In this guide I will describe how to get started with Forged Alliance Forever (FAF). You may also be interested in my FAF languages listing and FAF FAQ. Getting started with FAF is extremely easy to achieve. You just need to install Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance (I assume you already have), create a FAF player account, link it to your Steam account, install the FAF client, log in using the client and join or host a game. In the following I will describe the procedure detailed step by step.

1. Install Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance (I assume you already have).
   
2. Get the latest Downlord's FAF Client from the releases page.[github.com] As of January 23rd 2022 the latest version is 2021.12.0. You have the following two options regarding the file to download.
   
   • Option A (recommended): Use the installer dfc_windows-x64_2021_12_0.exe. It is not signed which is expected. Just pay attention that you downloaded it via https. The installer asks for administrator rights, but these are only required if installing to system locations. Important: Install the client into an independent location (like "C:\Program Files (x86)\Downlord's FAF Client"), not into your Steam installation directory.
     
   • Option B: Use the zipped version dfc_windows-x64_2021_12_0.zip of the client which does not require administrator rights. Just extract it to a harddisk destination of your choice and lauch it via downlords-faf-client.exe.
3. After the installation/extraction has finished, run the client which will present a login dialog to you.
   
   
4. Click the button Create Account. Your default browser will open and show the player registration page. Fill in the required data and click the button Register. You can use the same account to login to the FAForever forums.[forum.faforever.com]
   
5. Open your e-mail account which you used for registering your FAF player account and activate the latter by opening the link contained in the account validation mail.
   
6. Open https://faforever.com/ in your browser and log in to your FAF player account using the website menu item Log In.
   
   
7. Click the website menu item Link Account to Steam to open the Steam linking info page.
   
   
8. Using your Steam client or browser, log in to your Steam account, go to My Privacy Settings and set Game details temporarily to Public because for linking, the FAF api needs to validate that you own Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance.
   
9. On the FAF Steam linking info page, click the button Sign in through STEAM to open the Steam login page for api.faforever.com.
   
   
10. On the Steam login page for api.faforever.com log in using your Steam credentials to link your FAF player account to your Steam account. Some information on what will happen when you login using that site can be found right there.
    
11. Revert your Steam privacy settings to the values they had before.
    
12. Log into the FAF client using your FAF player account credentials. The initial tab is the News tab.
    
    
13. At the top bar you will see a bell with a yellow dot which means you have notifications. Click on it and you will see the following entries. Most important is "Forged Alliance could not be located". Click the button Locate… which will open the Windows file explorer. Use it to provide the directory of your Forged Alliance installation.
    
    
14. Click the tab Play and then the sub-tab Custom games. You will be presented with a list of games currently having open slots for players. Some of them may be password protected and some of them may require mods.
    
    
15. Hoover your mouse pointer over a game you are interested in to get a tooltip with details. When you've found a game you'd like to join, double click it. This will start the game and the lobby will be presented to you.
    
    
16. When you are ready to begin the game, mark the checkbox Ready. When the game creator is satisfied with the players and settings, he will start the game.

If my guide was helpful for you, it would be nice if you give it a good rating. If it wasn't, please leave a comment what I can improve.

2018-06-24 Initial version.
2018-06-30 Add link to related guide "Forged Alliance Forever (FAF) FAQ".
2018-10-31 Add Steam linking info because mandatory for new FAF player accounts since 2018-09-15 Update info regarding last check of current client version.
2018-12-12 Update guide to new client version 0.9.2.
2018-12-23 Link to new client version 0.9.3 and German version of this guide.
2021-06-18 Update guide to new client version 1.4.6.
2021-06-24 Add link to my FAF languages listing ("Guide" with screenshots).
2021-07-04 Update client version info to 1.4.7.
2022-01-23 Update client version info to 2021.12.0. Installation doesn't enforce admin rights anymore.