Xf1re Forums

Yes this belongs here because it also counts as game suggestions lmao

From the games I have installed, Antichamber, Portal and Portal 2 I don't think run using "steam.exe" anymore lol

Finding the executables for most of them are already easy, however looking for which one runs Antichamber is gonna be a bit more tricky.

Also I did say Universe Sandbox but I meant Universe Sandbox 2 whoops lol
I defo recommending that one to add.

Please read this first for suggesting new titles or bug fixes.

As for whether or not a game on the Steam platform requires "steam.exe" or not, *all* Steam games can use "steam.exe" or the URL shortcuts that get placed on your desktop after installation.

Using -applaunch 123456 as a launch argument for steam.exe is the same as doing steam://rungameid/123456, as what you would have as a shortcut on your desktop for a game installed by the Steam platform client. It's the exact same result in the end.

Now the real issue is determining when "steam.exe" is needed at all. This can actually vary between operating systems, as well as things like whether or not a user opts to save their Steam credentials on their machine - it's a special feature needed to play Steam games in offline mode.

If a user saves those credentials, then a game that normally requires to either be launched by "steam.exe", or the URL shortcut, or the platform client itself, can instead be launched by it's executable, sometimes.

Some games are hardcoded to use Steamworks DRM, some rely on Steamworks features, but are a legacy/older integration, and as such require you to launch from Steam to have full functionality/fully initialize some online feature or similar, as examples.

Portal on one hand is known to have some anti-piracy measures if it thinks it's not installed or launched by Steam, by manipulating some gameplay and more.

Portal 2's main case is that the connect feature Xf1re has works better through Steam than the actual exe. That is something that has to be considered for some games. It being a Valve game, you can imagine it's going to use Steamworks for multiplayer and thus require interacting with the Steam platform client to join multiplayer games. Some pre-Steam games don't, some non-Steamworks games obviously don't, etc.

Portal 2 also has some anti-piracy measures of it's own.

Now whether the games are pirated, obviously they wouldn't need "steam.exe", but that's not really something we entertain here.

Steam games can not just have "steam.exe" removed simply so, it requires thorough multi-platform, multi-OS investigation.

I'll see what can be done.

EDIT: I should add here for completeness, that there are multi-platform games such as MMOs, that may only log in to the Steam-created/linked/authorized account if only launched through Steam, using the previously described methods Steam has to launch a game. Steam requires quite a few games on their platform to do this when it comes to creating accounts or especially if there is a cash shop involved, as Steam takes a certain percentage. If a user launches from the game's executables, instead you may be required to sign in to a non-Steam account. Sometimes for a non-Steam account, the developers may allow Steam-linking that helps unify the normally two different/isolated account types for their game.

So again, removing "steam.exe" is not so simple. This reply may be used as an example in case anyone asks again and may be updated with further information.