First launch¶

The launcher has one main screen. On the left: the version, its add-ons and any notes about your instance. On the right: your accounts, the performance preset and the launch options. At the bottom, a dock with the Play button.

Before you start¶

The first time you open Xol, a notice titled Before you start explains three things:

• Xol is an independent launcher. It is not an official Minecraft product and is not approved by or associated with Mojang or Microsoft.
• By selecting Agree you accept the Xol Terms of Use and acknowledge the Xol Privacy Policy. The game is downloaded from Mojang under your own license and remains subject to the Minecraft EULA.
• While Xol is open it tells the Xol service your Minecraft name, your Xol version, your operating system and what you are playing, so it can show you as online. You can switch this off in Settings ▸ Service. Crash reports are sent only if you switch diagnostics on.

Links to the three documents are in the notice. It has one button, Agree, and cannot be closed any other way. If you close the window instead, Xol quits and nothing has been agreed or sent. The notice appears again only if its text changes.

Access keys¶

Xol 0.3.1 does not use access keys. The field in Settings ▸ Service is gone, and installing, playing, updates and crash reports all work without one.

Sign in¶

1. Press Sign in with Microsoft in the dock, or Add account on the Accounts card.
2. Xol opens Microsoft's sign-in page in your default browser. The dock reads "Finish signing in in your browser". Xol never sees your password.
3. Sign in on Microsoft's page and approve the request.
4. Return to Xol. Your player name and skin appear on the Accounts card and in the account button at the top right.

To back out while the browser is open, press Cancel in the dock. The whole flow, what is stored and every error message are on Sign-in and accounts.

Pick a version and its add-ons¶

The version switch offers 1.8.9 and 1.7.10. Each version has one profile, Xol 1.8.9 or Xol 1.7.10, and Xol 1.8.9 is selected on a fresh install. The profile's name and a short note about it are at the top of the screen.

Under the version switch are two add-ons, each a card you switch on or off:

• OptiFine. On by default for 1.8.9 and off for 1.7.10. Xol cannot include OptiFine, so the first time it is needed, Xol opens the download page for you and keeps the file from then on.
• Forge mods. Off by default. While it is on, Forge loads the jars in your own mods folder.

The choice is saved per Minecraft version. What each profile contains and what the add-ons do is on Profiles and add-ons.

All versions opens Mojang's full release list. Only versions that have a Xol profile can be chosen. The rest read "Not in Xol yet".

Pick a performance preset¶

Balanced is the default. A preset is a short list of video settings written into the instance's options.txt. The exact values are on Performance presets.

Press Play¶

The dock reads "Ready to play Xol 1.8.9", with the preset, the memory and the account it will use. Press Play.

On the first launch Xol downloads and verifies the game, its libraries and assets, the Java runtime, Forge and the profile's components. The dock shows the current stage, a progress bar, the number of files and bytes done, and an estimate of the time left once the speed has settled. The button becomes Cancel. A canceled install resumes where it stopped the next time you press Play, because files that are already present and match their checksum are not downloaded again.

When the game starts, the button becomes Stop, and the dock shows when the game started and which Java runtime it uses. The launcher stops all animation while Minecraft runs. The version, add-ons and preset are locked until the game closes. You can still switch accounts, and the switch applies to the next launch.

When the game closes, the launcher shows one of these panels:

In game¶

Right Shift opens the Xol menu while you are in a world. The title screen has a Xol settings button, and the pause menu has a small Xol button in its top left corner. While the themed menus are switched off, the title screen shows that small button instead. Continue with The client.