Frequently asked questions

AwesomEver is a fan-made, fan-maintained recreation of Galactron, the server behind Awesomenauts. It communicates with the 4.7.2 client, the last version developed by Ronimo Games.

It is an independent preservation project, made by a fan for the community.

The goal is to bring back the experience of Ronimo's 4.7.2 release, maintained by a fan for the fans, including:

• Playing the last version developed by Ronimo, without the bugs and issues introduced in Atari's 5.x releases, such as invisible Nauts or the same Naut appearing twice in one team.
• A custom games browser and community custom maps.
• Parties that persist across matches.
• Live spectating and a server-side replay browser.
• Server-side matchmaking that can be fine-tuned, inspired by the original Galactron: players are grouped in waves, with checks intended to avoid matches above 300 ms between players. Match quality still depends on how many players are available.
• Temporary matchmaking penalties for leaving, and time to reconnect after a crash or a lost connection.
• Recovery from temporary Steam outages, including Tuesday maintenance, without immediately ending the match.
• Ranked standings and leagues.
• Global chat and medals.
• Public APIs and a public statistics and server status page.

See Server status for the current rules and matchmaking wave duration. You can still play Atari's 5.x version separately if you prefer it: joining AwesomEver is optional.

Windows and Linux installation options are available on the Download page. Support based on the original Linux and Mac OS X 10.7+ 32-bit clients is planned.

Yes. You need a legitimate copy of Awesomenauts on Steam. AwesomEver checks game ownership and uses Steam authentication: keep Steam running and signed in when launching the game.

The installer obtains the original game files and applies the patch that connects the game to AwesomEver. It does not replace the requirement to own the game.

Steam ownership is checked for supported purchasable DLCs, so the skins and other purchases attached to your Steam account can be recognised.

All Nauts and their upgrades are available from the start under the server's current free-access rules. Some historical rewards that can no longer be obtained are also made available through the historical rewards policy. This is separate from unlocking all paid skins for everyone.

The current enabled categories and historical rewards are listed on Server status.

The base is Ronimo's 4.7.2 client. Changes are kept focused on connecting it to AwesomEver and making that setup work reliably. A small number of targeted compatibility fixes have also been added.

This is not a balance overhaul or a new edition of the game.

Yes. The patch is distributed as a BPS file, and the updater scripts can be inspected. If you prefer manual installation, follow the instructions on the Download page and apply the patch with a compatible open-source BPS patcher.

Automatic installation is also available. You can ask an experienced developer to review the scripts and patch if you want to understand exactly what they change.

You can audit the .bps patch with an LLM or ask an experienced developer to review it. Steam's game-authentication tickets verify your identity and game ownership; they do not give AwesomEver your Steam password or control of your Steam account.

Steamworks documentation: User Authentication and Ownership

Possibly in the longer term. The immediate priority is server stability and supporting the community. The project starts from 4.7.2; that does not mean every historical client bug has been fixed.

Yes! Tournaments, art contests and other community projects are welcome. Join the community Discord to discuss them and share what you are organising.

Absolutely. I love human-made art and Awesomenauts fan art. I do not want to use AI-generated artwork to illustrate the project: I care about respecting artists and the environmental cost of generating images.

If you would like to help create something for AwesomEver, contact me through the community Discord.

No. AwesomEver is a preservation project, and balance changes are not planned.

No new official-style characters or game content are planned. Community-created maps and events remain part of what makes Awesomenauts worth preserving.

It is forbidden to:

• Cheat (including but not limited to: bug abuses / lag switching / client modifications / third party tools)
• Troll or have a disruptive behaviour (including but not limited to: feeding on purpose / afk'ing)
• Circumvent bans by creating other accounts
• Verbal abuse (includes but not limited to: illegal stuff, spam, selfpromo, racism/discrimination, hateful speechs, insults...)
• Harass other players
• Have an offensive pseudo

It is mandatory to:

• Treat others with empathy like there is another human behind the screen, especially on new players that are discovering the game in their own pace

It is allowed to (list is not exhaustive, just here to put details on things that may be ambiguous):

• Leave sometimes if you don't wanna play the match or need to leave (the server will restricts you automatically for a while to punish you directly). Don't do it on all matches though or it will become intentional disruptive behaviour that deserves a manual sanction. It's better for everyone if you decide to leave rather than engaging in toxicity in chat on frustrating matches.
• Play bad (what is banned is intentional feeding)
• Have unintentional lag spikes from time to time. Though if you see you are really ruining the match because your connection is too unstable, it's advised to leave and troubleshoot your network before joining another game. Don't chain games when you know your network is very unstable, it's disruptive.

By playing on AwesomEver, you accept the rules. The rules exists solely so AwesomEver remain a safe space for gamers & Awesomenauts lovers, I believe if you act responsibly you will never face against moderation during your journey passed on this community.

Sanction will depend directly from the severity, recidivism, and your seniority in the community at the discretion of the moderator.

Sanctions are always made by an human, so there's no appeal. Consider any sanction to be definitive. Accept it, wait for the expiration then act better for the future.

Permanent bans are used only as last resort to protect the community from you.

Use the in-game reporting tools to report a player. Reports can be reviewed by the moderation team.

The Hall of shame shows the public sanction information.

There are no plans to sell gameplay advantages or special titles. Donations, including support through my Patreon, do not buy either of those.

The server uses open-source technology and runs in containers on Linux. It does not depend on Microsoft's proprietary Azure services, which leaves flexibility to change hosting providers.

Donations are appreciated: hosting and the LLM API tools used during development have costs. The intention is to keep the project accessible and maintainable.

No. The supported game base is 4.7.2. Console versions and other Galactron-era clients are outside the project's scope, and 4.7.2 may remain the base for a long time.

• Check the clock of your computer: it must be exact
• Check your internet connection
• Check the news, status page or the Discord: maybe the server has an outage

Please do not send Atari support tickets about AwesomEver. This is an independent, unofficial fan project. Atari cannot fix an outage or an issue on this server.

For AwesomEver support, use the community Discord.

I am open to talk especially if they have things in mind that can benefit to the players.

No. AwesomEver has its own server and moderation system. A sanction issued here is not sent to Atari's 5.x service.

The two services operate independently.

Windows and Linux installation instructions are available on the Download page. On Linux, the updater uses Steam and Proton to run the Windows game; the automated setup handles the required preparation, while the manual guide explains the Proton steps.

macOS support is still planned. The download page shows its current availability. Running the original native Linux or legacy Mac OS X clients is a separate compatibility goal.

For me, preservation also means keeping the game accessible on hardware and operating systems that could run it originally.

Compatibility with systems such as Mac OS X Lion and Windows XP/7 is something I want to investigate. This is a future goal, not a claim that the current installer supports them.

I do not have Ronimo's old server database, so AwesomEver cannot restore your former account history, replays, currency or progression. The project was built through tooling, patience and reverse engineering, not leaked server data.

Some Steam-linked rewards, such as the Silver and Gold Killer Koala medals, can be recognised through DLC ownership. Other rewards follow the current historical-reward and free-access rules. Steam's available ownership information does not reliably tell us whether you bought the game before its 2017 free-to-play transition, so that alone cannot restore the founder medal.

The current free-access rules may already give you maximum levels and unlocked content: see Server status.

The air you breathe is free, yet it keeps you alive. I find it sad to put a price on everything, and I want culture to remain accessible without extra paywalls.

Much of the good work in game preservation comes from independent communities. I am proud to contribute to that wider effort against oblivion and obsolescence.

No. That made the work much harder. It took reverse engineering, tooling, a lot of patience and help from modern LLM tools to make the project possible.

The motivation is to keep Awesomenauts available in the best state I can preserve.

No. The matchmaking and servers are separate. Everyone in an AwesomEver match must be using the AwesomEver setup.

Data collection in AwesomEver is done only to technically know what happen and have the ability to do proper moderation & protection against server attacks. None of the data will be ever sold to 3rd-parties.

By using AwesomEver, you agree with this data collection policy.

On the website: No cookies & no individual tracking. Though to protect the server and know if someone spam/attacks, technical data about accesses (including your IP) are stored as logs.

In Game:

• Processing Steam tickets session for authing. This does not allow me to impersonate you or make purchases on your behalf, I can only technically see if you are entitled to play the game and what content/DLC you own on Awesomenauts. I can't know all the other games/DLC from your Steam library because the ticket is game-specific.
• Your game profile (containing stuff like medals, portraits, unlocks, stats, etc). It is created automatically at your first connection on AwesomEver.
• Your IP address
• All your general chat messages
• Chat messages included from replays you are sending to the server
• Detailed logs on what you do and also how do you interact with matchmaking (matches you join, registration date, playtime, etc), in the interest of moderating the game properly if a moderation decision ever needs to be made against your account.

On the Discord server: Your data are managed by Discord, not by me

The immediate focus is stabilising the server, investigating player reports and improving the experience around the game. Longer-term work includes compatibility with legacy systems.

Follow News and the community Discord for beta, launch and maintenance announcements. The original Reddit FAQ included a countdown and a provisional beta schedule; current announcements take precedence over those dates.