Introducing Deretha modern, open-source Asheron's Call client

You'll need the game data files; none are included.
Classic cell.dat and portal.dat required for Infiltration-era UI and visuals.

PLAY IN BROWSER

(or play the February 2005 world, Infiltration)

Download Source

The browser connects to Empyrean worlds with WebSocket on. Any other server needs a local web relay.

Dereth

The classic character screen with the 1999 cauldron

END OF RETAIL CLASSIC

Runs natively on Windows, macOS and Linux, and in a browser.
Supports the modern, end-of-retail interface and the classic, pre-Throne of Destiny one. Fidelity was only compromised where needed to support end-of-retail features (the journal, cloak and trinket slots, and so on).
Reads the data files from 1999 through 2017, and plays worlds built on the February 2005 (Infiltration) data without massaging classic data files into modern ones.
Supports classic terrain, sky and object models.
A launcher with the community server list, and support for adding your own servers.

And some experimental features:

Horizon. A new interface, camera and controls, built on the same physics and simulation as retail.
High Fidelity. Rendering upgrades for Horizon: better lighting and atmosphere, weather, and shadows. Off by default.
Gamepad mode. With Horizon, play the whole game with a controller.

Empyrean

Empyrean started as a straight port of ACE, so the client and server would share an exact view of the world: the simulation state, the data models and so on. It has diverged from ACE where needed, toward a server that can play any era of Asheron's Call from 1999 to 2017, and toward a client that isn't limited to what retail did.

Where it has diverged so far:

Eras. An [era] setting picks which era a world plays (end of retail by default). Infiltration uses ClassicACE's rules, and a world's systems (housing, luminance, aetheria, spell research and so on) can be turned off to match its era. Spell research with the original Create Spell interface, for example, needed both a custom client and changes in Empyrean.
Data overlays. A world can serve its own custom content in the data files, and Dereth keeps it per world instead of patching your install.
A status ping. The launcher can ask a world for its era, player count and version without logging in.
Announcements. The classic interface brings back the large pre-Throne of Destiny announcements box. For parity it's in the modern interface too, and an Empyrean server can fill it.

Screenshots

Holtburg's portal in the end-of-retail interface and data

The same view in the classic interface and the February 2005 data

END OF RETAIL CLASSIC

Holtburg with the skills panel open, end of retail

The same moment in the classic interface

END OF RETAIL CLASSIC

The same view with High Fidelity on: warmer light, shadows and haze

STANDARD HIGH FIDELITY

Holtburg at night by a portal and a lamp, High Fidelity off

The same view with High Fidelity on: the lamp lights the ground

STANDARD HIGH FIDELITY

Horizon with keyboard and mouse, fighting drudges with the inventory open

The same moment in gamepad mode, with a cross-shaped hotbar and a cursor in the inventory

KEYBOARD & MOUSE GAMEPAD

The launcher's world list, with each world's emulator, era and rules

Acknowledgements

Empyrean is a port, not an entirely new design: it builds on the incredible work of the ACE developer community. It also leans on ClassicACE for the early-era rules, plus GDLE and the community's extensive packet-capture archives. Thank you!

Dereth is built with an AI coding assistant doing much of the typing. It's open source, so you can check its work yourself, but if AI is a deal-breaker for you, now you know.

What to expect

Dereth started as a hobby project, a way to play on macOS and Linux without a compatibility layer. It has grown into part archaeology, bringing back the old interface and graphics, and part playground for what AC could be, or might have been. I want to keep exploring that.

It's young: expect a fully playable client with some rough edges. There's no Decal support (making it work on every platform may not be practical), but a plugin system is in the works.

Bugs go to Issues and questions to Discussions.