• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Guide: Adding Win10 Store Apps as Non-Steam Games to Steam

LordRaptor

LordRaptor

Member
I really missed the good old days of manually making autoexec.bats, setting up himem.sys and configuring IRQs before launching games
 
R

RealityCheque

Banned
I don't get it. I added the Minecraft Windows 10 Beta to steam really easily and it works with BPM and everything. What the hell did I do that made it easy? Or is Minecraft different somehow?
 
N

Nzyme32

Member
StudioTan said:
Call the OP melodramatic for putting in that he understands some people don't like W10 store, goes on to post about why he doesn't like the W10 store 3 posts later.
Click to expand...

For the comment I was quoting, I do not see the problem. Also, nice cutting out the rest of my previous comment, which clearly doesn't follow that narrative.

LiquidMetal14 said:
This kind of circumvention is really unnecessary but the guide is appreciated.
Click to expand...

I'm fairly sure someone will make a script for it, or indeed Steam might add a way to do it since it is practically platform level.
 
R

RealityCheque

Banned
diaspora said:
I did too, but Steam can't launch the exe.
Click to expand...

I'll check steam when I get home and post my exact setup for you to refer to.

I swear it launches easily, every time.

Edit: checked it. It's the .exe found under "C:\Users\my username\Documents\My Games". I never made this folder so I'm assuming its a system thing. The minecraft.exe is in there and it just launches without any fuss. Weird.
 
D

diaspora

Member
RealityCheque said:
I'll check steam when I get home and post my exact setup for you to refer to.

I swear it launches easily, every time.

Edit: checked it. It's the .exe found under "C:\Users\my username\Documents\My Games". I never made this folder so I'm assuming its a system thing. The minecraft.exe is in there and it just launches without any fuss. Weird.
Click to expand...

It might be different for me since I direct went into WindowsApps and accessed the exe.
 
R

RealityCheque

Banned
diaspora said:
It might be different for me since I direct went into WindowsApps and accessed the exe.
Click to expand...

I remember doing that too and it didn't work. So maybe my way will have better luck for you. Pretty sure it doesn't work with the steam overlay but it doesn't bother me as I rarely use that.
 
S

Sargon

Member
abracadaver said:
Also your friends can see what you play. They might be jelly
Click to expand...
At least for me, they can't see what I'm playing using this method. When I launch Minecraft Windows 10 Edition from Steam, my friends list just briefly updates to show that I'm playing it, then it goes away and my status goes back to "Online". I assume it only detects the game being launched as long as the script is running.
 
B

bj00rn_

Banned
What the hell is "BPM"

abbreviations are the worst fucking thing..

Edit: Big Picture Mode.. Ok.. But I still hate abbreviations
 
Z

Zojirushi

Member
Could somebody more technically proficient explain what it would take for programs like afrerburner to work with W10 store apps?
 
M

Monty Mole

Member
bj00rn_ said:
What the hell is "BPM"

abbreviations are the worst fucking thing..

Edit: Big Picture Mode.. Ok.. But I still hate abbreviations
Click to expand...

It's "Beats Per Minute". OP has got his abbreviations all wrong.

Anyway, I'm a little confused. I know MS is bringing first party games to the Windows 10 Store - but I'm looking at it now and all I can see is small games like Jetpack Joyride, Cut The Rope, Crossy Road etc, not a game in sight that isn't mobile-esque and/or designed for Windows RT compatibility. Am I missing something? Is there another store?
 
S

Syriel

Member
Monty Mole said:
It's "Beats Per Minute". OP has got his abbreviations all wrong.

Anyway, I'm a little confused. I know MS is bringing first party games to the Windows 10 Store - but I'm looking at it now and all I can see is small games like Jetpack Joyride, Cut The Rope, Crossy Road etc, not a game in sight that isn't mobile-esque and/or designed for Windows RT compatibility. Am I missing something? Is there another store?
Click to expand...

Rise of the Tomb Raider is the only major name on there right now.
 
M

M3d10n

Member
Zojirushi said:
Could somebody more technically proficient explain what it would take for programs like afrerburner to work with W10 store apps?
Click to expand...

Jailbreaking the whole OS, probably.

All these PC gaming niceties are built upon two big and ancient security holes in Windows: DLL injection and the ability of any software to read and write the memory of any other running software. The UWA architecture puts a stop to those and a few others, as well as providing system-wide anti-piracy.

Anyway, as more games get released there more smart people will probably start hacking at it to find ways to get such things working. The store also has a review system, so buyers can shower the games with vitriol over it.
 
G

gelf

Member
harSon said:
Why do you have to do all of that?

1) Go to your Program Files, click the 'View' tab at the top of your window and select 'Hidden Items'

2) You'll now see a WindowsApp folder. Double click it and it'll say you don't have the permissions. Follow these directions.

3) Go to an explorer bar and type in: %windir%explorer.exe shell:::{4234d49b-0245-4df3-b780-3893943456e1} Press Enter, find the Windows App you're looking for and make a shortcut on your desktop.

4) Download this bat to exe converter: http://download.cnet.com/Bat-To-Exe-Converter-Portable/3000-2069_4-10555897.html

5) Open a text document, type in:
Code: 
@echo off
start [file path]
The path will be something .lnk

6) Go to File > Save As > Change Save as Type to 'All Files' > Change file name to [FileName].bat > Save

7) Open up the bat to exe converter and convert that .bat file to exe
Click to expand...
This is similar what I did..out of curiosity only, I don't actually own anything on the store I want added to steam. I have used bat to exe for adding emulated games to steam before though.

I feel the process in the OP looks more intimidating then it actually is because of that huge bat2exe code block.
 
dmix90

dmix90

Member
Posted this in Windows 10 Store |OT| earlier but this thread is probably more appropriate. Curious to hear from more people if its working or not and if there are any issues.

Made an extremely niche workaround but still want to share. Maybe will be useful for someone else. Tested on two pc's so far.

Probably the easiest method right now to add Windows Store apps to Steam. If i am wrong please share your findings. I don't think this tool will affect performance or anything since process consumes 0% cpu and 1.5mb ram on my machine. Tool updates every 500ms in background while game is running and don't think it's a problem, if it is please let me know and i will try to fix it.

Yes it was possible to convert .bat file which launches link to executable and add it to steam, but steam client will show that you using app only for a second after launch since application you launched immediately closes. This brings problems to Big Picture mode, for example when you using gamepad in game menu you will also navigate big picture mode in background which is absolutely terrible.

There is a readme file in archive. But basically you add executable from archive to steam as a non-Steam game and set launch parameters to AppID from Windows Store. There is a separate text file with a few id's and instructions in readme file about how to find them for other apps.

There is an issue with Big Picture mode related to Guide button on controllers. Obviously since overlays are not supported, steam is not able to hook to application. All you wiil do by pressing guide button in game is bring focus to bp mode, that is a huge problem since you will navigate both game and bp with single input command from controller. I added workaround for that, not sure how good it is but it works for me. If you accidentally( or want to check steam store or chat for example ) press guide button ingame you can simply Alt+Tab if you press and hold for ~0.5 seconds Back + Start + Left Trigger button combination on gamepad( Xbox 360 and Xbox One controllers, other XInput devices should work too... i think ). Repeat to get back to game( focus will be again on the game window and double input problem should disappear ).
Click to expand...

Beta2
How to use launcher:
1. Copy->Paste StoreAppLauncher_xXX to a folder( example D:\Games\WindowsStore\_Games\ ) where you
want to keep your game launchers. You need a copy with unique name for each application you want
to open from Steam because it will overwrite parameters if you have single executable
for multiple applications in your library.
2. Add executable you just created as a Non-Steam Game using steam interface.
3. Find what you added in your library -> Right Click -> Properties.
4. Click -> Set Launch Options.
5. There you should type/paste Windows Store application id -> Click OK and you ready to go.
6(Optional). Add additional parameter to launch options if you want to quit or Alt+Tab from game using controller.
It will only switch between two last windows so be careful with that.

Only two additional parameters are supported at this moment:
"bp":
Alt+Tab -> press Back + Start + LeftTrigger. You should hear "Beep" and get back to Steam Big Picture Interface.
Alt+F4 -> press Back + Start + LeftTrigger + RightTrigger. You should hear "Beep" , game should close and you should be back to Big Picture interface.
"bp1":
Alt+Tab -> press Guide. You should hear "Beep" and get back to Steam Big Picture Interface.
Alt+F4 -> press Guide + Back. You should hear "Beep" , game should close and you should be back to Big Picture interface.
________________________________________________________________________________________________

Launch Options example: Microsoft.WindowsCalculator_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App bp1
________________________________________________________________________________________________


NEW:
1. If you used previous version of a launcher and have a lot of copies already you can try to use Update function.
Just copy new version to a directory where you keep other launchers and open it without any parameters through explorer.
It will ask if you want to update current directory executable files.
IT WILL TRY TO OVERWRITE ANY .exe FILES IT HAS BEEN ABLE TO FIND IN CURRENT DIRECTORY, SO BE CAREFUL!
There should be a list of files in console window.
2. Now launcher will try to open explorer.exe if there is currently no such process running and close it after you quit game.
Should be useful if you using Steam as startup shell for windows because UWA's wont launch if there is no explorer shell running -_-
3. Added launch parameter "bp1". Now you can use Guide button on your controller for switching back to Steam Big Picture interface.
4. Alt+F4 functionality by pressing Guide + Back if you using new "bp1" parameter or Back+Start+LeftTrigger+RightTrigger if you using old "bp" parameter.
5. Executable size is greatly reduced. I used uncompressed icon in previous version. Sorry -_-
6. Now launcher runs in two threads( one for checking game/app status other for checking controller input ).
Game checking thread is updated every ~1.5 seconds while controller thread is updated every ~150ms.
There might be problems with that but i don't think i noticed any. If there is no "bp" or "bp1" parameter present app will run in single thread mode like it was in previous version. Pretty sure CPU usage remained the same compared to previous version ( ~0.01% or something like that on 6700k at 4.5ghz )
7. Now you should not be able to open launcher if it is already running -_-
Click to expand...

Here is the link to the program. If someone will try it please let me know if it works or not for you.
http://bitly.com/StoreAppLauncher_Beta2 or old version http://bitly.com/StoreAppLauncher_Beta
Click to expand...
 
abracadaver

abracadaver

Member
dmix90 said:
Posted this in Windows 10 Store |OT| earlier but this thread is probably more appropriate. Curious to hear from more people if its working or not and if there are any issues.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. Works great for me.

I can now launch Gears of War through Steam and it shows me playing the game until I exit it
 
S

Sargon

Member
dmix90 said:
Posted this in Windows 10 Store |OT| earlier but this thread is probably more appropriate. Curious to hear from more people if its working or not and if there are any issues.
Click to expand...
This doesn't seem to work for Killer Instinct. I'm getting an error "aam->ActivateApplication failure". The Application ID is "Microsoft.KillerInstinct-Wind10_8wekyb3d8bbwe!KillerInstinct.App".

Any ideas?
 
M

MutonCommander

Banned
That seems like a lot of work for something that should be trivially simple. I don't care if Microsoft or Valve are to blame, somebody fix this mess.
 
dmix90

dmix90

Member
Sargon said:
This doesn't seem to work for Killer Instinct. I'm getting an error "aam->ActivateApplication failure". The Application ID is "Microsoft.KillerInstinct-Wind10_8wekyb3d8bbwe!KillerInstinct.App".

Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Daym. Sorry, missed your post. I just uploaded new version, can you try it? No idea why you getting this error (sorry) but maybe i fixed it already somehow. Lol.

I think you the first one with an issue. Now i am curious :)
 
S

Sargon

Member
dmix90 said:
Daym. Sorry, missed your post. I just uploaded new version, can you try it? No idea why you getting this error (sorry) but maybe i fixed it already somehow. Lol.

I think you the first one with an issue. Now i am curious :)
Click to expand...
It seems to be working now. Originally, with the new version, I was getting a "Application ID is probably not correct" error, but after copying and pasting the ID directly from your text file it worked. I must have had a typo or an extra space or something in there. Thanks!
 
S

SOLDIER

Member
Followed OP's guide to add Killer Instinct to Steam, worked with no problems.

But how do I add additional games? I want to make one for Gears of War 4, but I don't know what to call the second bat file.
 
T

Trixxstrr

Member
Just wanted to post that for the easier bat to exe method, where Steam only shows your game name for one second before disappearing, you just need to add cmd /k to the end of your bat file like this:

Code: 
@echo off
start c:\users\brent\desktop\Gears.lnk
cmd /k

So then using that bat to exe program makes it really easy since now you can drag and drop the Win 10 game from your start menu to desktop to create the shortcut easily, then create a bat file for it, then bat to exe program.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom