SteamLauncher

[alienhuntinyeti]

@Metrasher Download the latest beta and move SteamLauncherProxy.exe in the Plugins/SteamLauncher folder with the alpha build.

 

Thanks again Lahma! Freaking amazing plugin!

[Lahma]

@Metrasher, I'm almost certain the problem you're having is due to the alpha build I posted not including the file 'SteamLauncherProxy.exe'. Close LB/BB, download this file again (which now includes this file), extract it into the 'LaunchBox\Plugins\SteamLauncher\' directory (just overwrite existing files), then start LB, double check the emulator/game path you are going to test, under the tools menu ensure that it says 'Use SteamLauncher (ON)' (if not, click that menu item), then start any game normally as you would when not using the plugin, and hopefully your problems will now be solved. Let me know if that fixes your issue.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10mZ3pz3jIwTp8TY8pJMs8MSZvpqWnnD0/view?usp=sharing

Edit: Ha, you beat me to it @alienhuntinyeti. The link above now contains the latest alpha and also includes 'SteamLauncherProxy.exe', so just use that link @Metrasher. Also, make sure your SteamLauncher plugin files are inside of the directory 'LaunchBox\Plugins\SteamLauncher' (as opposed to 'LaunchBox\Plugins').

Edited September 18, 2020 by Lahma

[alienhuntinyeti]

So I noticed in the original post it mentions 'Per Emulator' control configurations, is that still a thing? Couldn't figure out how to do it.  On that subject, is there a way to set a default config that EVERY file will start with? 'Per System/Source/Etc.' configuration?

Also, plugin doesn't seem to be working in BigBox for me, just goes to loading screen for a second and kicks me back to the menu. No biggie, still works great in LaunchBox so far.

[Metrasher]

13 hours ago, Lahma said:

@Metrasher, I'm almost certain the problem you're having is due to the alpha build I posted not including the file 'SteamLauncherProxy.exe'. Close LB/BB, download this file again (which now includes this file), extract it into the 'LaunchBox\Plugins\SteamLauncher\' directory (just overwrite existing files), then start LB, double check the emulator/game path you are going to test, under the tools menu ensure that it says 'Use SteamLauncher (ON)' (if not, click that menu item), then start any game normally as you would when not using the plugin, and hopefully your problems will now be solved. Let me know if that fixes your issue.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10mZ3pz3jIwTp8TY8pJMs8MSZvpqWnnD0/view?usp=sharing

Edit: Ha, you beat me to it @alienhuntinyeti. The link above now contains the latest alpha and also includes 'SteamLauncherProxy.exe', so just use that link @Metrasher. Also, make sure your SteamLauncher plugin files are inside of the directory 'LaunchBox\Plugins\SteamLauncher' (as opposed to 'LaunchBox\Plugins').

 

7 hours ago, alienhuntinyeti said:

So I noticed in the original post it mentions 'Per Emulator' control configurations, is that still a thing? Couldn't figure out how to do it.  On that subject, is there a way to set a default config that EVERY file will start with? 'Per System/Source/Etc.' configuration?

Also, plugin doesn't seem to be working in BigBox for me, just goes to loading screen for a second and kicks me back to the menu. No biggie, still works great in LaunchBox so far.

Working wonderfully!!

I see two issues for my interests:
1- As alienhuntinyeti says, it does not work on BigBox (at least out of the box). But no big deal.

2 - I'm trying to set a a default binding to Steam Controller in Steam so I don't have to bind my config to EVERY game I launch from LaunchBox. Is there any way to do that?

Thanks for your help.

[Lahma]

Let me try to address @alienhuntinyeti and @Metrasher's questions together.

BigBox: I wasn't aware BigBox wasn't working. I don't personally use it very much so I'm glad y'all said something. I will check it out asap.

Controller Configs: Since my plugin does not currently perform any type of code injection that modifies Steam's controller configuration code, the plugin is limited to working within Steam's current boundaries/logic. Steam decides which controller profile to automatically load (whenever a game is started) based on the title of the game (or in the case of non-Steam shortcuts, whatever you name the game/shortcut). For example, let's say the last time you were playing 'Super Mario World (SNES)', you changed/reconfigured some of the controller bindings. The next time you load that game, as long as the title is exactly the same, it will load up whatever controller configuration modifications you made the last time you were playing the game. Now, say you messed with SteamLauncher's 'Custom Platform Names' settings such that the 'Super Nintendo Entertainment System' platform is now named 'Super NES' (instead of 'SNES'), the next time you go to load up 'Super Mario World', the controller configuration will be reset to the default because Steam has no way of knowing that 'Super Mario World (Super NES)' is the same game as 'Super Mario World (SNES)'. Now, with that explanation out of the way, let me try to answer y'all's exact questions.

Global/Per-Emulator Default Binding: Unfortunately, due to what I described above (the inherent way Steam works), there is no way to set a default controller binding for anything launched via SteamLauncher or even a default controller binding for individual emulators (bc Steam only looks at the title of the shortcut). What you can do however is this (as an example I'm using 'PCSX2' here but you can also apply these instructions to creating a global default config for all games launched via SteamLauncher):

If you want to use the same controller configuration for all games running under PCSX2 (or at least want to use a particular controller configuration as a "starting point" for all games running under PCSX2), the simplest way to accomplish this is as follows:

• Run any game under PCSX2 using the plugin
• Setup your controller configuration as you like
• While inside of the controller configuration overlay screen, hit the 'Export' button (or press the 'Y' button if using an Xbox or Xbox-style controller)
• Scroll down to 'Templates'
• Select the 'Save new template binding' option

• Enter an appropriate name (i.e. PCSX2 Template) and description
• Click 'Save'

Now, any time you load up a new game under PCSX2, just pull up the overlay, select 'Controller Configuration', hit the 'Browse Configs' button (or press the 'X' button if using an Xbox or Xbox-style controller), and select your newly saved PCSX2 Template config. Takes all of about 3 seconds and you'll only have to do it one time whenever playing a new game. The nice thing is that you can now change any controller bindings (on top of your PCSX2 Template config) and they will automatically be reloaded the next time you run the game (and these changes won't affect/modify your PCSX2 Template config).

Conclusion: I apologize for any discrepancies in the plugin documentation. There is a lot that has changed, is out of date, irrelevant, or even a couple of things that are just incorrect. Before the 1.0 release, I am going to change the documentation to include all of the info I described above, and I am going to remove the reference to 'per-emulator' controller configs. Another user already pointed out this discrepancy to me previously so it is already on my 'to-do' list for the 1.0 release. I really appreciate you guy's feedback. I'll try to get BigBox fixed in the next couple of days. Please let me know if you have any other questions or if I failed to address your existing questions/concerns. Thanks!

[Metrasher]

That's a nice solution for me. For now I use the same Steam Controller config for all emulators, but with different action sets so that I can play many platforms without a problem.

Template solution is really good. Not as good as if Steam would let set a default binding for some rules or something like that, instead of setting Gamepad always (or nearly always) as the default template.

Just expecting the Big Box fix, but there's no immediate need, as starting Big Box from Steam's Big Picture allows me to use that config I mentioned before through all emulators. Not perfect, but useful enough.

Thanks for your work and your efforts in solving our issues. Appreciated

 

[alienhuntinyeti]

Honestly, that's kind of what I was expecting as far as the 'per emulation' sorting was going... figured best case scenario was adjusting a config or something. No biggie, your template solution was what I was doing already, it's easy enough. 

Yay, glad BigBox support will be fixed eventually! Excited to mess with it, I want to try loading BigBox through Steam to set a global config, seeing if the plugin still works with BigBox having it's own controller config like that, and then seeing if it reverts back to the BigBox controller config after I quit a game... doubt it'll work quite like that but I'm excited to try it

Probably check back in a week or so to see if it's out yet. Thanks for the sweet plugin AND the help, you're awesome Lahma!

 

[Metrasher]

It seems like it's not working with Epic Games' games:

It works with those games if I turn OFF Steam Launcher. No errors and game starts, opposite to what happens when plugin is ON.
Again, no big deal, but just a small heads up.

[alienhuntinyeti]

@Metrasher I just checked it out, looks like it's the way LaunchBox imports games. As a work-around, right click the game, go to Edit>Launching and set the application path to the .exe of the game.

 

[Metrasher]

45 minutes ago, alienhuntinyeti said:

@Metrasher I just checked it out, looks like it's the way LaunchBox imports games. As a work-around, right click the game, go to Edit>Launching and set the application path to the .exe of the game.

 

Ok!
Thanks man. I'll check that out.

[Lahma]

11 hours ago, alienhuntinyeti said:

Honestly, that's kind of what I was expecting as far as the 'per emulation' sorting was going... figured best case scenario was adjusting a config or something. No biggie, your template solution was what I was doing already, it's easy enough. 

Yay, glad BigBox support will be fixed eventually! Excited to mess with it, I want to try loading BigBox through Steam to set a global config, seeing if the plugin still works with BigBox having it's own controller config like that, and then seeing if it reverts back to the BigBox controller config after I quit a game... doubt it'll work quite like that but I'm excited to try it

Probably check back in a week or so to see if it's out yet. Thanks for the sweet plugin AND the help, you're awesome Lahma!

 

You definitely cannot run BigBox through Steam and then run a game in BigBox using SteamLauncher. Besides the fact that that would mean Steam is trying to run multiple games simultaneously (bc Steam will consider BigBox a "game" just like any other non-Steam shortcut run via Steam), Steam would be trying to inject the overlay into a process multiple times (I'll spare you the technical jargon). Essentially you're creating a circular dependency and if you're not careful you might just cause your PC to implode into a black hole while trying this

[Lahma]

@Metrasher and @alienhuntinyeti: I have not looked at the Epic games importer since LB added that but they must be using some really bizarre way of launching Epic titles if it is not working... My plugin supports URL based paths (i.e. steam://rungameid/1145360) [Edit: actually, I retract what I said about URL based paths, at least in the context of Steam URLs.. (see edit below)], shortcut paths (.lnk files), and basically any other valid shell cmd that can be passed to Process.Start... So ya, I guess I'll add that to my to-do list. I suspect it will be a very easy fix so if that is something that is really important to y'all, I can try to get that fix pushed out with the fix for BigBox.

Edit: (see edit above) The plugin currently detects that the game launch is a Steam URL and gracefully stops the launch (as there is no reason to hook Steam since Steam is already launching the game).. I need to change this behavior though so that instead of stopping the game launch, it just disabled SteamLauncher for that game launch. Looks like I'm going to have to setup some custom logic for Epic Launcher titles...

Edited September 21, 2020 by Lahma

[Corgana]

Came here to mention that it's not working with Big Box but I see you're already on it! Appreciate the effort!

To the people wondering about a "per emulator" setting; Just add the given emulator to Steam as a "non Steam game" and configure it that way. Steam will know when you're running a game with it and use the appropriate controls (unless you change them on a per-game level).

Edited September 21, 2020 by Corgana

[Lahma]

1 minute ago, Corgana said:

Came here to mention that it's not working with Big Box but I see you're already on it! Appreciate the effort!

To the people wondering about a "per emulator" setting; Just add the given emulator to Steam as a "non Steam game" and configure it that way. Steam will know when you're running a game with it and use the appropriate controls (unless you change them on a per-game level).

Hey @Corgana, thanks for coming here to report the issue, but ya, I'm already working on the fix for BigBox, and I should have it resolved pretty quickly. I'm a bit overwhelmed with work stuff today but I might be able to get to it tonight. On the per-emulator topic, are you suggesting that if you add, for example, 'Retroarch' as a non-Steam shortcut in Steam, and set a controller profile to it, and then launch any rom (that uses Retroarch) in LaunchBox, while using SteamLauncher, that it will automatically use the controller profile you assigned to Retroarch within Steam? If so, that is news to me and runs entirely counter to my understanding of how Steam assigns controller profiles.

[Corgana]

16 minutes ago, Lahma said:

Hey @Corgana, thanks for coming here to report the issue, but ya, I'm already working on the fix for BigBox, and I should have it resolved pretty quickly. I'm a bit overwhelmed with work stuff today but I might be able to get to it tonight. On the per-emulator topic, are you suggesting that if you add, for example, 'Retroarch' as a non-Steam shortcut in Steam, and set a controller profile to it, and then launch any rom (that uses Retroarch) in LaunchBox, while using SteamLauncher, that it will automatically use the controller profile you assigned to Retroarch within Steam? If so, that is news to me and runs entirely counter to my understanding of how Steam assigns controller profiles.

Hah, yes I think I confused myself. What I meant to say was add the emulator as a non-steam game, and launch it that way (via Steam) to configure the controllers in the emulator's settings. Reason being  is that Steam creates "virtual" xinput devices and I've noticed it can confuse some emulators if you configure everything without Steam running (if it's a dinput device for example). For more complicated configurations yes you'll need to make a "Cemu" (for example) setting and manually load it on a per-game basis.

Love this plugin, by the way. Looking forward to the BigBox fix!

 

Edited September 21, 2020 by Corgana

[Lahma]

1 minute ago, Corgana said:

Hah, yes I think I confused myself. What I meant to say was add the emulator as a non-steam game, and launch it that way (via Steam) to configure the controllers in the emulator's settings. Reason being  is that Steam creates "virtual" xinput devices and I've noticed it can confuse some emulators if you configure everything without Steam running (if it's a dinput device for example).

Love this plugin, by the way. Looking forward to the BigBox fix!

 

Ah ok, no big deal. I was hoping you'd found something that I hadn't

[The_Keeper86]

I'm a Big Box user so getting it to work again would be awesome! I'm always around on Steam @Lahma for help figuring it out and testing

[mp3deej]

Good Morning, 

I know that the plugin isn't working in Big Box, however since I've had the plugin installed, whenever I try to launch a game from Big Box, no matter what emulator I use It will automatically try to start in Steam, then fail. I've tried to fix this by removing the plug-in from my installation but that didn't work, it still tries to start in Steam.   

Has anyone else ever run across this?  What is the fix?  

If the fix has been posted and I  missed, I do apologize. 

 

 

[JedExodus]

27 minutes ago, mp3deej said:

Good Morning, 

I know that the plugin isn't working in Big Box, however since I've had the plugin installed, whenever I try to launch a game from Big Box, no matter what emulator I use It will automatically try to start in Steam, then fail. I've tried to fix this by removing the plug-in from my installation but that didn't work, it still tries to start in Steam.   

Has anyone else ever run across this?  What is the fix?  

If the fix has been posted and I  missed, I do apologize. 

 

 

Check the emulator paths. Previously when SteamLauncher was broke due to updates it would change the emulator paths to Steam,. They may just need reset to the original emulator EXE

[mp3deej]

8 hours ago, JedExodus said:

Check the emulator paths. Previously when SteamLauncher was broke due to updates it would change the emulator paths to Steam,. They may just need reset to the original emulator EXE

I checked and that's not it,  it is starting in Big Box and Launch Box.  I mean all of my games on all emulators.   

What is going on?   Can this be fixed without  having to reset everything?