fix the steam version of the launcher

[Darth Ender]

4 suggestions
1. Stop the steam launcher from asking which account I want to use every single time I launch the game. Always assume i want to use the last one I used and then I can logout and change if i want to.

2. Let me save multiple account logins and if i've selected "remember password" - then remember the stupid password and just let me toggle between the different users. Bug: Steam client ignores "Remember password".

3. Always assume i want to play whatever the last version of game I launched as the given user i'm active as. Bug: Steam keeps resetting to horizons because that's the version the steam account has and when I switch to another account that has something like odyssey, horizons is the active game, forcing me to have to change it.

4. Allow launcher to "Continue" last game with a given account. So instead of the launcher dropping me to an in-game launcher that i then have to navigate and finally enter the game, I should be able to just click the button in the launcher and it goes straight into the game using the last session settings (open/private/solo) that i was in. This would be a default-ish behavior with the ability to launch to main menu launcher if chosen instead.

 

[Nephthys Vasudan]

I cannot even begin to contain my anger and frustration at the utter none sense of the launcher they've given us.
Common sense is lost apparently.

I really hope someone takes these suggestions seriously.

I'd be happy with just the first one alone!

 

[vanFace]

I'd be already happy if the launcher reliably respects my Steam license, which it is currently only doing after 2 or 3 attempts to start it from Steam. If this is a server thingy (e.g. request is rejected due to traffic or whatever), why is it not retrying the connection automatically?

 

[Fnord Velkor]

I don't understand the issue.

I have two Steam-linked accounts - one of them is never used through Steam, I launch it direct (it is pre-2019).

When I start the one I have to use Steam for - I just get the "Log in via Steam" launcher window. The only prompt to select account is at the bottom giving the option to log in with a different Frontier account.



So what exactly is going on to give the OP any problem? (Excuse my level of coffee-deprived dimness if the issue is clear to everyone else. )

 

[Northpin]

I don't understand the issue.

I have two Steam-linked accounts - one of them is never used through Steam, I launch it direct (it is pre-2019).

When I start the one I have to use Steam for - I just get the "Log in via Steam" launcher window. The only prompt to select account is at the bottom giving the option to log in with a different Frontier account.

View attachment 364300

So what exactly is going on to give the OP any problem? (Excuse my level of coffee-deprived dimness if the issue is clear to everyone else. )

Same here, i only have to press an extra button, "Log in with Steam" and i dont get asked a password (why would i if i log with steam?) - but i only play one account of each type (1 steam, 1 epic and since migration, 1 Frontier)
Sure, i would have preferred not having to click that button, the old launcher never did that, but... well...

 

[Darth Ender]

I don't understand the issue.

I have two Steam-linked accounts - one of them is never used through Steam, I launch it direct (it is pre-2019).

When I start the one I have to use Steam for - I just get the "Log in via Steam" launcher window. The only prompt to select account is at the bottom giving the option to log in with a different Frontier account.

View attachment 364300

So what exactly is going on to give the OP any problem? (Excuse my level of coffee-deprived dimness if the issue is clear to everyone else. )

i frequently use a non steam account to play but i use a steam installation and launch thru steam.

i get prompted for a username and password every time, the remember password button has no effect.

and as i noted, players shouldn't even get this login with steam or other account window. it should assume the last login automatically.

 

[Fnord Velkor]

i frequently use a non steam account to play but i use a steam installation and launch thru steam.

i get prompted for a username and password every time, the remember password button has no effect.

and as i noted, players shouldn't even get this login with steam or other account window. it should assume the last login automatically.

So don't you see the same thing as the image I posted above?

Is the account actually "linked" to Steam?

Have you got Steam set to "prompt for account each time Steam starts" ? (Assuming you have multiple Steam accounts).

As per your last sentence - maybe you need a support ticket 'cos I (an others like @Northpin ) don't get prompted for username and password at all (after the first validation on updates).

 

[oblivionmanman 2476]

i went to steam,opend browse files.sent the black eagle icon launcher to task bar.then use that never asks for anything.

 

[Northpin]

i frequently use a non steam account to play but i use a steam installation and launch thru steam.

why would you even do that?
for a non-steam account you should use the non-steam method (FDev launcher, with no other interferences)

I play 3 accounts, each with it's own install and launcher, but all 3 share the same setting and binds.
And i can triple log them if i really want

 

[oblivionmanman 2476]

just the way i do it started that way never changed my ways. aahh well it works anyway.

 

[Darth Ender]

why would you even do that?
for a non-steam account you should use the non-steam method (FDev launcher, with no other interferences)

I play 3 accounts, each with it's own install and launcher, but all 3 share the same setting and binds.
And i can triple log them if i really want

because i want one interface to launch games and steam is the most convenient given all the ones i have. prior to the launcher change the behaviour was: the launcher used whichever account you last logged in as. what we have now is a regression in behaviour.

i do not launch the game outside of steam, nor do i have copies of the launcher nor do i have issues with binds. i dont need to log in with multiple accounts simultaneously and i hardly ever switch between them.

there's no reason, technical or otherwise, why it can't do exactly what i described and retain and add to the behaviour it had before without losing anything new it does and without having users use work arounds they didn't need prior.

edit: and the way you do it is unnecessarily stupid. the launcher should support multiple users with their own 'last used' launcher settings without having to install separate launchers. that's only something users have told fdev they want since 2015. they aren't listening to their customers and seem intent on providing an experience nobody asked for. at least before the update the excuse could be they didn't want to invest any time in updating the launcher, but obviously someone did spend time on it. meh... you shouldn't have to do what you are doing... there's no reason why the launcher can't let you do all that from one. even multi- launching the game under other users simultaneously.

 

[oblivionmanman 2476]

unnecessarily stupid. haha thanks but it has worked all the years i have played ED. but each to there own

 

[Darth Ender]

unnecessarily stupid. haha thanks but it has worked all the years i have played ED. but each to there own

You've been forced to work around a lack of supporting a feature. and that's stupid. because it's a common use among many players and it's been requested for 8 years and it would not be difficult at all for the launcher to support.

what i did worked since steam support was added until the last launcher update. your option still works and would even still work with my ideas implemented. so what are you opposed to?

 

[Northpin]

because i want one interface to launch games and steam is the most convenient given all the ones i have. prior to the launcher change the behaviour was: the launcher used whichever account you last logged in as. what we have now is a regression in behaviour.

i dont defend the new launcher - as i said, i have my own pet peeves with it (like the extra click needed)

 

[Northpin]

i do not launch the game outside of steam, nor do i have copies of the launcher nor do i have issues with binds. i dont need to log in with multiple accounts simultaneously and i hardly ever switch between them.

there's no reason, technical or otherwise, why it can't do exactly what i described and retain and add to the behaviour it had before without losing anything new it does and without having users use work arounds they didn't need prior.

You can use the Frontier Launcher to launch the game, while still having Steam maintaining your ED install (as patching go, Steam is much better than Frontier)

 

[Darth Ender]

You can use the Frontier Launcher to launch the game, while still having Steam maintaining your ED install (as patching go, Steam is much better than Frontier)

i can do a lot of things to work around bad or unwanted behaviour. the point is that that is unnecessary and those alternatives aren't better solutions than the suggested changes above for user experience. this isn't a post about how i can't play the game and need any method that lets me. it's about making the launcher not do stupid things it shouldn't do and adding simple things so users don't have to do stupid things like have multiple copies of the launcher to avoid the poor interface or lack of functionality in the launcher.

there is no technical limitation to make the suggested changes unreasonably difficult to implement and it's been observed that fdev is willing to pay to update the launcher. they just seem to update it without considering user feedback.


edit: and again, if you want to have multiple launchers to do what that allows you to do now, my suggestions don't stop that behaviour... so you can keep on doing that if you want. those work arounds aren't mutually exclusive with making the interface and behaviour of the launcher better and align more closely to what users have been asking fdev for since the game started. they would just make the work arounds redundant, and pointless, but not stop them from working.

 

[alexzk]

i only have to press

Yes, that is exact problem. "Only press" must be absent.
Also it is the bug, if you run as /edo /autorun it will show this button AND run odessey. I have no idea why launcher stays opened and cannot close self then. Game is launched already.
Having those browsers opened (steam UI, launcher) cuts 60% of the FPS for me. Once those are killed - back to 144.

 

[Shadowsnog]

fyi new launcher doesnt need to go through steam. i launch directly, my account is remembered and i couldnt be happier about it...

 

[thistle]

 

[alexzk]

fyi new launcher doesnt need to go through steam. i launch directly, my account is remembered and i couldnt be happier about it...

It needs, on Linux. Standalone will be more headache then 1 button.