Steam Tinker Launch

Summary

Steam Tinker Launch is a Linux wrapper tool for use with the Steam client which allows customizing and start tools and options for games quickly on the fly (see Features)

By using a versatile configuration structure it is both easy to set up and flexible.

Description

(by TaylorRoyal23 on r/linux_gaming)

"An incredible wrapper with a menu that lets you easily toggle and modify various settings for games on Linux. Anything from proton versions, to startup and exit scripts, proton/dxvk/etc. settings, FSR, reshade, and even options for various tools like gamemode, replay-sorcery, gamescope, etc. Tons more too. I just set my default proton version to "steam tinker launcher" and then every game launches with a 2 second menu that allows you to easily change any of the settings. If you don't press any buttons it just goes with the defaults and launches the game. The menus can get a little confusing but it consolidates it all in one place and is way more simple than trying to remember dozens of commands for various settings that one might need."

How to use

General usage

steamtinkerlaunch works with Linux native games and with games using Proton! (Some features (f.e. ReShade) are only available for games using Proton) (Non-Steam games added to Steam are supported as well)

There are two ways to use steamtinkerlaunch with Steam. Either as Steam Launch Option or as Steam Compatibility Tool (simply enabling it as global default Steam Compatibility Tool works fine as well)

I recommend the Steam Compatibility Tool for all Proton games and the Steam Launch Option only for native Linux games.

(of course you're using this tool at your own risk and you're responsible which 3rd party programs you launch with it)

Game specific use

When starting a game a small Wait requester will pop up. If within a short waiting period (default 2 seconds) the spacebar is pressed the Main Menu will open where everything can be configured comfortably. When done with configuring (or when the requester timeouts) the game will be started regularly with all tools and options configured.

Installation

Installation via Package Management

Thanks to all package maintainers! 👍

Arch Linux via AUR (f.e. using yay): yay -S steamtinkerlaunch

Solus has an official package: sudo eopkg install steamtinkerlaunch

Fedora: unoffical package

for Steam Deck check the Steam Deck wiki - no need to install it system wide!

for Flatpak check the Flatpak wiki

Manual Installation:

If steamtinkerlaunch is not in your package management yet, just sudo make install

steamtinkerlaunch depends on several other programs which need to be installed as well. Check the Installation wiki and Ubuntu users also the Ubuntu wiki

Press

Several great people already mentioned steamtinkerlaunch on their platforms/channels.

Thanks a lot to you all! 👍

(no specific order, list might be incomplete)

• podiki (who also contributed to stl) wrote a huge Boiling Steam article
• ekianjo made a Q&A
• Hex DSL made a youtube video
• tuxfoo made a youtube video
• Linux Game Cast already mentioned stl in their casts several times and still counting
• Mark Dougherty on linuxgamingcentral

Quick start

When steamtinkerlaunch is started for the first time it will create its default configuration structure. Almost everything can be configured with the built-in Main Menu, but optionally also with a graphical text editor. It might be a good idea to start with configuring everything in the Main Menu to your needs

If you want to get an overview over the Steam Tinker Launch features, but the huge wiki is too overwhelming, you might want to check the articles and videos of many cool people!

Features

• Feature list
• Changes in the latest release
• Changelog

Requirements

See Installation

Configuration

All Configuration Files are self-contained documented and always growing, so not every option is documented in here. For a general overview what can be configured, just check the wiki or simply browse through the Main Menu, which covers almost everything available.

Wait requester

The initial Wait Requester acts as gate to the Main Menu. If selected within a timeout the Start Menu will open, else the game starts seamlessly with all configurations set.

Configuration Files

Downloads

Logs

Logs are written into the LOGDIR defined in the Global Menu / Global Config. The verbosity of the logfile depends on WRITELOG (write logfile if not 0, increase verbosity from 1-2 (1:less, 2:all)) in the same location. There are several logfiles, those which are written mostly are the game specific ones ($SteamAppId.log) Besides some other (possibly relevant) log files, the log file of the last run can also be found here: /dev/shm/steamtinkerlaunch/steamtinkerlaunch.log

Command Line

steamtinkerlaunch also has several command line which can also be useful outside steam. For available options please check steamtinkerlaunch help