Setup
Set up once.
Then it's one click.
A few minutes the first time. After that you open UmamusumeX and press Play.
The game, through Steam
Installed and started at least once, so its game data is on your PC.
A spare Steam account
One with no link to your real game data. UmamusumeX makes its own accounts and saves.
Windows or Linux
Windows 10 or 11, or Linux with the game running through Steam's Proton.
Windows
Four steps to your first career.
Download and unzip
Get UmamusumeX from the Download page and unzip it anywhere. Your Desktop is fine.
Double-click UmamusumeX
The control panel opens in your browser. Keep the small UmamusumeX window open while you play.
Follow the checklist on Home
Every line is green or has a button that fixes it. The game is found through Steam. Press Create certificate and answer Yes when Windows asks to trust it. Tick the box for a Back to official servers shortcut on your desktop.
Press Play
Windows asks once for permission, the server starts and Steam launches the game. When the game asks you to create an account, it is made on your server.
Done for the day? Three ways back to the official servers
Windows asks for permission once. If UmamusumeX did not close normally, it offers to fix it the next time you sign in to Windows.
Linux
The same panel, through Proton.
Start the game once through Steam
So its Proton prefix exists.
Download and extract
Get the Linux build from the Download page and extract it anywhere.
Double-click UmamusumeX
Or run
./UmamusumeXin that folder. The control panel opens in your browser.Press Set up, then Play
One button does the whole setup: the certificate, trusting it inside Proton, the port and the redirect. Your desktop asks for your password once.
To stop, press Quit in the panel: it asks whether to turn the redirect off too. Closed the browser tab? Double-click UmamusumeX again and the panel reopens.
The Japanese game
A separate game, set up once.
Only the Japanese Steam store offers it, so getting it takes a VPN and its own Steam account. Japan runs on Windows for now.
1. Get the Japanese game
Connect a VPN to Japan
Any VPN with Japanese servers works. Keep it on for the next steps.
Make a new Steam account
With the VPN on, at store.steampowered.com/join. Steam takes the store country from where you sign up, so the new account gets the Japanese store. Keep it for the Japanese game only.
Install the game
Sign in to Steam with the new account, still on the VPN, and search the store for ウマ娘 プリティーダービー (Umamusume Pretty Derby). It is free: press Play Game.
Start it once
With the VPN on, so it downloads its game data. That takes a while. Close it at the title screen.
Keep the VPN on whenever you start the Japanese game. Without it the game stops at Game loading 0% with a communication error. That comes from the game, not from UmamusumeX.
2. Play it on UmamusumeX
Close Steam, pick Japan
Open UmamusumeX and pick Japan on Home.
Press Set up Japan
Once only. It sets the game's launch option in Steam and never writes into the game folder.
Press Play Japan
UmamusumeX starts the Japan server and the game, in English by default. The translation can be turned off on the Japan tile.
Want the official Japanese servers? Stop the Japan server, or close UmamusumeX: the game then starts exactly as it does without it. Remove Japan setup (with Steam closed) takes UmamusumeX out of the launch option and puts back what was there.
Updates
UmamusumeX checks for new versions by itself. When one is out, Home shows Update now: it downloads, checks the new version and restarts the panel on it. Your saves are never touched.
Your saves
Saves, settings and logs live in your data folder, apart from the program. Settings › Data & backups exports everything as one file, and every edit takes a backup first.
Stuck on a step?
Most answers are one click away.