Making the switch from Twitch / Curseforge / Overwolf to Cursebreaker

[TehVoyager]

Hey everyone.

Today CurseForge has been sold again, this time to Overwolf. so soon you'll be able to uninstall Twitch, because who uses that hot mess for things other than just updating your wow addons? I didn't. if you did, good on you. I'd rather just go to the twitch website.

I'm tired of the parade of unknown applications parading their way through the programs list of my system every couple of years. Curse, Twitch, Weakauras companion, TSM app, RaiderIO, TukUI... Its time to pair this list down a little.

So I went looking, and found an alternative wow addon updater. this updater will replace CurseTwitch, Weakaura Companion, TukUI, and WootBit (wow interface's addon manager.) Its a lightweight, CLI based (Command Line Interface), and Open Source addon manager, and here's how you switch over.

1 - Download.
The add-on manager can be found at GitHub - AcidWeb/CurseBreaker: CLI addon updater for World of Warcraft.
Look on the RIght side of the screen, under Releases. Download for Windows (.exe), Linux (.gz) and macOS (.zip), or the source code. Yes, it's Cross-platform too. (NOTE: The addon developer does mention the Linux and macOS versions are not as well tested. that's on you.)

2 - Install.
Literal cake. CurseBreaker.exe is gonna live with Wow.exe, WowClassic.exe or World of Warcraft.app. put it in the same folder. they gonna be roomies. that's it, you're done. make a desktop shortcut if you like those.

Now, if you want to make the app look even better (it is a Command-line program, no graphical interface) you can go to the Microsoft Store, and download the Windows Terminal App.
If you do, the Shortcut for ur desktop is a bit different. Right-click the desktop, new, Shortcut, and in the "type the location of the item" Find the Cursebreaker program. before pressing next, go to the front of the program path, and add "wt " to it. W. T. Space. remove any quotes too.

For me, The execution path ended up saying "wt d:\world of warcraft\_retail_\CurseBreaker.exe". after the shortcuts made, you can add an icon and stuff. I also changed the start in path to my wow folder too.

3 - Usage.
Usage is easy.
First, you need to add your addons to the program.

Import command will show you all the addons you have in your addons folder, but not yet added to the program.
Import Install will update all the addons (see below if you have an addon you want to use an old version of forever until it breaks)

if you want CurseBreaker to take over all website download functions for curseforge, uri_integration command will write the required shenanigans into the registry.

A couple of days after you install, you need to update ur addons. okay. run curseforge. and don't touch anything. the addon will wait 5 seconds to make sure u don't want to do something manually, then just take care of that for you. then close. done.

After:

Say you have an addon. one you don't want to update. they removed a feature you like, and the hell with that. (for me that addon is Leatrix_Plus, and the Viewport option.)
here's how to have your old addon, and not worry about it.
You're gonna make a copy of the addon outside the interface folder. then import install all the addons. then use the Uninstall command to remove your addon.
then simply copy/paste the addon back into the wow folder. and you're set. you can update all addons, except the one you don't want to. until it breaks. Rip, my Viewport. :'(

If you have questions, ask below and I'll update this guide as needed. tbh I've already switched over (i hated twitch from day one) and I'll answer questions as I can.

EDITS: adding CurseBreaker to your git for updates is unnecessary. the addon auto-updates each time it is run.

[MaxMcBurn]

i will give it a try.

hmmm ...
VirusTotal
1 detected!

[jimmys96]

i will give it a try.

hmmm ...
VirusTotal
1 detected!

It's literally open source dude...

[MaxMcBurn]

It's literally open source dude...

quite correct, but it is also an executable, which can be scanned for Viruses/Trojans/Backdoors and thats what i am always doing before starting it.
Within Open Source you can find at any time black sheeps ^^

PS: That was just an information for the coder, to check his code for a sequence which fits a scanner.

[TehVoyager]

Yeah ive been using it for 2.5 months. its fine. its probably detecting off downloading things. as suggested, if you're concerned, check the code, and compile it yourself.

Additionally, im not the creator. submit this to his Git as an issue. i posted this here to suggest an open source, faster alternative to the community.

[MaxMcBurn]

Yeah ive been using it for 2.5 months. its fine. its probably detecting off downloading things. as suggested, if you're concerned, check the code, and compile it yourself.

Additionally, im not the creator. submit this to his Git as an issue. i posted this here to suggest an open source, faster alternative to the community.

Sounds good to me and yes, you´re so fucking right, excuse me please .. i just saw on Git the Name of the coder.

[TehVoyager]

According to the dev, the issue is related to pyinstaller, which can cause some AV systems to trigger false positive. i googled the issue and it seems accurate.

[deadlybuddha]

Hey, I made the switch to Overwolf/CurseForge. I installed curse breaker and ran uri_integration but am stuck on "Attempting to import" any advice? Thanks for original post.

[TehVoyager]

Keep in mind that currently the Twitch / Overworlf update will be happening soon (like within a couple hours)

Advice would be to post an issue on the author's Github. he's responsive.

[j0eL]

Ads.. Collecting Personal information.. RAM Hog.. I'm going to pass on Curseforge and this is why you should too!
This is just a heads up, for people normally pressing "next, next, next" during install.

Shady.

Thanks for Cursebreaker. I heard good things about WoWUP and Ajour also and it has a GUI and is also open-sourced. And ofc no ads or personal information collecting.

[Elite58]

I am liking wowup but listening to an interview overwolf did, it sounds like eventually that clients other that overwolf will be made to potentially not work as overwolf will use their own custom api and may only allows other services to access it if they pay for it.

[TehVoyager]

at which point I will change the source in CurseBreaker for any Curse based addons to their Git repos, WowInterface, other sources, or find alternate addons.

if i have to use OverWolf for addons, I'll download them manually. im just not doing another manager switch.

(besides if their addon sucks and they force people to use it to access those addons, people will simply start hosting their addons elsewhere.)

[Thomja]

Excellent share, been using this since I saw this post and it saves a ton of time, and more importantly keeps my computer clean from all the other garbage. +5

[TehVoyager]

Excellent share, been using this since I saw this post and it saves a ton of time, and more importantly keeps my computer clean from all the other garbage. +5

The Dev, AcidWeb, is also pretty active on the ElvUI Discord, which is nice if you notice something acting strangely.

[wn2142]

Just use Minion. Minion - Premier AddOn Management. Completely free, non-invasive lightweight install. Its even picking up updates to addons that curseforge is missing.