[APPLICATION] Steam GameLauncher

[FallenWyvern]

So I spent the better part of tonight making an application as a go-between for GameEX and Steam. The idea is that it can be run standalone and get all the required information/media for your game and then it can be run with command line parameters to use the steam protocol (steam://run/appid) to launch games (even non-steam games that you added to Steam). When the game closes, my app does as well meaning GameEX immediately grabs focus again.

It also downloads Movies, Title Images and Screenshots for snaps. This means even if you already have Steam setup in GameEX (or any frontend, for that matter), you could use it to get this media. 

Anyway I'm still working on it but I'm excited enough and tired enough to share this video and hope that maybe someone out there will want to use it soon! BTW, it's rough right now but I think it shows the software off pretty well.

1:25 to see how to use it to setup a game

3:18 to see how it grabs/previews media

5:00 to see it run from command line

5:54 to see how to set it up in GameEX

8:00 to see it working in GameEX (goes into game at 8:20, goes back to GameEX at 8:40)

 

[stigzler]

Great work, fella. This will be ueeful when get round to resetup of my rig. Especially like the image and vid scraping..one question... is there any way to get it to auto batch process all the exes inthe steam folder?

 

 

 

 

[FallenWyvern]

5 hours ago, stigzler said:

Great work, fella. This will be ueeful when get round to resetup of my rig. Especially like the image and vid scraping..one question... is there any way to get it to auto batch process all the exes inthe steam folder?

That's the idea! Right now it does launching and creation of a single item. Batching is next (and it'll probably pull the first screenshot/video in order) and then *possibly* editing an existing one (so you can change up images/movies).

The one thing it won't do that I want it to do is add all of a users games based on profile. The install window will pop up if it's not installed, but there's no way for me to guess the exe name without it being downloaded. Also that would be next to impossible for me to check with my 1k game steam library (at least, completely try it). But maybe some checkbox based ui fancyness. That'll be a maybe.

 

[FallenWyvern]

Also if anyone can give good advice on creating a game/system database for GameEX, that would be way more useful.

[nullPointer]

Thanks for this contribution FallenWyvern!  It's always great to see motivated community members getting out there and sharing their creations.  This really does look like a neat utility.

I'd be remiss in my duties if I didn't mention that GameEx already has integrated functionality to handle a lot of this (auto importing of the Steam library, scraping media, scraping game info, and launching games without need for additional configuration).  But this is not without an occasional hiccup (some games require an additional custom script to launch properly particularly those that have their own integrated launcher, sometimes media scraping fails to negotiate an age verification screen, etc.).

Having said that, it's always nice to have alternatives, and sometimes these projects grow and blossom into the preferred means to an end (see Virtual Drive Loader as one example).  Does your utility handle the anomalous items I mentioned above (i.e. negotiating game launchers, and media scraping for games that have age verification screens)?  I'm not currently in a place I can test, and with the way my week is going it might be a while until I have the opportunity.    Thanks again man.

[FallenWyvern]

Age verification, yes. The game launchers, I'm not quite sure yet because I don't have any games installed that have them, but I'm going to presume not. And while I'm aware GameEx has Steam integration, this will allow people with any front end to have the same functionality. Plus I can always get it working with non-steam games as well (not just Origin or Uplay but GOG or even just abandonware people 'find' on their hard drives).

 

The big thing is the scraping of media. Even if someone doesn't want to integrate the shim, they can use it to get media and that's a big deal, imo. I'm not sure if I'd have gotten far with Hyperspin (and now with GameEx) without EmuMovies.

[FallenWyvern]

11 hours ago, nullPointer said:

Thanks for this contribution FallenWyvern!  It's always great to see motivated community members getting out there and sharing their creations.  This really does look like a neat utility.

I'd be remiss in my duties if I didn't mention that GameEx already has integrated functionality to handle a lot of this (auto importing of the Steam library, scraping media, scraping game info, and launching games without need for additional configuration).  But this is not without an occasional hiccup (some games require an additional custom script to launch properly particularly those that have their own integrated launcher, sometimes media scraping fails to negotiate an age verification screen, etc.).

Having said that, it's always nice to have alternatives, and sometimes these projects grow and blossom into the preferred means to an end (see Virtual Drive Loader as one example).  Does your utility handle the anomalous items I mentioned above (i.e. negotiating game launchers, and media scraping for games that have age verification screens)?  I'm not currently in a place I can test, and with the way my week is going it might be a while until I have the opportunity.    Thanks again man.

All my own posts aside, if there were a place I could supply my bits of code towards, it might help GameEx's code. It'll certainly make getting game data much easier (and get around age gates for media, since I don't scrape the webpages directly). I mean, if the developers are open to that sort of thing.

[Draco1962]

This looks pretty awesome!  I currently use the integrated Steam, Uplay, and Origin, but having another option is a always a good thing. Having a the ability to also work with GoG Galaxy would be a big plus! 

A few things. First, on the video at about 8:15. you are receiving the Tap instruction. If you are not running this on a tablet, you can disable the setting in the Touchscreen / Tablet Settings section of Setup Wizard.

Second, when you release this, will you also provide a .pdf with detailed illustrated instructions for how to setup it up to work with GameEx? Not that video tutorials are a bad thing, but some, like myself, prefer to have a document they can refer back to quickly.

[FallenWyvern]

On 26/02/2016 at 6:53 AM, Draco1962 said:

This looks pretty awesome!  I currently use the integrated Steam, Uplay, and Origin, but having another option is a always a good thing. Having a the ability to also work with GoG Galaxy would be a big plus! 

A few things. First, on the video at about 8:15. you are receiving the Tap instruction. If you are not running this on a tablet, you can disable the setting in the Touchscreen / Tablet Settings section of Setup Wizard.

Second, when you release this, will you also provide a .pdf with detailed illustrated instructions for how to setup it up to work with GameEx? Not that video tutorials are a bad thing, but some, like myself, prefer to have a document they can refer back to quickly.

Awesome! I figured that tap screen was configurable. And yes, a text based tutorial will certainly be included. I *hate* when I want info on something that would take 2 minutes to read and having to watch 10+ minute video (complete with a 30-90 second 'channel intro'). Plus I hate making videos because I haven't found a good alternative to Adobe Premier for editing and that's a bit pricey to buy for one off videos.

[CharlesLam]

for the life of me i couldnt figure out how to get steam showing up on my gameex.  Bravo good sir! not only did you make my "windows PC games" setup on mine look amateur, you did this in such an elegant way it will be easy to add new games in the future.   now i just got to find your plugin.  

[CharlesLam]

for the life of me i couldnt figure out how to get steam showing up on my gameex.  Bravo good sir! not only did you make my "windows PC games" setup on mine look amateur, you did this in such an elegant way it will be easy to add new games in the future.   now i just got to find your plugin.  scrap that, i just realized you havent released it yet.  sonuvagun.  guess i will go about it the old fashioned way... :'(

[CharlesLam]

well the alternative i have found is to use UGL, and some other nonsense.  its not as clean, looks horrible, and will be a nightmare to keep going on. i really think you are onto something though, and when you release it, people will use your system moreso than the alternatives.  plus you did a video tutorial that was easy to understand.  

[FallenWyvern]

Well hopefully I'll be able to finish it soon. The arcade stuff for me is my hobby so when work gets busy, there's no side time to program.

 

As far as searching and adding games from an account it still is possible but one issue I'm having is not knowing what the various exe's are for each game. Also anything with a launcher of their own still requires you to click something (I can't skip past them, but my shim still works for detecting if you've left them or not).