[RESOLVED] Steam/GameEx load time

[Lighty]

I like what I'm seeing so far. GameEx is working good. I paid for a lifetime membership, but the only problem is when I enable steam support, it takes FOREVER to load GameEX the first time, AND to shut down. I turn off Steam support, and it works great......... is this a bug?

[tthurman]

Hey lighty, great to have you posting in the forums!

I believe I've seen some others post about load and shut down issues with steam in the past. Your best bet is to follow Tempest's help guide and post for assistance for this issue here in the GameEx general forums.

[Draco1962]

I split these into their own topic from the Evolution thread since the OP is noting an issue with the GameEx and not Evolution proper.

[DazzleHP]

Hi lighty,

One thing you should keep in mind is that when you enable Steam in GameEx for the first time, it will be retrieving videos and artwork in the background. If you have a large Steam collection this could take potentially hours, and you will get a slowdown because of this. If your collection is quite small, and/or you are convinced all media has been retrieved already, there is a configuration you can try, and this is how i run Steam through GameEx.

Firstly load the Steam Client (outside of GameEx) and enable "Remember my password" then log in. Quit the client.

Load the GameEx Setup Wizard> Custom> Online Game Services. In the Steam section, change Enable automatic login and logout to No.

Next, go to Setup Wizard> Custom> Tweaks/Performance. In Launch On Startup don't wait, add the path to your Steam.exe, or use the browse button to find it (usually C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.exe)

What this will do is launch Steam in the background (when you launch GameEx) and log in without GameEx waiting for it. When you launch a Steam game through GameEx it will already be ready (Steam) to go and should be much, much quicker.

[nullPointer]

Sounds like a plan. I also have one more question. Is there anyway to use GameEX to start Kega Fusion to run the game gear games? That seems to be the only emulator that would run game gear games at actual full screen, without a black border around the picture.

I split this post from the thread in order to maintain the focus of a single topic per thread. The new thread can be found here.

[Lighty]

Staying on topic, regarding Steam. Dazzle, that did help to some extent. When steam started in the background, I had to maximize GameEx again, but no big deal. It did indeed start quickly, but it still took forever for GameEx to shut down upon leaving.

[DazzleHP]

Dazzle, that did help to some extent. When steam started in the background, I had to maximize GameEx again, but no big deal. It did indeed start quickly, but it still took forever for GameEx to shut down upon leaving.

I forgot about the focus issue At the end of the Launch On Startup don't wait command, add -silent. so using my example above it would be:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.exe -silent

This should force Steam to the system tray instead of stealing focus from GameEx.

[Lighty]

Worked like a charm!! Is there also a way to have steam close itself, when I leave Game EX, so I don't have to close steam after I close Game EX? If not, it's ok. Thanks again bud!

[DazzleHP]

Worked like a charm!! Is there also a way to have steam close itself, when I leave Game EX, so I don't have to close steam after I close Game EX? If not, it's ok. Thanks again bud!

You can, using a batch file. Open Notepad and paste the following:

@echo offtaskkill /f /im "Steam.exe"

Save it as kill-steam.bat or something similar, the name is not important but the extension is, so make sure Windows isn't forcing it as *.txt when you save. Once you have put it in an appropriate place, go to Setup Wizard> Custom> Tweaks/Performance and browse to your batch file in Launch on Exit don't wait.

Note: Be careful when exiting GameEx if your last game is a Steam game and you use the cloud sync, because the above command will force it to quit, so if you exit GX too quickly you might interrupt your cloud sync. I've never experienced any cloud errors myself, but then i don't exit games and GX at the speed of a bullet It's just so you are aware is all

[Lighty]

You can, using a batch file. Open Notepad and paste the following:

@echo offtaskkill /f /im "Steam.exe"

Save it as kill-steam.bat or something similar, the name is not important but the extension is, so make sure Windows isn't forcing it as *.txt when you save. Once you have put it in an appropriate place, go to Setup Wizard> Custom> Tweaks/Performance and browse to your batch file in Launch on Exit don't wait.

Note: Be careful when exiting GameEx if your last game is a Steam game and you use the cloud sync, because the above command will force it to quit, so if you exit GX too quickly you might interrupt your cloud sync. I've never experienced any cloud errors myself, but then i don't exit games and GX at the speed of a bullet It's just so you are aware is all

Well it kills steam when I exit, but GameEx will minimize like before when I start it up. Might have to be one or the other.

[Lighty]

UPDATE: Feel free for any moderator to mark this as "RESOLVED." I only left the "kill-steam.bat" remaining, since enough data was collected to load fast on startup.