Please note that this software is NOT SUPPORTED by the official Crossfire project or Crossfire developers.
Support requests, bug reports, general questions and comments should be directed to @RetroCloak on the Crossfire Discord / IRC or on the project issue tracker.
This is yet another game client for Crossfire: The Multiplayer Adventure Game
Officially Supported clients can be found at:
More information about Crossfire:
How to Play Crossfire:
I first found Crossfire around 2009, and played for quite some time on a private server. In 2021, I came back to play again after a number of years of not playing, and found the game and interface wasn't super friendly to new players. All in all, I found the interface and control schemes pretty confusing with the mix of a GUI and text commands.
I remembered I wanted to write my own client back in 2009 just to see if I could, and lately I felt that I needed a new project project, so I figured I'd try to come up with something that might be a little easier to use for new or beginner players.
- Adheres more to Windows UI standards compared to other clients
- Consistent UX throughout the application
- Mouse friendly interface, with right click context menus for actions and command help, and drag/drop functionality
- Each dockable panel has a toolbar and context menu with related options and actions (Also accessible via right click on the title or via down arrow in toolbar)
- Panels are movable, dockable, floatable, and rearrangeable on the fly
- Support for multiple saved panel layouts (global, per character, and multiple custom layouts)
- Layouts are switchable via keybinds or when selecting a character to play
- Background/Foreground colours, font styles and sizes are changeable on the fly
- Themes can be imported and exported
- Each dockable panel provides additional customization, eg:
- Inventory item colours and display can be changed based on item info
- Message colors can be overridden based on category
- Row heights and icon sizes can be changed in listboxes
- List views can be sorted, grouped, and support multiple view types (details, icon, etc)
- New DockClient only local commands:
- Type 'localcommands' or 'localcommands help' to see the list
- Drag and Drop items between inventory, ground and container panels
- Plugin support to add additional game panels and functionality
- Supports quest list and knowledge panel like the Java client
- Open containers pop up a new inventory panel to display their contents
- Map panel scales to screen and is easily zoomable, or map scale can be changed via a fixed amount
- Message panel display can be zoomed in or out
- Can hide or show any panel via keybinds
- QuickKey / Hotkey bar
- Character Notes panel
- Native windows application
- Minimal dependencies and dlls
- Small install size (~2mb)
Game Panels are the name of the panels arranged around the map panel, which provide information and allow interactions with the Crossfire Server. These can be shown, hidden, and moved around as required.
Game Panels can be individually configured by the settings icon on the game panel toolbar, right-clicking the game panel title, or by the settings menu item under the Options menu.
Each Game Panel also contains a common toolbar with server commands related to the panel, as well as help on the commands.
Set the client theme by either:
- Importing an existing theme via the
Options->Import Options->Thememenu - Manually customizing the theme via the
Options->Thememenu
NOTE: Light/Dark mode is changed under the Client & Game Panels->Display->Menu & Toolbar setting, found in the Options->Theme menu
A theme consists of:
- Overall client toolbar and menu theme
- Game Panel fonts, background and text colours
- List item selection display
- List item secondary text display
- Panel specific theme settings
- Text highlighting colours
The client layout can be saved to the character, or saved as a client default layout. Existing layouts can be imported under the Panel Layout->Load Existing Layout->From File... menu, and then saved as the Global Default Layout or as the Default Layout for Current Character under Panel Layout->Save Current Layout.
Any client layout can be exported to a file, and importing a layout from file can be bound to a keybind or quickkey using the loadlayoutfile localcommand.
A layout consists of:
- Game Panel Positions and Visibility (Hidden, Docked, Floating)
- ListView View, Sorting, Grouping, and Column Widths
- Toolbar Dock Positions and Visibility (Hidden, Image, Text, Both)
- Panel specific layout settings
- Inventory Panel filters and sorting
- Character Panel subpanel sizes and visibility
The Quick Key Bar can be set up for a character by:
- Dragging a Skill from the Skill Panel to a Quick Key and selecting Use or Ready
- Dragging a Spell from the Spell Book Panel to a Quick Key and selecting Cast or Invoke
- Dragging a Item from the Inventory Panel to a Quick Key and selecting Toggle, Apply, Unapply or Open
- Dragging a Command from the Command Panel to a Quick Key
- Dragging an Equipment Set from the Equipped Item header of the Character Panel to a Quick Key and selecting Toggle, Apply or Unapply
- Dragging an Pickup Mask from the Auto Pickup Panel to a Quick Key
- Dragging an Inhibit Pickup Toggle from the Auto Pickup Panel to a Quick Key
- Right-clicking a Quick Key and selecting Edit Quick Key and manually filling in the Command
Once a Quick Key is set up, the Quick Key Command can be triggered by:
- the default keybinds of
F1-F12 - a left mouse click on the Quick Key
Additional Quick Keys are available in the Hotkey Bar Panel and are triggered with the default keybinds of Shift-F1-Shift-F12.
Multiple commands can be bound to a single Quick Key by using ; to delimit multiple commands. Pressing the ... button when editing the Command setting for a Quick Key allows each command to be entered on its own line.
NOTES:
- Quick Keys are saved to the character.
- The image displayed along with the Quick Key may change due to a server upgrade, and can be changed / disabled by modifying the Face setting
- Quick Key commands are sent to the server via a keybind running a localcommand
- Apply Items In Open Container allows the apply command to be disabled when there is an open container stopping the accidental apply of items
- Auto-Commands allow commands to be run when choosing a player or entering a new map.
Client settings are stored by default in the %APPDATA%\Crossfire DockWindow Client directory, which can be changed via the -d command line parameter if required.
Instead of using the Crossfire DockWindow Client installer to install the client and plugins, the Crossfire DockWindow Client can be started in a portable mode via the -p command line parameter, or by running the portable version. Running in portable mode will create and save any client settings to a Data sub-directory where the CrossfireRPG.DockClient.exe file exists.
Note that the portable directory does not include any plugins by default. Plugins can be installed to a portable version as documented below, and will need to be upgraded (or removed) with each new client version.
Supported plugins can be installed/upgraded using the Crossfire DockWindow Client installer. If plugins need to be installed manually, a plugin can be installed by copying all the files inside a plugin location to the Crossfire DockClient Plugins directory. This directory may need to be created
Manual installation steps:
- Create a sub-directory named
Pluginswhere theCrossfireRPG.DockClient.exefile exists - Copy dlls and datafiles from inside the plugin location (eg.
Plugins\PluginName) and place them in thePluginssub-directory
NOTE: Some plugins may be experimental, and require that experimental game panels are enabled in the client settings.
CrossfireRPG.DockClient.exe [-h] | [-p] | [-d <DataFolder>]
-h Shows help
-p Portable Mode (saves settings to <PortableDir>\Data)
-d <DataFolder> Saves settings to a custom data directory