Shadow

简体中文

Shadow is an Avalonia-based workstation shell for Paradox Interactive tooling. The host application loads feature plugins from a Plugins directory, while game-specific workflows live in separate plugin projects. The bundled launcher plugin is Shadow.ParadoxGameLauncher, a multi-game launcher and playset manager for titles such as Hearts of Iron IV, Crusader Kings III, Europa Universalis IV, Stellaris, Victoria 3, and Imperator: Rome.

Status: 1.0.0-beta.1 is an early beta. It is usable for local launch workflows, but you should back up your game user configuration before relying on it as your only launcher.

Features

• Fluent Avalonia desktop shell with plugin-based navigation.
• Runtime plugin loading through Shadow.Abstractions.
• Multi-game Paradox launcher for discovering local and Steam Workshop mods.
• Playset management with editable Shadow playsets and read-only imports from the Paradox Launcher database.
• DLC enable/disable state written to game dlc_load.json.
• Game settings editor for common settings.txt options such as language, display mode, resolution, refresh rate, VSync, and volume.
• Shared per-game workspace files under %APPDATA%\Posdaca\<Game Name>.
• Mod index export to %APPDATA%\Posdaca\<Game Name>\mods\index.json.
• Command-line plugin command dispatch, including paradox.launch.

Requirements

• Windows 10 or Windows 11.
• One or more supported Paradox games installed locally.
• For source builds: .NET SDK 10 and the workloads required by Avalonia.

The Windows release asset is published as an MSIX package. The package contains the host and bundled plugins, so users do not need to unpack a zip or install a separate .NET runtime.

Getting Started

1. Download Shadow-1.0.0-beta.1.msix from the GitHub release.
2. Install the package with Windows App Installer.
3. Start Shadow from the Start menu or desktop shortcut.
4. Open Paradox Game Launcher from the left navigation.
5. Click the game name in the top-left corner to switch games.
6. In Game Settings, set:
   • the path to the selected game executable;
   • the game user folder under %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Paradox Interactive\<Game Name>;
   • the Steam Workshop folder, if you want Workshop mods discovered.
7. Refresh, create or import a playset, then save and launch.

Command-Line Launch

Shadow can dispatch plugin commands before starting the desktop UI. The bundled Paradox launcher plugin currently exposes these commands. MSIX installs register the shadow.exe app execution alias, so shadow can be used from a terminal:

shadow --shadow-command paradox.launch
shadow --shadow-command paradox.launch --game hoi4
shadow --shadow-command paradox.launch --game hoi4 --playset-id default
shadow --shadow-command paradox.launch --game hoi4 --playset-id default --allow-missing-mods

Options:

• --shadow-command or --command: command name.
• --game, --game-id, or --gameId: target game id (hoi4, ck3, eu4, stellaris, vic3, imperator).
• --playset-id, --playsetId, or --playset: playset id to launch.
• --allow-missing-mods: allows a playset to launch even when enabled mod ids are not found in the current scan.

If no playset is specified, Shadow uses the selected playset from the saved launcher state, then falls back to the first available playset.

Data Locations

• Host/plugin state: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Shadow
• Game workspace playsets: %APPDATA%\Posdaca\<Game Name>\playsets
• Game workspace mod index: %APPDATA%\Posdaca\<Game Name>\mods\index.json
• Default game user directory: %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Paradox Interactive\<Game Name>

Shadow writes launch state to the standard Paradox user files used by the launcher flow, including dlc_load.json and selected fields in settings.txt.

Repository Layout

Shadow/
  Shadow/                       Desktop host application
  Shadow.Abstractions/           Host/plugin contracts
  Shadow.ParadoxGameLauncher/   Bundled multi-game launcher plugin

The host is intentionally kept generic. Plugin-specific UI and game behavior belong in plugin projects.

Build From Source

dotnet restore
dotnet build
dotnet run --project Shadow/Shadow.csproj

To create a Windows x64 MSIX package with the bundled plugin, install the Windows 10/11 SDK, then run:

.\scripts\build-msix.ps1 -Version 1.0.0-beta.1

The generated package is written to artifacts/msix/Shadow-1.0.0-beta.1.msix. MSIX packages must be signed before installation. Use -CertificatePath or -CertificateThumbprint to sign during packaging.

Example with a PFX certificate:

.\scripts\build-msix.ps1 -Version 1.0.0-beta.1 -CertificatePath .\certs\Shadow.pfx -CertificatePassword (Read-Host -AsSecureString)