Game Launcher Update

Entry posted by Josh · October 27, 2015

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Steam Workshop was originally implemented with a different design than what it uses now. In fact, it was an entirely different API. After a while, Valve figured out all the things it would be used for, and introduced the SteamUGC API, which is the basis of the modern Workshop implementation. This provides much more reliable operations and more features than the original system. However, it was not backwards compatible with legacy items uploaded under the old system.

My approach to implementing this was to make a fallback for legacy items. Both items get copied into a local cache the engine reads files from. On Windows this is located in the user folder, under "AppData\Local\Leadwerks". This worked, but we are continuously experiencing problems with game launcher games and Workshop items not updating. These are difficult to identify because they don't happen all the time, and only happen for some people. Therefore, simplifying this system has become a priority because my attempt to make a fallback obviously isn't working. I suspect the old Workshop API is a low priority for Valve as well, so trying to keep it working is a losing battle.

I am switching the system over to rely exclusively on the SteamUGC API and load files directly from their local cache where Steam stores them. This may make legacy items stop working. I don't yet know the extent of what this will affect, but I will work with the community to recover any files we need. The upside of this is that games and Workshop items now actually work correctly. I just played Halloween Pumpkin Run and finally got to see the leaderboards and new effects the author implemented.

The game launcher update is available now. You may need to restart Steam to get it.

Leadwerks Game Launcher is still in early release mode, but already has over 2200 users who can try your game.

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