Paths

Paths

Overview

Paths is one of the available categories in the Category Menus which simply exists to make finding and changing steamtinkerlaunch system paths easily This category menu supports Gui-Columns!

NOTE: Paths which contain some special characters may not work (spaces are fine) due to how they are saved to the config file. Some examples of special characters are:

• ~/Games/Gaben's Games/Half-Life 3.exe (apostrophe)
• ~/"Games"/SmileyCentralStudio/scs.exe (double quotes)

A PR would be welcome to address these, otherwise try to avoid using these kinds of characters in your paths. See #776 for some discussion and background on the apparent first reported instance of the issue.

Common Paths

Install folder

The path to the install folder will vary depending on your platform or how you installed SteamTinkerLaunch.

• ProtonUp-Qt will always install SteamTinkerLaunch to $HOME/stl/prefix.
• Manual Steam Deck installation will always install SteamTinkerLaunch to $HOME/stl/prefix as well.
• For Non-Root installs, the installation folder is whichever folder you are running SteamTinkerLaunch from.
• For root installs (sudo make install or package manager), the location can vary between distributions but usually it will be at /usr/share/steamtinkerlaunch or equivalent.
  • Note for root installs that the SteamTinkerLaunch binary itself will usually be installed separately to /usr/bin/steamtinkerlaunch or equivalent

Config Folder

The default path to internal config files is usually found at one of these two locations:

• Regular installs: STLCFGDIR=~/.config/steamtinkerlaunch
• Flatpak: STLCFGDIR=~/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam.Utility.steamtinkerlaunch/config

This is the base configuration directory for SteamTinkerLaunch, where the vast majority of its internal files are kept. Some are also stored at the STL installation directory; those found in the folders included with the source are stored in the games install directory.

SteamTinkerLaunch currently does not follow the XDG specification. There is currently an open issue about this. It would be desirable to fix this, so if you are motivated and willing please get involved!

Per-Game Configs

Per-Game config files are stored at STLCFGDIR/gamecfgs. From here, the "real" file per-game is stored in the id, where each file is named after the game AppID, i.e. 22320.conf. A symlink for each config with the game name is created in the STLCFGDIR/gamecfgs/title directory, i.e. Morrowind.conf.

Global Config

The SteamTinkerLaunch Global config file is stored at STLCFGDIR/global.conf. This contains settings that are not specific to games, for example Vortex or ModOrganizer 2 Wine/Proton versions.

URLs config

SteamTinkerLaunch stores URLs in a separate configuration file. These URLs point to things like project GitHub pages and so on. This is stored at STLCFGDIR/url.conf.

All Paths

Below is a table that aims to document all of the default paths that SteamTinkerLaunch uses. This list may be missing some entries or become outdated quickly, so feel free to open an issue to keep the paths up-to-date.

When you see STLCFGDIR or STLINSTALLDIR, replace it with the relevant SteamTinkerLaunch config folder/install folder.

Downloads paths

Config File Variable	Default Path	Description
CUSTPROTDLDIR	STLCFGDIR/downloads/proton/custom	Download directory for custom Proton archives.
CUSTPROTEXTDIR	STLCFGDIR/proton/custom	Extraction directory for downloaded custom Proton archives.
WINEDLDIR	STLCFGDIR/downloads/wine	Download directory for Wine archives.
WINEEXTDIR	STLCFGDIR/wine	Extract directory for downloaded Wine archives.
VORTEXDOWNLOADPATH	STLCFGDIR/vortex/downloads	Directory where Vortex installation components are downloaded.
HMMDLDIR	STLCFGIDR/downloads/hedgemodmanager	Directory where Hedge Mod Manager executable and other components are stored.
RESHADESRCDIR	STLCFGDIR/downloads/reshade	ReShade components directory.
STLSHADDIR	STLCFGDIR/downloads/shaders	Directory where shaders are stored.
SPEKDLDIR	STLCFGDIR/downloads/specialk	Directory where SpecialK versions are stored.
YADAIDLDIR	STLCFGDIR/downloads/yadappimage	Directory where the Yad AppImage is downloaded. This is only for Steam Deck.

Log paths

NOTE: Some logs (i.e. Proton logs) will not be generated unless this option is enabled.

Config File Variable	Default Path	Description
LOGDIR	STLCFGDIR/logs	General logging directory.
STRACEDIR	STLCFGDIR/logs	strace log directory.
NETMONDIR	STLCFGDIR/logs	Network Monitor log directory.
STLPROTONLOGDIR	STLCFGDIR/logs/proton	Proton log directory.
STLDXVKLOGDIR	STLCFGDIR/logs/dxvk	DXVK log directory.
STLWINELOGDIR	STLCFGDIR/logs/wine	Wine log directory.
STLVKD3DLOGDIR	STLCFGDIR/logs/vkd3d	VKD3D/VKD3D-Proton log directory.
STLGLLOGDIR	STLCFGDIR/logs/gamelaunch	Log directory for Steam game launches.
PLAYTIMELOGDIR	STLCFGDIR/logs/playtime	Log directory to store game playtime for each session with SteamTinkerLaunch.
MAHULOGDIR	STLCFGDIR/logs/mangohud	MangoHud log directory.

Tweaks paths

Config File Variable	Default Path	Description
GLOBALSBSTWEAKS	STLINSTALLDIR/sbstweaks	Path where global Side-by-Side tweak files are stored.
GLOBALTWEAKS	STLINSTALLDIR/tweaks	Path where global tweak files are stored.
MAHUCFGDIR	STLCFGDIR/mangohud	Path where custom per-game MangoHud config files are stored.
STLDXVKDIR	STLCFGDIR/dxvk	Path where custom per-game DXVK config files are stored.

Internal Config Paths

NOTE: In most instances, the contents of these files do not need to be touched. Only modify these files if you know what you're doing!

Config File Variable	Default Path	Description
GLOBALCOLLECTIONDIR	STLINSTALLDIR/collections	Path where default collection categories are stored.
GLOBALMISCDIR	STLINSTALLDIR/misc	Path where global misc files are stored, e.g. ModOrganizer 2 supported games list.
GLOBALEVALDIR	STLINSTALLDIR/eval	Path where global evaluatorscripts are stored, e.g. for installing Steamworks files such as vcrun.
GLOBALSTLLANGDIR	STLINSTALLDIR/lang	Path where global language files are stored.
GLOBALSTLGUIDIR	STLINSTALLDIR/guicfgs	Path where global resolution templates are stored.

Game Information Paths

Config File Variable	Default Path	Description
PDBDLDIR	STLCFGDIR/downloads/proton/rating	Per-Game ProtonDB rating files.
STLGDECKCOMPAT	STLCFGDIR/games/deckinfo	Per-Game Steam Deck compatibility information files, fetched from Steam.
STLAPPINFOIDDIR	STLCFGDIR/games/appinfo	Binary game information file.
STLGICONS	STLCFGDIR/games/icons	Game icon files.
STLGHEADD	STLCFGDIR/games/header	Game header/banner/hero artwork files, displayed on the SteamTinkerLaunch UI.
STLIDFD	STLCFGDIR/games/desktop	Per-Game .desktop file entries.
METADIR	STLCFGDIR/meta	Path where SteamTinkerLaunch stores per-game meta files.

Compatdata/Prefix Paths

Config File Variable	Default Path	Description
VORTEXCOMPDATA	STLCFGDIR/vortex/compatdata	Compatdata/prefix where Vortex Mod Manager is installed.
DPRSCOMPDATA	STLCFGDIR/depressurizer/compatdata	The compatdata/prefix for Depressurizer.
MO2COMPDATA	STLCFGDIR/mo2/compatdata	Compatdata/prefix for the Mod Organizer 2 installation.
HMMCOMPDATA	STLCFGDIR/hedgemodmanager/compatdata	Compatdata/prefix directory for HedgeModManager.
STLCOMPDAT	STLCFGDIR/compatdata	Stores symlinks to Steam game compatdata directories.