Game front ends (Playnite, LaunchBox)

[Blackhawk]

Quoting myself from the "Gaming Randomness" thread:

So, I keep my Steam library organized, all 566 games. I have them sorted primarily by genre and subgenre, with special cross-categories for cooperative games, multiplayer games, current games, games that are high on my 'to play' list, a set of games to hide, and so on. I've been working those games and polishing those categories for years now.

So today I log into Steam and they're all gone. Every one of the games is now exclusively in a 'games' folder. I search online for answers, and I find thousands of similar complaints going back years, none with solutions. Valve can apparently do everything on the cloud except back up settings.

It would take me an ungodly number of hours to recategorize every one of those almost 600 games. Probably multiple days. And not knowing the cause of the problem, I'd be setting myself up to do it again. So screw Steam. I'm going to do some research and see if there is a third-party front end that will let me do what Steam does, plus maybe let me bring in my Origin/Uplay/GoG/Twitch game libraries as well.

I found two worth mentioning, and if they work as promised (they seem to), then they're worthy of their own thread.

The first is LaunchBox. It's pretty, it's has a few more features, but some of them require a premium account. It also seems to be a bit on the bloated side. I tried it out and it has some stuff I really liked, but I went with the Playnite instead. Still, it is very well liked and worth comparing if you're interested.

The second is Playnite. It's completely free and open source, which is certainly a plus. What it does is takes all of your games from Steam, Origin, GOG, Battle.net and Uplay and displays them all in one place. It displays games that are both installed and not installed (with the exception of Uplay, which doesn't let them see games that aren't installed - go Ubi), so you can see and organize your entire library in one place. You can also point it at custom games, and supposedly has support for emulators as well (although I haven't tried that out myself.) Twitch support is supposedly on the way. It auto-updates the libraries every time you launch it.

It has plenty of search and filtering capability, too. I'm able to set genre, category, and tags by hand for each game. I stripped off the pre-defined stuff from Steam (which took about 30 seconds), and am able to use their filters to quickly show only, say, sci-fi strategy games, or historical action games, or whatever.

The author is also pretty active on Reddit, and has lots of features on the way, including the ability to exclude filters and filter drop-downs (instead of having to type them in.)

I'm still setting it up, but so far I'm really, really happy with it.

[coopasonic]

Quoting myself from the "Gaming Randomness" thread:

The second is Playnite. It's completely free and open source, which is certainly a plus. What it does is takes all of your games from Steam, Origin, GOG, Battle.net and Uplay and displays them all in one place. It displays games that are both installed and not installed (with the exception of Uplay, which doesn't let them see games that aren't installed - go Ubi), so you can see and organize your entire library in one place. You can also point it at custom games, and supposedly has support for emulators as well (although I haven't tried that out myself.) Twitch support is supposedly on the way. It auto-updates the libraries every time you launch it.

It has plenty of search and filtering capability, too. I'm able to set genre, category, and tags by hand for each game. I stripped off the pre-defined stuff from Steam (which took about 30 seconds), and am able to use their filters to quickly show only, say, sci-fi strategy games, or historical action games, or whatever.

The author is also pretty active on Reddit, and has lots of features on the way, including the ability to exclude filters and filter drop-downs (instead of having to type them in.)

I'm still setting it up, but so far I'm really, really happy with it.

That sounds pretty dang sweet. Thanks!

[Baroquen]

Playnite does look intriguing. It's not a need I've been looking to fill, but it does look nice and shiny....

[Z-Corn]

I use LaunchBox and I even paid for the premium version.

I use it exclusively for retro gaming. It works really well to grab all box art and bezels and fliers and whatnot for ROMs. I'll have to look at integrating my Steam account into it.

[morlac]

How have I never heard of these and why must I have it now!

I do a lot of PC gaming on the big screen these days and even drag my pc around to friends houses for get togethers or parties. There are so many good local coop/multiplayer gaming choices these days and it's never been easier to play on TV's. There is a huge local coop Renaissance going on imo. Whenever I bring mine over and my friends and their kids are blown away at the choice of selections and ease. It's always a huge hit. Most of them aren't gamers much less pc games. Two of them have already requested I help them get and setup a gaming pc with steam for their "kids".

I'm going to download and try both but looking at LaunchBox I can see dipping into premium for that Big Box mode. That looks really slick and adding emulators with that cabinet overlay to the mix could be mind blowing.

Z-corn, do you have any experience with Big Box mode?

[Sudy]

Thanks dude, I've been thinking about looking for something like this for a long time. Now if only they could read my mind and suggest what to play next. And... be right about what would engage me.

[Z-Corn]

Z-corn, do you have any experience with Big Box mode?

Honestly, not much. I've fired it up to look at and decided, "It's pretty..."

Do they have a demo or do you have to purchase to even get a peek?

I have a dedicated retro PC but it's down in my office with the other PCs so I'm just playing on a 24" screen. Someday I will drag that PC upstairs and hook it up to the TV. BigBox will shine then. But right now that's where the RetroPi lives...

[jztemple2]

Hello thread! I came over here thanks to a link in another thread and I'm setting up Playnite now. Anything I should be looking for or might be of use to know?

[Blackhawk]

One thing I found immensely useful was to go in to the import options and tell it not to import information for category, genre, or tags. They're from databases that are user submitted (like Steam's) and they're all over the place. You can get four nearly identical games that end up tagged "RPG", "Role Playing Game", "Role Playing", and "Role-Playing", each of which goes into its own section when you sort them. Instead I just set up about ten divisions that I want stuff in, then go through select, say, every RPG (holding control to multi-select) and set them to "RPG." Since you can now search category/genre/tag for "None", it makes it easy to see what you still need to do.

It takes a little effort to set up, but it's worth it.

[jztemple2]

Thanks, unfortunately I've already imported all that data . I usually just search around for names anyway. Playnite is a pretty cool tool, I'm finding I have all sorts of games I swear I never asked for

[Blackhawk]

Thanks, unfortunately I've already imported all that data . I usually just search around for names anyway. Playnite is a pretty cool tool, I'm finding I have all sorts of games I swear I never asked for

You can mass-remove data. Select all games (CTRL-A), then right click and edit. Any box you check will be applied to everything. If you empty a field and check the box, it will empty that field for every game.

And if you go into the library manager (somewhere in settings), you can see, edit, add, and delete all of the recorded options for those fields (IE- remove all the variations of 'RPG'.)

[Sudy]

Ugh, that's frustrating. Sometimes I want to browse through my collection of unplayed games for an RPG I haven't played. You'd think there'd be integration of something like a CDDB for games. (Remember ripping and sorting MP3s? It was almost a ritual.) I don't have the patience to look up hundreds of titles and assign appropriate genres in consistent formats. First-world problems, I know. Ten-year-old me would ask, you own how many games? More than I know what to do with, kid. Only, I don't really "own" them....

I guess I could just assign a genre to everything I recognize, and assume everything else is a retro metroidvania roguelike... that would probably account for 80% of them.

[Blackhawk]

Ugh, that's frustrating. Sometimes I want to browse through my collection of unplayed games for an RPG I haven't played. You'd think there'd be integration of something like a CDDB for games. (Remember ripping and sorting MP3s? It was almost a ritual.) I don't have the patience to look up hundreds of titles and assign appropriate genres in consistent formats. First-world problems, I know. Ten-year-old me would ask, you own how many games? More than I know what to do with, kid. Only, I don't really "own" them....

I guess I could just assign a genre to everything I recognize, and assume everything else is a retro metroidvania roguelike... that would probably account for 80% of them.

Across all platforms? Around a thousand, although there are many duplicates (thanks, bundles.)

It isn't that time consuming for me. I can' remember 3/4 of them by name. I just select all the RPGs, right click, 'Set Category', choose 'RPG.' Once I've done that for my ten or so categories (RPG, FPS, Puzzle/Adventure, Action, Vehicle/Sim, Strategy, etc.) there aren't that many left that need looked up.

I use Genre for setting, and I keep it general (fantasy, sci-fi, real world, post apocalyptic, comic book, etc.)

I then use the tags for more specific stuff if I feel the desire (military, turn-based, etc.) This is the only one that takes significant time, as it is a title-by-title type of thing, but I will sit down and do a couple dozen titles whenever I feel the motivation. I'm not done yet, not even close.

I make sure I back up the config files from time to time, just to be safe.

Just with the first two, though, I can take five seconds to open the filter, check 'Sci-fi' and 'Strategy' and get every sci-fi strategy game I own. Given that I game based on my mood (like right now I'm sort of in the mood for a hard sci-fi shooter ), that's perfect for me.

[hitbyambulance]

(Remember ripping and sorting MP3s? It was almost a ritual.)

i still do that, but because MP3 is now a technically outdated music codec, it's OGG Vorbis. i should just go to FLAC and be done with it...

[Sudy]

FLAC! What, did you invent a HD that holds over a TB or something?

[TheMix]

(like right now I'm sort of in the mood for a hard sci-fi shooter )

Have you tried Hard Reset?

[Blackhawk]

(like right now I'm sort of in the mood for a hard sci-fi shooter )

Have you tried Hard Reset?

I have not, but I am going to put it on my 'next' list. It seems that I have the Redux version on Steam, and I have no idea when I put it there. Thanks.

Right now I'm wanting something that's more about the atmosphere than the action, so I've been replaying System Shock 2. I'm actually enjoying it, too. I haven't had a lot of fun with gaming lately, so that's a good thing.

/edit - I also have the original, and a few comparison videos show that while the Redux runs better, it does so by actually downgrading the graphics noticeably. I'll stick with the original.

[Anonymous Bosch]

Right now I'm wanting something that's more about the atmosphere than the action, so I've been replaying System Shock 2. I'm actually enjoying it, too. I haven't had a lot of fun with gaming lately, so that's a good thing.

/edit - I also have the original, and a few comparison videos show that while the Redux runs better, it does so by actually downgrading the graphics noticeably. I'll stick with the original.

I'd suggest using the following guide, and installing the community patch along with the recommended graphical and music mods. This provides the authentic gameplay experience of the original, but with much-improved textures, models, and music:

System Shock 2 Modding Guide

[Blackhawk]

Right now I'm wanting something that's more about the atmosphere than the action, so I've been replaying System Shock 2. I'm actually enjoying it, too. I haven't had a lot of fun with gaming lately, so that's a good thing.

/edit - I also have the original, and a few comparison videos show that while the Redux runs better, it does so by actually downgrading the graphics noticeably. I'll stick with the original.

I'd suggest using the following guide, and installing the community patch along with the recommended graphical and music mods. This provides the authentic gameplay experience of the original, but with much-improved textures, models, and music:

System Shock 2 Modding Guide

Already did, letter-for-letter. I still have copies of the older version of some of those mods from the last time I played it back in 2011.

[hitbyambulance]

(like right now I'm sort of in the mood for a hard sci-fi shooter )

Have you tried Hard Reset?

I have not, but I am going to put it on my 'next' list. It seems that I have the Redux version on Steam, and I have no idea when I put it there. Thanks.


/edit - I also have the original, and a few comparison videos show that while the Redux runs better, it does so by actually downgrading the graphics noticeably. I'll stick with the original.

the original is recommended to start with, as Redux adds a n00bsword (cyberkatana or whatever) that is way OP and makes the game too easy

i should start a thread on 'frantic FPS' games.. i need some new suggestions.

[jztemple2]

I have my Playnite configured, but I forgot to add my Rockstar Game Launcher. I can't seem to be able to figure out how to add the launcher itself to Playnite. Help!

[Blackhawk]

I have my Playnite configured, but I forgot to add my Rockstar Game Launcher. I can't seem to be able to figure out how to add the launcher itself to Playnite. Help!

It isn't an option right now. It would be under Settings/Libraries. Until it is added, you can add the game manually.

[jztemple2]

I have my Playnite configured, but I forgot to add my Rockstar Game Launcher. I can't seem to be able to figure out how to add the launcher itself to Playnite. Help!

It isn't an option right now. It would be under Settings/Libraries. Until it is added, you can add the game manually.

Thanks for the info!

[Blackhawk]

I'm starting to become disillusioned with Playnite. It keeps breaking. This time the developer literally told me that they can't do anything about it and I'd have to figure it out myself (Playnite isn't able to write to its own folders.)

[Isgrimnur]

Playnite apparently doesn't think some of my Steam library exists. Like some indie titles called Age of Empires.

[Blackhawk]

I ended up walking away from Playnite not too long after my last post. It just became too fiddly, and the support was poor.

[Sudy]

I ended up walking away from Playnite not too long after my last post. It just became too fiddly, and the support was poor.

What did you switch to?

[Blackhawk]

For now I'm just using GOG Galaxy. I have been too occupied with other things lately to dig deeper into the options.

[hitbyambulance]

GOG Galaxy works pretty well for this, on Windows. (use Lutris or PlayOnLinux for Linux)

[Blackhawk]

Yeah. It lacks some of the functionality of the more dedicated tools (fewer editable fields, less refined filters, etc.), but makes up for the lack of fine control with simplicity and stability.

[Sudy]

What programs/methods are you guys currently using to manage your libraries? Still Playnite? I tried GOG Galaxy and while I like the UI, it doesn't have support for all services and I can never get it to connect to half of the ones it does.

I'm just completely overwhelmed between my games on Steam, GOG, Ubisoft, EA, Epic, Gamepass/Xbox PC, and now even Amazon.

I keep a spreadsheet with my duplicate keys from bundles and stuff, but it's still a headache when I become interested in something and want to ensure I don't already own it.

Is Playnite still the best there is? I tried it last year but it broke. But if that's where it's at I'll give it another go.

[Isgrimnur]

Still what I use.

[Jaymann]

Anything for the back end?

[Sudy]

I use Anusol HC.