Setup / The launcher

The OPLeague Launcher

One program, installed once, and the league runs through it: your sign-in, our private network and StarCraft server, your brackets, Nova (opens in a new tab), your replays and your rank. It works for every game the league runs today and every game it adds.

Platform
Windows
Games today
StarCraft: Brood War
Games later
Every game the league adds
Setup time
~10 minutes
Cost
Included

Live server status

The OPLeague server is up.

The OPLeague server is down right now.

We cannot read the server status right now.

Tonight is a good night to install. Sign in, press Connect, and the launcher takes you onto the league network. The light in the top bar stays green while it is up, on every page.

Nothing is wrong with your PC. Our network provider is not answering, and until it does, nobody can be matched. You can still install: the launcher connects on its own when the server is back, and the light in the top bar turns green.

That usually means this page could not reach our status feed, not that the server is down. Refresh in a minute. The launcher checks for itself the moment you press Connect.

Players on now
0
League network
Up Down Unknown
This panel
Checks itself every minute

Nobody is on right now, which is normal outside bracket hours. The server is still up.

Your first connection needs a nod from us. The first time a PC connects, a person at OPLeague approves it. The launcher tells you while you wait, and we get an email the moment you ask. Approval usually happens within a few hours, and can take up to 48 hours or the next business day.

What it looks like

One window, and the league comes to you

Three real screens from launch day, on the founder's own PC. Nothing staged, nothing mocked up: this is the launcher you are about to install, and it plays people and Nova the same way.

  1. The OPLeague Launcher: Server & Account Status on the left with the server light, Next Match on the right with PLAY, Skirmish, Withdraw and Clear queue, and the Activity feed underneath.

    Before you play

    Everything is ready, or it says what is not

    Server & Account Status reads the server light, your account and your game, and hands you a button for anything that is missing. Next Match is one press from playing. The Activity feed underneath shows every line the launcher writes, as it happens.

    • The server light: up, struggling or down, with the players on right now
    • PLAY, Skirmish, Withdraw and Clear queue, always on the card
    • The Activity feed: full transparency about what the launcher is doing on your PC
  2. StarCraft: Brood War lobby on the player screen: Home Team NOvaWOLF, Zerg; Away Team NOVA-T, Terran; the game log reads NOVA-T has joined the game.

    In the lobby

    NOVA-T has joined the game

    Challenge Nova, press PLAY, and create a plain Local Area Network game in StarCraft. Nova walks into your lobby a few seconds later, in your own copy of the game, on your own PC. Nothing new to learn.

    • Nova plays all three races: NOVA-P, NOVA-T and NOVA-Z are the same opponent as Protoss, Terran and Zerg
    • Nova joins a plain LAN lobby, the same way a friend on your network would
    • Nova remembers how you played, and comes back harder
  3. The OPLeague Launcher mid-match: Skirmish vs NOVA-T, Nova, as NOVA-T, waiting for your lobby, the recording running, and the Game, Network and Results cards on the right.

    Mid-match

    You play; the launcher keeps the books

    The recording runs, the network stays up, and every result reaches the league the moment the game ends. Game, Network and Results on the right tell you where you stand without leaving the window.

    • Match video and screenshots at the busy moments, kept on your PC
    • Results sent by themselves, with the replay attached
    • Your rating and rank move on their own

And the rest of it

Built for humans and bots alike, with your calendar in the loop

  • Humans and bots alike

    Challenge a registered pro-gamer or Nova the same way: pick a name, send it, press PLAY. A person answers; Nova accepts at once. The launcher never treats them differently.

  • Google Calendar, built in

    Connect your Google account once in Settings. Pick a time in your own zone; the other player sees theirs. Agree, and the match lands in both calendars with a Yes for both of you.

  • Right now, or later

    Skirmish plays whoever is online this minute, ahead of your queue. The Challenge Queue shows every match set and every invitation waiting, with the answer on each row.

  • Invitations that find you

    A challenge, a skirmish, an accepted time or a withdrawal reaches you as a Windows notification, even with the launcher tucked in the tray.

  • Your PC, your folders

    Replays, screenshots and match video go where you say, one folder for each. Nothing leaves your PC except the results you play for.

  • Honest, and it updates itself

    The Activity feed shows every line the launcher writes. Every update is signed by OPLeague and checked on your PC before it runs.

Co-op squads

Plan your Helldivers 2 and Aliens nights with your squad

Co-op is not a duel. Nobody accepts or declines, and nothing is ranked or scored: you post a time, your squad fills up, and you drop in together.

  • Post a time, fill the squad

    Pick a time, or play right now. Anybody in the league can join until the squad is full: four for Helldivers 2, three for Aliens: Fireteam Elite. Invite your friends by name.

  • A calendar for each co-op game

    The Squad Calendar shows every squad planned for the game, day by day, with who is in and the seats still open. One press to join.

  • In everyone's Google Calendar

    A squad with a time goes into the host's calendar, and everyone who joins gets the invitation with a Yes. Move it or call it off, and everyone hears.

  • Find each other on Steam

    Inside a squad, each name opens that player's Steam profile, so adding them takes one click. You hear when someone joins, and fifteen minutes before you meet.

What it does for you

The launcher is your right hand in the league. Everything a gamer used to do by hand, it does.

  1. Signs you inOnce, with a one-time code from the site. It never holds a password.
  2. Joins the private networkYour PC and the league host behave as though they share a router, wherever you are, and our private StarCraft server is on it.
  3. Finds and starts the right buildIt knows which build a match needs and starts that one. You only have to own the game.
  4. Checks you in to bracketsYour seat is claimed from the launcher, and it tells you when your match is up.
  5. Brings Nova to youA practice partner in all three races, at any hour, set up without a step from you.
  6. Reports every matchThe replay is fingerprinted the instant it appears and uploaded; the result posts to the ladder. Nothing to type.
  7. Keeps your profile currentYour results, your rating and your rank reach your page on their own.

Subscribers only

The launcher and Nova are behind the subscription

The launcher, the league network and every version of Nova come with a pro-gamer subscription, from five dollars a month. Anybody can watch every replay, read every profile and back a player without one. Nobody can download the launcher or reach the network without one.

See pricing →

Step 01

Get the launcher

Windows, one installer. Windows will warn you the first time you run it, and that is normal: it warns about any program it has not yet seen many people install, and OPLeague only opened for business recently. Choose More info, then Run anyway. The launcher asks nothing from you but your OPLeague sign-in, and it never holds a password: you approve it from the site with a code, once.

From us · subscribers only OPLeague Desktop Launcher Signs you in, joins you to the league network, finds your game, brings Nova to the 2009 build, watches your matches and uploads the replays. It updates itself, and it refuses any update we have not signed. Windows 10 or later · about 80 MB · downloads from your Account Settings once you are signed in Subscribe to get it

What it never does

Nothing secret ships inside it: no keys, no network ID, no passwords. Everything it needs it asks our server for, using a token that is yours and this machine's only, kept where other programs on your PC cannot read it. It carries game traffic and match results, and nothing else about your PC is visible to the league.

Step 02

Have the game

The launcher finds your StarCraft; it does not include it, because the game is Blizzard's and not ours. There are two builds and they cannot see each other, so which one you have decides which nights you can play. Most people start with the free current one.

Easiest start Play people Weekly brackets against everyone else in the league. This is most of what we run.
Game build
The current free StarCraft: Brood War, straight from Blizzard
Where
blizzard.com, one installer, no key, nothing to hunt down
Launcher
Finds it, connects you, reports your matches
Bots
Cannot play them on this build; bot nights need the other one
Needs the 2009 build Play the bots Practice against Nova at any hour, and enter the bots-versus-humans nights.
Game build
StarCraft 1.16.1, the 2009 build
Where
Not sold or given out by Blizzard any more. See the note below.
Launcher
Finds it, brings Nova to it, reports your matches
Humans
Only plays others on 1.16.1, so we label every bracket with its build
Human track · from Blizzard StarCraft: Brood War, current version Blizzard gives the game away. One installer, no key, and it is the build the weekly brackets use. Install it, then let the launcher find it. starcraftremastered.blizzard.com · external link · free Get it from Blizzard
Bot track · version 1.16.1 StarCraft 1.16.1, the 2009 build The only build our bots can run on. Blizzard stopped distributing it years ago, so there is no official button to point you at. OPLeague does not host or hand out the game. If this build is already on your computer the launcher will find it, check it and set it up; if it is not, the page below explains what to look for. required for Nova in every race How to get it

Why the bots need a sixteen-year-old build

Nova runs on BWAPI, the community framework every StarCraft AI is built on. It hooks into the 2009 build. Blizzard added anti-cheat protection in the 2017 patch that shuts BWAPI out, so Nova cannot run on the current client and never will. The launcher knows which build a match needs and starts that one, so you never have to.

Step 03

Sign in, and the rest is done for you

Open the launcher and press Sign in. It sends you to the site for a one-time code, then it does the three things that used to be a page of instructions.

  1. 01 It joins the league network The private network that makes your PC and everyone else's look like one room. The ID comes from our server to your launcher and nowhere else. Your machine shows up on our side as pending and is approved, usually within minutes, once.
  2. 02 It finds your game, and brings Nova It looks for both builds and tells you which it found. On the 2009 build it sets up Nova in all three races, and the league maps and settings, so every bracket is played on the same footing.
  3. 03 It watches your matches and reports them When a replay appears it is fingerprinted on the spot and uploaded, and the result posts to the ladder. Nothing to type, and nothing to send us. If it ever fails, you can report a match by hand with the replay attached, and that is the only manual route there is.

Check it all works

Run these four before your first bracket, not five minutes before it starts.

  1. The launcher shows you signed in
    Your name is in the corner of its one screen. If it is not, sign in again; nothing else on this list can work until it is.
  2. It has found your game
    It says which build it found and where. If it found the wrong one for tonight, point it at the other install.
  3. The network light is on
    The launcher joins the league network for you. Pending means our end has not approved your machine yet, which usually takes minutes; tell us if it takes longer.
  4. Bot track only: Nova builds workers
    Start a practice game against Nova. If it just sits there, tell us; that is the one thing the launcher cannot fix on its own yet.

When something goes wrong

The network light stays on pending

Our end has not approved your machine yet. It is done by hand, once, and usually within minutes. If it has been longer than an hour, tell us and say the name the launcher shows you signed in as.

I cannot see the host game in the list

Check the launcher's network light first. Then check Windows Firewall is allowing the game, because it usually asks once on the first launch and people click no. Restart the game after either fix.

Anything else

Tell us what you are seeing and we will work through it with you, usually the same night. Nobody has ever been the first person to hit a given problem.

Report what you are seeing →

Set up and ready?

Pick a bracket and claim a seat, or play Nova tonight to warm up. If something above did not go to plan, tell us and we will get on it with you.

See upcoming brackets Meet Nova