Adding a Windows App game as a non-Steam game

[ACamelsDragon]

I just bought Rise of the Tomb Raider, and am unable to add it to steam. Adding the exe results in it not being able to open (requires it to run "in context of app container" - Making a shortcut from the Windows App doesn't work either, (Steam states adding the shortcut is a "catastrophic error" - Any suggestions how I could make this work?

[tomato face kid]

same problem with me.

[billybonkerybob]

I just found a way to do this. All you need to do is create a shortcut of the application and create a .bat file to start it. Head over to here[www.f2ko.de] to download a .bat to .exe coversion application or here[www.f2ko.de] for the web version. Then download it and add that file to Steam :)

You need to make sure that the .exe file, .bat file, and the shortcut is in the same place or there will be an error and stuff xo

[lagstard]

Just to add an option that doesn't need to create an executable file.

1- Press Win+R and execute shell:AppsFolder
2- Open menu -> View -> Choose details...
3- Enable checkbox for AppUserModelId
4- Change view to Details and write up the string on the AppUserModelId column for the game/app you want to add (sucks that you can't just copy the text), for example the value for Killer Instinct is Microsoft.KillerInstinct-Win10_3.3.0.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe!KillerInstinct.App
5- Add a Non-Steam game to Steam library and browse C:\Windows\system32\explorer.exe
6- Right click on the added link and select properties and set custom icon and description
7- Click on Set Launch Options and enter this:

shell:AppsFolder\AppUserModelId

So for example the value for Killer Instinct would be

shell:AppsFolder\Microsoft.KillerInstinct-Win10_3.3.0.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe!KillerInstinct.App

8- Change the view to Game Grid and set a custom banner for the link

There is only one caveat (which is present too if you use an exe file): since the explorer application terminates immediately after starting the windows app, Steam will think the application has finished and your status will be set to Online right away. While this may be just a minor inconvenience, it becomes a problem if you're using Big Picture, because the controller input you send to the game will also be processed by steam even while being in the background.

To fix this, browse for the program (step 5) C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe instead, and set the launch options (step 7) to:

/C "explorer.exe shell:AppsFolder\AppUserModelId && pause"

Following the Killer Instinct example, it would look like this:

/C "explorer.exe shell:AppsFolder\Microsoft.KillerInstinct-Win10_3.3.0.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe!KillerInstinct.App && pause"

Then again, this will add an extra cmd window when you start the game which you have to close after closing the game (otherwise steam status will continue to be in In game) by pressing a key on the keyboard, which is not possible with a controller unless you use something like Controller Companion ;)

[Ludus Aurea]

The method didn't work in the first place but will try. I swear I made a reddit post or steam post about the easy wasy to do this without any converters or switches or anything. Ugh.