⚙️ Dad's MMO Lab — Offline MMO Server Project

"The games we grew up with deserve to live forever. This project makes that possible on a single handheld device."

By u/Kingspoken

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🎯 What Is This?

This is a collaborative collection of step-by-step guides, Docker scripts, and automated installers for running classic MMO private servers completely offline on a Steam Deck, any Linux machine, or Windows 10/11 (via WSL2). See the Guides folder!

No subscription. No internet required. No servers getting shut down. Just you and the games you love — forever.

Every guide here is built around:

• ✅ Open source emulators only — no copyrighted assets, no game files distributed
• ✅ Docker-based — clean, repeatable, easy to remove
• ✅ Steam Deck tested — every setup verified on SteamOS; also runs on Linux and Windows 10/11 (WSL2)
• ✅ Dad-friendly — written for people who love games, not just developers
• ✅ One command install — automated installers handle everything

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🌍 The Story

I'm a dad who grew up on MMOs. Like a lot of you, I watched the servers for games I loved get shut down one by one. Nostalrius. Felmyst. Games that meant something — gone.

Then I got a Steam Deck.

And I started wondering: what if I could bring them back? Offline. On a handheld. Forever.

Turns out — for a lot of classic MMOs — you can. The emulator community has done incredible work over the years. This project is about packaging that work into something any dad (or mom, or kid) can actually use.

This is not piracy. We use open source server emulators. You supply your own legally obtained game clients. We just help you run them.

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📺 Videos

▶️ Dad's MMO Lab — YouTube Channel

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✅ Currently Working

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🔥 In Progress

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📋 Planned

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📦 What's In This Repo

WoW Vanilla 1.12 (guides/wow-vanilla/)

WoW The Burning Crusade (guides/wow-tbc/)

WoW Wrath of the Lich King (guides/wow-wotlk/)

Wrath Unbound Add-on (guides/unbound-wrath/)

Requires a working WotLK Playerbots server first. This is an add-on that layers onto an existing install — run the WotLK installer before this one.

RuneScape 2009 (guides/runescape/)

MapleStory v83 Pre-Big Bang (guides/Maplestory/)

Mu Online (guides/Mu-online/)

Windows Support (guides/DML-Windows/)

Uninstalling (guides/)

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🚀 Quick Start

Pick your game and run the installer. Each one handles everything automatically.

WoW Vanilla 1.12:

chmod +x install-wow-vanilla.sh && ./install-wow-vanilla.sh

WoW The Burning Crusade:

chmod +x install-wow-tbc.sh && ./install-wow-tbc.sh

WoW Wrath of the Lich King:

chmod +x install-wow-wotlk.sh && ./install-wow-wotlk.sh

WoW Wrath of the Lich King — Unbound Add-on (run after the WotLK installer):

chmod +x install-wrath-unbound-addon.sh && ./install-wrath-unbound-addon.sh

RuneScape 2009:

chmod +x install-runescape.sh && ./install-runescape.sh

RuneScape 2009 HD upgrade (run after the base installer):

chmod +x upgrade-runescape-hd.sh && ./upgrade-runescape-hd.sh

MapleStory v83 Pre-Big Bang:

chmod +x install-maplestory.sh && ./install-maplestory.sh

Mu Online:

chmod +x install-muonline.sh && ./install-muonline.sh

Windows 10/11 (any game): Open PowerShell as Administrator and run the Windows substrate installer first, then install your game:

Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process; .\Install-DML.ps1

Full walkthrough in guides/DML-Windows/DML-Windows-HOWTO.md.

Every WoW installer:

• ✅ Detects SteamOS and fixes the pacman keyring
• ✅ Installs Docker if needed
• ✅ Downloads and compiles the server
• ✅ Creates a default admin / admin account with GM Level 3
• ✅ Populates the world with bots
• ✅ Builds a Gaming Mode launcher

🔐 About sudo and the docker group — the installers need root once to install Docker and add your user to the docker group so you can run docker without typing sudo every time. This is a root-equivalent privilege change (a docker group member can mount the host filesystem into a container), so the installers ask for your consent first and deliberately do not drop any passwordless sudo rules into /etc/sudoers.d. Decline if you want to keep the machine locked down — you can still run every command with sudo docker.

New to Linux? Read the HOWTO guide for your game first — every step explained in plain English, zero assumed knowledge.

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🤖 Bot Options (WoW)

All WoW installers ship with Playerbots pre-configured — bots that roam the world, fill dungeons and raids, and keep the economy alive so the game feels like a real server, not an empty shell.

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⚔️ Wrath Unbound — Multi-Class Add-on

Wrath Unbound is a multi-class mod that layers onto Dad's MMO Lab's WotLK Playerbots server. Play WotLK as a classless hybrid — unlock additional classes through an NPC called The Mentor and buy that class's abilities with gold.

Requires the WotLK server installed first. Run install-wow-wotlk.sh (or the Windows/Fedora/Ubuntu equivalent) before installing the add-on.

• Full weapon, armor, and dual-wield access across all class combinations
• Hundreds of Playerbots fill the world
• Runs completely offline — your server, your rules, forever
• Open source under AGPL-3.0, consistent with AzerothCore
• Covers 9 of WotLK's 10 classes (all except Death Knight)

📖 Full Guide

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🎮 Gaming Mode Setup

Play entirely from Steam Gaming Mode — no Desktop Mode needed after setup:

1. Each installer creates a Gaming Mode launcher in your home folder
2. Add it to Steam as a Non-Steam game via Konsole:
   • Target: /usr/bin/konsole
   • Launch Options: --hold -e bash ~/[game]-launcher.sh
   • Proton: OFF (WoW uses Proton for the game client, not the server)
3. Launch from your Steam library
4. Wait for "[GAME] IS READY!"
5. Launch the game client from your library
6. Close the client → server auto-shuts down

Full setup instructions in each game's HOWTO guide.

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🔧 After a SteamOS Update

If Docker stops working after a Steam Deck update:

chmod +x guides/Steam-Update-Fix/fix-after-update.sh
./guides/Steam-Update-Fix/fix-after-update.sh

Rebuilds the pacman keyring and reinstalls Docker automatically.

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🛠️ How It Works

Steam Deck Gaming Mode
        │
        ▼
   Docker Container      ← Runs silently in background
   (Server Emulator)
        │
        ▼
  MySQL / MariaDB
   (Game Database)
        │
        ▼
Game Client via Proton
   → connects to localhost
   → completely offline

(RuneScape runs without Docker — pure Java on Linux. No Proton needed.)

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⚠️ Legal & Ethical Notes

Dad's MMO Lab and WoW Unbound are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or associated with Blizzard Entertainment or any of its products.

We do not operate, host, or endorse any public or third-party servers — including any servers at unboundwow.com or similar domains. WoW Unbound is an open source educational project built on AzerothCore (GPL licensed), intended for personal use cases wholly dependent on end user choices.

We do not claim ownership of any Blizzard intellectual property. No Blizzard game files are distributed by this project. Users must supply their own legally obtained game client.

Any public server operating under the "WoW Unbound" or "Unbound" name is doing so without our knowledge, authorization, or support.

This project:

• ✅ Uses only open source server emulators
• ✅ Does not distribute game assets, client files, or copyrighted content
• ✅ Requires you to supply your own game client
• ✅ Is intended for personal, offline, single-player use
• ❌ Does not help run public servers
• ❌ Does not support monetization of private servers
• ❌ Does not provide or link to game client downloads

Huge credit to the communities that make this possible:

• AzerothCore — the incredible open source WoW WotLK emulator
• CMaNGOS — the Vanilla and TBC foundation
• 2009scape — the RuneScape 2009 emulator
• Saradomin Launcher — the HD experimental client
• Every emulator project linked in our guides

Go give them a star. They deserve it.

"This is preservation, not piracy."

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🤝 Contributing

Found a bug? Got a game working that's not listed? PRs are welcome!

Please read CONTRIBUTING.md before submitting.

Special thanks to the community testers who have helped improve these installers through real-world bug reports. You know who you are. 🙏

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💬 Community

• Reddit: u/Kingspoken
• Reddit Thread: The post that started it all
• YouTube: youtube.com/@DadsMmoLab

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☕ Support the Project

This project is free and always will be.

If it helped you relive something you thought was gone forever — a coffee goes a long way toward keeping this going and eventually making it a full time mission:

☕ ko-fi.com/dadsmmolab

Or just:

• ⭐ Star this repo — helps more people find it
• 📢 Share it with other dads who miss their old games
• 💬 Comment on the YouTube videos

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📜 License

Installer scripts and guides in this repo are released under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0, consistent with AzerothCore's licensing.

Game emulators linked here are subject to their own licenses. Game assets belong to their respective owners and are NOT included here.

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Built with love by a dad who just wanted to play WoW on the couch without a subscription.

And then things got out of hand. 😄

We're just getting started. ⚔️