Can't launch .m3u playlist file or .sh script as a non-steam game.

[Mrs. Scrunkly]

Hiya, so on Windows I have TV series launchable through steam by adding a playlist file as a non-steam game. This worked great and let me have a library of shows on Steam.

Now recently I've switched to Linux (Specifically Nobara Fedora Linux) and I've been wanting to set up shows to launch through Steam again. So I tried adding a .m3u file (which is a playlist file that opens with my associated video player Celluloid) however, nothing happens when I try to launch it from Steam. In my file explorer the playlist loads just fine but it just won't through Steam. I also tried writing a .sh script file to open the playlist, when I open this from file explorer it works just fine, but it won't run through Steam. I tested with other programs and they seem to work just fine, it just seems to be .m3u and .sh files that don't work for me. Do I need to add a prefix to make the file launch with a certain application? Was wondering if anyone knew a fix for this? Help would be super appreciated as I've been stuck on this for a while.

[Zyro]

I would try to start the media player as the external application and give it the playlist as a parameter.

[sandokanski]

Another possibility is that your Steam client is sandboxed. And therefore unable to launch anything outside the sandbox.

[Zyro]

Originally posted by sandokanski:

Another possibility is that your Steam client is sandboxed. And therefore unable to launch anything outside the sandbox.

Right!

This might happen due to Flatpak or Snap usage.

[DaMu]

Clarify that you made each file you add to Steam with permission to execute. Seems obvious on Linux, but it was never specified in the question.

[Zyro]

.m3u files aren't executables in the first place, though. I wouldn't expect Steam to handle them with some default application. .sh needs to be fed to some shell, so I would not expect that to work either. But yes, do make the -sh executable.

[Mrs. Scrunkly]

Originally posted by Zyro:

I would try to start the media player as the external application and give it the playlist as a parameter.

This is basically what my shell script does, I'll try tinkering with parameters in the non-steam game properties.

[Mrs. Scrunkly]

Originally posted by Zyro:

I would try to start the media player as the external application and give it the playlist as a parameter.

SOLVED!!!

All I had to do was add the video player (Celluloid) as the non-steam game, then add the path to the playlist file in the launch options field.

Thank you very much for the help, I can now have my dream of using Steam as my media library once again! Thank you very much and to the other that suggested help options.

[Zyro]

Cool!
Welcome to da Linux world & happy gaming!

[Mrs. Scrunkly]

Originally posted by Zyro:

Cool!
Welcome to da Linux world & happy gaming!
:signix:

Cheers!
So far the transition has paid off immensly, just a lot of tinkering and fiddling i'm having to do.
I feel so liberated

[sandokanski]

Originally posted by Mrs. Scrunkly:

SOLVED!!!

All I had to do was add the video player (Celluloid) as the non-steam game, then add the path to the playlist file in the launch options field.

Thank you very much for the help, I can now have my dream of using Steam as my media library once again! Thank you very much and to the other that suggested help options. :flowey:

That's cool to know. I should investigate how that's working on my Steam client. Maybe I'll have an use case in the future.