The Ranked Ladder add-in
What the Vespene Companion adds to Patch Clash ranked play. Automatic replay upload, the Ranked Ladder overlay that lets you queue, accept, ban maps and read your hosting orders without leaving StarCraft II, the queue guard, and how to install it. The app is optional; everything also works in a browser.
You do not need the Companion to play ranked. Every part of the ladder works in a browser, and a player without it reports results by uploading the replay by hand. The Companion makes three things automatic, and its Ranked Ladder add-in puts the queue inside StarCraft II.
What the Companion does for ranked#
- Uploads your replay the moment the game ends, which is the result report. Either player's upload closes the match, so one of you running it is enough.
- Stamps GAME STARTED when it sees the game begin, which closes the AFK challenge for that match. See Fair play: voids, strikes, AFK and disputes.
- Guards the queue. If you start a normal SC2 1v1 while searching for a Patch Clash game, it cancels your search so you are never paired mid-game ("Queue cancelled, you started an SC2 match. Re-queue when it ends."). If your ladder match was still in the map draft, it voids with no fault and your opponent is requeued.
For the Companion itself (installing it, watched folders, troubleshooting) see Vespene Companion (desktop app).
The Ranked Ladder overlay#
The add-in is a small panel that sits over StarCraft II on the left of your screen.
- It needs SC2 in Windowed Fullscreen (SC2's default display mode). Nothing can draw over exclusive fullscreen.
- It never steals focus from the game. Clicking it does not tab you out.
- It hides itself while a game is loading or being played, and comes back at the menus, the score screen and while watching replays. Your queue keeps running while it is hidden.
- It opens when SC2 starts by default. Turn that off in the add-in's settings from the F10 console. It closes again when SC2 exits, if it was the one that opened.
- Drag it by its header. The minus button collapses it to a thin bar showing "SEARCHING" with the clock, "MATCH FOUND", or the ladder name, so it takes almost no space over the game.
The strip across the top shows your rating, rank, record and how many are in queue.
What you can do from it#
| View | What you see and do |
|---|---|
| Signed out | Sign-in steps and OPEN VESPENE |
| Missing a requirement | The checklist (link Battle.net, verify a region) and OPEN VESPENE |
| Idle | Race buttons, your servers with EDIT, and FIND MATCH |
| Searching | A radar, the clock, and CANCEL |
| Match found | You versus your opponent with a countdown, the ban board (tap a map to ban it, again to unban), ban progress for both players (your opponent's picks stay hidden), and READY |
| Hosting orders | The map, YOU HOST or THEY HOST with the server, the step-by-step orders, your opponent's battletag with COPY, and OPEN FULL LOBBY |
| Result | Victory, Defeat, Draw or No result, your rating change, the map and server, and FIND MATCH |
Servers with no Battle.net character of yours show "NO CHAR" and cannot be selected, and you cannot deselect every server. The match-found alert plays once per match.
Not in the overlay: reporting a result (the Companion's auto-upload does that), GAME STARTED by hand, offering a draw, forfeiting, or contesting a result. Use OPEN FULL LOBBY or the site for those.
One difference to know: the overlay does not measure your ping, so when either player queues from the overlay, the match server is picked from your shared servers in a fixed order rather than by latency. Keep your server selection to the ones you actually want. See Servers, regions and ping.
Installing it#
- Install the Vespene Companion (free, Windows 10 or 11) from the download page and sign in with your Vespene account.
- Open the F10 Command Console and find the Ladder Overlay card (the Ranked Ladder add-in), or use the (i) band in the ranked screen's room. Press Install. In a plain browser the card reads OPTIONAL and its button explains the add-in, because ranked itself needs no app.
- The Companion downloads the add-in, checks it, and opens it. From then on it updates itself whenever the Companion starts.
Add-ins require being signed in. On the web without the Companion, the install button offers the Companion download instead. Keep the Companion updated: older builds show "MATCH FOUND, ready up in Vespene" instead of the in-overlay ban board.