LlamaCasty/Distribution.md

Distribution & release mechanics

How the build becomes an install on someone's PC. Policy — prices, entitlement, why Steam is the only channel, support — is docs/ai/commercial.md. This file is the how.

Superseded twice on 2026-10-31. The 736-line Polar/MSIX/obfuscation plan is in git log -- Distribution.md; the zip-plus-winget plan written earlier the same day is in the same place. The reasoning that survives lives in commercial.md and docs/ai/decisions.md.

1. The artifact

A self-contained win-x64 publish plus the bundled ffmpeg\ folder, uploaded to a Steam depot. No installer, no admin rights, no zip for anyone to mirror.

dotnet publish ytLive.csproj -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained true \
  -p:PublishSingleFile=true \
  -p:IncludeNativeLibrariesForSelfExtract=true \
  -p:EnableCompressionInSingleFile=true \
  -p:PublishReadyToRun=true -o artifacts/steam-stage

• PublishTrimmed stays OFF. Trimming breaks WPF's XAML reflection (Binding, DataTemplate, StaticResource). Expect ~110–150 MB in the depot; that is the cost of "no .NET install".
• ffmpeg stays outside the exe — ffmpeg\ beside it (the app's locator contract, see output.md → "FFmpeg locator").
• steam_api64.dll ships beside the exe and is loaded at startup; without it the app cannot read DLC ownership. Its absence must degrade to the free profile, never to a crash.
• WebView2 is the one machine dependency. Valve's Common Redistributables configure the Evergreen bootstrapper as a prerequisite, so the depot declares it instead of us shipping it.
• AssemblyName is LlamaCasty (renamed 2026-11-01, before the first depot because Steamworks warns about renaming a live exe) → the artifact is LlamaCasty.exe plus its ffmpeg\ folder. scripts/publish.sh stages both and refuses to finish if either is missing.
• ⛔ ExcludeFromSingleFile="true" on the ffmpeg content. Without it, PublishSingleFile + IncludeNativeLibrariesForSelfExtract swallow the libav*.dll family into the exe — a 182 MB binary with no ffmpeg\ folder beside it, so the locator finds nothing and every stream fails at runtime. The publish output is ~257 MB: 127 MB exe + 129 MB ffmpeg.
• Portable mode (portable.txt → .\data\) survives as a feature for a copied install; it is not a delivery vector.

2. Steamworks setup, once

The SDK zip is the only download. It is ~24 MB and contains the runtime (sdk/redistributable_bin/win64/steam_api64.dll) and the release tooling (sdk/tools/ContentBuilder/ → steamcmd.exe for Windows, steamcmd.sh for Linux/macOS, plus the app_build_*.vdf / depot_build_*.vdf templates). There is no separate "ContentBuilder download" on the partner dashboard — the dashboard's Downloads page only re-offers the SDK.

Reference links, so nobody hunts again:

What	Where
SDK zip (sign in to partner first)	partner.steamgames.com/downloads/steamworks_sdk.zip
Docs home	partner.steamgames.com/doc/home
SteamPipe upload (steamcmd + VDF fields)	partner.steamgames.com/doc/sdk/uploading
Demo configuration	partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/application/demos
Paid app ownership (BIsSubscribedApp)	partner.steamgames.com/doc/api/ISteamApps#BIsSubscribedApp
Store artwork sizes	partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/assets/standard
Coming Soon / 2-week public window	partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/coming_soon
Wallet rule (in-app purchases)	partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/microtransactions
Recurring subscriptions	partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/pricing/subscriptions
Partner support	help.steampowered.com/en/wizard/HelpWithPublishing
Steamworks.NET (managed wrapper)	nuget.org/packages/Steamworks.NET

Status (updated 2026-11-05 — this is a WAIT on Valve, not a task of ours)

Step	State
Partner account created	✅ done by the creator
Identity verification	⏳ pending — Valve reviewing
Tax interview	⏳ submitted; Valve quotes up to 30 business days to review
$100 Steam Direct fee	✅ paid (creator, 2026-11-05) — a store page can be configured once identity clears
App IDs (paid app + free Demo)	not yet assigned
Store page	not created
Build review	not started

Critical path from 2026-11-05, using Valve's own published windows:

1. identity + tax review — up to 30 business days (~6 calendar weeks) → mid-December
2. fee paid, app IDs assigned, store page built and submitted
3. store page review — up to 12 business days (Valve's current backlog; docs still say 3–5)
4. page public ≥2 weeks before release (Valve's rule)
5. build review — up to 12 business days

Earliest realistic launch: early-to-mid February 2027. The launch-price deadline is no longer a date: it now ends 30 days after the store page goes live (2026-11-05), so Valve's queue cannot make the public claim wrong.

Nothing below can start until step 1 clears; none of it blocks the app work.

5. Store page configured and made public two weeks before release — Valve's rule, and it is the window where wishlists accumulate.

3. Release

publish → steam-stage → steamcmd + app_build.vdf → build upload → set live → announcement

1. Upload the depot with steamcmd +login <user> +run_app_build ..\scripts\app_build_<appid>.vdf +quit. The VDF names the app, depot, content root and branch.
2. Set the build live in Steamworks → Builds → the new build → Set Build Live on the default branch. That is the release; there is no artifact to hash and no manifest to submit.
3. Announce with Steam Events (release notes appear in the library and on the store page).
4. Verify: install the Demo from a clean Steam account, confirm paid-app ownership is false, then test with an account that owns the paid app and confirm the higher tiers unlock.

Updates are the same upload with a higher build ID. The app keeps no self-updater and no version banner — Steam is the update path, and that policy has not changed.

4. Entitlement wiring

• IEntitlement reports IsAppOwned. Debug uses a fake owned result; Release checks the paid app ID through BIsSubscribedApp. MainViewModel.IsAppOwned is the app-wide binary ownership flag.
• The paid app ID is not yet configured. Until it is assigned, the Release path fails closed without touching the native library.
• Fail closed on every path: no id, no client, missing DLL, thrown load, not owned.
• The EULA should expressly allow commercial/monetized streaming use; confirm with counsel or Valve that this satisfies the Steam Subscriber Agreement's software terms.
• Never gate a feature. The only delta is the output profile.

5. Release checklist

• Build clean, 0 warnings (./scripts/verify.sh), tests green.
• steam_api64.dll present; app starts without Steam and falls back to the free profile.
• Paid-app ownership false → free profile; true → higher output tiers offered.
• LlamaCasty.exe rename landed (never rename a live exe).
• Clean Steam install on a second machine, then an update pushed and observed.
• Store page public for the full two weeks; support contact and announcements configured.
• Portable mode: portable.txt present → data lands in .\data\.

6. Legal and takedown

• LICENSE (EULA) forbids redistribution, resale, reverse-engineering and circumvention, and disclaims warranty.
• PRIVACY.md must name any third party the app contacts — Google/YouTube. Steam itself is named by Valve's own policy, not ours.
• THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt stays shipped and shown in About; the ffmpeg pin stays lgpl-shared; no GPL component may be linked (see product.md → "Licensing").
• DMCA: a takedown needs only the notice — host, link, good-faith statement, signature. Statutory damages need a registration ($65). Worth doing once there is something to pirate.
• What actually protects the product is in commercial.md → "Anti-piracy posture": a useful free tier, Steam's own delivery, and Steam ownership of the paid app. Not obfuscation, not a native DLL, not hardware locking.

7. Effort, once

Step	Effort
Steamworks onboarding + $100 fee	0.5–1 day, mostly waiting on verification
Publish profile + steam_api64.dll + IEntitlement Steam path	1 day
Depot + first steamcmd upload	0.5 day, then ~15 min per release
Store page + assets (screenshots, capsule art)	1–2 days
Clean-account Demo install + paid-app ownership test	0.5 day