YGO Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution Multiworld Setup Guide

Disclaimer

Archipelago 0.6.7+ is required. The apworld uses APIs introduced in 0.6.7. Generating or running the client on an older version will fail.

Steam Cloud sync must be disabled for Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution before connecting. The AP client swaps savegame.dat on disk between seeds, and Steam Cloud will silently restore the cloud copy on the next launch if it stays on, undoing every swap. Right-click the game in Steam → Properties → General → uncheck "Keep game saves in the Steam Cloud". The client checks for this on connect and shows a warning modal if it can't confirm cloud is off — the modal has a "proceed anyway" button if you've already disabled cloud but the auto-detect doesn't pick it up.

Your pre-AP save is automatically backed up to Documents/ygo_lotd_ap/backups/pre_ap/savegame.dat the first time the client runs. You can restore it from the client's Saves tab at any time. The backup system has been tested but is new — make your own manual copy of your save anyway before your first session in case something goes wrong. Your save lives at Steam/userdata/<your steam id>/480650/remote/savegame.dat.

This randomizer ships as a single download: ygo_lotd.apworld.

• The seed host drops it into their Archipelago install to generate the multiworld.
• Every player drops it into their Archipelago install to run the in-game client from the Archipelago Launcher. The client is bundled inside the apworld; no separate download.

The apworld is published on this project's releases page.

Required software

• Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution (Steam). The AP client only supports the LE version (the original Legacy of the Duelist is a different game with different memory offsets).
• Archipelago 0.6.7 or higher — required for both seed generation and running the in-game client.

Install the apworld

1. Download ygo_lotd.apworld from the releases page.
2. Double-click it (Archipelago 0.6.7+ registers .apworld as installable), or drop it manually into <Archipelago install>/custom_worlds/.

That's it — the same file is used for both generation and playing.

For the seed host: generating a seed

1. Open Archipelago's YAML generator and pick YGO LotD-LE.
2. Configure the options (see "Options" below).
3. Drop the YAML into <Archipelago install>/Players/, run ArchipelagoGenerate, then host the resulting room (or upload the output zip to archipelago.gg for hosting).

Options

• campaign_mode — sequential or shuffled (default).
  • sequential: each duel's Unlock is locked behind the previous duel's Win location. Inside each series the chain runs slot 1 → 2 → ... so you advance naturally.
  • shuffled: every duel unlock goes into the AP item pool and the fill algorithm scatters them. Slot 1 of each series is pre-collected either way so all six series tabs are clickable at start.
• goal — any_series_finale or duel_count (default).
  • any_series_finale: complete the highest-numbered duel in any one of the six series.
  • duel_count: complete goal_duel_count duels in any combination.
• goal_duel_count (range 2–175, default 20) — required duel total when goal=duel_count.
• hide_default_cards (default on) — at session start the client writes 0 to the default-structure-deck-cards static address so your deck-edit trunk only contains AP-granted cards. Runtime only; the game's starter decks come back on next launch.
• staple_filler_count (range 0–200, default 100) — number of staple-tagged cards added to the AP item pool as filler. Drawn randomly without replacement from ~200 staples.
• dp_filler_count (range 0–200, default 50) — number of Duel Points filler items added to the pool, each picking randomly from {1000, 5000, 10000} DP.

Playing the seed

Do not launch the game yourself. The AP client launches Yu-Gi-Oh! for you, from its Launch game button on the Status tab, after it has reconciled your save with the seed. Starting the game from Steam (or any other shortcut) before the client is ready will skip save reconciliation — the client will then detect the game running and ask you to close it before continuing.

1. Disable Steam Cloud for the game (Properties → General → uncheck "Keep game saves in the Steam Cloud"). Close the game completely if it's already running — do not launch it manually; the client will do that for you in step 5.
2. Launch the Archipelago Launcher. Click YGO LotD-LE Client.
3. The client opens. Enter the server address (e.g. archipelago.gg:38281), your slot name, and the room password if the server requires one. Click Connect.
4. The client will walk you through any required steps:
   • Steam Cloud check — if not detected as off, a warning modal opens. Disable cloud sync in Steam and click Verify to re-run the check, or click I've disabled cloud — proceed anyway if you've already disabled it (your choice is remembered, so the modal won't reappear on this PC).
   • Close the game — if the game is open when you connect, the client waits for you to close it. The client needs the game closed so it can reconcile your save before it launches the game itself.
   • Save swap — if you're rejoining a different seed than the one currently on disk, the client offers to swap your tracked save in. Your current save is captured first, never deleted.
5. Once setup is reconciled, click Launch game on the Status tab. The client launches Yu-Gi-Oh! itself — do not start it from Steam. After it spawns the game, the client attaches via pymem.
6. The game will warn that your save data is corrupted on the first launch into a new AP seed. This is normal and expected — every new seed starts with a clean (empty) save, which the game reads as "no save here yet" and surfaces as a corruption warning. Dismiss the warning and continue; the game generates a fresh save and the AP client then writes your starter content into it. This warning will not appear on subsequent launches into the same seed.
7. After attach, the client's Status tab shows all six series and their current unlock state. Play any unlocked duel; on win, the AP location fires and you can spend earned Duel Points on individual cards via the Crafting tab.

The first time you connect to a new seed, your character also gets a starter archetype bundle: 8 random cards (×3 copies each, so 24 total) from a curated archetype tied to your precollected character pack. If the pack has multiple eligible archetypes you'll get a popup asking which one — pick once, the choice persists for the rest of the seed.

Save management

Each AP world (each unique seed_name × slot_name combination) gets its own isolated savegame.dat stored in Documents/ygo_lotd_ap/backups/<world_key>/. The client swaps the right save into your Steam userdata directory on connect and captures your progress back to the world dir on disconnect.

The client's Saves tab lets you:

• See every tracked world.
• Restore your pre-AP save snapshot (taken automatically the first time the client runs).
• Manually restore any tracked world's save.
• Open the backup folder in Explorer.

The save manager has been tested but is new and the LE save format is sensitive — also keep your own manual backup of Steam/userdata/<your steam id>/480650/remote/savegame.dat from before your first AP session. If the in-client snapshot fails to restore for any reason, the manual copy is your guaranteed escape hatch.

Troubleshooting

• "Save data is corrupted" warning when the game launches. Expected on the first launch into any new AP seed — the seed starts with a clean (empty) save, which the game reports as corrupted. Dismiss the warning; the game generates a fresh save and the client writes your starter content in. The warning won't appear on later launches into the same seed.
• "Steam Cloud check" modal keeps appearing. The client parses Steam's remotecache.vdf to detect cloud state; on some setups the file is missing or uses a syncstate value we don't recognize. The modal shows what we actually saw (e.g. syncstate=8) — if you've already disabled cloud in Steam, click I've disabled cloud — proceed anyway and the client persists your acknowledgement to Documents/ygo_lotd_ap/config.json so the modal won't reappear. To reset, delete the user_confirmed_cloud_off key from that file. The legacy --ygo-cloud-disabled-confirmed CLI flag still works as a session-only bypass.
• "Game running — close it first" but no game window is open. The client looks for Lotd.exe, LotdLE.exe, YuGiOh.exe, or Yu-Gi-Oh!.exe. A leftover process can hang around after a crash; check Task Manager.
• Launch button says "Connect to AP server first" even though you connected. The client needs the AP server's slot_data before it can launch. Watch the status line — connection takes a second or two to fully resolve.
• Cards aren't appearing after I get an item. Re-enter the deck edit screen to refresh the trunk view. Granted cards persist; the game UI just caches the trunk while you're on the menu. You may need to do this more than once.
• Duel completion didn't send a check. The watcher polls every 1s for the Duel.State transition into "Complete". Wait a second after the win screen. If still no check, check the client log for errors.