Launching Steam Games with RetroDECK

This experiment was initiated by the users murkl and Daeymon. Then later expanded upon by the RetroDECK Team. The goal was to explore the possibility of launching external desktop games and apps within RetroDECK.

Note: RetroDECK was never intended to be used in this manner, so things like inputs may work as expected.

Disclaimer on Experiments

These experiments are created by the RetroDECK Team and/or Community. The guides are intended for people with technical knowledge and a passion for tinkering. Using these guides might put RetroDECK and your data at risk. The RetroDECK Team can't provide any support for these experiments or fix any issues they might cause on your system or RetroDECK installation.

Prerequisites

Flatpak Spawn Permission

Information:

This experiment requires the flatpak-spawn permission, which breaks the sandbox environment that RetroDECK operates in. Therefore, we do not recommend attempting this unless you are confident in your understanding of the process and its implications.

You can enable it by running this command in the terminal.

flatpak override --user --talk-name=org.freedesktop.Flatpak net.retrodeck.retrodeck

Add RetroDECK to Steam

We also recommend that you add RetroDECK to Steam to utilize Steam Input as there is a higher chance of inputs working from the external source.

Also some RetroDECK built-in hotkeys in the radials like Alt+F4 might help you close windows.

Folder structure

Type	Folder	Comment
Windows Roms Folder	`retrodeck/roms/windows/`

How-to: Make .desktop files

Make an empty file with the <gamename>.desktop.

Example:

Ultima I.desktop and put it into the retrodeck/roms/windows/ folder.

How-to: Launch Steam Games

Step 1: Create an empty desktop file

First, create the .desktop file as mentioned above with the game name and put it in the retrodeck/roms/windows/ folder.

Step 2: Get the Steam AppID

Open Steam.
In Steam, go to Library -> Right Click the game -> Properties -> Updates.
Make a note of the AppID.

Example: ASTLIBRA Revision

App ID: 1718570

Step 3: Populate the .desktop file

Open the .desktop file and populate it.

The files are different if you have the native version of Steam installed or the Flatpak version.

Step 3a: Steam (Native)

This for Steam that is installed natively.

Copy this:

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=G NAMEHERE
Icon=steam_icon_APPIDHERE
Exec=flatpak-spawn --host steam -silent steam://rungameid/APPIDHERE
Categories=Game

Change the values of:

Name= NAMEHERE
Icon= steam_APPIDHERE
Exec= rungameid/APPIDHERE

Example: ASTLIBRA Revision.desktop

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=ASTLIBRA Revision
Icon=steam_icon_1718570
Exec=flatpak-spawn --host steam -silent steam://rungameid/1718570
Categories=Game

Step 3b: Steam (Flatpak)

This for Steam that is installed via Flatpak.

Copy this:

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=G NAMEHERE
Icon=steam_icon_APPIDHERE
Exec=flatpak-spawn --host flatpak run com.valvesoftware.Steam -silent steam://rungameid/APPIDHERE
Categories=Game

Change the values of:

Name= NAMEHERE
Icon= steam_APPIDHERE
Exec= rungameid/APPIDHERE

Example: ASTLIBRA Revision.desktop

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=ASTLIBRA Revision
Icon=steam_icon_1718570
Exec=flatpak-spawn --host flatpak run com.valvesoftware.Steam -silent steam://rungameid/1718570
Categories=Game

The Last Step: Launch the Games via RetroDECK & Scrape

After the .desktop files have been created and everything is working as expected, RetroDECK will recognize the .desktop file the next time you start it.

The games will appear under the Windows tab in ES-DE. If you have named the games correctly, there is a good chance that the scraper will identify them.