Launching KerbalEDU with Steam

[aviin]

This is not a support request, but a solution to a problem I was going to ask but solved on my own.

If you're like me, you already had Kerbal Space Program on Steam. Now that KerbalEDU is out, you might like to launch it via the Steam interface. You've got two options in how to do it.

Method 1: Non-Steam Game Shortcut

1. In the menu bar at the top left of the Steam interface, click on "Games".
   
   
2. From the drop-down menu, click on "Add Non-Steam Game to My Library..."
   
   
3. In the new "Add a Game" window that appears, scroll down the list until you find the "KerbalEDU" entry and left-click on the little box to the left of it.
   
   
4. Click on the "ADD SELECTED PROGRAMS" button at the bottom of the "Add a Game" window.
   
   

This will add a KerbalEDU entry to your Steam Library. Unlike a normal Steam entry, this one will show no news and have no playtime counter. The Steam Overlay will continue to function if you'd like to use it, though.

Method 2: Override the Default Kerbal Space Program Shortcut

1. Right-click on your KerbalEDU shortcut and left-click on "Properties" in the menu that appears.
   
   
2. You should now be looking at a window that is labeled "KerbalEdu Properties", you should be on the "Shortcut" tab, and the text in the "Target:" box should be highlighted.
   
   
3. Press Ctrl-C on your keyboard (which will copy the text to the clipboard) and the click on the "Cancel" button.
   
   
4. Find Kerbal Space Program in your Steam Library.
   
5. Right-click on it and in the little menu that appears, left-click on "Properties".
   
   
6. In the new "Kerbal Space Program - Properties" window that appears, you should find yourself looking at the "GENERAL" tab.
   
   
7. Click on "SET LAUNCH OPTIONS..."
   
   
8. In the new "Launch Options - Kerbal Space Program" window, click on the box near the bottom and input a quotation mark. Then press Ctrl-V on your keyboard, which will paste the path of KerbalEDU into the box. Now follow that by another quotation mark, a space, and then %command%. You should ultimately end up with something like

   "C:\Path to KerbalEDU\KSP.exe" %command%

   where "C:\Path to KerbalEDU" is the location of your KerbalEDU folder.
   
   

9. Click on "OK" and then "CLOSE".
   
   

This method is certainly more complex but it has a few advantages over the other method. Firstly, you'll still get the news feed for the game's entry. Secondly, your playtime counter should continue to increment. The caveat, though, is that even when Steam updates KSP, your shortcut will still be launching KerbalEDU and even though you'll have downloaded the update, since Steam doesn't patch KerbalEDU, you will still be playing the old version.

If you want to undo this, you can easily go back in and blank the box you entered the KerbalEDU launch options into. You could even add the Steam version of KSP as a non-Steam shortcut using method one if you were so inclined.

So anyway, there you have it. It is a shame that there is no mod version of KerbalEDU that you can just throw into a default KSP install, but such is life, I suppose.