SteamTinkerLaunch (short stl) is a Linux wrapper tool for use with the Steam client which allows to customize and start tools and options for games quickly on the fly.
By using a versatile configuration structure it is both easy to setup and flexible.
The steam command line has to be edited once and for all (imho the editor is not very usable) and everything else can be changed and controlled easily subsequently using stl
Just add this program to your steam game command line like: 'stl %command%'
A little script which automatically does this for every game in the Steam library can be found here
stl (currently?) only works with games using proton!
When starting a game a small requester will popup. If within a short waiting period (default 2 seconds) the spacebar is pressed it will open an editor with the games individual config file. When done with configuring (or when the requester timeouts) the game will be started regularly with all tools and options configured.
This is one single bash script. Just copy it wherever you want (f.e. '/usr/local/bin/') and make it executable:
chmod +x stl
The enclosed directories containing optional configuration files should be dropped into '/usr/share/stl/'
If you are on Arch Linux you can install stl from AUR (f.e. using yay):
yay -S steamtinkerlaunch
When stl is started for the first time it will create its default configuration structure.
At least make sure that STLEDITOR
points to an installed graphical text editor in the global config
(set to "xdg-open" by default, which should just work in most cases)
Also enable everything you want to use generally for your games in the default template
(no special order)
- ENV Variables can be easily set for every single game (f.e
PROTON
* ,DXVK
* ,MANGOHUD
,RADV_PERFTEST
,WINE
...) - Custom Program launch custom programs before or instead the game itself (also windows exes)
- winetricks start winetricks before game launch (gui or silent)
- winecfg start winecfg before game launch
- GameMode start/stop gamemoderun per game
- Notifier start/stop notify message per game
- Strace for easily debugging a game
- Editor Hotkey for editing the gameconfig
- ProtonDB automatically open page for the launched game with the editor
- ReShade automatic installation and configuration
- Depth3D automatic shader installation
- vkBasalt basic vkBasalt configuration
- SBS-VR automatically play regular games in side-by-side mode in VR!
- Tweaks community mini configfiles (so-called Tweakfiles) to automatically start problematic games ootb - can also start custom Tweak Commands
- Auto Tweaks support for automatic import of game configs from several other platforms
- Nyrna start/stop ReplaySorcery per game
- ReplaySorcery start/stop ReplaySorcery per game
- Custom Game Launch easy simple custom game launch
- NetMon basic network monitoring
- Boxtron support via steam
DOSBox
category - Roberta support via steam
ScummVM
category - Luxtorpeda support via steam
Luxtorpeda
category - Vortex Mod Manager via steam
Vortex
category see Video of usage - GFWL/xlive automatic support for games using GFWL
- WMP10 automatic support for WMP10 installation
- self maintaining configs optional automatic cloning of this repo as replacemement for missing system wide installation
- GameConqueror automatically open gameconqueror (scanmem gui) with the game exe on game launch
- Custom User Start/Stop scripts optional start custom scripts when game starts/ends
(no special order)
The script itself doesn't have any special dependencies
- bash (only shell tested)
- Yad for the GUI
For the optional features you need:
- strace
- Gamemode
- MangoHud
- winetricks
- wget, unzip for optional Reshade download, git for pulling optional shaders (Depth3D)
- xdotool, xwininfo, vr-video-player for playing regular games side-by-side in VR (SBS-VR)
- a graphical text editor and optionally a internetbrowser see global.conf
- vkBasalt
- Nyrna
- ReplaySorcery
- wmctrl, xprop to optionally minimize/maximize all open windows on game start/stop
- netstat from net-tools for basic network monitoring
- Boxtron and dosbox to optionally start dos games with linux native dosbox
- ScummVM to optionally start compatible games natively using Roberta
- luxtorpeda-dev or Luxtorpeda to optionally start supported games with a linux native binary
- wine for optional Vortex support
- GameConqueror/scanmem to optionally cheat
All configuration files are self-contained documented and always growing, so not every option is documented in here. For a general overview what can be configured, just check the Features
The main user configuration directory STLCFGDIR
can be found under
$HOME/.config/stl
(or XDG_CONFIG_HOME/stl
if XDG_CONFIG_HOME
is set).
When started for the first time stl will initially create a default configuration structure in its configdir STLCFGDIR
The systemwide configuration directory SYSTEMSTLCFGDIR
can be found under /usr/share/$PROGCMD
(/usr/share/stl/)
All configs used here are read first, so user configs override them if required.
System-wide configs help to keep configuration easy and get things to work ootb.
f.e. there are preconfigured Steam Category,
custom per-game registry files, which are autodetected and applied (when REGEDIT
is 1),
community contributed tweaks which make sure specific games work ootb using the provided configuration options,
community contributed sbs tweaks which make sure specific games work ootb in SBS-VR mode using the provided configuration options
With the variable DLGLOBAL
being set to 1 (it is by default) stl
uses systemwide configurations from the directory STLDLDIR/stl
and also git pulls this repo into there (max once per day).
This only is used when the systemwide configuration directory SYSTEMSTLCFGDIR
does not exist at all!
As almost no distro provides a stl package, the idea is that the user only has to copy stl into $PATH
and still can make use of the bundled config files without having to install them manually.
No executable files will be used from here!
Auto-generated [auto tweaks](#Auto Tweaks) imported from other platform will be loaded before global configs, so global configs override them by default.
STLDEFGAMECFG
($STLCFGDIR/default_template.conf
)
Contains the default configurations options used as template for every new game specific configfile. Most options are disabled by default. To deploy appropriate global options early this file should be adjusted early.
STLDEFGLOBALCFG
($STLCFGDIR/global.conf
)
Contains universal configuration options used all games, f.e.
file paths, command line options for supported 3rd party programs, but also general "behavior" settings
(f.e. Logs mode or timeout for the Editor)
or which default programs to use
(f.e. which BROWSER
to use for opening ProtonDB together with the STLEDITOR
(default 'xdg-open') Editor)
If commands are defined in USERSTART
USERSTOP
they will be executed when a game starts/ends.
Of course the user is responsbile for what is executed here and needs take care that it both works and exits correctly!
Both scripts make use of following commandline arguments:
- SteamAppID as argument1
- the absolute path to the game exe as argument2
- and the WINEPREFIX of the game as argument 3
$STLGAMECFG
($STLCFGDIR/gamecfgs/$SteamAppId.conf
)
When starting a game using stl the game specific config file is searched in STLGAMEDIR
and created if not available from the default config file (which in turn is automatically created as well if not found).
Additional individual configs can be loaded via multiple different Tweaks.
Any option configured in here and also in global.conf is overridden by this config.
stl parses the Steam categories of the started game and examines if a associated stl configuration file exists under the same name (case-sensitive, but written uppercase in Steam !)
If a configuration file is found it is initialized as additional config file.
This makes it easy to create "Configuration categories" by
- simply creating a Steam Category
- creating a categories configfile under the same name and defining settings in it
- adding a game to the category to use those settings automatically
Category Configuration Files are searched in the User Configurations STLCATEGORYDIR
(STLCFGDIR
/categories)
or in the system-wide dir GLOBALCATEGORYDIR
(SYSTEMSTLCFGDIR/categories)
where some category files are already preconfigured:
a game in the corresponding category
- DOSBox.conf is started automatically with linux native dosbox provided by Boxtron
- Luxtorpeda.conf is started automatically with linux native binary provided by Luxtorpeda
- ReShadeVR.conf is started automatically in SBS-VR mode using ReShade
- SBS-VR.conf is started automatically in SBS-VR mode without Shader (for games with builtin Stereoscopic3D support)
- ScummVM.conf is started automatically with linux native scummvm provided by Roberta
- Vortex.conf is started automatically with the Vortex Mod Manager
- vkVR.conf is started automatically in SBS-VR mode using vkBasalt and
- Installer.conf won't be started at all, but a requester lets one choose an exe which is started instead.
- Cheat.conf GameConqueror is automatically started with the game.
Multiple Category Configuration Files are possible, they are loaded one after another, with the last one overriding settings also found in the previous files.
All settings which are also configured in $STLGAMECFG
are overridden (but not overwritten).
All different user writable tweakfiles live in their own subdirectory under TWEAKDIR
("$STLCFGDIR/tweaks")
If a tweak config TWEAKCFG
( SteamAppID.conf
) in GLOBALTWEAKDIR
or USERTWEAKDIR
(overrides global) is found its settings
overrides the settings in the $STLGAMECFG
.
By means of this function it is be possible to contribute tweak configs required to get games to work hazzlefree out of the box to the community.
With CREATETWEAKS
a default template tweak file is autogenerated on game launch, to make creating one a bit easier.
Some systemwide tweaks can already be used (see Installation).
If you use/create tweaks make sure to retest your game with later proton versions without the tweak and report upstream if the bug is fixed!
The used proton Version is automatically written into the tweak file when created with CREATETWEAKS
.
User tweak-files in USERTWEAKDIR
override global tweaks in GLOBALTWEAKDIR
, [Autotweaks](#Auto Tweaks)
An example tweakfile looks like this:
stl/tweaks/user/8080.conf:
######### #GAMENAME=Kane and Lynch Dead Men #GAMEEXE=Launcher #GAMEID=8080 #PROTONVERSION=proton-5.0-10-rc4 ######### WINETRICKSPAKS=d3dx9_31 d3dx9_34 PROTON_NO_ESYNC=1 PROTON_NO_FSYNC=1 NOGFWL=1
Explained in detail: When the game "Kane and Lynch Dead Men" is started stl will find its tweakfile (8080.conf = SteamAppId.conf) and apply following configurations:
- d3dx9_31 d3dx9_34 will be installed via wintricks
- PROTON_NO_ESYNC and PROTON_NO_ESYNC will both be set to 1
- gfwl will be removed
This works completely automatically and transparent without any user interaction. (of course the first start will need some time when aditional packages are installed)
It is also possible to define a script under TWEAKCMD
(f.e. in TWEAKCFG
) which should be started before the game launch.
This is especially useful when it is necessary to move or rename game files to get a game working.
When a TWEAKCMD
is defined stl will check if it finds the file
- as absolute path
- in the system tweak directory
- in the user tweak directory
- in the gamedir
In case the file was found stl checks if a TWEAKFILE
is defined in the TWEAKCMD
file.
This comes in handy when the script requires a specific file (f.e. a custom game exe) which is not available for everybody.
With this little "dependency check" the tweak file is simply skipped if the file was not found and the tweak can still be shared in the community.
Not exported variables are not available in the script, but usually none should be required (yay might want to check env
for available vars)
GPFX="$STEAM_COMPAT_DATA_PATH/pfx"
:can be used as variable for the gamesWINEPREFIX
GFD="$(awk -F 'common' '{print $1}' <<< "$PWD")common/$(awk -F 'common' '{print $NF}' <<< "$PWD" | cut -d'/' -f2)"
: can be used for the base game dir
Game specific config files SteamAppID.conf
both in and system-wide (GLOBALSBSTWEAKDIR
) and User Configurations (SBSTWEAKDIR
)
with optimal settings for SBS-VR (f.e. launcher skips using the game exe as custom command).
Here's an example config for trine 2 STLCFGDIR/sbs/35720.conf
#########
#GAMENAME=Trine 2
#GAMEEXE=trine2_launcher
#GAMEID=35720
RUN_CUSTOMCMD=1
CUSTOMCMD=trine2_32bit.exe
ONLY_CUSTOMCMD=1
VRGAMEWINDOW=Trine 2
Means, when RUNSBSVR
is not 0 in the main Trine2 config file it will autodetect above sbs tweak config and use the defined variables:
Trine 2 won't start it's original launcher (ONLY_CUSTOMCMD=1
), but only the custom command trine2_32bit.exe
and will wait for a Trine 2
window to open in VR
So in general sbs configs are automatically loaded when found and override settings in the main config
so you just have to enable RUNSBSVR
in STLCFGDIR/gamecfgs/35720.conf
and everything else is configured automatically.
stl allows to import required game config files from several other platforms.
The path to those autogenerated tweaks is
AUTOTWEAKDIR
("$TWEAKDIR/auto") with "$platform" as subdirectory.
All platforms from where configurations shall be imported need to be listed in the
global AUTOTWEAKS
variable.
All enabled autotweak platform tweak files are loaded before all other configs, so it is always possible to override them later.
This is necessary, as aparrently not all autogenerated configs can be tested.
When ATVALIDATE=0
the order in AUTOTWEAKS
decides in which order they are loaded.
The later a config is found the more important it is, as it discards the configs found from previous platforms.
With ATVALIDATE
being disabled there is apparently no control over what will be actually loaded.
When the variable ATVALIDATE
is >0 a requester will pop up
asking the user if he wants to open the autocreated config with the editor
(also her in the same order as the platforms are listed in AUTOTWEAKS
)
Afterwards another requester asks if the config should be loaded or skipped.
When multiple Auto Tweak Configs are found the requesters are opened for all of them,
but only the last accepted config is actually loaded!
If IGNOREAUTOTWEAKS=1
is set in the current gameconfig $STLGAMECFG
all autotweaks are skipped automatically.
If ATADOPT=1
is set in the current gameconfig a requester will pop up when th game exited
asking if the used AutoTweak config should be converted into a regular tweakconfig.
Autotweaks will be disabled in this new config then.
Auto Tweaks are either autocreated on game launch automatically (if the chosen AUTOTWEAKS
support the game)
or can be .
stl will download an active repo on the first run and prepare the datafiles for better searching if required. To keep downloads as low as possible, on later runs the already downloaded data will be re-used where possible.
When started directly from Steam stl searches for a gamefix for the current SteamAppID.
If one is found the gamefix will be converted into a stl autotweakfile under AUTOTWEAKDIR/protonfixes
.
This config is then applied like described in [Auto Tweaks](#Auto Tweaks) above.
Creating Auto Tweaks via stl command line:
stl autotweaks PLAFTORM (optional steamid)
Will autogenerate all tweak files for every parsible game of platform PLATFORM or just for the optional SteamAppID
Example:
stl autotweaks lutris
Creates for all supported Games Autotweak files in AUTOTWEAKDIR/lutris
stl autotweaks lutris 883710
Creates only for game 883710 an Autotweak file.
Depending on the platform stl filters several original configuration options. If you think something important is missing please open an issue!
Some protonfixes gamefixes are marked as deprecated inside protonfixes. Those and a handful more (mostly those copying/changing files) are skipped automatically. When run from terminal those skipped will be listed. To see how Auto Tweak files are created read general describtion from above [here](# Creating Auto Tweaks)
Currently following options are imported into the Auto Tweak file:
- winetricks packages
- alternative executables
- env variables
- dll overrides
- game command line arguments
Lutris is pretty huge and supports many different platforms. stl uses multiple different filters to extract the steam-relevant games. If you think something important was filtered out please open an issue! Lines which were not filtered out, but were not used as well can be logged (into "/tmp/LUTWEAKDEBUG-raw.txt" (all) and "/tmp/LUTWEAKDEBUG-raw.txt" (after another filter, which sorts out some more unused lines))
by setting the variable LUATDEBUG=1
directly within stl
Currently following options are imported into the Auto Tweak file:
- winetricks packages
- commandline arguments
- env variables
- dll overrides
- pulseaudio latency
- xlive
- mfplat
- basic script creation (
TWEAKCMD
) - downloads and their extraction will be added commented out in the autotweak file
To see how Auto Tweak files are created read general describtion from above [here](# Creating Auto Tweaks)
The STLDLDIR
directory stores all downloads started through stl
As of writing those are
Depth3D shader files
Vortex the installation setup exe
ReShade ReShade itself and required d3dcompiler dlls
Auto Tweaks downloads for all enabled Auto Tweaks are stored in here
GFWL/xlive xlive replacement
self maintaining configs stl itself will be downloaded here when self-maintaining-configs are used
Logs are written into the LOGDIR
defined in the global.conf.
The verbosity of the logfile depends on WRITELOG
(write logfile if not 0, increase verbosity from 1-2 (1:less, 2:all))
also defined in the global.conf.
There are several logfiles, those which are written mostly are the game specific ones ($SteamAppId.log)
When enabled you can start custom programs easily with the following per-game config options:
RUN_CUSTOMCMD
: set to 1 or 2 (see below) to start the custom commandCUSTOMCMD
CUSTOMCMD
: start this custom commandCUSTOMCMD_ARGS
: startCUSTOMCMD
command with those argsONLY_CUSTOMCMD
: set to 1 to only startCUSTOMCMD
and not the game command itselfFORK_CUSTOMCMD
: set to 1 to fork the customCUSTOMCMD
into the background and continue with starting%command%
If only RUN_CUSTOMCMD
is enabled, but CUSTOMCMD
is empty, a requester will open where a executable file can be selected.
When RUN_CUSTOMCMD
is 1 this selected file is automatically written into the in game configfile $STLGAMECFG
.
When RUN_CUSTOMCMD
is 2 this selected file is only started this time without saving the exe into the config.
This is especially useful for installers (see provided Steam Category 'Installer')
If string CUSTOMCMD
can't be found as file in either PATH
, in game dir or as absolute filepath the requester will open as well.
Winetricks
GUI:
Set RUN_WINETRICKS
to 1 to start winetricks gui before game launch
Silent winetricks installation:
WINETRICKSPAKS
: install all packages in WINETRICKSPAKS silently with winetricks
RUN_WINECFG
: set to 1 to start winecfg before game launch
The global configs BOXTRONCMD
and BOXTRONARGS
in the global.conf need to be set correcty initially.
It should not be necessary to change the default ROBERTAARGS
.
Defaults are:
**
BOXTRONCMD=/usr/share/boxtron/run-dosbox
BOXTRONARGS=--wait-before-run
**
which is at least valid if you are on Arch Linux and installed boxtron from AUR.
To start a game with boxtron either set USEBOXTRON
in the gameconfig $STLGAMECFG
or put the game into the steam category "DOSBox"
Alternatively duplicate the file to a different name which you want to use as category name, ideally into STLCATEGORYDIR
..
The global configs ROBERTACMD
and ROBERTAARGS
in the global.conf need to be set correcty initially.
It should not be necessary to change the default ROBERTAARGS
.
Defaults are:
**
ROBERTACMD=$HOME/.local/share/Steam/compatibilitytools.d/roberta/run-vm
ROBERTAARGS=--wait-before-run
**
which is at least valid if you installed roberta manually.
To start a game with roberta either set USEROBERTA
in the gameconfig $STLGAMECFG
or put the game into the steam category "ScummVM"
Alternatively duplicate the file to a different name which you want to use as category name, ideally into STLCATEGORYDIR
..
Luxtorpeda-dev or (untested) the main branch
The global configs LUXTORPEDACMD
and LUXTORPEDAARGS
in the global.conf need to be set correctly initially.
It should not be necessary to change the default LUXTORPEDAARGS
.
Defaults are: ** LUXTORPEDACMD=$HOME/.local/share/Steam/compatibilitytools.d/luxtorpeda/luxtorpeda LUXTORPEDAARGS=wait-before-run ** which is at least valid if you installed roberta manually.
To start a game with luxtorpeda either set USELUXTORPEDA
in the gameconfig $STLGAMECFG
or put the game into the steam category "Luxtorpeda"
Alternatively duplicate the file to a different name which you want to use as category name, ideally into STLCATEGORYDIR
..
The luxtorpeda-dev dev was so kind to add a manual-download option in v20, so if native game files are missing they are downloaded before the actual game launch now.
Therefore it is recommended to use the lastest luxtorpeda-dev version.
Some games still depend on GFWL which is discountinued and doesn't work under wine.
With the variable NOGFWL
set to 1 for a game stl takes care that
everything is configured automatically to start the game ootb.
If the dependant xlive.dll is missing a requester will pop up asking if it should be downloaded automatically
( from Ultimate-ASI-Loader )
into $STLDLDIR/xlive/
and installed into the gamedir.
stl ships already several tweak files, which enable NOGFWL
for several games (f.e.: "Fable 3 (105400)", "Resident Evil 5 (21690)", "Kane and Lynch Dead Men (8080)", "FlatOut Ultimate Carnage (12360)"
Games which depend on WMP10 can played by setting the variable HACKWMP10
to 1.
Tweak with automatic support already implemented for
** Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams (223220) Giana Sisters - Rise of the Owlverlord (246960) **
Usage:
Vortex can be used without any stl configuration and will work ootb without zero configuration. Just create a "Vortex" Steam Category and add your (Vortex compatible) game to it and start the game regularly. Vortex will start, with the selected game preconfigured and ready to mod and when you exit Vortex the selected game will start normally (with your mods).
Installation?
If Vortex is not yet installed, it will be installed on the first launch, so the first launch will need some time (mostly depends on dotnets mind of its own... maybe 5 minutes).
Alternatively you can also install it via command line (see below).
If using proton-wine for VORTEXWINE
(which is default if it is not configured) the WINEPREFIX
user is "steamuser" (as always with proton wine).
When you switch to a wine version which doesn't patch the username to "steamuser" your user-settings are emtpy of course.
stl will not symlink in between those two users!
Functionality: Some settings are preconfigured, to make this working without any user configuration, but of course all of the settings can be as well configured if you want.
stl uses an extra vortex directory inside STLCFGDIR
defined under STLVORTEXDIR
This directory contains the Vortex configfile STLVORTEXCFG
(STLCFGDIR
/vortex/vortex.conf`)
Here are the main configuration options:
VORTEXWINE
: the wine binary used for Vortex - default commented out, if not configured it defaults to proton-wine if available and will fall back to system-wide wineVORTEXPREFIX
:theWINEPREFIX
path used for Vortex - default isSTLVORTEXDIR/wineprefix
VORTEXDOWNLOADPATH
: the path where all Vortex downloads should be stored - default isSTLVORTEXDIR/downloads
VORTEXINSTALL
: download and install Vortex automatically if set to 1 default enabledVORTEXSTAGES
: comma-seperated list of "Vortex Staging directories - one for each of your "Steam Library" partitions - default commented out and emptyDISABLE_AUTOSTAGES
: set to 1 if you don't want stl to try to auto set/createVORTEXSTAGE
directories default 0
Explanation VORTEXSTAGES
:
Vortex uses 2 main Deployment_Methods to enable Mods for the managed games. "Hardlink Deployment" and "Symlink Deployment". Symlink Deployment doesn't work under wine, so Hardlink is required (and automatically set for every game from stl, although it is default anyway) Those "Hardlinks" only work if the "Staging directory" is on the same partition as the game (yes the same physical partition, not the same "windows drive in wine). As Steam Library directories can be on multiple partitions a "Staging directory" is required for every one of them.
When you start a game stl will parse on which mount point it actually lies. Then it tests if it can create/write a "Vortex" directory in the root directory of the partition. If it fails to create a directory in the previous step, it tests next if it can create/write a "Vortex" directory directly in the "Steam Library" directory of the started game besides the "steamapps" directory.
The first succeeding directory will be added automatically to the VORTEXSTAGES
variable
and will be used from now on as "Staging directory" automatically for all games lying on the same partition.
So after you have started one "Vortex" game from each of your "Steam Library" partitions the VORTEXSTAGES
variable is ready for all of your games.
The only exception is the partition where your steam is installed ("/" or "/home" if you have an extra /home/partition).
Here the default "Vortex Staging directory" is STLVORTEXDIR/staging
instead.
Other additional paths can be added easily, just make suggestions.
If you don't want that automation just set DISABLE_AUTOSTAGES
to 1 and set them manually instead:
This can be manually configured in the VORTEXSTAGES
simply by adding one writable directory per partition you want to use.
This VORTEXSTAGES
is currently not very stable without any sanity checks so make sure to:
Seperate the paths with a "," and do not use quotes or spaces in between!
working example:
VORTEXSTAGES=/media/games1/Vortex,/media/games2/Vortex,/home/blah/blubb/Vortex
not working example:
VORTEXSTAGES=/media/games1/Vortex, /media/games2/Vortex, "/home/blah/blubb/Vortex"
Several games (Skyrim, Fallout flavours) have many mods which depends on a special "Script Extender" program ("SE"). Unfortunately those "SE" programs don't work with default proton since some time.
I added a (currently very unpolished) function which checks if the "SE" compatible custom proton version Protola is being used when a "SE" exe is autodetected as start command. (hard to explain, without looking ugly)
If it is already used the start will continue using "SE". If it is not used, stl will check if "Protola" can be found in the "compatibilitytools.d" directory. If it can be found a requester warns that it has to be used in order to start with "SE" (options: continue without "SE"; "exit") If it can't be found stl will check if it was already downloaded. If the download was found a requester asks if it should be automatically extracted into the "compatibilitytools.d" directory (options: continue without "SE"; "extract") If extracting was selected it will be extracted and the check function is restarted If the download was not found a requester asks if it should be downloaded automatically (options: continue without "SE"; "download") If the download was selected the archive will be downloaded and the check function is restarted Feel free to request improvements and open issues, it is really pretty rough at the moment.
stl Vortex commandline options:
stl vortex install
: starts a full Vortex installation with all dependencies
stl vortex start
: starts Vortex
stl vortex getset
: lists all configured Vortex settings
- On the first start Vortex warns that it is started with admin privileges. Very likely wine related, just click it away, it won't pop up again
- I tested ~25 games and they worked ootb, feel free to open an issue for a not (automatically) working game if you think this is a stl bug. (Nehrim doesn't seem to work (yet))
- It was pretty much work to get this into the current state, but although I tested a lot there still might be glitches and problems. Also Vortex can stop working under linux/wine anytime after an update (as it already did before). Don't complain and rant when it doesn't work as expected (anymore) (as it happened already before with other Vortex-linux solutions), but try to help fixing the issue instead then (no offense, but imho linux already had better times regarding this).
- The
VORTEX
variable is mostly used as boolean. Vortex is not used when 0 or undefined, and Vortex starts regularly with set to 1 (the "Vortex" steam category does nothing else) You can also set it to 2+3 though (ideally in the gameconfig$STLGAMECFG
), where 2 "quickstarts" Vortex leaving out some checks, and 3 doing the same, but doesn't start the game afterwards.
Auto-applying registry files:
If REGEDIT
is
- set to 0 it will be skipped completely
- set to 1 a registry file
$SteamAppId.reg
will be searched and used inGLOBALREGDIR
andSTLREGDIR
- set to anything else the file
$REGEDIT
will be searched and used inGLOBALREGDIR
andSTLREGDIR
when a registry file from above was applied REGEDIT
will be set to "0" in the game config, to skip regedit on the following game starts
To play games with built in side-by-side you just have to set RUNSBSVR
to 1 (or greater to delay the VR start for RUNSBSVR
seconds) in the game specific config,
everything else is done (almost) automatically:
- start SteamVR
- start the game (game settings required to enable sbs are not automatically enabled! added a tweakcmd for Crysis 2 though )
- start vr-video-player
- when exiting the game, vr-video-player wil be closed as well.
There are also two quickstart options to choose from to directly start regular games in SBS mode without any further configuration by auto-enabling side-by-side with the shader Depth3D:
SBSVRVK
: set to 1 as shortcut to enable all required flags for SBSVR with vkBasaltSBSVRRS
: set to 1 as shortcut to enable all required flags for SBSVR with ReShade
Where Reshade has more features and vkBasalt is probably more stable, because it works natively.
stl goes through several functions to automatically find the current window id
(and for later use also the game window name, to make starting SBS VR for the game faster)
This works mostly very good, but some games start own launchers before the actual game.
Then autodetecting the correct window is almost impossible, and the window name has to be set manually as VRGAMEWINDOW
.
If there is demand for it a proper reimplementation of "picking a window" and/or "waiting x seconds for a window" to get the window name is possible.
The vr-video-player author was so kind to accept a little patch, to work better with stl. It is possible to live zoom in and out and the zoom state is written into a temporary file, which stl picks up. The value is stored in the internal SBS Tweak config (also when changed) and read from there from now on.
To make switching between game- and vr-video-player window easier (with hmd) there is also the option TOGGLEWINDOWS
:
When enabled, all visible windows will minimize on game start, and will maximize back when game finishes
So switching between the windows is easily possible with Alt+Tab.
TOGGLEWINDOWS
is also enabled by default in the VR Steam Categories (ReShadeVR,SBS-VR,vkVR.conf)
USEGAMEMODERUN
: set to 1 to start game with gamemoderun (User Configuration overrides system-wide configuration)
Set NOTY
to your notifier to draw some start/stop stl messages
MangoHud
Set MANGOHUD
to 1 to enable mangohud (does nothing in stl itself, but just exports the upstream variable)
Nyrna
Set RUN_NYRNA
to 1 to enable nyrna while game is running
(User Configuration overrides system-wide configuration)
ReplaySorcery
Set RUN_REPLAY
to 1 to enable replay-sorcery while game is running
(User Configuration overrides system-wide configuration)
GameConqueror
Set RUN_GAMCON
to 1 to automatically start GameConqueror when the game starts.
The game exe will be loaded into GC automatically,
but also can be overridden with GAMCONWAITEXE
(f.e. for games starting a launcher).
When the game exits GameConqueror will be closed automatically as well.
As the gameconqueror startscript uses pkexec and asks for more permissions, the default
executable is set to GAMCON=/usr/share/gameconqueror/GameConqueror.py
in the global config.
Enabling GameConqueror is also possible by simply adding the game to the "Cheat" [Steam Category.
Some games (afaik mostly multiplayer) are not cheat-safe and could lead to a ban, so be careful with cheating!
minimize all open windows on game start and maximize them when game exited using wmctrl
TOGGLEWINDOWS
: toggle visibility of all open windows on start/stop
Meant for a simple custom game launch using proton/steamruntime
and not as a fully fledged custom game launch option!
If RUN_CUSTOMCMD
is set for the SteamAppId defined in the global CUSTOMLAUNCHID
a requester will ask for a exe you want to start inside the CUSTOMLAUNCHID
The selected exe will be started inplace of the regular game.
If no exe is selected the game CUSTOMLAUNCHID
will exit
If RUN_CUSTOMCMD
is disabled, the regular game is started normally
If CUSTOMCMD
is configured for the game CUSTOMLAUNCHID
the requester will be skipped and CUSTOMCMD
will be started directly
defaults CUSTOMLAUNCHID
is SteamAppId 15520
("Aaaa...") because it is small and always on top of the library
stl of course won't install dependencies for the selected exe, so you're on your own.
If STRACERUN
is set to 1 stl will write a strace log of the launched game
strace is launched with the commandline arguments found in STRACEOPTS
.
When STRACERUN
is enabled make sure
/proc/sys/kernel/yama/ptrace_scope
is set to 0.
else your user will get access denied when trying to attach a process.
Either
echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/yama/ptrace_scope
as root or enable it persistent in sysctl.
If NOINET
is set to 1 this command is used to block the internet for the selected game. game might fail to start!
To use this option you need to configure this little howto
Feel free to send pull requests. Depending on the game, it might reject to start at all without internet!
Basic Network Traffic Monitor
NETMON
: program to record game network-traffic with argumentsNETOPTS
- used when enabled
If NETMON
is set the basic network traffic of the selected game is monitored and written into NETMONDIR
.
duplicate lines are unique sorted at the end.
ReShade
Set INSTALL_RESHADE
to 1 to automatically install reshade into the selected game dir.
Set USERESHADE
to 1 to start game with ReShade enabled
The required $STLCFGDIR/reshade.conf
is autogenerated on the first run with INSTALL_RESHADE
enabled.
If DOWNLOAD_RESHADE
is set to 1 all required files for ReShade are downloaded once into RESHADESRCDIR
of course you can install all files manually as well. make sure to rename all files correctly:
64bit d3dcompiler_47.dll
: -> d3dcompiler_47_64.dll
32bit d3dcompiler_47.dll
: -> d3dcompiler_47_32.dll
ReShade64.dll
, ReShade32.dll
: renaming not required as they will be placed in the gamedir under the required name
The required architecture is autodetected from the game.exe and the matching files are copied from RESHADESRCDIR
into the selected game dir
both downloadfiles and basic configuration were taken from r/linux_gaming
ENABLE_VKBASALT
: setENABLE_VKBASALT
to 1 to start the game with vkbasalt (does nothing in stl itself, but just exports the upstream variable)VKBASALT_CONFIG_FILE
: the vkbasalt source config file - it points per default toSTLCFGDIR/vkBasalt.conf
and is autogenerated if not found The autogeneratedVKBASALT_CONFIG_FILE
points to the files fromRESHADE_DEPTH3D
so it should have been at least checked out once withCLONE_DEPTH3D
Depth3D
Mostly useful in combination with SBS-VR.
Set RESHADE_DEPTH3D
to 1 to install ReShade Depth3D Shader into gamedir
If CLONE_DEPTH3D
is set to 1 the git repository will be automatically cloned/pulled (only when RESHADE_DEPTH3D=1
) to DEPTH3DSRCDIR
in Downloads
With RESHADE_DEPTH3D
enabled Overwatch.fxh
, SuperDepth3D.fx
, SuperDepth3D_VR.fx
from Depth3D are copied to the gamedir.
When the game started just create a initial profile by selecting the autodetected SuperDepth3D_VR.fx
When WAITEDITOR
is greater 0 a requester will pop up on game launch and wait WAITEDITOR
seconds for a keypress
for editing the Game specific configuration file with your STLEDITOR
if desired.
set PROTONDB to 1 to additionally open the protondb.com url for the game PDBURL
in your BROWSER
when starting the editor.
If a Tweakfile was found for the game, the requester will show an additional notice.
If MAXASK
in the global.conf is defined, the editor requester can be cancelled maximal MAXASK
times
before WAITEDITOR
is automatically set to 0 for that game.
Letting the requester timeout does not count as cancelled.
The "Cancelled counter" is stored directly in the Game specific configuration file as ASKCNT
and is resetted to 0 when MAXASK
was reached and WAITEDITOR
was set to 0.
Literally every env variable can be set in gameconfig $STLGAMECFG
and system-wide configuration,
making it pretty easy to tinker with important ones (f.e PROTON
, DXVK
* , MANGOHUD
, RADV_PERFTEST
, WINE
...)*
The Possibilities Are Endless...
Any contribution is welcome and everybody can help!
- help improving the README
- create Tweakfiles and share them with the community, either open a pull request, or open an issue if you don't like git too much :)
- add new functions & fix bugs (please open a pull request)
- bugreports (please also post the relevant stl logfile)
- spread the word (stl is still pretty unknown - the more people know it the more can help to improve it)