What if the Steam overlay was a global overlay?

[Bel]

Rather than the Steam overlay only being usable when launching games through Steam, what if it could function globally by targeting active exes (mostly for controller support) ? Kinda like how GloSC can render a Steam overlay window over every other window for controller support, except that this would allow a different custom configuration menu to pop up for different exes. Although it would be "opt-in" bindings: you would start off with the Desktop, BPM, and chord bindings as usual (along with all those for individual Steam games), and any other exe would default to desktop bindings normally, but you can override them and create a new vdf controller file when Steam is open and another exe is your focused window active window.

With the overlay working in such a way, controller support could work for any game from any launcher without workarounds and it could also be used for individual desktop programs as well. I think it could be a nice upgrade if the performance hit was minimal (and if the idea is feasible in the first place).

[Hinsonator]

I'm not sure how this would work on PC OS and Windows but i'm sure this could be added to the Steam OS Linux distribution as well as a plugin for the rest of Linux.

[Bel]

Hinsonator の投稿を引用：

I'm not sure how this would work on PC OS and Windows but i'm sure this could be turned into a Linux plugin which is added to the Steam OS distro by default.

I'm also unsure if they have enough control with the Windows OS to something like that, although it could be pretty cool. I figured maybe at the very least it could be something Linux / STEAMOS could do.

[Gwarsbane]

I don't see the point of having it everywhere. Specially the desktop, that seems very pointless.

I would also worry that with steam having to hook into a program or game thats not designed for it, it could conflict with it and cause issues, and maybe triggering and anti-cheat if its a game, or something in DRM which cause the program/game to be locked down and unusable.

[Bel]

Gwarsbane の投稿を引用：

I don't see the point of having it everywhere. Specially the desktop, that seems very pointless.

I would also worry that with steam having to hook into a program or game thats not designed for it, it could conflict with it and cause issues, and maybe triggering and anti-cheat if its a game, or something in DRM which cause the program/game to be locked down and unusable.

I mentioned the point in the last paragraph: controller support for everything, and customizable for every program. Although it would also have the side effect of easier access to Steam stuff in general.

I'm unsure if the Steam overlay has ever actually caused conflicts with certain other apps. Do you have any examples in mind?

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

What you want is kind of there already but in a different way.

Add the other games/launchers as non-Steam games.

[Crazy Tiger]

I know people had troubles with Origin in the past, but I think that's fixed now.

[Bel]

cSg|mc-Hotsauce の投稿を引用：

What you want is kind of there already but in a different way.

Add the other games/launchers as non-Steam games.

:qr:

Almost, but not quite. I even take issue with that after hearing about Discord's "Universal Library" that automatically scans your PC and adds your other games regardless of launcher. Manually adding as the only option seems kinda antiquated.

And this idea would add support for more than just games too. Where ever you go, the Steam controller or any other could just work.

Also, as far as I know, Origin and W10 games still require workarounds.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

belmonkey の投稿を引用：

cSg|mc-Hotsauce の投稿を引用：

What you want is kind of there already but in a different way.

Add the other games/launchers as non-Steam games.

Almost, but not quite. I even take issue with that after hearing about Discord's "Universal Library" that automatically scans your PC and adds your other games regardless of launcher. Manually adding as the only option seems kinda antiquated.

And this idea would add support for more than just games too. Where ever you go, the Steam controller or any other could just work.

Also, as far as I know, Origin and W10 games still require workarounds.

And it is not up to Valve to interfere with other programs. The other companies know that Steam has this non-Steam game feature and purposefully make it difficult for Steam to work well with their programs.

[Bel]

cSg|mc-Hotsauce の投稿を引用：

belmonkey の投稿を引用：

Almost, but not quite. I even take issue with that after hearing about Discord's "Universal Library" that automatically scans your PC and adds your other games regardless of launcher. Manually adding as the only option seems kinda antiquated.

And this idea would add support for more than just games too. Where ever you go, the Steam controller or any other could just work.

Also, as far as I know, Origin and W10 games still require workarounds.

And it is not up to Valve to interfere with other programs. The other companies know that Steam has this non-Steam game feature and purposefully make it difficult for Steam to work well with their programs.

:qr:

That sort of thing doesn't seem to have stopped Playnite's universal game launcher or Discord tho.

[Ness_and_Sonic]

Try using the Steam Overlay on SCP Containment Breach and show the results.