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FAQ
What is aowlspt, in one sentence?
A native mod system for post-1.0 Escape From Tarkov: a host that loads mods into the IL2CPP client, a server that speaks the client's real protocol, a launcher, and a set of mods — all offline, on your own machine.
Does it work on my version of Tarkov?
Post-1.0 clients (1.0.0 and later) only. Run aowlspt-install detect and it will tell you what you have.
Why not just use BepInEx or SPT?
Tarkov 1.0 moved the client from Mono to IL2CPP. There are no managed assemblies left — only GameAssembly.dll and global-metadata.dat — so BepInEx has no runtime to load into and Harmony has no methods to patch. Nothing built for one loads into the other.
SPT targets a pre-1.0 Mono client, and the usual way people run it is to roll a current client backwards to that build. This installer refuses to do that, and --force does not enable it — a downgrade across a major release replaces the client's assemblies and asset bundles with an older game's, and it means the game you play is not the game you own.
So aowlspt does the other thing: it hosts mods in the post-1.0 client directly, as a native DLL driving the runtime's own exported C API. No BepInEx, no Il2CppInterop, no generated proxy assemblies, no second runtime in the process.
Do I still need SPT installed?
Yes, for one step: importing the game's data. The item, trader, quest and map tables are BSG's data by way of SPT's, and this project does not distribute them. aowl importdb reads your SPT install read-only and writes a db.json.
Without it, the server starts, answers every route the client asks, and the game is empty.
Is this multiplayer?
No. Single-player, offline, PvE. Raids are populated by bots. There is no matchmaking and no other players.
Is this safe for my account?
The client this produces must never talk to BSG's live service. The installer does not carry BattlEye across and the launcher does not start it, because the modded client plays against a backend on your own machine.
Injecting a DLL into a process that is talking to BSG's servers is a decision with consequences for your account. These tools will not stop you pointing the client somewhere else, and they will not help you either.
Will it touch my existing Tarkov install?
No. --source is opened read-only and never written to; everything is built into a second directory (--target), which must be beside the source and not inside it. If it goes wrong, delete that directory — the install your launcher maintains is untouched and still updatable.
Does it need 78 GB of disk?
About 1 GB, on the same volume. The asset bundles nothing ever writes to are hard linked rather than copied, so a full install appears in seconds. Everything a patcher could plausibly rewrite is copied even so, because a hard link is a second name for the same bytes. --copy turns linking off entirely.
How do I update?
Take the new release and install with a payload containing only aowlspt/ and no --source. It becomes an overlay that owns only what it added, and nothing re-links forty thousand files.
How do I uninstall?
install\aowlspt-install.exe uninstall --target D:\AowlsptIt removes exactly the paths aowlspt-install.txt names and nothing else. For a full install that is the target directory including its copy of the client; for an overlay it is only what was added.
Can I turn mods on and off without restarting?
Yes, on the server while it is serving. On the client, while the game is running, if the host has a backend port to poll. disable and enable record the decision; /aowlspt/mods/apply performs it. See Mods.
Can I write mods in C#?
No. Mods are native libraries built against a small C ABI, and the ones here are written in nimony. Any language that can produce a DLL exporting three C functions can host a mod; nimony is what has a library and a build command. See For mod developers.
Can I use existing SPT or BepInEx mods with it?
No. Those are managed assemblies for a Mono client that post-1.0 no longer has. Several of the popular ones have been rewritten natively and ship here — see Mods.
Does it run on Linux or macOS?
No. Windows only.
What does it cost?
$19.99 a month for the build: every update, three machines, the mods, cancel whenever. The documentation is public; the source is not. See the licence page.
How finished is this?
It is playable: installed on a real post-1.0 client, it boots, you pick a profile, trade, take quests, and play populated offline raids. It is also a young project that is still adding surface, and some pieces are marked in progress where they are — Features says which.
Every build runs a full automated gate, from the ABI's layout under the real compiler to every mod in the registry loaded into one backend at once. The engineering record, including what the tests can and cannot establish, is under Under the hood.