Installation and Restore

Installation and Restore

This page covers the supported ways to install and undo the emoji patch. For DPI work, start with DPI Fixes.

Requirements

Item	Requirement
OS	Windows 10 or Windows 11
IMVU	IMVU Classic installed under %APPDATA%\IMVUClient
Python source install	Python 3.10+
Installer exe	Windows x64, bundled Python
Runtime state	IMVU closed while patching

The patch needs write access to:

%APPDATA%\IMVUClient\library.zip
%APPDATA%\IMVUClient\ui\chrome\imvuContent.jar

Recommended Install

Use the PowerShell installer if Windows Defender blocks unsigned PyInstaller executables, or if you already have Python installed:

git clone https://github.com/JSukar/IMVU-TOOLKIT.git
cd IMVU-TOOLKIT
.\install.ps1

Restore:

.\install.ps1 --restore

GUI Installer

Download IMVU-Emoji-Installer.exe from the official Releases page, run it, and choose Install or Restore.

To run the GUI from source:

git clone https://github.com/JSukar/IMVU-TOOLKIT.git
cd IMVU-TOOLKIT
.\install_gui.ps1

Restore from the GUI source wrapper:

.\install_gui.ps1 --restore

Unified CLI

Install:

python -m imvu_toolkit emoji install

Restore:

python -m imvu_toolkit emoji restore

Install and relaunch IMVU after patching:

python -m imvu_toolkit emoji install --relaunch-imvu

Patch a non-default IMVU directory:

python -m imvu_toolkit emoji install --imvu-dir "C:\Users\you\AppData\Roaming\IMVUClient"

Patch explicit files:

python -m imvu_toolkit emoji install --library "C:\path\library.zip" --content-jar "C:\path\imvuContent.jar"

Legacy Scripts

Root-level scripts still work for backward compatibility:

python .\patch_imvu_emoji.py
python .\patch_imvu_emoji.py --restore

Prefer the unified CLI for new docs and issue reports.

Backups

The emoji patch creates backups next to the files it changes:

library.zip.bak-emoji-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS
imvuContent.jar.bak-emoji-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS

Restore mode uses the newest matching bak-emoji-* backup for each target.

Installer Verification

Use release artifacts only from the official GitHub Releases page. Each release includes a SHA256 hash and VirusTotal link.

PowerShell hash check:

Get-FileHash .\IMVU-Emoji-Installer.exe -Algorithm SHA256

If the hash matches the release page but Windows blocks the file, use install.ps1 instead. It applies the same patch without bundling Python into an unsigned .exe.

After Installing

Restart IMVU if the installer did not relaunch it automatically. Open chat and look for the smiley button beside Send.