Overview
Enable the steam overlay for Fallout 2 and other games.
How To
Create a new text file on your computer and rename the text file extension from .txt to .bat
eg. ForceSteamOverlay.bat
Right click -> edit the new batch file. Copy the code from the box down below, paste it inside the new batch file and save it.
To use, double click on the batch file.
Then just start Fallout 2 (or any other game in the exe list) as you usually would in Steam. It’ll recognise the game and enable the Steam overlay. You can now use Steam chat, screenshot functionality etc.
@Echo off :: Alter this path if your Steam installation lies somewhere else. set steamPath=C:Program Files (x86)Steam :: List of games tried and working. :: Fallout (high resolution) > falloutwHR.exe :: Fallout (classic) > FALLOUTW.EXE :: Fallout 2 (high resolution) > fallout2HR.exe :: Tomb Raider Legend > trl.exe :: Tomb Raider Underwold > tru.exe :: Add game exe’s here, seperated with a space. set exes=falloutwHR.exe FALLOUTW.EXE fallout2HR.exe trl.exe tru.exe :: Not really necessary but as a precaution, :: give the game some breathing room before starting the overlay. (in seconds) set delay=3 :: No need to alter anything below this line :: set gamePID= set steamPID= echo Waiting on game start.. : Search REM Grabbing and feeding the Steam pid in the command eliminates occurance of overlay not popping sometimes, no need for game app ID. REM Do it here in the search to be sure, in case of this batch being ran before Steam was started. if defined steamPID (goto SkipSteamSearch) else (for /f “tokens=2” %%s in (‘tasklist ^| findstr /i “steam.exe” 2^>NUL’) do set steamPID=%%s) : SkipSteamSearch for %%e in (%exes%) do (for /f “tokens=2” %%p in (‘tasklist ^| findstr /i “%%e” 2^>NUL’) do set gamePID=%%p) if not defined gamePID (timeout 3 /nobreak > nul & goto Search) else (echo Game started) & (echo Forcing overlay) timeout %delay% /nobreak > nul start “” “%steamPath%GameOverlayUI.exe” -steampid %steamPID% -pid %gamePID% -manuallyclearframes 0 :: List of games tried where the overlay still don’t work. :: Fallout 2 (classic) > fallout2.exe :: Pharaoh + Cleopatra > Pharaoh.exe :: Zeus + Poseidon > zeus.exe
Notes
If your Steam installation is located somewhere other than the default: C:Program Files (x86)Steam like on another hard drive for example. You will need to change the steamPath line in the script to reference your steam install location.
I’ve added compatibility for games in my Steam library. If you wish to add compatibility for more games, just add their exe names to the exes list.
