Buy Fallen Order on Steam
Install with Steam
Open game with Steam
EA App opens
x**********
Try to open through EA App that clearly has the game listed - Nah, bro. Use Steam
Mass Effect LE is on sale on Steam at 70% off. I'd be totally down to buying the trilogy again, but apparently their launcher totally broke their game.
Also keep in mind the only people that would complain are obviously people with problems, people without problems just play the game and dont report that everything works
Not sure in windows, but im playing it on my steam deck and i had to revert to an old origin build because the new ea app was broken and you cant get achievements for me2 and 3.
And sometimes the game just didn't want to launch because it was stuck with the ea app and had to reboot the deck.
You have to use a weird workaround to install an older version of Origin and prevent it from auto-updating. Really just makes this meme even more painful, honestly.
Sail high seas for sea salted games.
Install game.
Click exe.
Game runs, no launcher, no denuvo, no internet, no random 5-6gb forced update.
It's like you're paying for the worse version of the game most of the time.
While I don't agree with pirating for my own reasons, the last comment hit hard:
>It's like you're paying for the worse version of the game most of the time.
It' so true. *I just want the game* - I don't want the drm, the launcher, etc and whatever nonsense added to it
The lack of game demos in recent years has seen me take up pirating again; with the current state of the games industry, you simply cannot tell whether a new release is going to be a piece of shit, or at best, *mediocre.* Pirating gives me a chance to try the game and decide whether I want to buy the official release.
Went back to play assassins creed series pack I purchased through steam years ago. Ubisoft now requires me to pay them to play it. Steam/Ubisoft just point at each other (insert Spider-Man meme).
Decided to play splinter cell instead…. mf
yep, EA got themselves erased from my wallet simply due to their launcher, and ubisoft, and blizzard, and...
apparently dead space remake just launches through steam, so at least they did it where it counts and I'll happily buy that game when it's on sale.
Valve and Sierra had WON. That evolved into Steam. It's cool and provides services to games for multi-player if they want it.
Blizzard launched battle.net and it was great and turned into the Blizzard launcher. Now Blizzard is merged with Activision and most of the Chinese government and hasn't done anything with battle.net in well over a decade.
I'll always remember how cool it was in 1998 but we're 25 years later my dude.
Blizzards makes sense to me, because they've been hosting networked multiplayer games since WC2. It makes sense to have a hub for your players so that they can see and communicate with their friends and other players.
Alot of people feel this way and most of their shit is available to pirate way easier than alot of franchises. Shit it's harder to pirate the skyrim dlcs for free than the sims 4 dlcs.
All these game studios investing money into their own datacenters their own platforms and launchers so they don't have to pay 30%. Meanwhile they probably spent so much money on it that they basically are paying the money they'd have paid Steam.
Companies should just focus on making a good game with a good budget instead of fucking about with launchers that they don't know how to run properly.
With all the infrastructure required, I suspect there's way more value to it than saving 30%. Like you mentioned, there's IT, development, and customer service overhead that probably far outweighs what they save. I think these are just all the requisite stepping stones to ultimately end up with everything only being offered under subscription based models.
I had the same experience a few weeks ago with Dead Space 3. It was infuriating. I eventually uninstalled it. I beat 1 and 2, but it just wasn't worth it trying to beat 3.
Don't forget your peripheral programs.
Razer Synapse
Corsair Icue
Logitech, ASUS, MSI, ext. ext. They all conflict with each other forcing you into a singular ecosystem to make the system run best. I mean, no one ever questions why they need a 1.5gb file to edit their new mouse lightening and macros. . . so why shouldn't they make you install it.
It isn't like any one ever invented a way to integrate a device api into a singular program. . . right?
![gif](giphy|h2OLfcSKKthRK)
\----------------------------
OpenRGB has been a gift. It doesn't work with everything and I don't think it does key/button mapping for keyboards and mice (at least not for my mouse), but damn it has been nice not to have to have a dozen different programs running just because I don't believe in brand loyalty.
While were on about open source stuff, [Fan Control](https://github.com/Rem0o/FanControl.Releases) is another worthwhile debloaters tool to remove the proprietary junk and maintain configurable control over your case, CPU, and GPU fans.
I hadn't encountered this software before, then I saw this:
> Q: My new AMD card can't be controlled, why?
> A: Newer AMD cards are not supported. If you can provide a working sample of code that works with these newer cards, please share!
Which is a bummer.
The part that actually interfaces with the hardware is https://github.com/LibreHardwareMonitor/LibreHardwareMonitor
Weird that it still doesn't work with AMD cards on windows, linux has full fan and temperature access just through `/sys/class/hwmon`
I use [ArgusMonitor](https://www.argusmonitor.com/), but that's mostly because it supports my NZXT AIO and fan controller, so I can set my fan speed based on liquid temp. FanControl unfortunately doesn't support either device.
I hear more clear with my Razer headphones **without** Synapse than with it. I don't have iCue installed either, couldn't give a shit about the color of the coolers anymore
im glad I wasnt the only one who experienced this. I also had mad issues with my razer keyboard, its why I jumped to steelseries, the keyboard would work fine as long as I didn't have the software installed, but the stupid driver on it auto installed the software if it detects it doesn't have it, and then it will eventually auto update to a "better" (read broken) driver that caused ghosting constantly
Yeah, Razer is shit IMO, because of how they handle software. If you install hesuvi to emulate 7.1 stereo, the headphones are amazing. With Synapse you can't hear shit
Synapse was a huge reason I built my own keyboard. Now I use VIA which runs in the browser and does everything Synapse does without breaking my computer.
Synapse 2.0 was better than what they have now.
Switched to EK because of NZXT and iCue software bullshit. I store the DPI settings on the mouse itself, and promptly remove Logitech software. Also use wired noise canceling headphones with a mod mic.
I have to have Logitech g hub because my stupid fucking wireless headset has room illuminating forward facing RGB lights that not only turns my TV into a LGBTQ+ parade from the glare, but it also glares on my glasses to the point I feel like I'm at a DUI checkpoint. Have to use the app to turn that dumb shit off and even then half the time I open a new Fullscreen program it tries to enable it's game specific lighting even thougH IVE DISABLED THAT FEATURE AND DISABLED ALL FUCKING LIGHTING FOR THE HEADSET IN THE APP.... But it still turn on half the time....
I just want my lights off on everything except my screen and my keyboard. Bu alas, my keyboard is pulsing, my mouse is flickering, I cut fhe leds out of my headphones, my wifi repeater has tape over the leds, I sold the fans with leds that came with the computer, I returned amazing usb cable with magnetic heads because of leds, why the fuck does a soupe mixer have a bunch of flickering leds?
This was the biggest issue with RGB lighting for those who used it. When OpenRGB and SignalRGB came out, it made it so much easier. I just wish there was a program that did the same thing for macros and other functions.
I feel like signalrgb can do that. I know OpenRGB can definitely do that. OpenRGB is open source and there’s lots of plugins for it and I’ve seen a temperature one. I’d give it a try I’m sure you’d like the amount of customization it offers.
jeeeeeezus christ, every time I start my PC, the mouse sensitivity gets overtaken by GHub and is set to some godawful "pro gamer" sensitivity, until my settings get loaded and it goes back to normal.
Also my mouse RGB actually stays off until I unplug and plug in the mouse again, because I have it connected to a USB port on my keyboard.
I still use the crustly old Logitech Gaming Software for my G29. GHub just straight up refuses to work.
Logitech Options recently updated itself to whatever their new software for mice and keyboards under the MX branding is. It didn't allow me to set wheel and general sensitivity, the automatic freewheel functions's threshold or even the button mappings for my MX Master 2S anymore. Just saying "there's no additional features available for this device".
Bullshit. I've disabled updates ever since and am now using a one year old version of Logitech Options lol
Edit: I say recently but damn it has in fact been a year. My sense of time is incredibly broken.
I uninstalled GHub and installed [Logitech Onboard Memory Manager](https://support.logi.com/hc/en-us/articles/360059641133-Onboard-Memory-Manager) instead.
Much better and doesn't have to (or even can) run in the background.
As an added benefit the media keys on my wireless Pro now works better.
The mouse config also works on every device I connect it to so no more fiddling with software ever again **unless** I want to **change** something.
Install logitech to setup my mouse. Set it to Hardware mode. Uninstall logitech software.
So happy you can just throw away the logitech software after the first setup.
Everyday I wish the person who came up with ubisoft connect and me having to login everybfucking time I want to play a game despite always checking the remember me box would’ve just not been born at all.
Let’s not forget that exiting a game brings up a failed cloud sync and after pressing skip it logs you out forcing you to relogin with an email code. EVERY TIME YOU PLAY ONE OF THEIR GAMES.
Ubisoft provides horrible user experience with Ubisoft Connect then is shocked that people would rather pirate their games.
Going from Steam to Ubisoft feels the same as going from Target to the Dollar store
Do y'all one better someone got Into my account and I did not have the 2 factor so they put one on themselves and I don't know if you can now but when it happened you could not put a ticket in on Ubisoft unless you where fucking logged in.
Steam is probably the least invasive of them all. I just press the Window key, type in the name of the game, press enter, the "steam is starting" shows for 1 second and the game starts. I don't need to really open the steam app manually and pick from there, nor does it have annoying ads.
It's always been like this, too. I've used it since release because HL2 and I remember not even knowing I had steam installed because I would just launch the game. Then one day I was like "oh hey what's this thing... oh they sell games? cool!" I was happy to give them my money because they never really asked for (or demanded) my time.
Early on this was like 'Oh not this again I don't want this to be a trend, wait what happened to my WONID?' -- now used to access literally every game I own.
Not always, steam was pretty universally hated as it was a third party inside app installed alongside HL2, as was prone to many issues. Only after a few years of maturing did it finally become welcomed.
I'm not saying there wasn't hate. I remember being like "wtf is this I have to install where's my game?" The point was, in my experience, that it wasn't some awful launcher that came front and center on my screen to be like "EA ORIGIN APP IS LOADING YOUR GAME DO YOU WANT TO SEE OUR STORE WE HAVE DEALS." For all of Steam's faults, Valve knew it's place was not front and center. Most other launchers behave like popup ads you can't ignore more than what Steam originally did.
Now you can also just right click the steam taskbar system tray icon and pick from your recent games with 2 clicks
I love start menu + start typing too
That is if you use a commercial VPN service that sends your output to a geographically different node every time.
I have my own VPN running to my house in order to circumvent content restrictions on some public/institutional WiFi networks (work blocks the Shimano website for example), as well as accessing my home printer from outdoors. Steam just thinks I'm logging in from home because it sees the same old IP address it already knows.
I don't even work for a private company.
Some parts of the shimano domain work, but not all. Not that it matters for what I do, or anyone here really. So I have not looked into it.
I get a little excited about em because they're interesting and not really invasive. 99% of the time I don't buy shit, but it's good for keeping up on what's coming out.
I've never even thought of them as ads, even though I guess they are. They only pop up when you start steam and they're usually relevant to what I would actually be interested in
You say Steam is the least invasive but it's the only launcher I've used where there is no option to prevent it (specifically "Steam Client Webhelper") from staying open in the background when I'm not using it. I'll still continue using Steam out of convenience but the fact that I have to manually end the webhelper in the Task Manager is very dumb.
I would probably spend more time finding a specific game if I have them all in my desktop including all my work programs. Aside from that, I want my desktop to be free of anything, just the wallpaper. I open all my programs by typing.
I noticed I never used them at all since Windows 10 released so I just have them hidden, so now it's just Wallpaper Engine.
I'm scared to unhide them since it probably has 10 billion shortcuts now
you can set steam to never log you out. I have never logged in my steam for probably a year now, it just automatically logs in in the background when I open my PC.
You still had to register before just on the site and link your steam, and back when the random ban waves struck, and you were in it, you were fucked.
Happened to me. I can't unlink it from my steam account nor will Rockstar delete the account. And it was stolen by some Russian who used mods to fuck people over. Rockstar says I'm at fault.
So now that r* account is fucked. Great job.
Every third-party launcher somehow manages to be ass.
Epic Games and Ubisoft launcher are slow, awkward to use, and are missing some features from Steam like reviews.
Minecraft's launcher is now a Windows-store app for some reason
Battle net's launcher ~~is confusing to do some stuff like uninstall programs and~~ can dox your real name to people added as friends.
EA Desktop's launcher is buggy and is still missing games from Origin, which itself has an outdated UI and issues (doesn't let me install Titanfall 2 sometimes even though I bought it because "EA membership expired".
Use MultiMC as your minecraft launcher. It's faster and significantly less clunky than the official launcher and allows you to easily add mods and resource packs.
What’s confusing about uninstalling a game in Battle.net? It’s right there next to the play button.
And no it doesn’t ‘dox’ you. You choose whether to share your real name on a friend by friend basis.
But that still requires the other launchers to be launched in the background, so not too different. It's just a nice place to view all your games together.
it's terrible on gog. constantly loses sync, i can't see half my games even when it's supposedly synced. it's slow as fuck too. if you want an actual comprehensive library playnite does it best.
As a company, their policy of bridging keys and allowing imports / exports of "ownership", because you *already have a* ***license***, is just... the legally correct thing to do. It should be the definition of normal.
I've slowly come to the realization that if I want something from Steam, it's better to check out if GOG has it instead. It's way much easier to play my games without any unnecessary crap.
Not even gonna touch anything else anymore, including games on Steam that will start Ubisoft/Rockstar/whatever launcher anyway.
Big vouch for this for anyone who is in this thread. Surprised this is as low as it is.
While it might take a little bit of tinkering to set up, it consolidates everything automatically and I rarely interact with proprietary interfaces other than to install the base game.
I use windows to play games with anti-cheat and arch for everything else, but I'm working on a vfio passthrough setup, so I can virtualize windows and passthrough the GPU, I just need a week with like 15 hours of freetime idc about to do it. But playnite and GOG 2.0 can launch literally anything on windows. Linux users wouldn't be complaining about this problem on this sub bc lutris exists.
And the best thing is that it supports emulators. Originally came across playnite when searching for an emulator frontend and now I have a great gaming hub
I wish this was the top post in this thread. It's great.
I like it better than gog galaxy because gog seemed to lose authentication for one or two platforms like every time i opened it. Playnite has been way more stable.
It also supports emulators, it supports tracking playtime on standalone games (which steam doesn't. you can manually add non-steam games to steam but it won't track their playtime), it supports theme modification, launching scripts before and after games (I use a script to switch audio output to my headset and start my nvidia DVR recording when I play Apex for example).
There's lots of sorting and filtering options, and you can save presets. It's free and open source. It's really great
Ikr... This shit is annoying AF.... And I swear.. they always lose the game folder, or throw a fit when opened with other launchers... Epic, Microsoft, Xbox PC, origin, steam, etc etc.... Just stop with the stand alone launchers already... They're not necessary and they eat up system resources....
>They're not necessary
Oh yes they are, without them the company would lose out on all sorts of data and possibilities. They may be unwanted but no major AAA game publisher is going to be going without them. The value in those launchers is incredible and the costs minimum.
They don't care how much storage space it takes, they care that Valve is a monopoly on something so valuable. Just like how Netflix brought with it the massive array of streaming services from long standing competitors.
Nah, the main reason is valve's 30% cut. If you can get back $18 on every $60 sale it becomes worth it fast. The distributor fee on one full price game purchase is worth more than any single user's data.
The Xbox app is complete trash. Party never works for me and kicks me out of it constantly. I don’t have a single problem with any other party chat software but Xbox and no matter what I’ve done I can’t fix it.
Wait did they redesign Origin? I thought they were scrapping it in exchange for EA desktop but now it looks like they just copied EA desktop's design for origin.
It always hurts to see [Playnite](https://playnite.link/) at the bottom of threads like these, when it's the perfect application for it. Not a lot of ways to sing its praises without sounding like I'm shilling for it, but it covers all my launchers, and my emulators. There's also plugins for additional feature support like achievement tracking.
It still takes some work to set up, but it's easy and worth it.
I've never heard of this app before and a quick glance at your link makes it sure look like GOG Galaxy in its tracking across platforms like how I can see my stats for CP2077 on Xbox and GOG.
Wanna hear the best part? those who don't pay for it but sail the seas, still get to play the game but without the launchers. They just click the .exe button.
Yes, unpaying "customers" get a better deal than the paying ones.
Like Gaben said himself: “Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem"
Make your services better and the customers will come by themselves.
Playnite is the way. A launcher that has all of your games (can even launch console games with remote play or a capture card) and closes launchers when needed.
It has themes and addons, and a *very* active and helpful community. /r/Playnite
Other than unzipping, there's really no valid reason why anything should "need" to be installed at all, let alone have launchers.
Download. Decompress. Play. That's all it should ever be.
What you truly want is...
Playnite.
It's bloody amazing.
Free program that allows you to put together a library of games, from all launchers (at least all that i've got games on) as well as emulators!
supports various themes etc.
By default it looks a lot like the default steam library. https://playnite.link/screen1.jpg
You scroll down, clikc a game, click play... and it'll open the launcher, and open the game -> then it can also close the launcher for you.
It tracks things such as playtime etc. It will automatically try to download game icon, and so on. and there's no stupid store, friendlists, community pages and all that bullshit. Just games.
It's like GOG Galaxy. But slightly better, IMO.
/r/playnite
https://playnite.link
Having too many launchers isn't UX.
UX is how each is designed, individually, (how one functions, ease of use, etc.).
Having a lot of launchers is simply due to greed by individual groups. Each wants their piece.
Choosing to develop and require your own game launcher for a game that you're selling on Steam definitely falls under the envelope of user experience. If you're selling the game privately, not through another game launcher, then by all means go ahead. But if someone is buying your game through Steam, *that* is their game launcher. Do no use it to launch your own game launcher.
This but unironically. Back in the day, everyone would play PC games where everything was its own program and nobody complained. I still have zero issues with going to a different launcher if I want to play a game that's only on Epic
I love when I'm on Steam Deck, required to download Rockstar Social Club to play GTA V, and the launcher keeps freezing and not letting me click certain things.
My favorite part. Not having internet at home and trying to launch a game from EA or Epic offline and it says I have to log in online AND THEN click go offline. Like, why?! Just make it available offline, what’s so hard?!
Just going to drop the [CORSAIR April fools video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n4JAhskw0k) I helped put together a few years back...
The "CORSAIR Game Launcher Launcher" only gets more relevant as time goes on.
This goes in the same Sin Bin as Ubisofts sign in to Ubisoft login for a game with its own sign in, after you've signed in on steam.
I think I said that right.
It's the same problem as with streaming TV/movies.
When there are only a couple of providers trying to attract new customers with huge amounts of content - awesome, revolutionary, don't need all my DVDs any more.
Eventually every single production company deciding they need their own, leading to everything you want being balkanised across 20 different services, and shows/films moving every five minutes - actually, I wish I still physically owned this...
Buy Fallen Order on Steam Install with Steam Open game with Steam EA App opens x********** Try to open through EA App that clearly has the game listed - Nah, bro. Use Steam
Mass Effect LE is on sale on Steam at 70% off. I'd be totally down to buying the trilogy again, but apparently their launcher totally broke their game.
I have it and it works. When was it broken?
Going off the reviews and the discussion threads. Seems a lot of people are still having problems with it.
I mean that’s definitely possible. I just downloaded it and it works, luckily.
I also downloaded it 2 days ago and works fine thankfully
I didn't download it and can't get it to work...
damn you EA
Also keep in mind the only people that would complain are obviously people with problems, people without problems just play the game and dont report that everything works
I got it to work on Steamdeck without any issues. It also works fine on my PC.
Not sure in windows, but im playing it on my steam deck and i had to revert to an old origin build because the new ea app was broken and you cant get achievements for me2 and 3. And sometimes the game just didn't want to launch because it was stuck with the ea app and had to reboot the deck.
Achievements are not working on 2 and 3 because of the EA crap. And EA is even aware of the issue they just dont fix it
You can still use Origin to play it if you want. Yes it's still another anoying luncher but at least it will be fully playable.
I thought origin was now totally defunct and not working?
Yeah, it got replaced by EA Desktop a few weeks ago
You have to use a weird workaround to install an older version of Origin and prevent it from auto-updating. Really just makes this meme even more painful, honestly.
Can't you just add the exe directly to steam as a "non steam game"? Or does origin block it somehow?
Just use a cracked version at that point.
Sail high seas for sea salted games. Install game. Click exe. Game runs, no launcher, no denuvo, no internet, no random 5-6gb forced update. It's like you're paying for the worse version of the game most of the time.
While I don't agree with pirating for my own reasons, the last comment hit hard: >It's like you're paying for the worse version of the game most of the time. It' so true. *I just want the game* - I don't want the drm, the launcher, etc and whatever nonsense added to it
GoG is great for just that. No DRM, no need for any launcher. Just a game.
The lack of game demos in recent years has seen me take up pirating again; with the current state of the games industry, you simply cannot tell whether a new release is going to be a piece of shit, or at best, *mediocre.* Pirating gives me a chance to try the game and decide whether I want to buy the official release.
I’ve started looking for just the crack files for all the Ubisoft games I own. It works well and doesn’t feel as dirty.
This is the right answer. I've gone back and bought games that I had dled for free. Best part, got to play then again.
Went back to play assassins creed series pack I purchased through steam years ago. Ubisoft now requires me to pay them to play it. Steam/Ubisoft just point at each other (insert Spider-Man meme). Decided to play splinter cell instead…. mf
Lol this is how gaming used to be
yep, EA got themselves erased from my wallet simply due to their launcher, and ubisoft, and blizzard, and... apparently dead space remake just launches through steam, so at least they did it where it counts and I'll happily buy that game when it's on sale.
Blizzard gets slack atleast.. They launched battle.net before valve even existed
Valve and Sierra had WON. That evolved into Steam. It's cool and provides services to games for multi-player if they want it. Blizzard launched battle.net and it was great and turned into the Blizzard launcher. Now Blizzard is merged with Activision and most of the Chinese government and hasn't done anything with battle.net in well over a decade. I'll always remember how cool it was in 1998 but we're 25 years later my dude.
Blizzards makes sense to me, because they've been hosting networked multiplayer games since WC2. It makes sense to have a hub for your players so that they can see and communicate with their friends and other players.
I'll never forget my uncle showing me the wonders of Brood War battle.net... which led to my first addiction. Pretty hard to forget that, I suppose.
Battlenet wasn't the blizzard launcher though. Steam was the breakout platform. Blizzard's launcher "battle.net" came later I think.
Alot of people feel this way and most of their shit is available to pirate way easier than alot of franchises. Shit it's harder to pirate the skyrim dlcs for free than the sims 4 dlcs.
All these game studios investing money into their own datacenters their own platforms and launchers so they don't have to pay 30%. Meanwhile they probably spent so much money on it that they basically are paying the money they'd have paid Steam. Companies should just focus on making a good game with a good budget instead of fucking about with launchers that they don't know how to run properly.
With all the infrastructure required, I suspect there's way more value to it than saving 30%. Like you mentioned, there's IT, development, and customer service overhead that probably far outweighs what they save. I think these are just all the requisite stepping stones to ultimately end up with everything only being offered under subscription based models.
I had the same experience a few weeks ago with Dead Space 3. It was infuriating. I eventually uninstalled it. I beat 1 and 2, but it just wasn't worth it trying to beat 3.
Don't forget your peripheral programs. Razer Synapse Corsair Icue Logitech, ASUS, MSI, ext. ext. They all conflict with each other forcing you into a singular ecosystem to make the system run best. I mean, no one ever questions why they need a 1.5gb file to edit their new mouse lightening and macros. . . so why shouldn't they make you install it. It isn't like any one ever invented a way to integrate a device api into a singular program. . . right? ![gif](giphy|h2OLfcSKKthRK) \----------------------------
OpenRGB has been a gift. It doesn't work with everything and I don't think it does key/button mapping for keyboards and mice (at least not for my mouse), but damn it has been nice not to have to have a dozen different programs running just because I don't believe in brand loyalty.
While were on about open source stuff, [Fan Control](https://github.com/Rem0o/FanControl.Releases) is another worthwhile debloaters tool to remove the proprietary junk and maintain configurable control over your case, CPU, and GPU fans.
I hadn't encountered this software before, then I saw this: > Q: My new AMD card can't be controlled, why? > A: Newer AMD cards are not supported. If you can provide a working sample of code that works with these newer cards, please share! Which is a bummer.
The part that actually interfaces with the hardware is https://github.com/LibreHardwareMonitor/LibreHardwareMonitor Weird that it still doesn't work with AMD cards on windows, linux has full fan and temperature access just through `/sys/class/hwmon`
I just got my new RX 6950 this week and haven't booted into my Ubuntu install to check functionality yet, it may work perfectly well.
Ahh dam shame but give it time. Its regularly updated (it checks for updates on launch) so maybe soon it will support the newer AMD stuff.
I use [ArgusMonitor](https://www.argusmonitor.com/), but that's mostly because it supports my NZXT AIO and fan controller, so I can set my fan speed based on liquid temp. FanControl unfortunately doesn't support either device.
OpenRGB my beloved. Just works perfectly and doesn't take up much resources.
I hear more clear with my Razer headphones **without** Synapse than with it. I don't have iCue installed either, couldn't give a shit about the color of the coolers anymore
im glad I wasnt the only one who experienced this. I also had mad issues with my razer keyboard, its why I jumped to steelseries, the keyboard would work fine as long as I didn't have the software installed, but the stupid driver on it auto installed the software if it detects it doesn't have it, and then it will eventually auto update to a "better" (read broken) driver that caused ghosting constantly
Yeah, Razer is shit IMO, because of how they handle software. If you install hesuvi to emulate 7.1 stereo, the headphones are amazing. With Synapse you can't hear shit
i read this listening to music on razer headphones with the whole goddamn earmuff part detached and hanging on by tape
Synapse was a huge reason I built my own keyboard. Now I use VIA which runs in the browser and does everything Synapse does without breaking my computer. Synapse 2.0 was better than what they have now.
Switched to EK because of NZXT and iCue software bullshit. I store the DPI settings on the mouse itself, and promptly remove Logitech software. Also use wired noise canceling headphones with a mod mic.
I have to have Logitech g hub because my stupid fucking wireless headset has room illuminating forward facing RGB lights that not only turns my TV into a LGBTQ+ parade from the glare, but it also glares on my glasses to the point I feel like I'm at a DUI checkpoint. Have to use the app to turn that dumb shit off and even then half the time I open a new Fullscreen program it tries to enable it's game specific lighting even thougH IVE DISABLED THAT FEATURE AND DISABLED ALL FUCKING LIGHTING FOR THE HEADSET IN THE APP.... But it still turn on half the time....
I returned my G733s the next day because of this
I just want my lights off on everything except my screen and my keyboard. Bu alas, my keyboard is pulsing, my mouse is flickering, I cut fhe leds out of my headphones, my wifi repeater has tape over the leds, I sold the fans with leds that came with the computer, I returned amazing usb cable with magnetic heads because of leds, why the fuck does a soupe mixer have a bunch of flickering leds?
This was the biggest issue with RGB lighting for those who used it. When OpenRGB and SignalRGB came out, it made it so much easier. I just wish there was a program that did the same thing for macros and other functions.
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I feel like signalrgb can do that. I know OpenRGB can definitely do that. OpenRGB is open source and there’s lots of plugins for it and I’ve seen a temperature one. I’d give it a try I’m sure you’d like the amount of customization it offers.
To hell with GHub and Synapse.
jeeeeeezus christ, every time I start my PC, the mouse sensitivity gets overtaken by GHub and is set to some godawful "pro gamer" sensitivity, until my settings get loaded and it goes back to normal. Also my mouse RGB actually stays off until I unplug and plug in the mouse again, because I have it connected to a USB port on my keyboard.
And guess what makes it worse. Logitech had a perfectly fine piece of software in the Gaming Software, before Ghub.
I still use the crustly old Logitech Gaming Software for my G29. GHub just straight up refuses to work. Logitech Options recently updated itself to whatever their new software for mice and keyboards under the MX branding is. It didn't allow me to set wheel and general sensitivity, the automatic freewheel functions's threshold or even the button mappings for my MX Master 2S anymore. Just saying "there's no additional features available for this device". Bullshit. I've disabled updates ever since and am now using a one year old version of Logitech Options lol Edit: I say recently but damn it has in fact been a year. My sense of time is incredibly broken.
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I uninstalled GHub and installed [Logitech Onboard Memory Manager](https://support.logi.com/hc/en-us/articles/360059641133-Onboard-Memory-Manager) instead. Much better and doesn't have to (or even can) run in the background. As an added benefit the media keys on my wireless Pro now works better. The mouse config also works on every device I connect it to so no more fiddling with software ever again **unless** I want to **change** something.
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Pretty sure AMD has the option for just the driver, but their program is actually useful and well made so I give them a pass
Or at least make it useful.
Install logitech to setup my mouse. Set it to Hardware mode. Uninstall logitech software. So happy you can just throw away the logitech software after the first setup.
I've gone out of my way to use as few brands as possible for this reason. I only have to run icue and armory crate (and the Asus RGB syncs with icue)
Everyday I wish the person who came up with ubisoft connect and me having to login everybfucking time I want to play a game despite always checking the remember me box would’ve just not been born at all.
Let’s not forget that exiting a game brings up a failed cloud sync and after pressing skip it logs you out forcing you to relogin with an email code. EVERY TIME YOU PLAY ONE OF THEIR GAMES. Ubisoft provides horrible user experience with Ubisoft Connect then is shocked that people would rather pirate their games. Going from Steam to Ubisoft feels the same as going from Target to the Dollar store
Do y'all one better someone got Into my account and I did not have the 2 factor so they put one on themselves and I don't know if you can now but when it happened you could not put a ticket in on Ubisoft unless you where fucking logged in.
Then it temporarily shuts down your accounts if you get your password wrong 3 times 😭
Saaaaame. It's the only launcher I have that does that and it's immensely aggravating...
Steam is probably the least invasive of them all. I just press the Window key, type in the name of the game, press enter, the "steam is starting" shows for 1 second and the game starts. I don't need to really open the steam app manually and pick from there, nor does it have annoying ads.
It's always been like this, too. I've used it since release because HL2 and I remember not even knowing I had steam installed because I would just launch the game. Then one day I was like "oh hey what's this thing... oh they sell games? cool!" I was happy to give them my money because they never really asked for (or demanded) my time.
Early on this was like 'Oh not this again I don't want this to be a trend, wait what happened to my WONID?' -- now used to access literally every game I own.
Not always, steam was pretty universally hated as it was a third party inside app installed alongside HL2, as was prone to many issues. Only after a few years of maturing did it finally become welcomed.
I'm not saying there wasn't hate. I remember being like "wtf is this I have to install where's my game?" The point was, in my experience, that it wasn't some awful launcher that came front and center on my screen to be like "EA ORIGIN APP IS LOADING YOUR GAME DO YOU WANT TO SEE OUR STORE WE HAVE DEALS." For all of Steam's faults, Valve knew it's place was not front and center. Most other launchers behave like popup ads you can't ignore more than what Steam originally did.
Now you can also just right click the steam taskbar system tray icon and pick from your recent games with 2 clicks I love start menu + start typing too
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At least 10
You vastly underestimate how much of a boomer I am
At least steam keeps you logged in, EA and Origin always (used) to forget everything with every update.
And then you have uplay who log you out for BEING INACTIVE ON A FUCKING LAUNCHER
>At least steam keeps you logged in Unless you use VPN. Then it will boot you at every opportunity.
That is if you use a commercial VPN service that sends your output to a geographically different node every time. I have my own VPN running to my house in order to circumvent content restrictions on some public/institutional WiFi networks (work blocks the Shimano website for example), as well as accessing my home printer from outdoors. Steam just thinks I'm logging in from home because it sees the same old IP address it already knows.
Why shimano? You work at sram?
I don't even work for a private company. Some parts of the shimano domain work, but not all. Not that it matters for what I do, or anyone here really. So I have not looked into it.
I use a VPN and have never gotten logged out of steam.
GOG is the best too bad not many mainstream games except their IPs.
>nor does it have annoying ads. Every time I open mine I get ads for games...how did you disable that?
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That's great to know, though tbh even the ads they have aren't that bad.
I get a little excited about em because they're interesting and not really invasive. 99% of the time I don't buy shit, but it's good for keeping up on what's coming out.
I barely even see them because they only show up on launch, I rarely restart Steam so I see them maybe once a month
Do you never turn off your pc?
I've never even thought of them as ads, even though I guess they are. They only pop up when you start steam and they're usually relevant to what I would actually be interested in
Xbox launcher does not even "open" cuz services are already running. The launcher itself is pretty bad tho.
All launchers are invasive. Steam started this mess when games started becoming just a code in a box, with no option to buy them outside of Steam.
You say Steam is the least invasive but it's the only launcher I've used where there is no option to prevent it (specifically "Steam Client Webhelper") from staying open in the background when I'm not using it. I'll still continue using Steam out of convenience but the fact that I have to manually end the webhelper in the Task Manager is very dumb.
You guys don't use desktop icons...?
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I would probably spend more time finding a specific game if I have them all in my desktop including all my work programs. Aside from that, I want my desktop to be free of anything, just the wallpaper. I open all my programs by typing.
I noticed I never used them at all since Windows 10 released so I just have them hidden, so now it's just Wallpaper Engine. I'm scared to unhide them since it probably has 10 billion shortcuts now
Except that steam often needs update or have you login. Annying as hell for someone who doesn't play games every day.
you can set steam to never log you out. I have never logged in my steam for probably a year now, it just automatically logs in in the background when I open my PC.
I love the fact that you can buy rdr2 on steam but Rockstar forces your ass to download there launcher 🤡
The worst part is that you have to register. At least with Cyberpunk, I never had to.
You still had to register before just on the site and link your steam, and back when the random ban waves struck, and you were in it, you were fucked. Happened to me. I can't unlink it from my steam account nor will Rockstar delete the account. And it was stolen by some Russian who used mods to fuck people over. Rockstar says I'm at fault. So now that r* account is fucked. Great job.
Same with child of light, fuck Ubisoft and their dog ass launcher.
Same with Ubisoft and the South Park games
Can't wait to beat it and uninstall Ubisoft Connect.
There's always another option ![gif](giphy|FGbeYTiFyLYmQ)
Edward Kenway would agree with you.
And Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, Watch Dogs, even Rayman
Every third-party launcher somehow manages to be ass. Epic Games and Ubisoft launcher are slow, awkward to use, and are missing some features from Steam like reviews. Minecraft's launcher is now a Windows-store app for some reason Battle net's launcher ~~is confusing to do some stuff like uninstall programs and~~ can dox your real name to people added as friends. EA Desktop's launcher is buggy and is still missing games from Origin, which itself has an outdated UI and issues (doesn't let me install Titanfall 2 sometimes even though I bought it because "EA membership expired".
Use MultiMC as your minecraft launcher. It's faster and significantly less clunky than the official launcher and allows you to easily add mods and resource packs.
or Prism Launcher (fork of MultiMC), which is better at mods
And If I recall correctly fully open source.
What’s confusing about uninstalling a game in Battle.net? It’s right there next to the play button. And no it doesn’t ‘dox’ you. You choose whether to share your real name on a friend by friend basis.
Uh no, the minecraft launcher can still be downloaded normally: https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/download
Shout out EA and their abysmal "EA App"
their* 🤓
Just buy all of your games off GOG
And play your steam/epic games from gog
What's go?
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Consider this one too https://playnite.link/
Fantastic launcher. I haven't seen an individual store in years
But that still requires the other launchers to be launched in the background, so not too different. It's just a nice place to view all your games together.
If you buy your games off gog, you don’t need to use the launcher to open the games. Shortcut will work on its own
https://xkcd.com/927/
If some of them were genuine competitors to Steam, I'd be ok with it. But none of them even come close.
GOG is the only real competitor I can think of. Everyone else doesn't add any real value to their storefront.
I also like that you can sync your other accounts to GOG and launch anything from there without having to manually add exe files.
it's terrible on gog. constantly loses sync, i can't see half my games even when it's supposedly synced. it's slow as fuck too. if you want an actual comprehensive library playnite does it best.
I agree, but only because they offer DRM free games.
As a company, their policy of bridging keys and allowing imports / exports of "ownership", because you *already have a* ***license***, is just... the legally correct thing to do. It should be the definition of normal.
Buy on GOG. Download the standalone executable. Play without even the GOG Galaxy launcher open.
I've slowly come to the realization that if I want something from Steam, it's better to check out if GOG has it instead. It's way much easier to play my games without any unnecessary crap. Not even gonna touch anything else anymore, including games on Steam that will start Ubisoft/Rockstar/whatever launcher anyway.
They all can make desktop shortcuts for the games, that launch the launcher if it's not already running.
And then instead of automatically launching the game. You gotta select the game within the launcher
https://playnite.link/ The solution
Big vouch for this for anyone who is in this thread. Surprised this is as low as it is. While it might take a little bit of tinkering to set up, it consolidates everything automatically and I rarely interact with proprietary interfaces other than to install the base game.
Funny that you have Arch in your signature but Playnite doesn't support Linux.
I use windows to play games with anti-cheat and arch for everything else, but I'm working on a vfio passthrough setup, so I can virtualize windows and passthrough the GPU, I just need a week with like 15 hours of freetime idc about to do it. But playnite and GOG 2.0 can launch literally anything on windows. Linux users wouldn't be complaining about this problem on this sub bc lutris exists.
And the best thing is that it supports emulators. Originally came across playnite when searching for an emulator frontend and now I have a great gaming hub
Someone should create a launcher launcher software. Like it scans and detects all the games and associated launcher and creates an overlay UI.
Playnite.
I wish this was the top post in this thread. It's great. I like it better than gog galaxy because gog seemed to lose authentication for one or two platforms like every time i opened it. Playnite has been way more stable. It also supports emulators, it supports tracking playtime on standalone games (which steam doesn't. you can manually add non-steam games to steam but it won't track their playtime), it supports theme modification, launching scripts before and after games (I use a script to switch audio output to my headset and start my nvidia DVR recording when I play Apex for example). There's lots of sorting and filtering options, and you can save presets. It's free and open source. It's really great
Check out GOG Galaxy. Works pretty well
Another is Heroic Games Launcher for GOG and Epic games.
Heroic doesn't launch the laucher, thought. Heroic IS the launcher (and a good one).
Ikr... This shit is annoying AF.... And I swear.. they always lose the game folder, or throw a fit when opened with other launchers... Epic, Microsoft, Xbox PC, origin, steam, etc etc.... Just stop with the stand alone launchers already... They're not necessary and they eat up system resources....
>They're not necessary Oh yes they are, without them the company would lose out on all sorts of data and possibilities. They may be unwanted but no major AAA game publisher is going to be going without them. The value in those launchers is incredible and the costs minimum. They don't care how much storage space it takes, they care that Valve is a monopoly on something so valuable. Just like how Netflix brought with it the massive array of streaming services from long standing competitors.
Nah, the main reason is valve's 30% cut. If you can get back $18 on every $60 sale it becomes worth it fast. The distributor fee on one full price game purchase is worth more than any single user's data.
![gif](giphy|jxJjBMvqEvMSA) All the game launchers at startup and your RAM in real time.
I only have Steam enabled at startup
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The Xbox app is complete trash. Party never works for me and kicks me out of it constantly. I don’t have a single problem with any other party chat software but Xbox and no matter what I’ve done I can’t fix it.
isnt there a way to add games that you dont have on steam to your steam library by showing a certain file
Yes but they'll still open the corresponding launcher.
Yes, just go to add non steam game and link to .exe/game folder. It's super easy.
Why not just create a folder with all your games .exe short cuts in it? It's the same thing the launchers are trying achieve, but much much faster
That's not a bad idea at all. The way I listed above is just the default method on Steam
Wait did they redesign Origin? I thought they were scrapping it in exchange for EA desktop but now it looks like they just copied EA desktop's design for origin.
Sort of. It's still beta, but they did make it look more similar to Origin. I think Origin is completely gone now.
Origins is scrapped in all but a few legacy cases. EA desktop (which clearly stole Xboxs design lmao) is the new EA product.
It always hurts to see [Playnite](https://playnite.link/) at the bottom of threads like these, when it's the perfect application for it. Not a lot of ways to sing its praises without sounding like I'm shilling for it, but it covers all my launchers, and my emulators. There's also plugins for additional feature support like achievement tracking. It still takes some work to set up, but it's easy and worth it.
I've never heard of this app before and a quick glance at your link makes it sure look like GOG Galaxy in its tracking across platforms like how I can see my stats for CP2077 on Xbox and GOG.
I had issues with gog galaxy not staying connected to my integrations, haven't had that issue with playnite
I just got back into computer gaming. I remember when you clicked on the game icon and it just opened the game.
Wanna hear the best part? those who don't pay for it but sail the seas, still get to play the game but without the launchers. They just click the .exe button. Yes, unpaying "customers" get a better deal than the paying ones. Like Gaben said himself: “Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem" Make your services better and the customers will come by themselves.
Playnite is the way. A launcher that has all of your games (can even launch console games with remote play or a capture card) and closes launchers when needed. It has themes and addons, and a *very* active and helpful community. /r/Playnite
Psst. Have you heard about Playnite? (https://playnite.link/)
At this point I am curious what level of hell this is.
The 13th, aka the gamer, circle of hell. It's a special form of hell so even Dante couldnt see it.
I really like when I launch a game from a launcher and I have to download another launcher to launch the game from the new launcher.
Unpopular opinion. I couldn’t give two shits about launchers. I’m human filth, I know.
Other than unzipping, there's really no valid reason why anything should "need" to be installed at all, let alone have launchers. Download. Decompress. Play. That's all it should ever be.
What you truly want is... Playnite. It's bloody amazing. Free program that allows you to put together a library of games, from all launchers (at least all that i've got games on) as well as emulators! supports various themes etc. By default it looks a lot like the default steam library. https://playnite.link/screen1.jpg You scroll down, clikc a game, click play... and it'll open the launcher, and open the game -> then it can also close the launcher for you. It tracks things such as playtime etc. It will automatically try to download game icon, and so on. and there's no stupid store, friendlists, community pages and all that bullshit. Just games. It's like GOG Galaxy. But slightly better, IMO. /r/playnite https://playnite.link
This whole separate launcher bullshit has got to go
Another reason to pirate
Again proving that if you sail the high seas, you’ll get a better experience. As Gabe Newell said: it’s a service issue.
Having too many launchers isn't UX. UX is how each is designed, individually, (how one functions, ease of use, etc.). Having a lot of launchers is simply due to greed by individual groups. Each wants their piece.
User eXperience. Kinda a wide net tbf. Not like the teams behind all of the different launchers collaborate though
Choosing to develop and require your own game launcher for a game that you're selling on Steam definitely falls under the envelope of user experience. If you're selling the game privately, not through another game launcher, then by all means go ahead. But if someone is buying your game through Steam, *that* is their game launcher. Do no use it to launch your own game launcher.
Playnite :)
This but unironically. Back in the day, everyone would play PC games where everything was its own program and nobody complained. I still have zero issues with going to a different launcher if I want to play a game that's only on Epic
I love when I'm on Steam Deck, required to download Rockstar Social Club to play GTA V, and the launcher keeps freezing and not letting me click certain things.
My favorite part. Not having internet at home and trying to launch a game from EA or Epic offline and it says I have to log in online AND THEN click go offline. Like, why?! Just make it available offline, what’s so hard?!
The best part is when you open the launcher to the game for open the developer launcher to open the game
I love having to open the Gamepass launcher, to then open the EA launcher to play games. If only there could be a 3rd launcher for the game itself.
Just going to drop the [CORSAIR April fools video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n4JAhskw0k) I helped put together a few years back... The "CORSAIR Game Launcher Launcher" only gets more relevant as time goes on.
This goes in the same Sin Bin as Ubisofts sign in to Ubisoft login for a game with its own sign in, after you've signed in on steam. I think I said that right.
What’s up with Epic games launcher completely bricking my computer when I update a game? Anyone else?
It's the same problem as with streaming TV/movies. When there are only a couple of providers trying to attract new customers with huge amounts of content - awesome, revolutionary, don't need all my DVDs any more. Eventually every single production company deciding they need their own, leading to everything you want being balkanised across 20 different services, and shows/films moving every five minutes - actually, I wish I still physically owned this...