Will you use Playnite in the future?
No thanks. I use pretty much every launcher from time to time and i never have much problem having many of them.
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Nope because it makes you download/launch other launchers anyway. As long as it is not something like Heroic (which totally replaces EGS), I don't see a point.
But overall I always heard good things about it, looks like a good piece of software.
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I do us it and find it handy in the following 2 cases
- What game do I play next? (it's genre filter is helping, as well as its integration with some notation sites)
- Why isn't that good game in my steam wishlist? (in SG I only enter giveaways for my wishlisted games). The answer is usually because I have it on another platform already.
I read some of the comments in this thread. I also have a backlog I'll never get rid of on steam (and a good part thanks to games I won on SG). But for a moment of time, I was not really picky and got a ton of shovelware on steam. On the other side, other platforms are giving really good games. So at the end, I play game not based on the platform it is on, but on the perceived quality of the game and my current mood.
My 2c of experience
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Another launcher that manages other launchers? Why :/
P.S. 355 Megabytes of usage is nothing to brag about when an entire operating system such as Windows 7 drains around 400 Megs of RAM if nothing is open.
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It's more than just a launcher. It's a way to consolidate, organize and browse through your entire game collection efficiently. There are games that I own on GOG, Epic, Itch that I wouldn't be aware of, let alone consider playing, if I didn't use Playnite. I can even browse the Xbox GamePass catalog from the same interface. Yes, other clients might be running in the background but I don't need to interact with them and deal with their idiosyncrasies. Playnite puts all my games and libraries on equal footing. To me, that valuable.
P.S. 355MB is probably on the upper end of the usage spectrum. With my tiny library of 2000+ games, it only uses 140MB and that's with a custom theme and 15 different extensions installed so could be even lower, but I haven't tested. By contrast, Discord uses 460MB.
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Yes but I still need a launcher to launch a game. Even worse if it's a Bethesda game where it'd be Launching a launcher to launch a launcher to launch a game.
I see it like I'm trading a few extra seconds every time I launch a game in order to have all of my games listed in one place.
GoG Galaxy does this already.
The real dealbreaker and why I won't be using it? The fact that I have to log in VIA Playnite to get my games into it. Why does it need my steam auth to check which games I have? My profile is public. Same thing with many other online stores.
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GoG Galaxy does this already.
GOG does this, but poorly.
- It buckles under the load of more than a few thousand games.
- It supports much fewer integrations than Playnite.
- Many of its integrations break and stop syncing regularly.
- It has far fewer features for customization, cataloguing, filtering compared to Playnite.
On the Pro side, it's more lightweight than PL, has a more polished UI and is easier to set up.
You make a fair point about security but it's the same risk you take when logging in to Steam via a browser. In both cases, you're using the original service APIs to authenticate and store a token. Playnite is open source, so it's easy to check that it's not doing anything nefarious.
Having said that, I agree with you. I don't know why it can't import the library of someone with a public profile w/o authentication. GOG is similar in this respect.
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I don't know why it can't import the library of someone with a public profile w/o authentication.
I guess it has something to do with the size of a library. If you're willing to crash a browser tab, try opening my public list of owned games on Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/id/amanotc/games/?tab=all
If authenticated, my guess is that there is no limit how big a library can be. But that's just a guess :)
P.S.: GoG Galaxy crashes even with authentication when it tries to import my Steam games :D Since a few months ago, even the Uplay plugin crashes constantly and I can not get it to work again. So it is unusable to me.
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Since a few months ago, even the Uplay plugin crashes constantly and I can not get it to work again. So it is unusable to me.
There's a couple of lines of code that need some numbers changing to "fix" the Ubisoft plugin though I can't remember the specifics off the top of my head.
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Even worse if it's a Bethesda game where it'd be Launching a launcher to launch a launcher to launch a game.
Did you miss the part where the Bethesda launcher was discontinued and all their games migrated to Steam?
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Not at all, I'm talking about games such as Fallout 4, Skyrim, Oblivion etc - all of these games have their own launchers and it's not just bethesda that does this.
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I'm giving it a try now. I have a very large itch.io library. I've found that their client has problems with the large number of games that I have there, so I'm hoping that this will help to organise it a bit better. It's importing my itch games now.
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Thanks.I am installing it rn.Happy to get an advanced version of GOG Galaxy 2.0
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you don't benefit from this thread. Sure.
on the other hand, the idea was good, wonder also what kind of benefit playnite gets for itself, maybe something like discord with boosts/premiums etc. It must earn something to continue with this good idea.
But since I don't like your actions and views on SG (based on your comments). And it is clear you are involved somehow unless you are over-enthusiastic. I cannot support this.
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The developer makes $750/mo from Patreon donations. Partons get early access to Beta releases and can vote on features to prioritize. There's no boosting or monetization on their discord. Just a bunch of tech nerds discussing code.
Edit (in response to your insinuation): I visit the Playnite forums, reddit & discord regularly. I've never seen AmanoTC's name there. I highly doubt that he's involved in any way that benefits him financially. The main developer is a Polish guy and there are lots of pro-bono contributors from all over the world (France, Mexico, Germany, USA, etc). Many people are enthusiastic about Playnite (myself included) because it works really well and is an open-source community project.
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XD
You should watch less conspiray movies, my friend.
Oh, and before you wrongfullyaccuse me of anything else: I blacklisted you for leeching a long time ago, not because of this thread.
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Good launcher, I use it for all my non-Steam games. I had high hopes for GOG Galaxy 2 when it came out but it has turned out to be pretty underwhelming so far.
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This thread was the push I needed to make the jump. Thank ya a ton! :D
--That and GOG's community plugin for ITCH doesn't seem to work at all.
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Ditto -- I saw this thread, put it in the back of my mind, and finally decided to try this launcher last night. It does MANY things I wanted Gog Galaxy or Depressurizer to do, and some more, and so far it has been fairly responsive, even with my huge library. It even has an extension to import actual acquisition dates from Steam and GOG and write them as "Added Date", wonderful!
The only thing missing so far is the ability of inputting "Finished Date" to record when I have beaten each game. But no launcher has this, so... yep, this is the best so far. Thanks! :D
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You can set game completion status to "Beaten" or "Completed", but yes, you can't set a date and I have found no built in extension that can do what you want.
But I am happy to see that you're liking Playnite so far and my thread was helpful to you :)
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You can do that in a roundabout way. Set a month/year tag for your completed games (put your tags in square brackets to keep on top). If you want to check the exact day, you could either set an exact date tag (but that can make tags unmanageable pretty quickly) or install the how long to beat plugin, and that saves the date you set it as completed. Another way is to use the Completed/Beaten category, filter by category, then sort by "last played".
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Last played is a very good approximation... but sometimes I revisit a game after finishing it, so... :(
Hm, wait, the HLTB plugin records the beaten date? This is cool, I had not noticed that!
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Hm, that is odd -- looking carefully, I never got that "Finished Date" from HLTB in my games... how do you get that? Is it imported from HLTB?
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You link your HLTB account in the plugin settings, and then when you finish the game you right click it -> HowLongToBeat-> set your current completed playtime.
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Hm, so only for newly finished games, I presume? I was hoping I could get my OLD dates imported from HLTB somehow... But this is a neat feature anyway, thanks!
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I don't know. I haven't messed about with that plug in. let me check. the date is probably the date of the last update in the plugin, not the HLTB date itself.
Edit: it really does import info from your account. I have a game with a registered date in 2020 before I started using the app. Have you downloaded your data? Menu->Extensions->HowLongToBeat->Download Plugin Data...
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Here's another idea:
You can record the "Finished Date" in the "Version" field if you're not using that field for anything else. Just input the dates in YYYY-MM-DD format and you'll be able to sort your games by their completion dates.
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Oh, what an excellent idea! I will start doing that.
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That's a good idea... I was putting the dates under "Notes", but since they are not a "sortable" field, your idea is better.
Now, that means I might give up on the extension that puts the "Size on Disk" in that same column... :D :D :D but I probably care about the dates more than I care about the disk sizes. :D
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Hi! Is there any way to export the game list and tags from GOG Galaxy to Playnite?
I have about 9000+ games added, sorted, edited and tagged in Galaxy and it would be a pain to start the process all over again.
And yeah, Galaxy is a broken mess and I don't think it will ever be fixed. But it can be used to keep track of my collection and interesting new releases... At least until it dies completely
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Ubisoft was giving away some game not too long ago and remembered I had their launcher on an old PC. Did a password reset, signed in, and was shocked that I had a bunch of games from some event from years ago.
Assassin Creed games, Splinters Cell, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragons, and more just sitting there untouched and forgotten.
So this would actually be useful to someone like me who mainly sticks to Steam and rarely signs into other game services for a long time.
With Epic giving away some good stuff I going to need this so I don't end up buying something twice.
Didn't know something like this exists so glad you posted about it.
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I use it but not as a launcher. I use it to track the games I have. The best feature for me is "Export your collection to CSV" So I can open it every now and then and update my game list that I organize in notion dot so. I will be happy just with their scripts for scrapping the game libraries tbh.
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Important announcement by the Dev:
Playnite 11 development update
Windows 7 and 8 will no longer be supported, as well as all 32 bit versions of Windows
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Decided to check it out, but can't get PSN configured as I get an http error when trying to navigate to step 2 on the instructions. Was really excited it see all my stuff in one place.
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Try in incognito mode or log out and back in to psn
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Yeah, that got the npsso value to show up, but app still says not authenticated even with the code.
Edit: despite that, it does seem to be populating now I think. Thanks!
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You have to be logged in on playstation.com via browser to get your Single-Sign-On(SSO)-Token. To be safe, after you logged in on playstation.com, take the extra step to go into your account settings.
It is important that you enter your password to get the SSO and I found out that not always a password is needed to log into playstation.com but always a password is needed to go into your account settings.
After you entered your password, the site generates your SSO-Cookie in the background and you can then go to step 2 (https://ca.account.sony.com/api/v1/ssocookie) and copy it.
You have to repeat the process in several weeks because your SSO-Cookie for playstation.com will expire at a certain point.
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It's now possible to import games to your GG.deals collection from stores other than Steam and GOG thanks for a new Playnite extension.
Here's the recent announcement about it:
https://gg.deals/announcement/new-feature-epic-ubisoft-ea-games-can-now-be-imported-to-your-ggdeals-collection/
You'll need to install the extension called "GG.deals" in Playnite. You can set it up to sync newly added games automatically or you can do the syncing manually. I've been using it for over a week now and have not encountered any issues.
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I like using Steam for pretty much all my games, and use Big Picture mode almost exclusively for the console feel and controller support, so I'm not sure how this works for that, but the ability to integrate and sort by HLTB times and such sounds pretty nice. And I do have a few other games with other DRMs, but I have them linked through Steam already for the most part, so again, IDK if it'd be too much of a help in that regard either.
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Playnite sounds like a really good idea, but for the average user it's completely overloaded and not easy to use. Very large libraries from Steam & Co take ages to import. Metadata is not read at all or is read incorrectly, especially images. If you then have multiple metadata sources, good night, ask at every stop which source you consider to be the correct one, instead of the tool downloading it directly from the original source like Steam & Co. Especially if you have a lot of games. So, either no entries were made for some games on Steam, the same game, but the metadata from the Epic launcher was missing. Or bundled titles are shown as an image even though they are a single game (Alone in the Dark 1,2 word is shown as a whole pack 1-3 Games classic package, but 3 as a single one, completely illogical.). The picture gallery itself is nice, but if the bold has no writing in it, you don't know what kind of game it is, especially with indie games, instead of putting the name under the picture, you have to awkwardly click on i in the picture, click click, annoying. From the Microsoft Store are completely misaligned like my Halo games unless you install them or clients cannot connect like with Sony, which will soon require an IT degree. If you delete clients again, they are still shown in the library, deleting games from the library because you deleted a client
from the third-party tool at Playnite like Xcloud or legendary launcher turns into a click orgy and searching, especially with large libraries this is very cumbersome and not intuitive. Some launchers have to be installed so that games can be imported, such as Itch.io. Battlenet keeps logging out because still not fixed bug.Then the thing takes up 20 GB on C, although installed on D. I'm just looking for a tool to see which games I have everywhere so that I don't buy them three times if I already have them on Gog or Epoc etc. No, I don't recommend Playnite because you have to manage more there than if you quickly look in your libraries yourself like Steam Epic or Co.
But unfortunately, the hobby developers understand that not even with the legendary launcher, where you have to really mess around with the CMD window instead of preparing a file to be executed, as if you were still in 1985. With Playnite I get the feeling that the idea is great, the implementation is like in 2000, where you have to fiddle around and there remains a wild mess and chaos of settings, which is what you actually wanted to avoid with one launcher. You get by with various third-party tools that are all developed by someone else, but the main thing is that you cram the thing full of functions. Whether they work together or harmonize is irrelevant, the user can test it and then deal with the problems if he/she wants to adapt the library. Ultimately, you have to say that it is free and what you have lost is unfortunately time. I wouldn't spend any money on it. Cheers.
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Have you mentioned the issues you were having to the devs by any chance (I would guess there's a github somewhere)? That's a lot of stuff described clearly which if they were to fix that sounds like would make it a lot better.
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No, I don't. To be honest, the weekend was enough for me to spend hours working on it, to test all third-party clients and so on. At first, I was excited and enthusiastic, then I got annoyed and a little disappointed. I understand the open-source approach and the many options that Playnite can offer you. Oh, and something else about the integration of Battlenet and the EA app. Battlenet shows me Diablo 2 Resurrected and Diablo3 as full-price titles in the library, but no Hearthstone. Diablo 2 and 3 never bought, that the test versions EA also shows ancient games or demos that have been deactivated or taken from the EA app in the library, like Battlefield Hardline or NFS World so I don't know exactly where the 3party add-ons get the information about what you have in the library. logging in via Indiegala in Playnite got me a block, I wrote to them yesterday, they said they were changing their server infrastructure, then I had to request a new PW on the main page, then it worked, and the Rockstar Client uses not logging in, so it doesn't recognize my San Andreas, well I didn't have it installed either. With Ubi you have to have a launcher installed, and this inconsistency between logging in, launcher or having the game installed is just illogical. I understand with games that don't have a launcher login you have to search the HDD/SSD, but why do I have to install the launcher for some? I mean, I thought it was as easy as with Battlenet, for example, you connect Steam, Epic, etc. and you're permanently connected and the thing knows about your library, well Gog also fails because of the integration of the 3third party clients, so Playnite, you're not alone.
I don't think all titles are transferred from Steam to either. I could only check this vaguely, because I have about 18,583 games in Steam, but Playnite only counts 16,000, but it could also be that Steam isn't counting correctly. I have activated many free games via steamDB hence the high number. As I said, the tool is a nice idea for anyone who knows about it and is willing to put in the effort. For the average user who simply wants to have an overview of their library accounts or just wants to start playing, it's not for them. It's like Sims. It seems cool at first but is so overloaded with add-ons that it's totally buggy. Now what should I say to the developers? I'd have to write to each and every one of them and they'll say it's the fault of the rights holder. Playnite will also say it's not our responsibility, we only provide the basis. Same problem as with all open-source things. You can do a lot if you have the specialist knowledge. If you're a layman and have a problem, you're stuck. Also, English is not my native language, and I find some things a bit difficult, especially understanding things on Github. Now imagine if I were to talk to the developers, I think we would both end up having communication problems. I also use Google translate to write here, just have a quick look over to see if it's somehow correct, I've only learned basic English. I emphasize again that this is not a personal attack against the developers, it is nice to see what they do and what they offer us, especially when we get it for free, this only describes my experience as a normal user that developers or the OpensourceCom sometimes have a blind spot that not everyone understands their software, due to lack of time to learn, lack of expertise or lack of language skills, because everyone has different abilities or handicaps or simply different interests. In the end I found Playnite isn't for me because it's just terrible to use and manage.Here I would have really liked a dynamic online web library that is easier to handle if you want to refine it or delete something, because you make the changes with an add-on, which you first have to test, because it doesn't explain what it does, and uninstalling it won't undo the changes.Why doesn't something as simple as this work? You have to be careful what you do so as not to completely ruin your library.The mishmash of English and German, missing or incorrect translations can also be confusing. Sincerely, Sascha from Germany.
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Well, you could split the text to make your points more comprehensible. I don't think any developer will be willing to read that wall of text, even if you do report the issues to them. And please, each ticket should be for one issue only.
Did you try to consult Playnite's manual, GitHub, Reddit, or Discord?
Everything has its learning curve, even something basic like a word editor or spreadsheet application. Bit by bit, and you will be a master in no time.
Spending a few hours with no question asked, feeling frustrated, and leaving isn't a receipt for success, in my opinion. Unless you have a better alternative.
For the record, Playnite can handle my 16k games on Steam, GOG, and Epic combined, so I think it did its job well.
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Hi guys.
I want to properly introduce you to the Playnite launcher. No, I am not affiliated with the developer and I don't benefit from this thread. I just think it is that good and the developer can benefit from every exposure his launcher gets.
Due to how this forum works, all screenshots are at the bottom of this OP. I tried to name them accordingly so that it is clear what they are showing.
#Playnite Homepage, Download-Link on main page.
What is Playnite?
Playnite is a free launcher that integrates all your different game clients (and more) into just one app. No more need to start multiple game clients and no more confusion on which client you have a game. You can support the developer (yes, only one person) via Patreon, but you don't have to do this to use the launcher. The free version is not limited in any way, there is no pay to gain benefits here.
Let's get the elephant out of the room first: "Why you no use GoG Galaxy? It is the de facto standard for multi-client-launchers."
The answer is as simple as sad: GoG Galaxy is broken since alpha, doesn't include all launchers and is still a mess of a software considering how it runs on your machine.
I tested GoG Galaxy since it's first public alpha, when there was still an NDA, and gave plenty of feedback during it's development cycle via the dedicated forums. The sad reality is: It is still broken. As soon as you got a lot of Steam games, GoG Galaxy just can't handle this amount and crashes instantly a few seconds after starting.
Somewhere in the development cycle the devs just gave up on fixing the problem and literally told me: "Our client can not handle that amout of Steam games, we don't know why and implore you to not enable the Steam plugin if you own too many games." I know that someone with as many games as me is in the total minority, although I am not the only SG user who has too many Steam games for GoG Galaxy to function properly.
What clients is Playnite supporting?
It supports all the major gaming clients. Here is a simple list:
If you're wondering why Playstation and Xbox are included, yes, Playnite can also import your game data (owned, played etc.) for consoles. AFAIK you can even start your console games via Playnite if you install Playnite on a USB Stick, plug that into your console and run Playnite, but I have not tried that yet.
In addition to those major game clients, Playnite also supports the integrations of other libraries. For a full list, see screenshots at the bottom.
Is Playnite safe? Does it store my account passwords?
You have to authenticate yourself with the other clients. That means, you push a button within Playnite, the corresponding login window of the targeted client opens, you log in there, so outside of Playnite, and Playnite recognizes you're logged into that service. So no passwords are stored within Playnite, you keep all your 2FA safety and I would deem it as safe.
How does your game library work? How does it look? Are there filters?
You can either show your games library for a specific client or the aggregated library for all clients. The games can be grouped by different filters like "platform". "genre", "release year", "developer" and so on. They also can be sorted by "Date Added", "Time Played", "Name" and so on.
Your library can be shown in "Details View", where you see many informations about a specific game including a short description and a background image, in "Grid View" where you only see "cover/package shots", so to say, and as "List View".
For all those views you yourself are in total control what details aka metadata is displayed or left out.
The metadata for all these filter settings is downloaded when you import a library or a new game and you can even choose from which sources this metadata will be downloaded. You can always download missing metadata at a later date if you choose to do so.
How does Playnite look?
Out of the box, Playnite uses a basic blue and orange theme, which is fast and does its job. Playnite runs in desktop mode and fullscreen mode and uses the basic theme for both.
If you don't like how Playnite looks, you can download custom themes for both modes. And yes, you can use custom theme A for desktop mode and custom theme B for fullscreen mode.
Want your library to look like an Xbox library in desktop mode and like a PS5 library in fullscreen mode? Sure, go ahead.
You can download new themes from within Playnite itself, from the Playnite forum or even create your own one.
What about your friends?
Yes, Steam chat is available via a simple button click. At the moment chat is limited to Steam friends or I might be too blind to find the chat options for other clients.
Extras: Nice to have
How long to beat is integrated in Playnite if you so want to. Available via a single button click from within your library or as a separate tab on the left side of your client. You can configure How long to beat to your liking, log into it and choose to only show it for unplayed or played games or both.
There are some easy accessible statistics built within, such as the total number of all your imported games from all game clients you have connected to Playnite. It also shows on a quick glance how big your backlog is, your total playing time and so on.
You can also see your game activities: What games did you play in the last X days (you yourself can set the number for X via a slider), on what days did you start what game, for how long, what genres did you primarily play the last X days, on what platform and so on.
So much. That is all, isn't it?
No, it is not.
You can have several plugins installed, for example a plugin to export your game library into an .html-file or another file format, check for new localizations in your preferred language, backup your save data to a folder of your liking, check for mods for your games directly on Nexus mods and many more.
You can even run your own scripts.
Edit: As ThalesOwens mentioned, there is a built in "random game picker" that starts a random game from the library of your installed games.
There is even support for Emulators. Playnite can automatically scan your HDD for installed emulators or lists where you can download them. You have full integration for all kinds of Emulators - Atari 2600, Commodore Amiga, NES, you name it - within Playnite and have full control over what is shown for those emulators and what is hidden.
With Playnite, you really only need one launcher for the complete gaming extravaganza.
All this is very slow and taxing on the machine, isn't it?
It's not. The client was taking up 355 MB of RAM while I took the screenshots and with the default theme and is blistering fast, even with my amount of games.
The folder on my HDD is 17 GB big, tho.
I wholeheartedly can say that Playnite really is everything GoG Galaxy tried to be and so, SO much more. It is the only launcher you ever need and is the software every game collector with a big or even huge gaming library needs in his life.
On to the screenshots:
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