Gaming @lemmy.world

2y ago

I just love collecting them all!

170 comments

Remember times when there were no launcher? Just double click and you're running the game. Good times indeed.
- Steam was considered an abomination when it was released. Drm and a launcher to run HL2? GTFO.
  Yet here we are where everyone loves Steam. Its no surprise other companies wanted to follow knowing that in 20 years, a horrible consumer policy could become beloved.
  
  When it was released? Steam ran like shit for me until probably 2017. It's finally a usable piece of software.
  I also prefer steam because steam comes with a lot of benefits. If steam was still just a launcher and nothing more, I think most people would take issue with it today. That's just not the case, though.
  Easy way to manage games, huge sales, support forums, easy way to manage friends, steam workshop, support for pretty much every controller, fast download servers
  And one thing that people probably don't realize, is that steam will work with developers to implement patches. Many times when I play old games I'll go to PC gaming wiki and see that I need a few patches and mods to make the game work, but the wiki will say that those patches and mods were implemented into the steam release. It's really nice.
  
  There is reason why its so loved. Everything else they bring is good enough price for me for steam being a launcher and drm.
  Only problem I have with steam is worrying what will happen if valve goes bad or disappears in the future. But I hope it has sunk in to them by now that they will get much more money by being customer friendly and nice instead of being pieces of shit like some of the competition. I still hope that gog will become good competitor to steam.
  
  https://www.reddit.com/gallery/155tkw0
  Takes from gamers never change. They're always, consistently, horrible meme-takes.
- Manual updated are an hassle

That's why I use Playnite
- Oh good, it's like a launcher for my launchers.
  
  Yo dawg...
  
  Jokes on you but that is what it actually is.
- It still will launch a launcher if it needs to, but at least you can see all of your games in one place
  
  Which is absolutely a must if you have a huge library across multiple platforms. How else will I find out if that indie gem in the latest Humble Bundle is already in the library somewhere?
  Joking aside, Playnite is especially awesome if you like admiring a collection in gallery view. The "sorting title" feature is exactly what we need in a day and age where publishers don't give a fuck about proper naming schemes.
  They be like:
  Game
  Game II - Electric Boogaloo
  Game 3: Definition of Insanity
  Game™, the Return of Shenanigans
  Game V; "Definitely the Last One"™
  I just want my collection displayed in the proper order, stop that shit!
- Playnite is sick. I’ve spent a ton of hours writing my own themes to customize it and set up categories for all of my games. And by that point I don’t even want to play the game I opened it for anymore lol
- Really liked it, too bad it's not for Linux
  
  Heroic launcher
- Heroic is pretty good too. Supports a lot fewer stores than Playnite (only Epic, GOG, and Amazon at the moment), but it doesn't require any of the original launcher to be installed in order to download and play any games (with a few exceptions, such the the Star Wars games on Epic which still require the original launcher due to some fuckery).
  Works on Windows, Linux, and Mac, and on the latter two, will even help you set up and configure Wine automatically in order to run your Windows games.

I made an Epic account years ago for the freebies. I'm not sure, but I'd bet I never played a single one.
- If you claimed all of them you've got some seriously great games in there... Control, Subnautica, Alien Isolation, all the Tomb Raider games, Evil Within...
  
  The entire BioShock collection, Rogue Legacy, Pathfinder Kingmaker, XCOM 2, Yooka-Laylee and Y-L and the Impossible Lair, Several Warhammer games, Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion, Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep, Star Wars Squadrons, Bridge Constructor: The Walking Dead, Fallout 1, 2, 3, NV, and Tactics, Guacamelee and Guacamelee 2, Homeworld 1&2 Remastered, KSP, and of course LAWN MOWING SIMULATOR!!!
  Edit: I almost forgot PC Building Simulator with the IT Expansion!
  
  They even gave out the complete Sims 2.
  
  I'd rather pay to not use that godawful platform. Yes I know that's stupid in certain ways but my hate for Tim Swiney is simply that strong
- Same. I even played some of them. Still never gave them a red cent because their launcher is an offense to all mankind.
  
  Their launcher is perfectly acceptable and even requires less inputs to launch games than Steam as the games you've installed are listed in the menu on the left that's always visible. Steam has become a mess that's full of bloat and useless features that only exist to profit from whales and gambling addicts.

Dont buy games from AAA publishers and you mostly have steam or GOG.
Better yet. Buy them from Itch.io directly, since indies are better anyway.
- You don't even need one for GOG - GOG Galaxy is totally optional and you can download absolutelly run of the mill offline installers for all games on GOG which do not require the installer or any network access, and you even keep the forever and ever (so all your old games are still installable and run on an old gaming computer with the old OS, so long as the hardware hasn't died).
- Love itch.io. it's what got me into games.
- Itch.io has an API? For integration in unified launchers.
- Hot take. Steam sucks. I would rather have 10 launchers than deal with Steam's mismanagement of game resources and hijacking my peripherals.
  Oh and there is no financial advantage to it. They can track and use your gaming info and sell it. Just like Netflix.
  
  So what you're saying is... you want EA to be the dominant force and directional pioneer in PC gaming.
  Do you also masturbate to pictures of the Comcast logo?
  
  What mismanagement? What hijacking?

deleted
- laughs in multiMC
  
  Nah get on Prism
- The curseforge launcher is the worst launcher I've ever used. Best launcher imo is PolyMC, it's a fork of MultiMC that adds a bunch of really nice features like being able to download mods directly from the launcher.
  
  PolyMC now is PrismLauncher
  The original team was kicked off the Github Repo and made a new Fork the called PrismLauncher
  It was quite the Drama

--skip-launcher
- Absolutely adore Larian for this one on Baldur's Gate 3 tbh
  
  There's a lot to like about how BG3 functions.

This is a rare console W over PC. All your games are just there. No additional launchers or log ins, no waiting 30 minutes for the game to update because you havnt opened that launcher in months.
- Yeah but then you have to use a controller like a chump.
  
  They're capable of supporting mouse and keyboard. For some reason most games just don't. Like on my PS5, anything that uses a mouse style menu, I can use a mouse to operate. I can also use a keyboard to type in input boxes with anything. But the only game I can fully play with a M&KB I've tried so far is Call of Duty. Which is nuts because Stellaris, Civilization and City Skylines are on this system, too, and they would very much benefit from full M&KB support.
  
  Some games are better with a controller. Some PC users prefer controller...
- Games do update when you haven’t played them for a while. At least on Switch.
  
  Yeah that's the point. On consoles they do, on PC they might not if you havnt opened the launcher in a while.
- The whole heckin console is your launcher. So now you need another whole box IRL for the other launchers. Be sure to fiddle with your TV's source selection button that for some reason can never work the way we expect.
  
  Not really how that works, but I get some people have a pathological need to shit on consoles for no reason.
- Consoles have exclusives. I much rather download an extra launcher than have to pay $400 for very similar hardware to use their special launcher to play a game. Also, if you have physical games, you have to deal with changing those out. PC, you're already on your PC so you just play the games you wanna play. Also, basically every time I've tried to play something on a playstation with someone, their PS needs and update and the game needs an update. PC games just update without me paying any attention to them on their own.
  
  Ah I forgot mentioning a good thing about consoles would bring out these people
- No additional launchers or log ins, no waiting 30 minutes for the game to update
  That happens on consoles all the time. Don't play your modern console (switch or newer) and the same thing happens. I avoid Xbox now because every time I go to play it's a 30 minute wait for system and game updates. -and my Xbox is hardwired Ethernet to 300 mbs service so it's not slow Internet
  I even booted up my switch before family visiting on Thanksgiving because I knew it would want an update. At least Switch was nice by making it optional.
  
  Yeah no shit it doesn't update games when it's powered off?
- Another big win is game licences work for anyone using the console for all games. While some PC publishers require each individual user to buy another copy of the game in order to keep separate profiles. Looking at you, Ubisoft
  
  Microsoft stopped short on PCs with their store.
  If you're a parent, you can create a family group with your Microsoft account. Add each child's Microsoft account under yours. Purchase the game on your account. Login to your account on your childs PC to install it. Log out and then login to your childs account. They'll be able to play it.
  Limitations? They will not have access to any DLC. It's limited to one child. If you have more than one child, too bad.

I don't even like steam
- Absolutely hated it when I was forced to use it. Nowadays I don't mind that much anymore. But if a game needs to launch another launcher first, that drives me crazy.
  Looking at you, EA and Ubishit.
  
  I got into steam because I could (using modded files) download valve games for free. It was like piracy but without the torrenting and gameboxart.jpg.exe shenanigans.
  Then I liked Counter Strike, and portal was coming out... and now I have a few thousand bucks in games.
  Still don't like having to run a nanny program to be "allowed" to play the shit I paid for. But steam is the best of that garbage pile.
- I use dedicated cpu cores and other tweaks on my setup to reduce game input latency. Steam is always the 1 fucking program that randomly starves my remaining cores for absolutely no reason
  
  It uses a lot of my RAM. I love Steam but it needs some optimization.
- It’s such a garbage-tier app and always has been. Credit to Valve for busting open online app stores, but I have no idea why people like Steam so much.
  
  but I have no idea why people like Steam so much.
  Convenience is, I think, the primary driving force.
- That's what I always find funny about the EGS hate crowd... They complain about the features it didn't have at launch (that it now has) but in the end having to launch any launcher pisses me off, might as well use the one with the least garbage! No Valve, I don't need fucking trading cards with my games!
  
  might as well use the one with the least garbage!
  That's why people use Steam!

thank you for the reminder to fetch my freebie for the week from epic. not that i actually play them (have a whole one title installed). i just collect those, too.

So called free market socialists when steam offers almost all the games in one launcher (monopoly)
- at least they're using the money they get to make hardware that would not get greenlit otherwise due to too high market risks
  and they didn't suddenly make the platform subscription only & put all the new features in the cloud to make it harder to pirate (looking at you Adobe you pos)
- monopoly
  No, you need uplay for that

Now how about we get an Office launcher
- Achievement unlocked: Starting to Excel
  Would you like to share this Gaming Moment™ with your friends? Yes / yes.

The clear solution is a single centralized launcher for all these launchers.
- Playnite does a great job at this. GOG Galaxy isn't bad either last I checked.
- A launcher-launcher
  
  And after some years, launcher-launcher-launcher

Can someone do this for game launchers?
- I love my launchers, I love to play!
  I love more and more clicks each day.
  I love my DRM, it is the best!
  I love security and all the rest.
  I love my software and its location, not having physical software is salvation.
  I love my ads, they hold my attention, to spend more money is my intention!
  I think my launchers are really swell, there’s nothing else I love so well.
  I love to spend money on a microtransaction, its price is merely a microfraction
  I love my local computer and its remote software;
  I hug it often though it won’t care. I love each program and every distant file.
  I’d love it more if I could download even more a while.
  I’m happy the software is there, not here. I am. I am.
  I’m the happiest slave of the launchers, I am.
  I love these launchers, I love all the different cliques.
  I love sharing personal information, I need my fix.
  I love my launchers – I’ll say it again – I even love those friendly men.
  Those friendly men who’ve come today,
  In clean white coats to take me away!
  
  Lol, thanks! 👍

Here is the solution: https://apps.gnome.org/Cartridges/

I will say that I'll take the lesser evil of having an unintrusive launcher for a game that pops up after I select play in Steam (Creative Assembly, Larian, etc.) which can then be closed after the game starts than go back to when everyone wanted you to install a bloated distribution platform to play their specific game (Looking at you Stardock, Uplay, etc.).
- Absolutely. It is refreshing to start BG3, see the launcher pop up quickly, and watch the loading splash come up right after you choose DX11/Vulkan.
  There are, however, many other problems in that game.

But in the shadows of Playnite, one more launcher was made.
One launcher to bind them.

Reason number 217 why pirated games are better.

I do not like opening multiple game launchers. You are crazy
- 🤓
  
  local dude comes back after 4 months to send a nerd emoji to an innocent commenter

This is why I buy most of my games from GOG.
The launcher (GOG Galaxy) is entirelly optional, so I don't use it at all and just download the installers for my games (and keep local copies in an external HD in my NAS).

Don’t forget minetest and gamehub

Quite a pain. I mostly buy anything on steam or choose steam keys x this reason.

I've been using Playnite for the last weeks and I'm pretty happy with the results! You should try it ^^

You guys don't use shortcuts?

It has been ages since I played something on PC (I don't have a gaming one) but that is crazy to me lol.
Is it not possible to just put the .exe files into the desktop (not shortcuts).
- The exe is typically a tiny part of the actual game files, so no.
  
  Perhaps the entire folder of the game on your desktop? I do remember to have done something like that before lol.
- I know you used to be able to do that, but I don't think it works anymore.
- Depends, DRM free games yes...
  
  I hear there's a website for that... amazing how you can get anything drm-free if you know how to sail.
- I tried that with Tropico 5. The .exe launches the Kalypso launcher. When you press play, it launches the steam launcher, which then launches the Kalypso launcher again. When you then press play, you get to play the game.
  (This is from memory. Details may vary.)

But honestly, what would be better?
No launchers at all? They do help to organize the game library, synchronize saves across devices, enable achievements and friend lists, make it possible to share game libraries, install all your games from a single place, have a shop to discover new games. Steam even provides basic APIs for games to enable multiplayer. Many of these things could be baked into the game, though that would be extra work some devs might not do.
One centralised launcher? Such a monopoly might lead to problems such as higher prices / less money for game devs (especially the good indie studios that don't have negotiation power), less innovation around that launcher and less effort towards a good experience with few bugs etc.
- The problem isn't launchers like steam or origin etc. it's that when you install a EA game with steam you end up launching both steam and origin to play. Same with Ubisoft and Uplay.
  The game should run without the specific launcher, so that it works with any launcher. Not this launcher inception nested dolls bullshit we have today

Vote with your wallet then. Stop buying games from terrible companies. Oh right, you prefer to just rant and literally change nothing in how you live life.
- Games don't typically state when they use game launchers. By the time you find out you've probably already bought the game. Ubisoft and EA are the only companies I can think of that have truly awful launchers that make me not buy games from them anymore.
  
  Don't buy games on release and use your favorite search engine to find out if there's a launcher?

See, you guys don't know what you want. First it's not okay for you that you have to use steam to play only three games and now it's not okay that there are games you don't have to use steam for... wtf!
- You used to be able to open games without the Steam launcher until the latest major release.
  Also steam often launches another dedicated launcher.
  
  if a game has its own launcher, yea, that's usually still there, too.

Basically yeah, every game should have its own launcher
- we're back at square one boys
  
  Ideally yeah
- I just got an incredible idea for a game...

170 comments