Expanding Your Horizons: Adding Non-Steam Games to Your Steam Library

Expanding Your Horizons: Adding Non-Steam Games to Your Steam Library

Steam, a dominant force in the digital gaming landscape, boasts a vast library of exciting titles. However, you might have favorite games from other sources that you’d like to keep organized alongside your Steam library.

Fortunately, Steam allows you to add these external games, providing a centralized location for all your gaming experiences. This guide explores the process of adding non-Steam games to your Steam library, ensuring a more streamlined and unified gaming experience.

Unifying Your Games: Understanding the Benefits

Adding non-Steam games to your Steam library offers several advantages:

1. Single Platform Convenience: By adding external games to your Steam library, you can access and launch them directly from the Steam client. This eliminates the need to navigate through different launchers or folders, providing a centralized location for all your games.

2. Unified Management: Having all your games, both Steam and non-Steam, under one roof allows for better organization and management. You can leverage Steam’s features like library filtering, categories, and favorites to categorize and easily locate all your games.

3. Steam Overlay Functionality: Adding non-Steam games grants access to the Steam overlay while playing them. This overlay provides valuable functionalities like access to your friends list, voice chat, screenshot capture, and in-game community features, enhancing your overall gaming experience.

4. Customizability Options: Steam allows you to customize various aspects of your non-Steam games within your library. You can edit names, add custom artwork and icons, and even configure controller support for a more personalized experience.

5. Streamlined Updates (Optional): Some non-Steam games, when added to your Steam library, might benefit from optional automatic updates delivered through the Steam client. This can save you time and effort in manually checking for and downloading updates for these games.

Essential Considerations Before Adding External Games

Before adding non-Steam games to your Steam library, consider these key points:

1. Performance and Compatibility: Adding non-Steam games doesn’t guarantee perfect integration or performance. Some games might experience compatibility issues or require additional configuration to function flawlessly within the Steam environment.

2. Steam Overlay Limitations: While the Steam overlay provides various features, it might not function perfectly with all non-Steam games. Specific functionalities like in-game voice chat or screenshot capture might be limited depending on the game’s compatibility.

3. No Achievements or Cloud Saves: Non-Steam games typically don’t offer Steam achievements or cloud save functionality. These features are specific to games officially distributed through the Steam platform.

4. Launcher Integration: Adding non-Steam games doesn’t eliminate the need for their original launchers. While you can launch them through Steam, you might still need the original launcher running in the background for the game to function properly.

Adding Non-Steam Games: A Step-by-Step Guide

Ready to integrate your external games into your Steam library? Follow these steps:

1. Launch the Steam Client: Open the Steam application on your computer and log in to your account.

2. Access the “Games” Menu: Click on the “Games” menu in the top left corner of the Steam client.

3. Select “Add a Non-Steam Game to My Library”: A drop-down menu will appear. Choose the option “Add a Non-Steam Game to My Library.”

4. Browse and Select Games: A new window will display a list of programs detected on your computer. Locate and select the non-Steam game you want to add to your library by checking the box next to its name.

5. Add Selected Programs: Once you’ve selected the desired game(s), click on the “Add Selected Programs” button at the bottom of the window.

6. Customize Your Non-Steam Entry (Optional): After adding the game, you can right-click on its entry in your Steam library and select “Properties.” This menu allows you to customize the name, artwork, and controller configuration for the non-Steam game.

Congratulations! You’ve successfully added your non-Steam game(s) to your Steam library. You can now launch them directly from the Steam client and potentially enjoy the benefits of a centralized gaming experience.

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Remember, adding non-Steam games is an optional feature with specific functionalities and limitations. Use your judgment and experiment to determine if it enhances your gaming experience on Steam.

By understanding the benefits and considerations outlined in this guide, you can make an informed decision about whether or not to integrate your external games into your Steam library.