Game Overlay Issue Fix - Manual Hooking

[BoloWolf]

So I wanted to take some screenshots but the Steam Overlay wasn't working in a few games. I tried some methods I found on the net; FRAPS like programs interfering so closing them, disabling Firewall/Anti-virus, giving administrator priviledges to Steam,Overlay & game EXE files... None of them fixed the problem.

Then I tried manually running the overlay and managed to get it to work. Here's a method if you need it. (This requires manually doing it every time you run a game so I hope previous methods work for you instead)

You need to have a basic understanding of using command prompt on Windows. Open "cmd.exe" and navigate to Steam directory, "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam" in my case.

Then run the game you want to activate the overlay on. We need its process ID (PID).

One way to find PID is the "tasklist" command on CMD:
> C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam>tasklist

This will give you list of running processes along with some extra info, like below:
svchost.exe 1956 Services 0 24.508 K
Steam.exe 3856 Console 2 92.280 K
steamwebhelper.exe 3444 Console 2 52.632 K
tru.exe 3040 Console 2 112.560 K

"tru.exe" at the end is the game I want to attach the overlay to and "3040" next to it is the PID number. This number is random everytime.

Take that number and run the following command with it;
> C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam>GameOverlayUI.exe -pid 3040 -manuallyclearframes 0

The zero at the end could be 1 or some other number, I don't know, didn't make much difference but try if you like.

Check the game, now you should be seeing the FPS counter and screenshot key should be working.

Have fun!

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TLDR;
You can add the steam overlay on a running game via command prompt.
Run the game and find its process ID (PID).
One way to find PID is "tasklist" command, gives running process names and their PIDs.
Using the game's PID, run the following program in steam folder from prompt;
"GameOverlayUI.exe -pid 3040 -manuallyclearframes 0"
3040 is an example PID, replace it with yours.
When you switch back to the game, the overlay should be working now.

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WARNING! As asked below, I can't guarantee if this gets you banned from VAC protected games or not. We are not running a cheat, it's Steam's own program so shouldn't be a problem but still, use at your own risk!

[G]

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam>GameOverlayUI.exe -pid 3040 -manuallyclearframes 0 where i paste this command? :s

[G]

don't work.

[G]

i do, but says the command is not found or something like that XD

[G]

this, "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam>GameOverlayUI.exe -pid 4968 -manuallyclearframes 0"

[G]

No, i using this path C:\Program Files\Steam

[G]

"it is not recognized as an internal or external command"

[G]

Thanks man, i love you.

[G]

yes, but i reopen the game and the capture key don't work again

[G]

Oh i see, thanks man you're the best

[postal_3]

How about games with VAC? With this method one process injecting to another process - like with cheats :\
Sorry for bad english

[postal_3]

Anyway don't work :(

Fri Mar 30 10:02:51 2018 UTC - GameOverlay process started: pid: 3400
Fri Mar 30 10:02:51 2018 UTC - GameOverlay process connecting to: pid: 3772
Fri Mar 30 10:02:51 2018 UTC - BuildID: 1522101301
Fri Mar 30 10:02:51 2018 UTC - Steam Path: D:\Games\Steam
ѕт мар 30 10:02:55 2018 UTC - Detected possibly crashed/killed game, exiting
ѕт мар 30 10:02:55 2018 UTC - Shutting down overlay

Game not crashed/killed

[postal_3]

Castle Crashers, Killing Floor