How can I get the Steam overlay to work with ScummVM?

[thunderingprose]

Hello.

I play some games on Steam that use ScummVM, but the Steam overlay doesn't work with it. Is there any way that I can get it to work? I tried changing some ScummVM settings, but I couldn't figure out any setting that would allow the Steam overlay to work. Unrelated to this, I would also like to find out how I can save ScummVM settings for individual games running through it. As of right now, what I change doesn't save and I have to edit the ScummVM settings for the specific game each time I run it.

Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

[corpse]

Hi,

A google search found this:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/369830/d ... 537891350/

Doesn't look there is an easy fix.

Thanks Tom.

[thunderingprose]

Hi,

A google search found this:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/369830/d ... 537891350/

Doesn't look there is an easy fix.

Thanks Tom.

Hi.

Yeah, I saw that one, too, as well as a few others but none helped. I was hoping there is something in the ScummVM settings that would fix this, but apparently not. It doesn't even seem to have a way to save the settings done through "edit game", either. It's all a real shame...

[Praetorian]

Could you provide some examples of such Steam titles?

I've tried Riven, but Steam overlay works fine for me with it -- at least for showing the mini popup at lauch and then taking screenshots with the Steam hotkey (F12 for me).

[thunderingprose]

Could you provide some examples of such Steam titles?

I've tried Riven, but Steam overlay works fine for me with it -- at least for showing the mini popup at lauch and then taking screenshots with the Steam hotkey (F12 for me).

Hi. Right now I'm playing Leisure Suit Larry 2: Looking For Love (In Several Wrong Places) and there's no access to the Steam overlay or to any of its functions.

[Praetorian]

Could you provide some examples of such Steam titles?

I've tried Riven, but Steam overlay works fine for me with it -- at least for showing the mini popup at lauch and then taking screenshots with the Steam hotkey (F12 for me).

Hi. Right now I'm playing Leisure Suit Larry 2: Looking For Love (In Several Wrong Places) and there's no access to the Steam overlay or to any of its functions.

Here's a workaround method that I've just tried and works, but requires a few extra simple steps.

This is what I did in detail:

1. Grab a copy of ScummVM 2.5.1 (latest stable) from the downloads page. For the purposes of this workaround, it's easier to get the the zip file for your OS, not the installer. Latest daily development build (a 2.6.0git) from the buildbot could also work, but I haven't tried it yet.

2. Extract the zip file with ScummVM into the Steam folder of your installed game, in a subfolder eg. "scummvm-2.5.1-win32-x86_64". So your folder structure would look something like:

sampleLSL2Folder.png (77.59 KiB) Viewed 4207 times

As you see in the image, I kept the original ScummVM folder that Steam installs, even though it won't be needed for this workaround. Steam apparently, ships LSL2 with ScummVM 1.7.0, btw.

3. Create a shortcut for the "scummvm.exe" file (right click on it, choose "Create shortcut" from the popup menu) -- the 2.5.1 version that is. Move (or copy) this shortcut into the parent folder where the game is installed ("Leisure Suit Larry 2 Looking For Love (In Several Wrong Places)")

4. From the Steam client (and without uninstalling LSL2), from the top menu, choose "Games" -> "Add a non-Steam game to my library", then in the dialogue that appears, choose "Browse" and point it to the shortcut you've created.

5. Steam will probably recognize the shortcut as "ScummVM.exe". Click on "Add Selected Program".

6. Find scummvm.exe in your Steam library, right click on it and choose "Properties".

7. Rename the shortcut to something more friendly (by editing the top text field) like "Leisure Suit Larry 2 (Scummvm 2.5.1)".

8. And most importantly, again from the Properties dialogue, edit the "Launch Options" field and put in:

Code: Select all

 "--no-console" "--fullscreen" lsl2

9. Finally click ok, and then launch the game. Overlay should now work in-game (it does for me).

(10). Optionally, from the Properties window you could edit the thumbnail for the game too, and in the Steam library page for the newly "added" game, you can edit stuff like the logo and background image if you want to.

Additional notes:
Note 1. Keep in mind that if you want to do this for multiple games, you can install the latest ScummVM properly or extract it in some external folder like "C:\ScummVM_2_5_1" or whatever, and then create shortcuts for "scummvm.exe" and place those shortcuts in your Steam installed game folders, and follow the above process from step 4. This is to avoid copying the entire ScummVM distribution folder in each of your games.

Note 2. If you bring up the Steam overlay while playing the game (ie. by pressing Shift+Tab), and then you close it by clicking on "Return to game", you may have to refocus the game's window by using Windows' Alt+Tab scrolling through the open applications, and selecting the game.

Note 3. It also can be a bit finicky to bring up the Steam overlay window -- I find that pressing Shift+Tab and holding them down until the overlay shows up is working better. Same for making the window disappear.

[MusicallyInspired]

I would've thought it'd be as easy as setting the display mode to OpenGL, but I guess not?

[Praetorian]

I would've thought it'd be as easy as setting the display mode to OpenGL, but I guess not?

That doesn't seem to be the case for me, but it's possible that there's a simpler solution than my workaround, which I haven't thought of or tried. Anyone's welcome to describe an alternative (preferably tried and working) solution of course.

[thunderingprose]

I would've thought it'd be as easy as setting the display mode to OpenGL, but I guess not?

That doesn't seem to be the case for me, but it's possible that there's a simpler solution than my workaround, which I haven't thought of or tried. Anyone's welcome to describe an alternative (preferably tried and working) solution of course.

Thank you, but this means that I would be playing the game as a non-Steam game, isn't that correct? Is there no way to fix this to play the game directly through Steam as its own installation?

[Praetorian]

Thank you, but this means that I would be playing the game as a non-Steam game, isn't that correct?

Yes, but it's still within the Steam client and you get the overlay too. It's a workaround but it's decent enough. I don't know of any important features you miss out.

Is there no way to fix this to play the game directly through Steam as its own installation?

I don't know of one. Maybe if we could edit which program Steam launches when you choose to run the game from the proper Steam installation, we could point it to the shortcut and edit the launch parameters directly for the official library entry. But I don't think that's possible. (I vaguely recall that one could do that in (way) older Steam clients, but I don't see the option anymore).

[thunderingprose]

Thank you, but this means that I would be playing the game as a non-Steam game, isn't that correct?

Yes, but it's still within the Steam client and you get the overlay too. It's a workaround but it's decent enough. I don't know of any important features you miss out.

Is there no way to fix this to play the game directly through Steam as its own installation?

I don't know of one. Maybe if we could edit which program Steam launches when you choose to run the game from the proper Steam installation, we could point it to the shortcut and edit the launch parameters directly for the official library entry. But I don't think that's possible. (I vaguely recall that one could do that in (way) older Steam clients, but I don't see the option anymore).

Thank you, but I prefer to use the Steam overlay while the game is running directly from my library. Is there at least a way to save the settings made to each game done through the "edit game" portion of ScummVM? As it is, I need to go into "edit game" for my preferred settings to be loaded every time I launch. Also, if I run the newest version of ScummVM, my saves for the game don't show when I try to restore them. How can I have the new version of ScummVM load the save game files from the older version (they're both there, I didn't delete the old one, just under different directories).

[Praetorian]

Is there at least a way to save the settings made to each game done through the "edit game" portion of ScummVM? As it is, I need to go into "edit game" for my preferred settings to be loaded every time I launch. Also, if I run the newest version of ScummVM, my saves for the game don't show when I try to restore them. How can I have the new version of ScummVM load the save game files from the older version (they're both there, I didn't delete the old one, just under different directories).

I don't think this works with the old ScummVM version that Steam's LSL2 ships with, but with the 2.5.1 version it should work.

Edit your "run.bat" file which is inside your game installation folder and put in something like this:

Code: Select all

@echo off
".\scummvm-2.5.1-win32-x86_64\scummvm.exe" -c "lsl2.ini"  --fullscreen lsl2
exit

The above assumes the new scummvm version (2.5.1) has been unzipped in a subfolder "scummvm-2.5.1-win32-x86_64" within your game installation folder, as described in the early steps of the workaround above.

This command tells ScummVM to use the lsl2.ini that exists in the game's folder, and it will persist your changes via Edit Game to that file. For some reason this does not work quite right with the old version, from my quick testing. Or the switch did not exist for that one -- I don't know and I cannot provide support for it.

Use the Edit Game -> Paths and click on Save Path to point ScummVM to where your existing saved games are. If they are compatible with the new version you should be able to see them and load them in-game.

[thunderingprose]

Is there at least a way to save the settings made to each game done through the "edit game" portion of ScummVM? As it is, I need to go into "edit game" for my preferred settings to be loaded every time I launch. Also, if I run the newest version of ScummVM, my saves for the game don't show when I try to restore them. How can I have the new version of ScummVM load the save game files from the older version (they're both there, I didn't delete the old one, just under different directories).

I don't think this works with the old ScummVM version that Steam's LSL2 ships with, but with the 2.5.1 version it should work.

Edit your "run.bat" file which is inside your game installation folder and put in something like this:

Code: Select all

@echo off
".\scummvm-2.5.1-win32-x86_64\scummvm.exe" -c "lsl2.ini"  --fullscreen lsl2
exit

The above assumes the new scummvm version (2.5.1) has been unzipped in a subfolder "scummvm-2.5.1-win32-x86_64" within your game installation folder, as described in the early steps of the workaround above.

This command tells ScummVM to use the lsl2.ini that exists in the game's folder, and it will persist your changes via Edit Game to that file. For some reason this does not work quite right with the old version, from my quick testing. Or the switch did not exist for that one -- I don't know and I cannot provide support for it.

Use the Edit Game -> Paths and click on Save Path to point ScummVM to where your existing saved games are. If they are compatible with the new version you should be able to see them and load them in-game.

Thank you for all your help. One last question. Do you happen to know where ScummVM defaults to store the saved game files? I looked around and I don't see anything resembling the saved files I created in-game.

[Praetorian]

Thank you for all your help. One last question. Do you happen to know where ScummVM defaults to store the saved game files? I looked around and I don't see anything resembling the saved files I created in-game.

ScummVM should save the games wherever the savepath for the game (via Edit Game, now "Game Options") or, if that's not set, the global settings (via Global Options) is pointing at.
But by default, though, for Windows it should be something like:

Code: Select all

C:\Users\<your username>\AppData\Roaming\ScummVM\Saved Games

Here's the relevant section from our documentation:
https://docs.scummvm.org/en/latest/use_ ... game-files

[thunderingprose]

Thank you for all your help. One last question. Do you happen to know where ScummVM defaults to store the saved game files? I looked around and I don't see anything resembling the saved files I created in-game.

ScummVM should save the games wherever the savepath for the game (via Edit Game, now "Game Options") or, if that's not set, the global settings (via Global Options) is pointing at.
But by default, though, for Windows it should be something like:

Code: Select all

C:\Users\<your username>\AppData\Roaming\ScummVM\Saved Games

Here's the relevant section from our documentation:
https://docs.scummvm.org/en/latest/use_ ... game-files

Thank you. I really appreciate your help with all of this. I hope that one day, ScummVM development is able to get the Steam overlay to work with games launched from the library seamlessly. Do you know if this is coming in the future? If this isn't in the plans, could you ensure that this request gets some serious consideration? Thanks again.