Add function in Settings to rebuild icon cache for desktop icons.

[xarvn]

Sometimes when manually moving Steam games or when reinstalling Steam, the icon (.ico) files for the desktop shortcuts, which are usually stored in "...Steam\steam\games," are lost, deleted, or otherwise corrupted. This leads to blank desktop icons. The usual method is to verify integrity of game files, but this does not always work and even when it does, is extremely tedious because verifying the game files can only be done one game at a time. When verifying the game files does not work, one must resort to reinstalling from scratch or from a state where the game appears not to be installed--that is by way of first deleting the .acf file. All these methods needlessly consume time and bandwidth.

I would suggest that Steam add functionality, in Settings>Library, to "Repair Desktop Icon Cache" with the warning that this will reset customized icons to default. The icon files seem to range from low Kilobytes to a few Megabytes in size with an average of about 150 KB. For a library of 100 games, that would amount to only 15 MB--which would be much easier to download compared to verifying 100 typical Steam games whose combined file size is 70,000 times larger. The Steam client can download the appropriate icon files which are uniquely linked to each game's App ID.

Edit: Corrected for more accurate average game size, and compared downloading of icon files for 100 games to verifying 100 games instead of just 1 game.

[Nx Machina]

Manually moving games would make a desktop icon blank because it no longer points to the original install location.

Reinstalling a game to a different install location would make the original desktop icon blank because again it points to the wrong location.

[xarvn]

You are correct. However if you delete the blank and incorrectly referenced icon and then go to the library to create a new and supposedly corrected icon, you will find that this though functional in terms of running the appropriate game when clicked--is still blank.

[xarvn]

Also if you have ever nuked your OS and had to reinstall it and Steam by transferring Steam.exe, the steamapps and the userdata folders--which is the usually recommended procedure--you will find when reinstalling Steam, otherwise functional but blank desktop icons.

[Nx Machina]

You have to associate the url with Internet Explorer.

1) In Windows 10, search for "Default Apps" on the start menu (just type it in and them click on the link)

2) Scroll down the settings panel and click on "Choose default applications by file type"

3) Find the .url extension and change the default app to "Internet Browser".


Secondly if your are nuking your system your are literally starting from the very beginning and if you want Steam to create the desktop icon you have to download and install, with the create desktop icon box ticked.

[xarvn]

The reason for the blank icons is that what I call the "icon cache" located in "...Steam/steam/games" seems only to be populated when installing games and unreliably when verifying the file integrity. I assume that the specific .ico file is only created when the game is installed and I believe is separate from the actual game files.

[xarvn]

Nx Machina の投稿を引用：

You have to associate the url with Internet Explorer.

1) In Windows 10, search for "Default Apps" on the start menu (just type it in and them click on the link)

2) Scroll down the settings panel and click on "Choose default applications by file type"

3) Find the .url extension and change the default app to "Internet Browser".


Secondly if your are nuking your system your are literally starting from the very beginning and if you want Steam to create the desktop icon you have to download and install, with the create desktop icon box ticked.

Associating the .URL files does not work if the game .ico file is not present. Try the following for yourself: Go to the Steam\steam\games folder and move the files somewhere safe such as in a folder in your desktop. Restart PC. Are the icons blank? Try adding a desktop icon for a particular game.

[Nx Machina]

xarvn の投稿を引用：

Associating the .URL files does not work if the game .ico file is not present. Try the following for yourself: Go to the Steam\steam\games folder and move the files somewhere safe such as in a folder in your desktop. Restart PC. Are the icons blank? Try adding a desktop icon for a particular game.

They would be blank because YOU moved the folder, and they would not function if you move the game folder.

Secondly they would also be blank if a Windows update disassociates them from Internet Explorer, hence you have to re-establish the link.via Windows and not Steam.

And finally you can create a desktop shortcut to the game exe directly from the game folder.

FREE POINTS - Thank you.

[xarvn]

The icons will still function in so far as clicking on them will start the appropriate game. Furthermore, the games folder does not contain the .exe of the games--these are in the steamapps\common folder as you know. The games folder only has .ico files. And these files are only created at time of installation or usually, though not always, when verifying files. Yes you can create shortcuts manually, and if successful verifying files will also fix the icons, but that becomes very time consuming when you have for example hundreds of game icons to fix.

[Nx Machina]

xarvn の投稿を引用：

Furthermore, the games folder does not contain the .exe of the games--these are in the steamapps\common folder as you know.

I literally posted:

Nx Machina の投稿を引用：

And finally you can create a desktop shortcut to the game exe directly from the game folder.

Secondly in reference to my first post:

Nx Machina の投稿を引用：

Manually moving games would make a desktop icon blank because it no longer points to the original install location.

Reinstalling a game to a different install location would make the original desktop icon blank because again it points to the wrong location.

You are literally creating your own problem.

FREE POINTS - Thank you.

[xarvn]

Here are some discussions that relate to the topic. There are others if you do a search. At least one of the OPs, if my memory serves, has tried the .URL/"Internet browser" fix. And I believe that the second also has tried it. Admittedly, the linked discussions are ones that I commented on and may reflect personal bias. But it was easier to find, and hopefully my memory has correctly imparted that the discussions are relevant to this suggestion.

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/527273789697488172/?tscn=1681033316

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/3802779235954912398/?tscn=1691468464

edit. Sorry, linked the wrong discussion (second link).

[xarvn]

I was suggesting that you try moving the contents of the games folder not as a means of creating a specific problem but to simulate what would happen if that folder was not copied over when moving or reinstalling a Steam installation as per the usually recommended procedure for doing this namely copying Steam.exe, Steamapps and userdata. Note that the "games" folder is absent.

As to creating desktop shortcuts to the .exe of the games, try doing that for 500 games! That is the point actually to avoid having to do something like that.

[xarvn]

And moving just the "games" folder which contains only icon files, and not the games themselves was to create an instance where I was not "manually moving games" or "reinstalling a game to a different install location." This is not to say what you wrote in your first comment was incorrect--actually I stated that you were right in the next comment. I was trying to show that the mechanism creating the problem and thus the most efficient solution may be unrelated to the moving of games.

[xarvn]

In any case, admittedly this problem is fairly obscure but I thought my suggestion would be easy to implement.