Super Mecha Champions - community server kit
============================================

Server: 172.235.131.79

What you need first
-------------------
1. Super Mecha Champions installed from Steam.
2. Nothing else - no VPN, no Tailscale, no account to make.
3. The game CLOSED. The installer writes into the game folder.

The launcher: SMC Overdrive.exe
-------------------------------
The kit's folder holds only the launcher; everything it uses (this README too) is in "files" beside it.
Double-click

    SMC Overdrive.exe

One window shows whether the server is online, what your game is set up for, whether your client is up to
date, and the news. Its buttons:

    INSTALL & PLAY / PLAY        sets the game up for Overdrive (what JOIN does), then starts it through Steam
    REPAIR                       does the set-up again
    SWITCH TO SUPER MECHA CROWS  sets the game up for the Super Mecha Crows server with THEIR official kit
                                 (one it finds on this PC, their zip you choose, or a download from their
                                 official site, smc.horsecock.art - it asks you first). Install & Play
                                 switches back.
    UNINSTALL                    what LEAVE does: the game back to stock

Each button that changes something asks Windows for administrator permission once (the hosts file
needs it). Nothing keeps running in the background, and nothing is written outside the game folder
except the hosts file.

Windows may show a blue "Windows protected your PC" box the first time: the launcher is not signed
with a paid certificate. Click "More info", then "Run anyway". If you would rather not, JOIN and LEAVE
below do the same without the launcher.

It needs the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime, which Windows 11 (and an up-to-date Windows 10) has.

Joining without the launcher
----------------------------
In the "files" folder, double-click

    JOIN - double click me.bat

It will ask for administrator permission - say yes. That is needed to edit the hosts file and to write
into the game folder.

If you would rather do it by hand, open PowerShell as Administrator, cd to this folder and run:

    powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\join.ps1

(the -ExecutionPolicy part is because Windows blocks .ps1 files by default; it applies to that one
command only and changes nothing on your machine)

The first time, JOIN also prepares the overlay's pictures (skin cards, mech skins, loading screens, maps,
emotes) from your own game files - they are not in the kit, because every player already has them. It
takes about a minute at most and says when it is done. If it fails, JOIN still finishes and you can play;
the overlay then shows empty frames where the pictures go, and running JOIN again retries it.

Then start the game normally. It will connect to the community server instead of NetEase's, which no
longer exists.

They work while the game has focus, so you can mark as you walk. Marks land wherever your character is
standing, so stand inside the building - loot never spawns in the open.

You rarely need N. A mark takes the name of whatever is already named around it, so name a building
once and every later mark there is named for free - including marks by somebody who never typed it.
Alt-tab to type the name when it asks; everything else can be done without leaving the game.

Anything else - fixing a tier, deleting a spot - is on the marker page in a browser. You can only
delete points you marked yourself.

It asks for administrator, and that is not optional. The game runs elevated, and Windows will not let a
program below it see your keystrokes - the keys would just do nothing while you were in the game, with
no error to tell you why.

It does not touch the game. It watches the keyboard and tells the server where you are standing. Close
the window to stop it.

The custom camera (optional)
----------------------------
The patch brings its own camera (shoulder view, mech and drift cameras). To play with the game's own
camera instead, double-click

    CAMERA ON-OFF - double click me.bat

It says which way it is now; double-click it again to switch back. No administrator needed, and it works
before you start the game or while it is running.

Playing with a controller (optional)
------------------------------------
Xbox, PlayStation (DualSense / DualShock 4), Switch Pro and most other controllers work natively. JOIN
puts a small helper into the game folder (smc_pad\smc_pad_helper.exe) - the game starts it by itself
and it closes itself after the game. It only reads the controller and talks to the game on this PC.

Steam Input: turn it OFF for Super Mecha Champions (Steam > right-click the game > Properties >
Controller > "Disable Steam Input"). With it on, Steam turns the controller into keys and the game's
own controller support stands down so the two never fight.

Controller players get the same aim assist as the phone version (the game's "aim assist" setting).
Moving the mouse switches it off until you use the right stick again.

If the controller does nothing, check smc_pad\smc_pad_helper.log in the game folder: it lists the
controllers it found. If Windows Security removed or blocked the helper, double-click

    CONTROLLER - allow in Windows Security.bat

(it asks for administrator; it only touches the smc_pad folder, and -Undo takes it back).

To put everything controller-related back the way you had it, double-click

    CONTROLLER - undo (back to how it was).bat

Close Steam first (Steam menu > Exit). It asks for administrator, then:
  - switches the SMC controller support off (the game no longer starts the helper or reads a controller;
    touch, keyboard and mouse are unchanged)
  - removes the Windows Security exception for the smc_pad folder
  - moves the SMC controller layouts out of Steam's layout folder for this game (they are kept in the kit's
    undo-backup folder) and puts back a layout you had backed up (.bak / .backup / .orig)
If you changed Steam Input for the game yourself (Properties > Controller), set it back there too.
To turn the SMC controller support on again:  undo-controller.ps1 -Redo

Going back
----------
Double-click

    LEAVE - double click me.bat

This restores whatever you had before, including a Crow install - its hosts entries are disabled rather
than removed, so they come back untouched.

What this changes
-----------------
hosts file                 the NetEase hostnames point at the server instead of NetEase
package\Documents\cacert.pem   our CA is appended, so the game trusts the server's HTTPS
package\patch_npk\p_script.npk  replaced with a copy that trusts the server's gate key
smc_pad\                   the controller helper (added; leave.ps1 removes it)
smc_overlay\               the lobby, menus, settings, friends and news (added; leave.ps1 removes it),
                           with the game pictures JOIN makes from your game files into smc_overlay\web
                           (art_export\smc_art_export.exe; its log is smc_overlay\export.log)
smc_launcher\              the launcher's last action log, and the Super Mecha Crows kit if it downloaded it

Each of those is backed up before it is touched (.smcown-backup), and leave.ps1 restores them.

Nothing here is secret: the patch carries a public key, and ca.crt is a certificate, not a key. If you
were sent a file called anything.key or anything.pem, you were sent the wrong thing - tell whoever sent
it, because it lets anyone impersonate the server.
