Starward: a third-party launcher that replaces HoYoPlay for miHoYo PC games

The gap Starward fills in the HoYoPlay workflow

HoYoPlay, the official miHoYo launcher, starts games. Starward starts them too, then keeps going. The README frames the project as an answer to the official launcher's shortcomings and states the goal plainly: support every PC game on HoYoverse and completely replace the official launcher.

The extra features are the reason to switch. Starward records game time, switches between game accounts, browses game screenshots, and saves gacha records. None of those are launcher functions in the strict sense. They are things players otherwise do with screenshots folders, spreadsheets, or a separate wish-history tool. Putting them behind the same window that launches the game is the product idea.

The audience is narrow and identifiable. You need a Windows PC, at least one HoYoverse title installed, and enough patience to trust a third-party binary with your game accounts. That last point is the real filter. Starward is not for someone who plays one game occasionally and never looks at pull history.

How the WinUI shell and the C# codebase fit together

Starward is a C# application built on WinUI, which is why the topics list includes winui and why the install requirements read like a Windows App SDK checklist. The repository root holds Starward.slnx, a build.ps1 script, global.json, and a publish.cs file, with the application code under src/. The single solution file and the publish script suggest one build path rather than a set of separately shipped components.

The README's development section lists three Visual Studio 2022 workloads needed to compile it: .NET Desktop Development, C++ Desktop Development, and Universal Windows Platform Development. The C++ workload is the interesting one. A pure C# WinUI app would not normally need it, so something in the build pulls in native code, most likely a dependency that ships as a C++ component.

Localization runs through Crowdin, with a crowdin.yml file in the repository and separate README translations for Simplified Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Thai and Russian. That is a community translation pipeline rather than a string table maintained by one author. The README also points to a Localization Guide under docs/.

What the README does not describe is the data flow for playtime or gacha records: where the database lives, what format it uses, or how it reads game data. That is a gap worth knowing about before you rely on those records as a long-term archive.

Installing Starward on Windows 10 1809 or newer

The README states the requirements before anything else. You need Windows 10 1809 (17763) and above, WebView2 Runtime installed, and the WebP Image Extension installed. It also suggests enabling Transparency effects and Animation effects in system settings for a better experience, which is cosmetic rather than functional.

The WebP component deserves attention. The README notes that the WebP Image Extension is typically bundled with the system, and adds that if the application is not displaying background images correctly, you should make sure it is installed. That is the documented failure mode: a missing codec shows up as missing artwork, not as an error dialog.

Installation is a download and extract, not a setup wizard. Pick the package for your CPU architecture from the GitHub release page, extract it, then run Starward.exe and follow the prompts.

# No package manager step is documented.
# Download the release archive for your CPU architecture from
# https://github.com/Scighost/Starward/releases
# then extract it and run the executable.
Starward.exe

The README does not describe a portable-versus-installed distinction, an uninstall procedure, or where settings are stored. Treat the extracted folder as the application and keep it somewhere you will not delete by accident.

For the first real use, the sequence the README implies is: launch Starward.exe, complete the prompts so it can find your installed games, then use the launcher to start a title. The extra features (game time, account switching, screenshots, gacha records) are described in the README as things to explore rather than as a documented setup flow, so expect to find them in the interface rather than in a guide.

Where Starward is the wrong tool

The platform boundary is absolute. Starward is a WinUI application for Windows 10 1809 and above. There is no macOS build, no Linux build, and no documented headless or server mode. If your gaming machine runs anything else, this project does not apply to you, and no amount of configuration changes that.

The second boundary is trust. A third-party launcher that switches game accounts and reads gacha records is handling credentials and account-adjacent data. The README does not document how accounts are stored, whether credentials are encrypted, or what the application sends over the network. It does mention CloudFlare providing free CDN services and SignPath Foundation providing free code signing for open-source projects, which means release binaries can be signed. That is a meaningful detail for anyone deciding whether to run the executable, but it is not a description of what the program does with your data.

The third boundary is the update story. The README documents downloading a release archive and extracting it. It does not document a self-update mechanism, and it does not document rollback. If a new version misbehaves, the documented path back is to download the previous release and extract it again. Anyone who wants the official launcher's own patching and repair flow should stay with the official launcher.

Finally, the project targets HoYoverse PC titles specifically. It is not a general-purpose game launcher, and the README makes no claim to manage games from other publishers.

Starward against Collapse and the official launcher

The README credits @neon-nyan's Collapse as the direct source of inspiration and design, and states that knowledge from the Collapse code made development smoother. That makes Collapse the honest comparison: both are third-party launchers in the same space, and Starward is the derivative of the two.

The difference the README supports is scope. Starward states it supports all PC games on HoYoverse and aims to replace the official launcher completely, with playtime tracking, account switching, screenshot viewing and gacha records as the added layer. Collapse is described only as the origin of the design, so the README does not let you compare feature lists directly.

Against HoYoPlay itself, the difference is architectural rather than cosmetic. HoYoPlay is the vendor's own client, so it owns the update and repair path for the games it manages. Starward sits in front of the same games and adds a local record-keeping layer. You give up the vendor's integrated maintenance flow and gain features the vendor does not ship.

Snap Hutao is mentioned in the acknowledgements as a separate project whose main developer assisted with Starward, so the two are connected by people rather than by code. Do not read that acknowledgement as a statement about feature overlap.

Maintenance cadence, licence and upgrade cost

The repository is not archived, and the last push was on 2026-09-04. The most recent release listed is 0.18.2, published on 2026-08-30, following 0.18.1 on 2026-08-07 and 0.18.0 on 2026-07-20. That is a steady release rhythm across the three most recent versions, with named builds (Odette, Remielle, Dreamland Fest) rather than bare version numbers.

Upgrading is manual by default. Because the README documents extracting a release archive and running Starward.exe, each new version means downloading and extracting again unless the application itself offers something the README does not mention. The cost is small but real, and it scales with how many machines you keep updated.

The licence is MIT. In practical terms that permits use, modification and redistribution with the licence and copyright notice preserved. It does not, on its own, settle questions about distributing modified builds that interact with miHoYo's games or accounts. That is a question for a lawyer, not for a README summary.

The build path has its own cost if you compile from source. Visual Studio 2022 with the .NET Desktop Development, C++ Desktop Development, and Universal Windows Platform Development workloads is a heavy prerequisite set for a launcher, and the README gives no alternative toolchain.

What the README leaves undocumented

Several things a cautious adopter would want are simply absent. There is no description of where playtime data or gacha records are stored, no schema, and no export or backup path. If you care about keeping pull history for years, the README gives you no way to verify that the data survives a reinstall.

There is no security section. Account switching is listed as a feature, but the README does not say how accounts are stored or whether switching touches the game's own credential files. It also does not describe network calls beyond the acknowledgement of CloudFlare CDN services.

There is no troubleshooting section beyond the WebP note. If the application fails to detect an installed game, or if a launch fails, the README offers nothing to follow.

None of this is unusual for a hobby-adjacent open-source desktop app, and the README is honest about being a personal project with features added "based on individual needs." But it means the documentation answers what Starward does, not how to recover when it does not.

Editorial conclusion

Starward suits Windows players who run more than one HoYoverse title, want playtime and gacha records kept locally, and are comfortable extracting a portable build instead of running an installer. It is the wrong choice on macOS or Linux, on Windows builds older than 10 1809 (17763), or for anyone who wants the official launcher's own update channel and nothing else. Before adopting it, confirm that WebView2 Runtime and the WebP Image Extension are present, since the README ties broken background images to the missing WebP component, and check the release page for a package matching your CPU architecture.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. License: MIT
2. Project website
3. README
4. Releases
5. Scighost/Starward on GitHub