Steam "Now Playing" Integration?

[Osaka]

Are there any plans to show either the game being played or the core being used in the friends list on Steam?
Currently it just shows me as playing RetroArch, however there are other games (TF2, CS:GO, C&C) that show more details including the map being played on.
Would it be possible to do the same with RetroArch where it shows either the core being used or the game being played?

[TehSpoopyKitteh]

From what I have gathered from testing the Beta, it already states that one is using the Steam version of RetroArch. The non-Steam version of RetroArch will still appear as “Non-Steam Game” or whatever you name it in the properties window through Steam. For instance, I could name a non-Steam game shortcut as “Bob’s Adventure” and it’d show up as such.


As far as specific Core and Game, I’m not aware of any plans for that at the moment. It’d be a nice feature for sure but it also might invite legal headaches or tons of reports from users who may not know the rules on emulators on Steam have changed a tad. At present, it doesn’t do that and honestly I think it would be a neat feature if it’s possible.

[Retodon8]

Originally posted by 🎃TehSpoopyHalloweenKitteh👻:

From what I have gathered from testing the Beta, it already states that one is using the Steam version of RetroArch. The non-Steam version of RetroArch will still appear as “Non-Steam Game” or whatever you name it in the properties window through Steam. For instance, I could name a non-Steam game shortcut as “Bob’s Adventure” and it’d show up as such.

That's true, but that has really nothing to do with RetroArch. When you're playing Steam game X, Steam will show you as playing X, whether that's Spelunky, RetroArch, or something else, all by default. When you manually add a non-Steam game, again whatever the game is, there won't be any integration so the best Steam can do is show the name of the game. (I'm referring to RetroArch as a "game" here for simplicity's sake, since that's what Steam classifies it as, even if it's not much of a game without some ROMs.)

A developer can use Steamworks for their game and specifically use a feature called Enhanced Rich Presence: https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/enhancedrichpresence
Any information they supply this system with can be shown, so they could share what core you're using or even what game you're using. That's what Osaka is asking about. I agree it would be really great if they were to add that feature.

Other games (than RetroArch) could show you what level you're on for instance, but since RetroArch is an overarching thing, it would have to dig deeper into the code that's running inside of it to figure out what level you're playing, it would have to be done manually, since those old games were never set up to support that, and it would have to be done for every single game RetroArch supports. I don't expect that to happen anytime soon, if ever.

[Kinno]

Rich presence would be a very welcome addition.

[Prydzen ᛋᛟ]

i just want to be able to play retroarch on steam. it would be so nice to play on my couch with my steamcontroller. 😪

[Prydzen ᛋᛟ]

oh seems like i missed the beta keys window, even the day after my birthday.

[Conte]

I would love to see that implemented

[TheSupremacyCabinet]

+1

[Grillsen]

+1

[Cyris™]

+1. Would be cool

[SageX85]

Originally posted by PrydZen:

i just want to be able to play retroarch on steam. it would be so nice to play on my couch with my steamcontroller. 😪

What are mumbling about? You can already do that, just add it as a non steam game, just having a native steam release is a minor convenience, not a different experience

[Prydzen ᛋᛟ]

Originally posted by SageX85:

Originally posted by PrydZen:

i just want to be able to play retroarch on steam. it would be so nice to play on my couch with my steamcontroller. 😪

What are mumbling about? You can already do that, just add it as a non steam game, just having a native steam release is a minor convenience, not a different experience

"minor inconvenience", says you.

[Rineux]

Came here just to ask the same question, would LOVE this as a feature.

EDIT: Just noticed there's already a feature like this for Discord. I really hope they add it to Steam as well.

[Retodon8]

Originally posted by Rineux:

EDIT: Just noticed there's already a feature like this for Discord. I really hope they add it to Steam as well.

Right, Google found it immediately: https://www.libretro.com/index.php/upcoming-retroarch-1-7-4-details-on-discord-integration/
That means there is existing code that hopefully could be easily added to the Steam version, if not already there, and hooked into Steam's Enhanced Rich Presence feature.

[André Montemezzo]

+1

[Saftle]

At the time, rich presence integration cannot sadly be implemented, since it requires distributing with the SteamWorks DRM, which is not compatible with the GPLv3 license. Discord Rich Presence thankfully doesn't interfere with the license.

Due to this we are restricted to using the Steam Web API for any API related stuff for now which doesn't provide this functionality (yet?).