ColdLoader

This project aims to provide a DLL that can be used to load the coldclient version of GBE without needing an external executable.

Usage

1. Build the DLL:

   cargo build --release
   

   The resulting DLL will be located in target/release/coldloader.dll.

2. Add the loader files to the game files:

   Place the compiled coldloader.dll in the game files, and add the coldloader.EXAMPLE.ini file, renaming it to coldloader.ini and filling in the required fields. The loader can work without the coldloader.ini file, supposed that steam_settings/steam_appid.txt contains the App ID and steamclient64.dll (or steamclient.dll in case of x86 games) is present in the same directory.

3. Add any DLL loader that loads coldloader.dll:

   You can use any DLL loader that loads coldloader.dll during the game startup. We recently released coldloader-proxy to that does this job! Works with as both version.dll and winmm.dll with no false positives on virustotal.

   Koaloader is also a suggested option.

4. Run the game:

   Start the game as you normally would. The DLL will handle loading the coldclient and patching the registry.

Debug logs

• In debug builds, logs are written to a timestamped file (coldloader_<timestamp>.log).

Builds

Builds are available in the releases section of the repository. Nighly builds are also available in the actions section.

Disclaimer

This project is highly inspired from the coldclient original loader implementation but adapted to a DLL. This project is for educational and research purposes only. Use responsibly and respect software licenses.