MultiVersus Revival

MultiVersus went offline, but the game is still on our drives. MultiVersus Revival brings it back to life: every fighter and cosmetic unlocked, and real online matches with your friends again, hosted by players over Steam, with no official servers and no port forwarding.

This is a community preservation project. It uses the game you already have installed; nothing from the game is redistributed here.

What you get

• Everything unlocked: all fighters, variants, banners, profile icons, ring-out effects and perk sets, plus all of MultiVersus' Steam achievements (unlocked on your Steam account the first time you start the game with the mod; create an empty file named MvsRevival.no-achievements next to the game's exe to skip that).
• Online play over Steam: one player hosts from their own game. Friends join with a 5-letter code or a Steam invite. Steam handles the connection, so no router setup is needed.
• The original screens, working again:
  • Custom Game lobbies: teams, time, ring-outs, hazards, map selection, handicap and bots.
  • Game modes and mutators: the lobby's Game Mode picker (Tiny, Tiny vs Giant, Volleyball, Race!, Rocket Fist Rain, Spotlight, Ice Pit and the rest) and Global Mutators work, plus the Free-For-All layout.
  • Spectators: extra players in a full lobby (or anyone who picks Join Spectators) watch the match live.
  • Fighter and skin select, and the faceoff screen with perk selection.
  • Results screen, then Return to Lobby for the next match.
• Quick match: the Unranked 1v1 and 2v2 tiles find another player who pressed the same tile.
• If someone leaves before the match starts, the match is cancelled and everyone goes back to the lobby.

Install (1 minute)

You need MultiVersus installed through Steam on Windows. Every player installs the mod. On Linux (Bazzite, SteamOS, Steam Deck and other distros using Proton), follow Install on Bazzite / Linux instead.

1. Download this project: click the green Code button above, then Download ZIP, and unzip it anywhere.
2. Double-click Install.bat.

The installer finds MultiVersus by itself, in any Steam library on any drive, whatever the folder is called, copies the mod in and offers to start the game. If Windows asks whether to run it, choose Run (or More info > Run anyway). Close MultiVersus first if it's running.

Even quicker: skip the download. Open PowerShell (Start menu, type powershell) and paste:

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DarrellBest/multiversus-revival/main/install.ps1 | iex

It downloads the latest version and installs it the same way. Run either one again any time to update.

On the home screen, PLAY opens the multiplayer menu.

Manual install

If the installer can't find the game, it asks you to pick the MultiVersus folder. To do it by hand instead:

1. In Steam, right-click MultiVersus, then choose Manage and Browse local files.
2. Open MultiVersus\Binaries\Win64. It contains MultiVersus-Win64-Shipping.exe.
3. Copy everything inside this project's Win64 folder into it. Allow it to replace files if asked.

Install on Bazzite / Linux

Linux players can join Windows players normally. Open a terminal (on Bazzite: Konsole) and paste:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DarrellBest/multiversus-revival/main/install.sh | bash

Or download this project as above and run bash install.sh in its folder. You can also double-click install.sh and choose Run. Run it again any time to update.

The installer finds MultiVersus in any Steam library, copies the mod in, and sets up the game's Proton prefix: it makes Proton load the mod and installs a new enough Visual C++ runtime there. It uses Protontricks for that, which Bazzite already has; on other systems it offers to install it from Flathub. If MultiVersus has never been started, it offers to start it once so Proton can create the prefix. Close the game when it reaches the title screen, and the install carries on. Options: --game-dir "<folder>", --dry-run, --no-launch, --local (use the files next to the script instead of downloading the latest).

To check it worked: after a launch, UE4SS.log and MvsRevival.log should appear next to MultiVersus-Win64-Shipping.exe. If they don't, set the launch option from step 3 below.

Manual install on Linux

MultiVersus runs through Proton, which needs two extra steps on top of copying the files. Skip either one and the mod won't work: without step 3 it never loads, and without step 4 the game crashes at startup.

1. Run MultiVersus once from Steam, then close it. This creates its Proton prefix.

2. Copy the files: in Steam, right-click MultiVersus, then choose Manage and Browse local files. Open MultiVersus/Binaries/Win64 (it contains MultiVersus-Win64-Shipping.exe) and copy everything inside this project's Win64 folder into it, replacing files if asked. From a terminal:

   cp -r Win64/. ~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/MultiVersus/MultiVersus/Binaries/Win64/

   If the game is in another Steam library, use that library's steamapps/common/MultiVersus path instead.

3. Make Proton load the mod: in Steam, right-click MultiVersus, then choose Properties and General. Paste this into Launch Options:

   WINEDLLOVERRIDES="dwmapi=n,b" %command%
   

   The mod is loaded through dwmapi.dll. Proton uses its own built-in copy of that file unless told otherwise, so without this option the game starts as if the mod wasn't there.

4. Update the C++ runtime in the game's prefix: close MultiVersus, then run:

   flatpak run com.github.Matoking.protontricks 1818750 -q vcrun2022

   Bazzite comes with Protontricks as a Flatpak. If yours is installed another way, run protontricks 1818750 -q vcrun2022. 1818750 is MultiVersus' Steam app ID. It takes a minute or two; the Wine fixme lines it prints are normal.

   The prefix ships with the 2022 Visual C++ runtime (14.31). MvsRevival.dll needs 14.40 or newer and crashes on startup with an older one (an access violation in msvcp140.dll).

5. Launch the game from Steam. On the home screen, PLAY opens the multiplayer menu.

To check it worked: after a launch, UE4SS.log and MvsRevival.log should appear next to MultiVersus-Win64-Shipping.exe. If they don't, the launch option from step 3 isn't set.

To update, repeat step 2 with the new files. Steps 3 and 4 only need doing once, unless you delete the prefix: Steam removes it when you uninstall the game, and you can also delete it by hand.

Uninstall

In Steam, right-click MultiVersus, then choose Properties, Installed Files and Verify integrity of game files.

Play with friends

Custom Game (with friends)

1. Host: Home, then PLAY, then Custom Game. Your lobby code is shown below the player list.
2. Friends: Home, then PLAY, then Custom Game. Type the host's code in the code box and press JOIN. Accepting the host's Steam invite also works.
3. Everyone: click the ✏️ on your own slot, then Edit Fighter, and pick your fighter and variant. Press READY.
4. Host: choose settings and maps, add bots with + BOT if you like, then press START MATCH.
5. Faceoff: pick perks with EDIT PERKS, or just press READY.
6. After the match, RETURN TO LOBBY brings everyone back for the next one.

Quick match: Home, then PLAY, then Unranked 1v1 or Unranked 2v2. The match starts when the lobby is full.

Screenshots

Gameplay screenshots are on the way. They are being captured from the current test build.

Troubleshooting

• Nothing changed in the game: make sure the files went into MultiVersus\Binaries\Win64, next to MultiVersus-Win64-Shipping.exe.
• Friends can't join: everyone needs the mod installed and Steam running. Double-check the code; it's 5 letters.
• Something broke: send these two files from your game's Binaries\Win64 folder:
  • MvsRevival.log
  • UE4SS.log
• The game crashed: also send the newest folder in %LOCALAPPDATA%\MultiVersus\Saved\Crashes (paste that path into File Explorer's address bar), zipped. On Linux this folder is in the Proton prefix: ~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/1818750/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/Local/MultiVersus/Saved/Crashes. There's also a crash_*.dmp next to the game's exe.
• Linux: no logs appear, or the game crashes on startup: run install.sh again, or see Manual install on Linux, steps 3 and 4.
• Updating: run Install.bat from a fresh download, or the PowerShell line above (on Linux, install.sh or the curl line). It replaces the old files.
• Skip the faceoff: create an empty file named MvsRevival.nofaceoff next to the game's exe to go straight to the stage.

For modders and contributors

• The game's pak AES key is in AES-KEY.txt. Use it with FModel or CUE4Parse; the engine is UE 5.1.
• How it works:
  • UE4SS loads two Lua mods and MvsRevival.dll.
  • The DLL emulates the old online backend locally and runs the match relay.
  • It uses Steam lobbies and Steam Datagram Relay for connections.

Credits and licenses

• UE4SS: © Narknon and contributors, MIT license, see licenses/UE4SS-LICENSE.txt.
• OpenVersus: the netcode start handshake, input prediction and pacing follow OpenVersus' rollback server; the game mode and map rotation tables come from their server, and the banner and match-cancel calls from their client (all MIT license, see licenses/OpenVersus-LICENSE.txt). Thanks to that team.
• MultiVersus is © Warner Bros. Games / Player First Games. This is an unofficial fan project, not affiliated with or endorsed by them. You need your own copy of the game.