Starward is a third-party Windows desktop companion and launcher for HoYoverse games (Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail, Honkai Impact 3rd, Zenless Zone Zero). It replaces the official HoYoPlay with enhanced features: game installation and update management (including pre-download and delta patching), gacha (wish) history tracking with UIGF import/export, real-time game record display (Spiral Abyss, Simulated Universe, etc.), HDR screenshot capture and batch conversion, playtime statistics, game account switching, and cloud game launching. The application is built with .NET 10 (C#), WinUI 3, and MVVM (CommunityToolkit.Mvvm), with a separate gRPC-based background service (Starward.RPC) for privileged game installation tasks. It uses SQLite via Dapper for local data storage, WebView2 for miHoYo login and game notices, and integrates with miHoYo/HoYoverse APIs via reverse-engineered clients. The codebase is well-structured into Core, RPC, Setup, and UI projects, with strong localization support (10+ languages via Crowdin). It demonstrates advanced Windows development skills including Win32 interop, Win2D image processing, and custom XAML controls. However, it is Windows-only, tightly coupled to miHoYo's volatile APIs, and contains some code duplication (e.g., DriveHelper) and hardcoded registry paths.
Honkers Launcher is a Linux desktop application that serves as an unofficial launcher for the game Honkai Impact 3rd. Built with Rust, GTK4, and relm4, it manages Wine prefixes, installs DXVK, applies game patches (including the Chinese edition patch), disables telemetry, and handles game updates. The architecture is a standard GTK GUI with a first-run wizard and a state machine for launcher operations. It relies on the `anime-launcher-sdk` crate for API calls and component management, and external tools like Wine, DXVK, bubblewrap, and gamescope. The codebase is in maintenance mode, with no new features planned, and some code quality issues such as unsafe globals, excessive unwrap calls, and commented-out code.