Has anyone managed to get a smooth experience switching between Steam Big Picture and BigBox?

[dmaker]

I'm curious if anyone has a truly smooth, consistent experience with this, or is it a unicorn? I sometimes waffle between using BB as my primary launcher and starting my Steam games from there, or vica versa where I use Steam Big Picture as the primary launcher and add BB as a non steam game. 

 

It seems no matter which method I use, there will be issues more often than not. For example, games will exit to a black screen and will require me to reboot or any subsequent games will run slowly at half the usual FPS. Or in other cases, BB will minimize to tray and be unuseable, etc. 

 

Are there, perhaps, some tips or tricks or clues or best practices or whatever thtat maybe I am missing? At this point, I get so frustrated I just created a folder on the desktop and put all my steam games shortcuts in there and a BB shortcut. I run Controller Companion at startup, so I can use the sticks to act like a mouse (this is an htpc build, btw)

 

Hopefully someone has a reliable setup for toggling between Steam games and BB and can maybe point out some common pain points or something. I feel it should be better than it is, but maybe it's the way I am doing, or not doing, something.

 

Thanks

 

For reference, my htpc build is:

 

Intel Nuc13 (highly upgraded)

• Intel Core-i7 1360p (Windows 11 Pro)
• 32 GB of DDR55
• 2TB SN850X
• Radeon RX 7600XT eGPU

 

 

 

[fromlostdays]

I have a similar mindset at least although I never imported one into the other. I just use them for different things. I use Bigbox when I want to scroll a massive library and find a game, and I used Steam Rom Manager to import my favorite roms into Steam and use Big Picture when I know exactly what I want to play, but that's probably part of the issue, both programs are front ends. I don't know too much about how it all works, but it makes sense they would compete for the same things (like controller input, focus on the screen etc.) So my inclination is to say this is a unicorn, especially considering how Steam Big Picture handles its overlay. 

There is a middle ground, which is this: 

This third party plugin for LB/BB basically launches any game in your LB/BB build through Steam. It gives you all the functionality of the steam overlay for all your retro games without having to import any Non Steam Games into Steam. The Dev is awesome, but unfortunately, Steam tends to break it and you wind up having to wait for the dev to figure out how to fix it. So while it's an ideal solution, it's not a perfect one. 

 

[fromlostdays]

18 minutes ago, dmaker said:

I run Controller Companion at startup, so I can use the sticks to act like a mouse (this is an htpc build, btw)

Some subsequent information since I don't feel like I was helpful at all. Steam has a "desktop profile" that will run controller keybinds for you when you're on your desktop. I mention this because Controller Companion is great but its also yet another thing running at the same time. If you want a shot at the smoothest experience possible while having both open, you're going to want the least amount running in the background as possible, and especially any kind of programs that pull screen focus or messes with inputs. I'd bet you would also benefit from learning some rudimentary autohotkey (or someone in the forums could help if you ask specific questions), like scripts to auto focus Bigbox or Steam at certain times, maybe even freezing them while in game. Also, experiment with Big Picture in Full Screen / Windows mode to see which gives better results. 

Edited March 15 by fromlostdays
Grammar

[dmaker]

Thank you

 

[fromlostdays]

2 minutes ago, dmaker said:

Thank you

 

No problem. Sorry I can't be more helpful, but I can say always expect bugs. I get some of the behavior you mention JUST using Big Picture. Can't tell you how many times I'd closed a game in Big Picture only to have it refocus to black screen and then having to mouse to it to get it to grab focus back and be able to use my controller again. 

[dmaker]

Same here. I've been chasing this white whale of a Windows based device that looks, feels and plays like a high powered console, on and off, for a few years now. I always end up in the same spot in the end. But then I get a new device to connect to my tv and I start all over again. There are always obstacles and headaches and it never really feels ready for primetime.  

 

 

[dmaker]

I can get there pretty easily if I forgo Windows Steam games. BigBox is by far the best front end for retro stuff. But this NUC has enough horsepower to play some decent Windows games after upping the RAM, replacing the system drive and attaching an eGPU.  The tradeoff seems to be accepting some jankiness when switching between retro (BB) and Windows games. It's easy to feature only one vs the other, but to have both seamlessly swap between each other with no mouse or keyboard reaching seems like a lofty goal that is, mostly, unattainable. 

 

I can do it easily with my Shield 2019 Pro, but then Windows games become dependent upon Sunshine/Moonlight. Doable, but native is better. And BB for Android is great, but the Windows version is far superior and I can build it out such better hardware.