Getting Started

What you need

A Windows PC and about 4.2 GB of free disk space — the 2.13 GB download plus the 2.04 GiB it extracts to, until you delete the zip. Nothing else: the zip is the whole game, so there is no retail copy to buy, no existing install to reuse, and no CD key.

Windows is the only supported and tested platform. Mac and Linux are not supported: Mac needs an OpenGL compatibility shim and a modified game executable that we deliberately do not ship — without them the game hangs on a black window — and our launcher would overwrite that modified executable anyway. Linux is untested and undocumented.

Download and install

1. Download https://dl.leisureforce.games/ShadowbanePlus-Client.zip (2.13 GB).
2. Extract it anywhere. It unpacks one Shadowbane/ folder holding 123 files, about 2.04 GiB, already configured for this server and with the intro movies stripped out.
3. Run Shadowbane.exe from inside that folder.
4. At the login screen, type the username and password you want to use. The account is created as you log in.

The launcher

Shadowbane.exe in our download is our launcher, not the retail patcher the 2003 client shipped with. On every run it opens a console window, fetches the current list of client files, updates itself if it has changed, downloads only the pieces that differ, then starts sb.exe and steps out of the way.

You can start sb.exe directly and the game runs, but it will never update. There is no repair button: if a file looks damaged, delete it — or the whole folder if you cannot tell which — and run Shadowbane.exe again. Anything missing is fetched fresh.

Do not run the old patcher

The original retail Shadowbane.exe is a patcher pointed at someone else's patch server. Running it repoints Config/ArcaneIP.cfg at an unrelated third-party shard, restores the intro movies and reverts our client-side changes, which leaves you unable to reach this server. It also keeps its own configuration in sync, so a repointed install stays repointed. This was confirmed happening to players on 16 August 2026.

Our download removes that patcher and its helper PatcherBounce.exe, neutralizes the patcher's configuration file, and ships our launcher under the name Shadowbane.exe so the reflex double-click is the right one. Our launcher also overwrites Config/ArcaneIP.cfg exactly once, repairing a file the patcher already hijacked, then respects your edits from then on.

If you downloaded the client before 16 August 2026, the real retail patcher is still in your folder. Download the zip again.

Making an account

There is no registration page. Type a brand-new username and password at the login screen and the account is created on that first login. Empty fields are rejected, as is an existing username with the wrong password.

Choose the password carefully: five wrong passwords in a row lock the account for fifteen minutes, and there is no password reset of any kind. If you forget it, your only route is to ask an admin.

Pointing an existing client here

Any Shadowbane 1.2.26 or MagicBane install works. Edit Config\ArcaneIP.cfg so it reads exactly:

SERVER NAME: SHADOWBANE PLUS
SERVER= 178.156.247.193
PORT= 6000

Keep the three-line shape and Windows (CRLF) line endings. This route skips our launcher, so you will not receive client updates.

First steps

Once you are in, What Is Different Here tours how this shard departs from stock Shadowbane, and Rates and Progression covers the pacing.

If it does not work

You cannot reach the server. Check that Config/ArcaneIP.cfg names 178.156.247.193 and port 6000. If it names something else, the retail patcher has been run — re-download the zip, or run our Shadowbane.exe once to repair it.

The game closes silently just after "Loading Sound Event Table". The DoubleFusion folder is missing; the game loads it at boot and dies without it. Run Shadowbane.exe to fetch it back. A download built without that folder went out on 16 August 2026.

Logging in stops working after a few tries. Five wrong passwords in a row lock the account. The lock clears by itself fifteen minutes after your last failed attempt.

Logs\debug.txt is full of warnings. Expected: lines such as Unknown Command in the ArcaneIP.cfg File: SERVER NAME appear on every healthy boot.

For problems in the game itself rather than the install, see Known Issues.