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Heroic Games Launcher now works nicely on Steam Deck

By - | Views: 91,733

Something that I've been asked, repeatedly (and then some), is to show the Heroic Games Launcher on the Steam Deck. So here we are, let's take a look. See also: installing Discord and the Epic Store directly.

This had to wait, as there we some issues in both Heroic and an extra tool we needed called the Heroic Bash Launcher. I've been constantly speaking to the developer about it along with the issues, and now the fixes are live for everyone. Using the Epic Store with Rocket League for the guide, since it's free to play. While Heroic supports GOG, currently you can't add the games from GOG to Steam just yet with the AppImage.

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Text guide:

  1. Go into Desktop mode. Steam button -> Power menu -> Switch to Desktop.
  2. Download the Heroic Games Launcher, Legendary and the Heroic Bash Launcher.
  3. Run the Heroic AppImage and Login.
  4. In the Heroic Games Launcher, go into the settings and set the "Choose an Alternative Legendary Binary" option to the Legendary file downloaded. Make sure to set the Legendary file in your Downloads as executable (Right click -> Properties -> Permissions).
  5. Download a game. If you wish, you can also change the version of Proton / Wine / Wine-GE used in the settings of the game once downloaded (the option doesn't appear until installed). Proton may have issues outside of Steam, use whatever works for you.
  6. Run the Heroic Bash Launcher, which will generate a launch script for any game downloaded in the "GameFiles" folder.
  7. Add the generated launch script to Steam using the Add a Non-Steam game option (Games menu, or big button in the bottom left of Steam)
  8. Done. Your game from Heroic + Epic should now run.

As per usual a note: this does not include games with anti-cheat from the Epic Store.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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17 comments
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Mohandevir Mar 3, 2022
Just a sudden tought... Is there a Steam Deck entry in the GOL hardware survey? Sorry!


Last edited by Mohandevir on 3 March 2022 at 6:39 pm UTC
dubigrasu Mar 3, 2022
Quoting: MohandevirJust a sudden tought... Is there a Steam Deck entry in the GOL hardware survey? Sorry!
Curious also about the Steam survey.
And will it count as Arch, Deck, SteamOS?
Funny thing now, I can't access the survey.
QuoteHardware Survey Data not available.
CatKiller Mar 3, 2022
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Quoting: dubigrasuFunny thing now, I can't access the survey.
That happens when they're updating the results. It's often unavailable for several days.
dubigrasu Mar 3, 2022
Quoting: CatKiller
Quoting: dubigrasuFunny thing now, I can't access the survey.
That happens when they're updating the results. It's often unavailable for several days.
Ah, had no idea.
I had secretly hoped that big things are coming or something...
dubigrasu Mar 3, 2022
lejimster Mar 3, 2022
Good to see this kind of thing possible, but hopefully there will be an easier way to do this kind of thing in the future. For us Linux enthusiasts, this is absolutely nothing. But the less techn savvy, especially those coming from console land will need something dead simple.
icedfiend Mar 4, 2022
Great work! I was just wondering how to do this same exact thing but for plain desktop linux a few days ago... I will give it a try during the weekend. Some questions come to mind though...

- Why the need to download the legendary client? Isn't the one supplied by Heroic Games Launcher enough? It can be found at /opt/Heroic/resources/app.asar.unpacked/build/bin/linux/legendary (installed from AUR).

- Also, would installing the legendary client from AUR work? (it's located in /usr/bin/legendary)

Using any of those options would keep the client updated easily. In case the manual download is needed, I found out that
wget https://github.com/derrod/legendary/releases/latest/download/legendary
will get the latest binary available (for linux in this case) as long as the latest release is tagged as such.

I recently discovered this site and youtube channel and been following your Steam Deck coverage and I must say it's been great... Can't wait to get mine :D

Keep up with the good work!
YoggyBeer Mar 4, 2022
Hi,
I used Lutris to install the original Epic Game Store and added Epic Game Store in Steam as an external game.
I tested Rocket League (Steam -> Epic Game Store -> Rocket League) and it works ; each game I tested works too (Lego Batman, Yooka Laylee, Darksiders).
icedfiend Mar 4, 2022
Quoting: Hori
Quoting: icedfiendGreat work! I was just wondering how to do this same exact thing but for plain desktop linux a few days ago... I will give it a try during the weekend. Some questions come to mind though...

- Why the need to download the legendary client? Isn't the one supplied by Heroic Games Launcher enough? It can be found at /opt/Heroic/resources/app.asar.unpacked/build/bin/linux/legendary (installed from AUR).

- Also, would installing the legendary client from AUR work? (it's located in /usr/bin/legendary)

Using any of those options would keep the client updated easily. In case the manual download is needed, I found out that
wget https://github.com/derrod/legendary/releases/latest/download/legendary
will get the latest binary available (for linux in this case) as long as the latest release is tagged as such.

I recently discovered this site and youtube channel and been following your Steam Deck coverage and I must say it's been great... Can't wait to get mine :D

Keep up with the good work!
AFAIK you can't install system packages on SteamOS. You need to use flatpak / AppImage.

Good point, I didn't know you couldn't install system packages... Looking back at an article on how the update lifecycle works makes sense (installing a full OS image to an alternative partition and switching the active one), but it removes a lot of freedom to tinker with the OS...
fearnflavio Mar 4, 2022
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Quoting: icedfiendGreat work! I was just wondering how to do this same exact thing but for plain desktop linux a few days ago... I will give it a try during the weekend. Some questions come to mind though...

- Why the need to download the legendary client? Isn't the one supplied by Heroic Games Launcher enough? It can be found at /opt/Heroic/resources/app.asar.unpacked/build/bin/linux/legendary (installed from AUR).

- Also, would installing the legendary client from AUR work? (it's located in /usr/bin/legendary)

Using any of those options would keep the client updated easily. In case the manual download is needed, I found out that
wget https://github.com/derrod/legendary/releases/latest/download/legendary
will get the latest binary available (for linux in this case) as long as the latest release is tagged as such.

I recently discovered this site and youtube channel and been following your Steam Deck coverage and I must say it's been great... Can't wait to get mine :D

Keep up with the good work!

To use outside of Steam Deck just follow the tutorial on Heroic Wiki. Then you will need only HBL to be downloaded.
The tutorial above is only for AppImages. :)
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