Add to Steam w/o Install

[reverendj1]

Problem description

I have a Steam Deck and primarily use Steam. I mostly use Heroic to install games from other stores. It would be nice to be able to add games to Steam, without first installing them.

My personal use case is that I keep a backlog of games in Steam as a category, so I just pick a random game from my backlog (using Deck roulette) when I finish a game and install it. It'd be nice to include my Heroic games here. Right now, my workaround is to install the game which creates the Steam shortcut, then uninstall it. This is not ideal, especially with larger games.

Feature description

Basically just remove the restriction for a game being installed before the "Add to Steam" shows up in the options. If a game is not installed already, Heroic just pops up with the install options, so it already handles the situation gracefully.

Alternatives

No response

Additional information

No response

[TabulateJarl8]

I may be wrong, but I believe the way that it works requires games to be installed. Since Heroic is installing Epic and GOG games, how will Steam know where to download the games once you choose to install them? Steam doesn't have support for downloading from other stores, Heroic just adds the physical game executable to Steam for Steam to launch if that makes sense. Others feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but I hope this helped

[reverendj1]

As I mentioned, the games aren't currently required to be installed. Heroic launches the games, even when using a shortcut. If you install a game in Heroic, it will create the shortcut in Steam. If you then uninstall the game in Heroic, it leaves the Steam shortcut. Launching that, Heroic will just prompt to install the game.

[flavioislima]

If you then uninstall the game in Heroic, it leaves the Steam shortcut.

This should be true only if you have steam opened or uninstalled the game on game mode on the steam deck, because then Heroic cannot edit the Steam shortcuts file so it cannot either add or remove shortcuts.