question about adding steam games to kodi
#1
i was just wondering how i'd add games from my steam library to the kodi games tab. i tried a few things bu had no success. just wondering how i would do it, if it can be done. thanks
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#2
(2020-08-15, 21:33)frogboy07 Wrote: i was just wondering how i'd add games from my steam library to the kodi games tab. i tried a few things bu had no success. just wondering how i would do it, if it can be done. thanks

Hi, I don't know if you can do it without an add-on?  You'll find some in the Kodi forums: Add-on Support>Game Add-ons.  Probably Advanced Emulator Launcher  (there's Advanced Launcher and Advanced Emulator Launcher --I don't think AL is actively maintained/updated but AEL is) or ROM Collection Browser are the way to go. I think there are some other options; there's one to launch Steam in Big Picture from Kodi.  They're all a little more involved to setup, but each thread's first post, the rest of the thread, Google, and YouTube are your friend --when they don't point you to download anything that's not linked through these forums!

There might be a better way, but I've used Advanced Emulator Launcher, it utilizes all the different views my choice of Kodi skin (Artic Zephyr) makes available, so the browsing is seamless and attractive. Plus it's flexible, it can be used to launch all kinds of things.

I'm on Windows.  To get my Steam games to work, I first created a desktop shortcut for each (there's an option in Steam), moved each shortcut into a folder, and ultimately created a launcher with AEL to launch the games. 

Steam's a bit different to launch though.  Steam desktop shortcuts are ".url" files instead of the usual ".lnk" files... so to get AEL to reliably handle those I set up a ROM Launcher (instead of a LNK Launcher or Standalone Launcher) and pointed AEL to "explorer.exe" in the main windows directory.  Tweak your Kodi skin to point the Games menu to AEL, and AEL opens everything up, and when the game closes Kodi's back --I occasionally have to re-focus Kodi... but all in all, I love it.
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#3
this excites me, yes yes, it would be even cooler if kodi would run the game close itself and when the game exits it will launch again
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#4
(2020-08-22, 12:39)g star Wrote: this excites me, yes yes, it would be even cooler if kodi would run the game close itself and when the game exits it will launch again

I believe Rom Collection Browser can do this. I just had issues figuring it all out and wound up using Advanced Emulator Launcher. 

You can also have either add-onrun a .bat that launches whatever Steam game ID RCB or AEL pass it, shuts down Kodi, monitors the process, and reopens Kodi when the game is closed.  I believe the .bat file monitored for a Steam process that ran in the background each time a game was launched.  

I had this set up years ago, and would pass along the files, but I've lost/misplaced the .bat files and it was too troublesome/time consuming for me to figure out when I recently set all this up again.  I also don't know how "cleanly" any of these solutions shut Kodi down, and if the shutdown methods can lead to file corruptions or other issues with your install down the line.
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#5
Sad 
(2020-08-24, 17:38)jaydash Wrote:
(2020-08-22, 12:39)g star Wrote: this excites me, yes yes, it would be even cooler if kodi would run the game close itself and when the game exits it will launch again

I believe Rom Collection Browser can do this. I just had issues figuring it all out and wound up using Advanced Emulator Launcher. 

You can also have either add-onrun a .bat that launches whatever Steam game ID RCB or AEL pass it, shuts down Kodi, monitors the process, and reopens Kodi when the game is closed.  I believe the .bat file monitored for a Steam process that ran in the background each time a game was launched.  

I had this set up years ago, and would pass along the files, but I've lost/misplaced the .bat files and it was too troublesome/time consuming for me to figure out when I recently set all this up again.  I also don't know how "cleanly" any of these solutions shut Kodi down, and if the shutdown methods can lead to file corruptions or other issues with your install down the line.
I see sounds like a huge pain just reading it... maybe ill just invest in launchbox, seems to be the most advanced atm, but thanks for the input I appreciate it
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