[How to] bypass the new Launcher added in update 1.12.4 [Steam]

[R-T-B]

1 minute ago, miklkit said:

Yeah, I had to DL a new dot net thingy before it would work, but it was almost an automatic thing and was very easy.

Yeah, don't get me wrong, it's not a bad thing to download or anything (more .net versions are actually used all over the web, so probably good to have), just trying to make it even easier heh.

Edited November 6, 2022 by R-T-B

[Adam Novagen]

Many thanks to the workarounds being posted here, but for my part the downside of the launch option method is that the Steam overlay fails to launch in-game, which of course means no convenient screenshots for me.

In my case, I ended up adding KSP_x64.exe separately as a non-Steam game, which allows me to bypass the launcher and keep the overlay. Not sure if this would work for non-Windows users, but I'm guessing it would as I imagine Steam has that functionality across all OS versions.

[4x4cheesecake]

14 hours ago, Adam Novagen said:

Many thanks to the workarounds being posted here, but for my part the downside of the launch option method is that the Steam overlay fails to launch in-game, which of course means no convenient screenshots for me.

In my case, I ended up adding KSP_x64.exe separately as a non-Steam game, which allows me to bypass the launcher and keep the overlay. Not sure if this would work for non-Windows users, but I'm guessing it would as I imagine Steam has that functionality across all OS versions.

That's a great hint, thanks

I did a little research and actually found a way to launch the game by jumping through 3 hoops just to keep the steam overlay, the correct working directory and still being able to use start up parameters, all by using just a single launch option on the original steam library entry. But at this point, I guess your method of adding a "non steam game" is probably just easier

But for those who are interested: The alternative I've found, is to launch the windows CMD and run a command which points to a link to the KSP executable, so in my case, it would look like this:

"c:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" %command% /c "D:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Kerbal Space Program\KSP_x64_shortcut.lnk"

using this as your launch options, will run the windows command line, which then launches the actual game through a shortcut which points to the game executable.... the only drawback is, that the CMD will keep running in the background for the whole time but I guess even that could be solved.
This starts to turn into a research of "what's possible" with no regards to "what's useful"... or in other terms: the kerbal way of approaching an issue

[Lisias]

53 minutes ago, 4x4cheesecake said:

the only drawback is, that the CMD will keep running in the background for the whole time but I guess even that could be solved.
This starts to turn into a research of "what's possible" with no regards to "what's useful"... or in other terms: the kerbal way of approaching an issue

Nope, the CMD is acting as a sub-shell. It's like a "call" on your program, the caller will only recover the control and proceed to the exit(0) function when the callee returns (finishes, in our specific case).

In order to make the CMD "fire and forget" the callee, it needs to detach the callee process from itself. (it's easier than it looks - but it involve code).

On the bright side, the memory footprint of the CMD.exe is pretty low. You always have a CMD.exe running somewhere else, so the TEXT segment of the program is shared between all the processes, saving memory. Only the DATA segment (and the process internal structures) effectively "eats" some memory.

Humm… try this stunt:

"c:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" %command% /c "run D:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Kerbal Space Program\KSP_x64_shortcut.lnk"

The CMD's "run" command does exactly what I said: creates a new process detached from the parent - but I'm unsure if the Steam will still be able to locate KSP in order to inject the Overlay...

[4x4cheesecake]

9 hours ago, Lisias said:

The CMD's "run" command does exactly what I said: creates a new process detached from the parent - but I'm unsure if the Steam will still be able to locate KSP in order to inject the Overlay...

"run" is not a valid command for the CMD but "start" is and actually works as a "fire and forget" command and the steam overlay will still work

so, the new launch option I'm running now is:

"c:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" %command% /c "start D:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\"Kerbal Space Program"\KSP_x64_shortcut.lnk" -popupwindow

It is actually important to NOT wrap the whole file path after the "start" command in quotation marks but to use them in between for any directory which got spaces in its name. If you wrap the whole path, it will be just passed as the "title" parameter for the "start" command.

[Lisias]

23 minutes ago, 4x4cheesecake said:

"run" is not a valid command for the CMD but "start" is and actually works as a "fire and forget" command and the steam overlay will still work

weird… this is what was working at command line on my Windows testbed...

Hummm… I may had been using PowerShell without being aware, perhaps… It's a long time since I used to use this sad excuse of O.S.  

Cheers!

[boolybooly]

I would guess that Private Division is the source of this and not Squad. (As the launcher has Private Division branding in the top left corner.)

Thanks for the command line info, duly implemented.

What I would say to PD as respectful feedback, if you want to add links to tempt the curious, don't encumber the game launch with extra clicks and interfaces, it annoys people when marketing obstructs gameplay. IMHO what would work better is a one click launch with news and links in the main menu. FYI

 

Edited November 14, 2022 by boolybooly

[Lisias]

3 hours ago, boolybooly said:

I would guess that Private Division is the source of this and not Squad. (As the launcher has Private Division branding in the top left corner.)

I think there's not much of a difference, as most of Squad's developers are now working on KSP with PD.

[swjr-swis]

7 hours ago, boolybooly said:

it annoys people when marketing obstructs gameplay. IMHO what would work better is a

.. better working KSP.

Ironically, people are more inclined to buy a sequel if the initial product simply... works. No frills, no launcher, just a finished product.

I know, too simple. Hardly justifies a marketing budget, silly talk like that...

[JonnyOThan]

hey @4x4cheesecake I think you should delete the original suggestion in the OP.  I've just helped two people who did that and broke their game because of the incorrect working directory.  Gotmachine's suggestion should be the only one in here.

[4x4cheesecake]

7 hours ago, JonnyOThan said:

hey @4x4cheesecake I think you should delete the original suggestion in the OP.  I've just helped two people who did that and broke their game because of the incorrect working directory.  Gotmachine's suggestion should be the only one in here.

As far as I know, the changed working directory only breaks some modded games but not the stock game, therefore the suggestion is still perfectly fine and the easiest way to bypass the launcher. The big red subtitle "for mod users" should direct people who play modded KSP to the other suggested bypass.
In my opinion, its valid to keep a simple solution available to those who feel less comfortable to mess with their game install instead of showing just a more complex "one fits all" solution.

Though, I might add a different subtitle to make it easier to differentiate between stock and modded ksp

[JonnyOThan]

7 hours ago, 4x4cheesecake said:

As far as I know, the changed working directory only breaks some modded games but not the stock game, therefore the suggestion is still perfectly fine and the easiest way to bypass the launcher. The big red subtitle "for mod users" should direct people who play modded KSP to the other suggested bypass.
In my opinion, its valid to keep a simple solution available to those who feel less comfortable to mess with their game install instead of showing just a more complex "one fits all" solution.

Though, I might add a different subtitle to make it easier to differentiate between stock and modded ksp

No, it’s like leaving a landmine somewhere and saying it’s ok because it’s only a problem for people who step on it.  People are stepping on it.  It’s trivial to remove it.  
 

I’m all for trying to make it more obvious what people should do if they have mods but this still isn’t a great solution: 5-10% of readers will completely ignore these kinds of warnings and disclaimers.  Also some people may apply the simple fix in their stock game and then later install mods and not realize the problem.

Edited November 22, 2022 by JonnyOThan

[Lisias]

1 minute ago, JonnyOThan said:

No, it’s like leaving a landmine somewhere and saying it’s ok because it’s only a problem for people who step on it.  People are stepping on it.  It’s trivial to remove it.  

I second that.

It was a good try, there was nothing wrong on trying it before knowing about the breakage. But now that the problems are known, the technique needs to be considered impracticable. Too much things need to be updated (including on KSP itself) in order to this be safe.

Again, it was a nice try. But it didn't worked as intended, so IMHO this needs to be addressed on the OP.

Until KSP itself is known to behave without glitches when running on the a PWD different from "Origin", I will not support my add'ons on this configuration, and this include a Warning being shown to the user when this is detected. I'm not intending to be rude neither harsh about the subject (Kraken know how many times I had err in the past), but this is burdening people that are already busy handling other issues.

On the other hand, I do not think that just removing the post is a good measure. It will remove valuable information from public eyes, and so people will not have a reference if this thing happens again (“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Santayana G). We have some good information here (some of the best inventions made by Humanity started as a bork on something else), I think we should preserve the information, with the safeguard that it does not work as intended.

[Lisias]

Things are escalating, and I being forced to pinpoint this thread as EXACTLY WHAT NOT TO DO on Steam's Forums and Reddit.

I really urge to @4x4cheesecake to listen to @JonnyOThan or me and edit the OP to reflect that this solution has nasty collateral effects.

To tell you the true, the only solution without collateral effects I'm aware at this time is KSSL.

• The @4x4cheesecake breaks KSP and some mods.
  • Not his fault, it's again PD-Launcher screwing up as it had changed the Steam's PWD to a different directory than the one being used for 10 years!
• The shortcut solution breaks Steam Integration
• The External Game solution breaks the Gaming Hours count.

There's not a single solution without collateral effects - salvo KSSL.

Really, KSSL should be the solution to be used by Steam users - at least until now.

 

Edited November 25, 2022 by Lisias
tyop! Surprised?

[4x4cheesecake]

Sorry, have been busy all week long

I hear you guys, and even though I disagree that parts of my OP should be removed, I'll take care of it in a way it's still available but "out of focus". I just really dont like the idea of actually removing parts which where discussed in a thread and maybe even quoted, it kinda breaks the "archival" properties of a forum, IMO.

5 hours ago, Lisias said:

There's not a single solution without collateral effects - salvo KSSL.

KSSL might not have any collateral effects in terms of "it breaks something" but its a mod someone might don't want to install (or someone simply doesn't know how to use github) and you will even have to repeat the installation, if KSP actually gets another update. It is unlikely but nobody expected the 1.12.4 update as well.
There is simply no "one fits all" solution but I'll try to edit my OP in a way to reflect the pros and cons of each possible solution, so everyone can decide which one fits best for them. I also dont mind to put them in an order of "most likely to be useful" with KSSL on the top.

That being said, I'll keep it with a subtitle for  today and start editing the whole thing tomorrow in the morning (I promise!) , I'm just too exhausted to do it right now

[Lisias]

20 minutes ago, 4x4cheesecake said:

Sorry, have been busy all week long

Me too. Black Friday is a living hell for me!

 

20 minutes ago, 4x4cheesecake said:

I hear you guys, and even though I disagree that parts of my OP should be removed, I'll take care of it in a way it's still available but "out of focus". I just really dont like the idea of actually removing parts which where discussed in a thread and maybe even quoted, it kinda breaks the "archival" properties of a forum, IMO.

I agree. 'Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.'

And, in a way or another, your attempt used to work in the past, before PD-Launcher had changed the Steam's configuration for launching the game. This is also something to be documented.

 

20 minutes ago, 4x4cheesecake said:

KSSL might not have any collateral effects in terms of "it breaks something" but its a mod someone might don't want to install (or someone simply doesn't know how to use github) and you will even have to repeat the installation, if KSP actually gets another update.

I agree². On Steam Forum, someone raised this objection too. If you use steam to verify the game installation, it will replace the KSSL with the PD-Launcher again, and so the user will need to redo the procedure.

But - if you want to use Steam Launcher, want to have Steam Integration working and want to have the playing hours accounted, KSSL until this moment is the only option that works.

 

20 minutes ago, 4x4cheesecake said:

It is unlikely but nobody expected the 1.12.4 update as well.

There's yet something else I detected today: the PD-Launcher downloaded and updated something today while I was testing something else on Windows. Since I do not have the slightest idea what it updated, there's the theoretical possibility it had changed something on the game - so if PD decides to update the game only on Launcher, the user will also lose such updates by overruling PD-Launcher.

I will do some more research on the matter as time allows.

 

20 minutes ago, 4x4cheesecake said:

There is simply no "one fits all" solution

I agree³.

 

20 minutes ago, 4x4cheesecake said:

That being said, I'll keep it with a subtitle for  today and start editing the whole thing tomorrow in the morning (I promise!) , I'm just too exhausted to do it right now

I'm very sorry if I ended up pressuring you. I completely understand you, as I have exactly the same problem - I didn't slept one night this week (#hurray! It was two nights two weeks ago!! It's an improvement!!!! ).

I only peskyed you because I noticed another surge of the issue on Steam Forum, and knowing users as I know, things would escalated again by tomorrow afternoon - and, well, I think our ears are already burnt enough.

Cheers, dude. And sorry again for peskying you this way - I'm not too happy with myself right now, if it serves for something.

Edited November 25, 2022 by Lisias
Hit Save too soon.

[4x4cheesecake]

2 minutes ago, Lisias said:

Me too. Black Friday is a living hell for me!

Oh, yeah... I feel you *hug*

4 minutes ago, Lisias said:

But - if you want to use Steam Launcher, want to have Steam Integration working and want to have the playing hours accounted, KSSL until this moment is the only option that works.

Hm... I don't know... my janky solution using the windows command line might work at least on windows, though I haven't done any extensive testing on that one (just checked the log to verify the working directory and if the steam overlay pops up). And apparently, its also possible to manually hook the steam overlay into the game  after launching it from a shortcut but that probably requires some individual scripts on linux, mac and windows.

Actually, the best solution would be if steam asks you if you want to play the game or start up the launcher. I've seen it in other games but right of the bat, I just remember Elden Ring having one of these pop ups:

Though, I guess its on purpose this doesn't happen already.

16 minutes ago, Lisias said:

I'm very sorry if I ended up pressuring you. I completely understand you, as I have exactly the same problem - I didn't slept one night this week (#hurray! It was two nights two weeks ago!! It's an improvement!!!! ).

I only peskyed you because I noticed another surge of the issue on Steam Forum, and knowing users as I know, things would escalated again by tomorrow afternoon - and, well, I think our ears are already burnt enough.

Cheers, dude. And sorry again for peskying you this way - I'm not too happy with myself right now, if it serves for something.

Don't worry about it, its fine. I should have given at least a little heads up that I wont be able to perform any big edits on my OP before the weekend to make it less frustrating for you, that's my bad. In the end, we both try to help others in the best possible way and I appreciate every input I've got from posts in this thread  

[4x4cheesecake]

Ok, rework of my OP is done and I hope I got it right when I  tried to sum up the pros and cons of each solution. Also included my janky solution of using the windows CMD simply because I think its funny and catches the kerbal spirit

[Kerbart]

On 11/11/2022 at 5:06 PM, Lisias said:

Humm… try this stunt:

"c:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" %command% /c "run D:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Kerbal Space Program\KSP_x64_shortcut.lnk"

Why such a complicated command line execution? This is what I've been using for many years:

@ECHO OFF
REM ### Change path as desired ###
D:
CD "D:\Documents\Kerbal Space Program 1.12"
START "" "KSP_x64.exe" -popupwindow

 

[4x4cheesecake]

1 hour ago, Kerbart said:

Why such a complicated command line execution? This is what I've been using for many years:

@ECHO OFF
REM ### Change path as desired ###
D:
CD "D:\Documents\Kerbal Space Program 1.12"
START "" "KSP_x64.exe" -popupwindow

 

Because the idea was/is to solve the issue by manipulating the game launch options, not by writing a batch script. Of course, such script can be used as well but I guess it comes with the same caveats as other solutions: if you launch the game executable directly, it changes the working directory of KSP, thus breaking many mods which rely on it. So you could try using a shortcut to the executable in the script to circumvent that issue but that again, would break the steam features. Since you're already using a script, it would be possible to extend the script to manually attach the steam overlay to the game process but at that point, the rabbit hole got so deep you may want to look for a slightly simpler solution

In the end, such script is just a different approach for the same issue, but it may look a bit more intimidating to less tech savvy people in comparison to a one-liner in the launch options. Might be just my impression though

[Vava]

@4x4cheesecake Please update your original post with this! It solves all the problems elegantly.

From reddit! WORKS like a charm!!

Note: To use bat2exe, just download it (via google). Put your .bat file in a new folder with only the .bat file inside. Open bat2exe from wherever you downloaded it (double click is fine) and select 1) the new folder you just made with only the .bat inside and 2) where you want the converted exe to be saved.

 

[Lisias]

1 hour ago, Vava said:

From reddit! WORKS like a charm!!

Note: To use bat2exe, just download it (via google). Put your .bat file in a new folder with only the .bat file inside. Open bat2exe from wherever you downloaded it (double click is fine) and select 1) the new folder you just made with only the .bat inside and 2) where you want the converted exe to be saved.

Please note that this will be reverted when Steam updates something, or when the user asks for verifying the game installation, the same way it happens with the KSSL, mentioned here.

[Vava]

On 2/12/2023 at 10:37 PM, Lisias said:

Please note that this will be reverted when Steam updates something, or when the user asks for verifying the game installation, the same way it happens with the KSSL, mentioned here.

You could add a copy (cp) command to the .bat script before the start command to cover this. Just have it overwrite the LauncherPatcher.exe every time the game starts, or even use an if-statement to only do it if LauncherPatcher.exe is above a certain size (since the hacked version of LauncherPatcher.exe is only 118 KB). Not sure if they have that as part of KSSL. I lose any extra steam cmd line options, but I don't use any so that isn't an issue for me. Thanks for the link!

Edited February 15, 2023 by Vava

[SpaceFoon]

I just use CKAN as my launcher. Problem solved, and I can browse more mods while my 200 load. Or you could just make a shortcut to the kerbal exe file and run that. Seems a lot easier than all these other workarounds.

[TT213]

Personally I'd suggest using the 1.12.3 version (Properties > Beta tab when you right click KSP in your Steam library).

It's the easiest solution in my opinion, wether you wanna launch the game via Steam, CKAN or even the .exe directly