago\Players folder or compressed into a ZIP folder to then be uploaded to the website generator.
If rolling locally ensure that the folder is clear of any files you do not wish to include in the game such as the
included default player settings files.
Changing local host settings for generation
Sometimes there are various settings that you may want to change before rolling a seed such as enabling race mode,
auto-forfeit, plando support, or setting a password. All of these settings plus other options are able to be changed by
modifying the host.yaml file in the base Archipelago folder. The settings chosen here are baked into
the serverdata file that gets output with the other files after generation so if rolling locally ensure this file is edited
to your liking before rolling the seed.
Rolling the seed
On the Website
After gathering the YAML files together in one location, select all of the files and compress them into a .zip folder.
Next go to the Start Playing page and click on generate a randomized game to reach the website generator.
Here, you can adjust some server settings such as forfeit rules and the cost for a player to use a hint before generation.
After adjusting the host settings to your liking click on the Upload File button and using the explorer window that opens,
navigate to the location where you zipped the player files and upload this zip. The page will generate your game and refresh
multiple times to check on completion status. After the generation completes you will be on a Seed Info page that provides
the seed, the date/time of creation, a link to the spoiler log, if available, and links to any rooms created from this seed.
To begin playing, click on Create New Room, which will take you to the room page. From here you can navigate back to thse
Seed Info page or to the Tracker page. Sharing the link to this page with your friends will provide them with the
necessary info and files for them to connect to the multiworld.
Rolling using the generation program
After gathering the YAML files together in the Archipelago\Players folder, run the program ArchipelagoGenerate.exe
in the base Archipelago folder. This will then open a console window and either silently close itself or spit out an
error. If you receive an error, it is likely due to an error in the YAML file. If the error is unhelpful in figuring
out the issue asking in the #tech-support channel of our Discord for help with finding it is highly recommended.
The generator will put a zip folder into your Archipelago\output folder with the format AP_XXXXXXXXX.zip.
This contains the patch files and relevant mods for the players as well as the serverdata for the host.
Hosting a multiworld
Uploading the seed to the website
The easiest and most recommended method is to generate the game on the website which will allow you to create a private
room with all the necessary files you can share, as well as hosting the game and supporting item trackers for various games.
If for some reason the seed was rolled on a machine, then either the resulting zip file or the resulting AP_XXXXX.archipelago
inside the zip file can be uploaded to the upload page. This will give a page with the seed info and have a
link to the spoiler if it exists. Click on Create New room and then share the link for the room with the other players
so that they can download their patches or mods. The room will also have a link to a Multiworld Tracker and tell you
what the players need to connect to from their clients.
Hosting a seed locally
For this we'll assume you have already port forwarding 38281 and have generated a seed that is still in the outputs
folder. Next, you'll want to run ArchipelagoServer.exe. A window will open in order to open the multiworld data for the
game. You can either use the generated zip folder or extract the .archipelago file and use it. If everything worked correctly the console window should tell you it's now hosting a game with the IP, port, and password that clients will need in order to connect.
Extract the patch and mod files then send those to your friends, and you're done!