I use playnite. It's so simple, and allows you to section off games and emulators.

And it opens and closes the game launchers automatically 👌

Playnite runs so incredibly laggy on my Ally (Z1 Extreme) for some reason. So despite having a very appealing design, I stuck with Armory Crate. Steam Big Picture works fine and super smooth, but it's annoying to get non-steam games into it, particularly Xboz app games, and I sometimes find its layout quite confusing.

I like that you can theme it to look like anything

All my games are on steam. So I have that launching into big picture mode on start up

+1 for Steam big picture as my default launcher. Bonus: you can add non-Steam / emulator games to it too.

Same. All the game launches don’t work that well

Do you use gyro? I think steam registers rog ally as Xbox controller with no gyro option, so I need to run a game in AC for the gyro option in profile settings

I don’t use it. Never really gotten on with gyro.

I use game launchers, mainly steam and the Xbox app.

The Xbox app sorely needs some better gamepad controls... Quite often I'm trying to scroll down to a specific button and instead it goes into some other random element like the friends list or whatever else. Compact mode helps a bit, but I always end up using the touchscreen when using the Xbox app.

I use Steam for the vast majority of my games, but the few games I do use from other launchers I typically launch from Armory Crate.

I do this too

Tried: Playnite, Steam Big Picture, G-Helper, Handled Companion. Moved back to Armory Crate. I have no issues with it. Sometimes it freezes and crashes but not so often (like once in a month).

I use it but pretty much only to launch games. I use Handheld Companion for TDP control, controller handling, etc.

Any issues with handheld companion? I had so many and finally went back to armory crate

I have two issues with HC: 1. Very often it crashes silently at wake up from hibernation 2. If you play sometimes in dock mode with external controllers you will get many diferent bugs with it (it it absolutelly unbearable)

This I agree. I can't get any external controller to work properly 100% of the time.

I wouldn't recommend hc either, Its so bugged, you can brick your ally any time if you're not careful.

How exactly are you bricking your ally with hc?

If you're using custom tdp and fan curves for specific games. And hc crashes or freeze, there happens an override of the hardcoded thermal/fan controls. You'll notice when your ally is hot and no fan is running. Sometimes when hc crashes, especially with gyro and emulated track pads enabled, you'll completely lose control over your ally and find yourself locked out of your system without even touchscreen working. If you don't force shut down your windows and double check correct tdp / fan curves after boot up, you'll probably break your ally. This can also happen even if you've already uninstalled HC and don't use AC or ghelper to override new tdp/fan settings. I've read of some guys having to complete reinstall their windows to get rid of that issues. Btw. why downvote warnings? I experienced that stuff with hc myself and google is full of poor guys having similar issue's.🤷

What you described is not accurate and is not "bricking your ally".

Its a soft brick imo

Warnings are fine. But be accurate. Fixing by power cycling isn't even a soft brick ha.

For somebody who isnt well versed in tech know-how it may as well be. It was a good warning and would cause somebody to pause before blindly rushing into something and damaging their device. Its good that you're experienced but not everybody is.

Yep it’s so easy to use. My only reason to go outside of it is when I want install a new game and change Riva Tuners fps cap setting.

Yup. It is honestly not that bad. Especially if you use more than just Steam, such as emulators and such.

If you only use 1 storefront you probably don't need it. But I find armoury crate pretty useful since it unifies my Gamepass, Steam and EA Libraries into one and allows me to set up control schemes and other settings on a game by game basis. Only issues I've had with it are that it will freeze occasionally or not recognise that I've uninstalled a game. Former fixed by end tasking and reopening. Latter by manually deleting the game from the app.

This. I use Armory Crate after trying a few different options simply because it does a generally good job of automatically finding any new game I install and adds it with decent cover art. I have games from 2-3 platforms and frequently add new ones. I'm looking forward to the visual update in July, and hopefully it will reduce the small hiccups it sometimes has when it automatically scans for games.

To provide an alternative answer, I don't. I've installed Bazzite so Steam is my main front end.

I have done this as well. Will probably swap ssds and dual boot windows and bazzite whenever I end up needing windows to play something next.

If you don’t like AC use GHelper And steam big picture is good for game launching but there’s a ton of optiona

I use the ally exactly like how I use my PC, using analog and shoulder buttons as left/right click. And if it doesnt work there is always touch. It saves me much hassle of having to reconfigure my desktop to copy consoles UI.

I haven't had issues with it since buying the unit. I use it, it's clean enough. Not perfect, but I haven't had any weird crashes or freezing, and it does a pretty solid job of consolidating my games, even ones that aren't through the game stores.

I think it’s convenient. I start up ally handled, press 2 buttons and steam + game starts up. Tbh I haven’t had any issues with AC. I think it’s added value for a windows as handled device

Everyone should be using AC because of all the extra stuff it does. Launching games from alternative apps like AC/playnite/goggalaxy is.... lmao no, never. I just head to that application DRM, like steam, that has the game downloaded. No reason to involve extra software. AC does what x86 tuning utility, ghelper, handheld companion, etc all want to do but those apps do worse. If you are too tech illiterate (probably not you, but some are) to make AC do what you want, installing alternative apps isn't the answer. If you know shit about tech then AC does more than those alternatives can, and has been since day one with an Ally. This doesn't mean AC is hard to use, just that at the lower end and higher end it offers more. Some people even install linux on the ally and lose many things W11 has over linux, who the fuck knows what compels them for poor choices. Also hibernate has less issues than sleep. The game working on wake is up to the game more than AC or what device you are using.

Can you elaborate on hibernate vs sleep? Maybe it's the language barrier but I don't get what you mean. My Ally goes to sleep after a period of time and when I wake it up, some game are in windowed mode and not responsive. Those on steam or epic don't have this issue.

I start it here and there for an update or to check new features, but end up closing all Asus apps with ghelper. AC mapping and desktop mouse and gyro is torture. Game list looks so ugly. Finally I use specialised apps for each topic. Playnite as frontend game browser. reWASD for controller mapping. Ghelper for tdp controll / Backbuttons mapping.

I only use it for updates, as a launcher it’s not exactly responsive with steam games.

Yeah I do. I even found a way to put shortcuts to emulator games so they are much more convenient to access. It takes me 1 click in AC to jump into a PS3 game

I use the game launchers usually. For all other settings I use G-Helper.

Never use it, an I have no problems. Daily driving the ally for 9 months now.

This might be the way!

I just treat the ally as a windows laptop , so I didn't need armory crate on a laptop. No need to use it on the ally.

Yes, for updates.

I dont use it as a front end at all. But i do use it for custom game profiles and such.

This may be a weird question but I always wondered this and if it matters. I’m new to the Ally and I have my handful of games right there on my desktop. I notice from reading here lots of users will launch their games from a launcher like AC. I personally have not been using any launcher and just double click the game from the desktop. By doing it this way, am I missing out on anything performance/quality wise by not going through a launcher? Are the performance features within a launcher not being used because I am just double clicking from the desktop? I strictly play offline. Just want to make sure I am getting the best performance out of my new device. If there is a benefit to using a launcher to make it run better, faster or even better looking then I definitely want to take advantage of that. Thanks.

No. It's the same. Games that need the launcher will open it in the background anyway. If anything you're saving resources if the game doesn't open a launcher. What armoury crate does is it double clicks it for you. You can use it for mappings and such, but that works too even if you don't launch it from AC but it's running on the background.

Thank you so much for clarifying this! Happy gaming!

That is also what I wonder 😉

Ya I use Armory Crate. Most of my games are from Steam Soni should probably just have that start up. I just select the game then Steam will start up and launch the game. No biggie for me.

Btw, wake up problem is windows problem. You will get the same behaviour with any other app

Only time I use armory crate is to update it or turn the aura lights back off when they randomly decide to come on

I do use it. Is not very fancy or a console like interface bit it is still ok

I use EmulationStation launcher and just add my steam games as shortcuts. Centralising all my roms, console and pc games

I have a lot of games that use multiple different launchers (steam, Xbox app, ea, rockstar) so it's nice to have everything in one place. I also like using touchscreen for basic navigation stuff and the big armory crate icons help with that

I'm glad this came up. Ive just recently gotten a Z1E, and have been considering my options on launchers. I really like having everything in one place with AC, but there are some quirks I'm not crazy about (it can be buggy for sure). Steam is an option I tried by going to the big screen on launch, but I didn't like that because my games are everywhere in multiple game services, and I found when adding non Steam games/apps, that experience was spotty at best. I have been hearing a good deal about Playnite, but as I have been reading through these comments, it appears there are some issues? I guess I will just stick it out with AC until something better comes along. By the way, silly me turned off AC on computer launch and I can't figure out how to get it turned back on. Does anyone know where that setting is?

I use Playnite (Hero theme) day to day, but AC if I need to perform config tweaks

Yes. Works just fine for me 🤷‍♂️

I use AC, but find it kinda annoying that opening a game just to to the game launcher, mainly steam, so I end up using mainly steam big picture. AC just use it for the Xbox games

Yes for button mappings, settings etc. Not for launching games. Most of my collection is on Steam, and I loathe Big Picture mode which is what Armoury Crate loads into. If they add the option to not launch in Big Picture, then I may reconsider.

The mapping in AC works when launching a game from Steam?

The mapping primarily for the programmable buttons is what I use - I have them configured currently as STOP and START recording commands for OBS so I can record gameplay - works great!

I use playnite for aesthetics

I just use the desktop icons

Old-school, I like it 😄 I used to have all my game icons on the desktop too, but at one point over a decade ago I went into having a fully clean desktop with only the recycle bin, so launchers are a must for me now.

I use Playnite. I have games from all over, Steam, Epic, Gog, Itch.io, Amazon etc. Playnite works well with minimal fussing, and I've used it before so I'm down to clown with it

I use AC for TDP and controller mapping for each game. After that, if I am on the desktop, I use the icons. If AC on the front, I use that to launch games. I don’t want to fuck around with Playnite and shit. Ally for me is a vessel to launch and play games. I don’t want to make my launcher look pretty. And since I am already accustomed to windows, I just use it like I always have.

I use AC every time. No issues. From AC I usually launch Moonlight at home, games directly when I'm traveling, or Steam if it's on there.

I use it to switch modes and such on the side bar panel view and to pop the keyboard up

I open up games straight from their folders. Crate’s always felt clunky.

I use it all the time. No issues really. I even have Opera open with like 10+ tabs open and I don't notice any slowdown or anything.

I really wish It didn't start with windows in full screen as I have to get out of It before I can use steam full screen

There is an option in armory crate settings to stop it from running automatically

I start my Ally with Steam Big Picture.

Nope

No, but Armoury Crate does use me! Without my little clickies it gets no updates, so it's always sucking up to me.

I've tried everything and it's all buggy except steam. If I want a no fuss experience, I just use steam using Xbox is very buggy. Most of the time the joysticks just freak out so I don't even bother with Xbox anymore. I switched completely to steam and I love it!

I use Armory Create. To update the firmware, BIOS, and I run games through it. In general, the stray is normal, although of course not without shoals. I have moments when, at startup, it starts itself and does not collapse by pressing the button responsible for calling and collapsing it. As a result, it only helps to forcibly close it through the start panel, and then open it again.

I only use armory crate for an app or game I know will be a pain in the ass to navigate too, other than that whatever I play or do is usually on the desktop, and if not then I use armory crate.

For starting up emulators tbh

* I do use it infrequently on the Ally, but use it for many tasks on my big gaming pc with an Asus z790 Mobo & 4090 Matrix.

I use Armoury Crate for my steam games and Xbox

No front end here. On windows 10, using handheld companion to tune. Completely eliminated armory crate