How to Add Free-to-Play Rocket League to Steam

Overview

Create a working non-Steam game shortcut to launch the free-to-play PC version of Rocket League from your Steam Library, with full online support.

Introduction

The following guide details how to create a working non-Steam game shortcut to launch Rocket League from your Steam Library, with full online support.

Rocket League was pulled from the Steam Store before transitioning to a free-to-play model. There’s no current way to purchase it with your Steam account unless you activate a valid Rocket League product key or Steam gift.

Once finished, you should have a Rocket League shortcut within your Steam Library that will:

• Show your game with all artwork on both the new Steam Library Update and Big Picture mode.
• Launch the game.
• Send “Is Now Playing” and “Currently In-Game” notifications to your Steam friends and other users.

You will be able to add this shortcut to your Favorites or any other Collection within your Steam Library.

If you already own Rocket League on Steam, this guide is not for you. The following method is aimed specifically at those who started playing the game after its free-to-play relaunch on EGS.

Requirements

For this guide, you will need the following:

• Valid Steam and EGS accounts.
• Steam Client and EGS Launcher, both installed and updated on your computer. You must be logged in on both.
• Rocket League installed from EGS.

This guide uses default directory paths for both Steam and EGS on a sole HDD/SSD Windows 10 64-bit installation. [C: drive, Program Files, Program Files (x86), etc.] Make sure to change these if you’re on a different OS (Linux, macOS) or if you installed Steam/EGS on another drive/directory.

Creating the Shortcut

1. Open the Steam Client window and click on “Add a Game” in the lower left corner, then select “Add a Non-Steam Game…”
2. Click on the “Browse…” button and go to:
   C:Program FilesEpic GamesrocketleagueBinariesWin64
3. Select RocketLeague.exe, click “OK”, then click the “Add Selected Programs” button.

Tweaking [IMPORTANT!]

You now have a Rocket League shortcut, but we’re far from finished. Using it as-is will launch the game in offline mode with no connection to online servers or your EGS account.

Here’s how to fix that:

1. Right-click the shortcut and select “Properties.”
2. Replace the shortcut name with “Rocket League” (no quotation marks).
3. Paste the following URL path in the “Target” field:
   com.epicgames.launcher://apps/Sugar?action=launch&silent=true
4. If the icon isn’t showing, click the “Choose Icon” button and select the following path:
   C:Program FilesEpic GamesrocketleagueBinariesWin64RocketLeague.exe
5. Click the “Close” button.

Adding Banners

The Rocket League shortcut should now work properly. Still, it looks horrible compared to everything else in your Steam Library, doesn’t it? Let’s fix that!

Here’s where you can download all current Rocket League artwork for Steam:

• Grid image (for Big Picture mode).
• Library capsule (for the updated Steam Library grid).
• Hero image (header for your Library Details page).
• Logo (for the header in your Library Details page).
• Previous logo (if you prefer the old Rocket League one with the blue shield icon).

You may have noticed the banners for Rocket League have changed to coincide with the game’s new free-to-play season schedule. If you don’t wish to change your banners every season, or would simply like other images for the game, there are many places on the web where you can find artwork to personalize both Steam and non-Steam games within your library. Just search for “steam grid” or “steam library” in your web browser.

If you have graphic design skills, your can make your own unique banners for the game. You can find all info on Steam Library artwork dimensions and requirements here:

Library Assets | Steamworks Documentation

1. Right-click your Rocket League shortcut and select “Manage > Set Custom Artwork.”
2. Select “library_600x900_2x.jpg” or whatever image you downloaded for your Library capsule and click “Open.”

Library

1. Right-click your Rocket League shortcut, select “Play” and close the game. The shorcut should now have moved to first place within the “RECENT GAMES” shelf in your Library.
2. Right-click this “RECENT GAMES” shortcut and select “Manage > Set Custom Artwork.”
3. Select “header.jpg” or whatever image you downloaded for your grid image and click “Open.”

Big Picture

1. Go to “Library” in Big Picture mode.
2. Right-click your Rocket League shortcut and select “Organize > Change Icon.”
3. Select “header.jpg” or whatever image you downloaded for your grid image and click “Choose.”

1. Click on your Rocket League shortcut to go to the Library Details page.
2. Right-click the header area and select “Set Custom Background.”
3. Select “library_hero.jpg” or whatever image you downloaded for your hero image and click “Open.”

1. Click on your Rocket League shortcut to go to the Library Details page.
2. Right-click the header area and select “Set Custom Logo.”
3. Select “logo_2x.png,” “logo_2x.png” or whatever image you downloaded for your logo and click “Open.”
4. Right-click the header area again and select “Adjust Logo Position” to change the size and placement of the logo within the hero image.

Limitations

The EGS URL path used by the Rocket shortcut overrides the in-game Steam Overlay in favor for the EGS Overlay. As such, standard Steam Overlay features and Steam screenshots will be disabled while playing.

Since this is a non-Steam game shortcut, the following Steam features will also be unavailable while playing:

• Play-streaming to mobile devices.
• Playtime activity and statistics.
• Steam Achievements and progression.
• “Show More Details” button and game info.
• “Library Details” tabs: “Store Page,” “Community Hub,” “Points Shop,” “Find Groups,” “Discussions,” “Guides,” “Workshop,” and “Support.”
• Game reviews.
• Steam Workshop subscribed content.

User-generated Steam Workshop maps can be played on EGS Rocket League by downloading them from an external source, then overwriting an existing map in the game’s directory or using BakkesMod. (Thanks to Buttsubushi for bringing this to my attention.)

Troubleshooting

If the Rocket League shortcut doesn’t launch the game after tweaking it, the internal EGS URL path for the game may have changed. Here’s how to find the correct path to launch free-to-play Rocket League:

1. Open the EGS Launcher and go to “Library.”
2. Click on the drop-down menu […] for Rocket League and select “Create a Shortcut.” This will generate a Windows shortcut for Rocket League in your desktop. You can close the EGS Launcher window if you wish.
3. Go to your Desktop, right-click the Rocket League shortcut and select “Properties.”
4. Copy the contents of the “URL” field and close the Properties window.
5. Go to your Steam Library, right-click your Rocket League shortcut and select “Properties.”
6. Replace the “Target” field with the copied URL path.
7. Click the “Close” button.