WowUp Prepares to Migrate Away From Curseforge - Find New Hosts for Addons

Posted 2022/05/10 at 7:48 PM by Archimtiros

deny WowUp API access to CurseForgepartner with addon hosting competitor Wago.ioa short guide to help its users prepare for the turnoveronly

Politely lobby the author of your missing addons to host them somewhere else, such as Wago or GitHub.

Lobby CurseForge to either give you a key for their new API or allow WowUp to host a solution that they agree to.

Use the CurseForge app.

somewhyads, revenue, and APIbegun shutting downCurseForge does not have an official API for 3rd parties who want to download files from its servers. The way some addon managers operate today, is by reverse engineering the calls between the Twitch Client and the CurseForge backend. A good analogy is someone reverse engineering the Spotify app to stream songs from Spotify’s servers without receiving Spotify’s or the artists’ consent to do so.
Unauthorized use of the CurseForge API introduces challenges that need solving. Most notably:

Authors did not give their consent to have their creations distributed outside CurseForge
Authors’ earnings will be impacted, as CurseForge has no way of monitoring engagement outside its own ecosystem, and changes are coming to the rewards program
Downloads originated from 3rd party services rely on CurseForge servers and CDN, incurring substantial costs and offering nothing to cover them

Comments on this news post are locked.

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Comment by FallenReignGuess it's back to vanilla settings for me, then. Zero addons.Comment by BraulesOh hell nah blizzard better start regulatin this themselves bc who got time for this petty games? nobody wants overwolf and they still shove it down our throats like let it rest please it's getting oldComment by LostelfGod it's gonna sting being without some addons.

Can you manually install them without Overwolf?Comment by CarrionCarcassOh hell nah blizzard better start regulatin this themselves bc who got time for this petty games? nobody wants overwolf and they still shove it down our throats like let it rest please it's getting oldComment by CarrionCarcassGod it's gonna sting being without some addons.

Can you manually install them without Overwolf?Comment by SaruyaOverwolf literally installs malware on to your machine...Comment by kittyanyaStill not using Overwolf EVER. I'll manually install the addons WowUp can't get access to. Very mad a malware company with a very horrific past got hold of AND made an exclusivity clause. Hope they lose money with all this going on.Comment by HeroicveniWELP guess I'm uninstalling some addons. I don't have an issue with using overwolf, but being FORCED to use it is what I have issue with. So, I will either not use specific addons or just manually update them like the good ol' daysComment by HeatherWindGuess it's back to vanilla settings for me, then. Zero addons.Comment by AgingGamerOption 4 - manually download the addon from Curseforge and copy it to your addon folder yourself like we used to do in the past.

Oh, LOL, I see they added that one after the list.Comment by InnuendoIf you're still unclear as to why this is happening, we covered the subject extensively in our previous article on ads, revenue, and API, detailing how WowUp and other third party addon managers (many of which have since begun shutting down) utilize the CurseForge repository without permission, financially penalizing both Overwolf and the addon developers paid by CurseForge downloads.Comment by Jun1usUsing WowUp, hope they will overcome the fact they can't use Curse API and will continue to be the best addon manager without it :)Comment by TequimaGod it's gonna sting being without some addons.

Can you manually install them without Overwolf?Comment by ArchimtirosNice to see wowhead try and put a negative spin on the non curseforge addon suppliers. Real classy. Wow addons should be available to everybody and not gatekept by 1 greedy company. Wows addons didnt become to popular and open because of a greedy, self centered paywall.
Can you manually install them without Overwolf?Comment by WillowwhispHere's why Curseforge is full of it.
I much prefer WoWUP, but I used to use Curse and I thought I would switch to CurseForge (which means Overwolf).
Well, guess what? I use the Windows 11 beta program, where I get to test new versions of Windows. I got a nasty note from Overwolf/CurseForge that I should uninstall my Previewer program if I want to use them.

I DO NOT want to use them. I felt FORCED to use them, and then they have the gall to tell me how to run my computer? Overwolf is dirt. I despise them.Comment by the9tailI dont understand how this isnt being circumvented entirely.
Like what rights does addon authors really have? Like I know there is stipulations that says they cant profit etc from making addons.
Is there really any rules out there stopping people mirroring addon files elsewhere?

Can't someone write a crawler to get the addons from every source, copy them to a central location and then build a basic program to update WoW from that repository?Comment by JotaRandom5 - Fork the add-on and host it somewhere else so WoWUp would have a source for such add-on

6 - Lobby Acti-Blizz to have an official Add-On store and preffer that over OverWolf/Curseforge

I might do 5 since there are some add-ons i use but i don't like how they are build, neither that they are only in OverWolf/Curseforge websideComment by CurDawg79Please. If you use Overwolf, I implore you to switch to WoWup. Please support open source developers and don't let Overwolf monopolize WoW addons. WoWup is fast, free, and has 0 bloat.Comment by kenhiaI wouldn't be too upset with Overwolf if it worked on my machine. Initially it wouldn't work on any Windows 11 machines, I've heard they fixed that, but they still refuse to run if you are on any of the Insider rings.

Time to write some code to maintain my add-ons.Comment by ArchimtirosWhat a biased and WRONG opinion that omits everything that Overwolf has done to spit on every community it comes into contact with. Overwolf literally installs malware on to your machine, that is their entire business model: get software gamers like and rebuild it so that it has to come bundled with their data mining software that they can then keep installed on your machine at all times and farm all of your data.

But ya, because they want to give a kickback to addon devs we can just scoop all of that under the rug. You should be ashamed of yourselves for shading the conversation this way just because they do one thing right. Addon devs getting a kickback is great, doing it by preying unaware consumers is not.

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