Seaglass v1.10.0

New

• The mouse wheel works in big picture. It moves the selection like the D-pad: one notch is one step, Shift or a sideways wheel goes left and right, and a touchpad's small scrolls add up to a step.

Fixes

• The controller could stop being detected. When a game ended while the next one started (or a game noticed outside Seaglass started just then), the controller layer could stay released for good, so big picture showed no controller until Seaglass restarted. It now always ends up in the mode it was asked for last. If the controller layer can't start, it tries again instead of staying off.
• The controller comes back right after a game. It used to wait for the save backup after the game, which can take minutes.
• A controller Seaglass can't open is logged. This usually means another program holds it for itself (HidHide, DS4Windows, DSX). The diagnostics report now shows the controller layer's mode.
• Two quick settings changes no longer undo each other.
• A damaged settings file (for example after a power cut) no longer resets your folders and settings: the copy from the last good start is used, and the damaged file is kept aside.
• The welcome keeps working with the controller. It used to switch to big picture underneath itself.
• Opening a screen from Quick access closes the game page that covered it.
• The overlay keeps the controller's battery up to date.
• Epic and GOG sign-ins survive a refresh that returns no new token.
• Play tracking finds a game process that couldn't be read the moment it started.
• Big picture Settings and Library tabs keep working when a list gets shorter. Closing a dialog with Esc or ○ keeps the focus where it was. Syncer calls recover after a write is cut short.

Faster

• Typing in the library search doesn't sort the whole library again for every key, and big picture search normalises each title once.
• Following a game's processes uses much less memory.

What's Changed

• v1.10: controller fixes, mouse wheel in big picture, audit fixes by @ApolloF in #32

Full Changelog: v1.9.1...v1.10.0

Seaglass v1.9.1

Fixes

This release changes how Seaglass is tested, not how the app behaves. It goes with Syncer 0.15.0, which brings back a Seaglass data folder that was emptied.

• The end-to-end test harness no longer deletes %APPDATA%\Seaglass before restoring its backup. If the backup is missing or incomplete, it leaves your library, settings and playtime alone. If a copy fails, it puts the current folder back. When it restores a backup an earlier run left behind, it keeps the current folder next to it.
• Tests no longer write to the real seaglass.log.
• A test checks that a restored copy of this PC's profile file (which Syncer writes next to a file made again) adds up with it: playtime is summed, achievements are combined.

What's Changed

• Keep tests and the harness away from the real data by @ApolloF in #31

Full Changelog: v1.9.0...v1.9.1

Seaglass v1.9.0

New

• Turn on Ubisoft achievements. For a Ubisoft game on a Uplay emulator (VOICES38, Goldberg Uplay) whose ini has achievements off, the Achievements card now has a Turn on button. It sets Achievements = 1 in the emulator's ini (or creates one), and keeps the old file as <ini>.seaglass.bak. The card then says to play the game; if a play still saves no achievements, the card goes away, and it comes back by itself once a file shows up.

Changes

• Games installed outside a store launcher are now called external copies: the External library in the sidebar, labels like External · RUNE, and the Recognise external copies setting. Your setting, a hidden Unofficial library and your library's labels carry over.
• The README has an Intended use section.

What's Changed

• Uplay achievements: Turn on button, and hide the card when nothing is saved by @ApolloF in #29
• Rename unofficial copies to external copies by @ApolloF in #30

Full Changelog: v1.8.0...v1.9.0

Seaglass v1.8.0

Syncer accounts: each person on a PC gets their own saves, playtime, achievements and settings, on every PC they play on.

New

• Who's playing. With Accounts on in Syncer, games play as the person Syncer has on this PC, without asking. To switch, use the sidebar (desktop), Who's playing in quick access (big picture) or Settings → Saves. Syncer puts that person's saves in place.
• Playtime, last played and achievements go with the person. They're kept per person and added up over all their PCs. Achievements unlocked on another PC show up here too.
• Settings go with the person (Same settings on every PC): appearance, controller, while playing, saves, achievements, updates and which libraries show. Game folders, store sign-ins and start in big picture stay per PC.
• Syncer syncs and backs them up (Sync them with Syncer, on). This needs Syncer 0.14 or newer. An older Syncer still switches accounts, and Seaglass tells you to update it.
• Ask who's playing (off, per PC): for a PC people take turns on, a game asks whose saves to use before it starts.

Changes

• The library's playtime and last played now come from your profile. What this PC had before is carried over once, the first time you start this version.

What's Changed

• Updates: check once at start, install while in the tray by @ApolloF in #26
• Syncer accounts: follow who's playing; per-person playtime, achievements and settings by @ApolloF in #28

Full Changelog: v1.7.1...v1.8.0

Seaglass v1.7.1

Fixes

• Games no longer count as crashed when they exit with code -1 or are closed with Ctrl+C.
• A game whose process ID Windows reused, or a process list Windows failed to return, no longer ends or confuses a session.
• Quit on a game now works as long as at least one of its processes was ended.
• GOG achievements keep their names, icons and rarity when GOG doesn't answer.
• Achievement icons that failed to download while offline are downloaded again later.
• Opening a game's achievements no longer waits for another game's achievements to be looked up.
• Game details found online no longer overwrite a match or art you picked while they were loading.
• Store playtime and last played are kept on owned games after a scan, and a store's owned mark covers every installed copy of the game.
• Disconnecting a store removes its owned marks from every game.
• Signing in or out of Epic or GOG while the library refreshes no longer brings back the old account.
• Saving new files to the desktop no longer rescans the library unless they are shortcuts.
• A failed library save is logged and tried again.
• A controller's small stick drift no longer counts as input, and unplugging a pad releases a held D-pad direction.
• Big picture: search ignores typing while a sheet or quick access is open, and rows and lists keep their place when the library changes.
• Desktop: renaming with Escape or Enter no longer applies a second time, and Sign in with GOG/Epic only asks for the code if the sign-in page opened.
• Long release notes in the updater no longer end in a broken character.

What's Changed

• v1.7.1: audit fixes by @ApolloF in #27

Full Changelog: v1.7.0...v1.7.1

Seaglass v1.7.0

Ubisoft achievements, better matching, and games that behave the way you started them.

New

• Achievements for Ubisoft games on a Uplay emulator (Goldberg's, and VOICES38's when it's set to save them): read from Goldberg UplayEmu Saves, with names from the emulator's schema or the Steam version. VOICES38's own loader doesn't seem to save achievements; builds with Achievements = 1 in their ini do.

Changes

• Big picture's launch sequence plays only for games started from big picture. Games started in desktop mode, from a shortcut, or outside Seaglass don't get it.
• After a game Seaglass comes back in the mode you started it from, instead of switching to big picture. A game started from a Seaglass shortcut leaves the window closed.

Fixes

• Resident Evil 4 (2023) and other remakes Steam sells under the plain name are found: matching and Change game… also try the title without "Remake", and short names like RE4R are understood.
• Typing in Change game… no longer selects the whole title after every key.
• RUNE and CODEX achievements: every unlocked achievement counts, including ones only listed in the file's index or with full progress, and ones left behind by an earlier emulator setup.
• PlayStation controllers on Bluetooth are no longer switched into a mode that left some games (DirectInput) without input. On Bluetooth, rumble and the lightbar in Seaglass now need USB.
• The controller is handed to the game as soon as it starts, not only once it's seen running.
• A crash handler left running after a game was closed from Task Manager no longer keeps the game "running".
• When a game closes, Seaglass comes to the front properly, and the taskbar stays behind big picture.
• A game that had just closed could still look like it was running when the window came back.

What's Changed

• v1.7: Ubisoft achievements, remake matching, launch sequence by mode, tester fixes by @ApolloF in #25

Full Changelog: v1.6.1...v1.7.0

Seaglass v1.6.1

Fixes

• Games Seaglass can't look achievements up for (a game in a folder with no Steam emulator, or one it hasn't matched to a store) no longer show an empty Achievements card with "No achievements yet".
• After an update, achievements are read again instead of showing what the previous version made of them.

What's Changed

• Achievements: no empty cards; cache keyed by version by @ApolloF in #23
• Fix flaky TestCrashCapture by @ApolloF in #24

Full Changelog: v1.6.0...v1.6.1

Seaglass v1.6.0

Achievements for your games, store installs and external copies alike.

New

• Achievements in a game's details: how many you have, a progress bar and your latest unlocks. Show all lists every one, unlocked first, with when you got it and how rare it is.
• In big picture too: Achievements on a game's page.
• After you play, Seaglass says what you unlocked, with the icons.
• Where they come from: Steam (from Steam itself; with your Steam Web API key also games Steam hasn't cached), Epic (sign in to Epic to see your progress), GOG (GOG Galaxy's progress; sign in to GOG in Settings → Accounts for names and icons) and the files Steam API emulators keep for external copies (including Goldberg, gbe_fork, SmartSteamEmu, CreamAPI and Nemirtinga's Epic emulator; the full list is in achievements.md). How rare an achievement is comes from Steam's global stats, Epic and GOG.
• Hidden achievements stay hidden until you unlock them. Settings → Library → Show hidden achievements shows them anyway, and the full list can reveal them.

Notes

• Achievements are read when you open a game and after you play, never in the background, and nothing is sent anywhere while a game runs.
• Not read yet: EA, Ubisoft, Battle.net and Xbox games, and a few emulator formats whose files aren't publicly described.
• You can turn achievements off in Settings → Library.

What's Changed

• CI: retry installing NSIS by @ApolloF in #21
• Achievements by @ApolloF in #22

Full Changelog: v1.5.0...v1.6.0

Seaglass v1.5.0

WaterLauncher is now Seaglass, licensed under the AGPL-3.0. WaterLauncher doesn't update to it on its own: download Seaglass-setup.exe below and run it. It replaces WaterLauncher and brings your library, playtime, settings, art and "start with Windows" along. Seaglass updates itself from here on.

New

• Install Syncer with one click: Settings → Saves (and a game's saves card) installs Syncer, or updates it, straight from its GitHub releases. The download is checked against the checksum GitHub published for it. About Syncer opens its project page.
• Hide libraries: turn off whole libraries you don't want to see, such as Xbox, unofficial copies or plain folders, in Settings → Library or big picture's Settings. Their games still count playtime.
• Orbit puts the games you've played lately and your favorites in and around the middle.

Fixes

• The PS button in big picture no longer takes the window out of full screen.

Changed

• Add-ons (DLSS Updater) are no longer part of Seaglass for now. DLSS Updater keeps working on its own.
• Seaglass installs to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Seaglass and keeps its data in %APPDATA%\Seaglass and %LOCALAPPDATA%\Seaglass. Shortcuts you made yourself that start WaterLauncher.exe (for example with --play) need to point at Seaglass.exe.

What's Changed

• Seaglass 1.5: rename, AGPL-3.0, Syncer install, hidden libraries, Orbit, PS button fix by @ApolloF in #19
• CI: make the Run key when the runner has none by @ApolloF in #20

Full Changelog: v1.4.0...v1.5.0

WaterLauncher v1.4.0

WaterLauncher 1.4 brings choosing a game's art from the couch, a controller test, a welcome for new installs and collections, smooth big picture at 4K, and better art and matching for games Steam doesn't sell.

New

• Choose the art: a game's page in big picture has Art: pick its cover, background, banner and logo (L1 / R1 switch between them) from Steam's art and screenshots, the Epic store and PCGamingWiki, and with a SteamGridDB key many more. Your choice stays when details refresh.
• Test your controller: Settings → Test controller shows every button, stick and trigger live, which buttons have worked, and whether a stick drifts. Hold ✕ to feel each rumble, hold ○ to leave.
• Collections: put games in collections of your own ("Playing now", "Co-op", …). They show in desktop mode's sidebar and as Library tabs in big picture (L2 / R2); add games from a game's details or its page in big picture.
• Welcome: a new install starts with a short welcome: what was found, where WaterLauncher looks, and how you like to play.

Smoother

• Orbit no longer flickers or stutters while you glide through it: at 4K it now draws ten times as many frames and uses half the memory.
• Console and Deck stay smooth with a direction held, also with thousands of games.
• The mouse pointer hides in big picture while you use the controller or keyboard.

Art and matching

• Games only Epic sells get their art and details even from a repack or a plain folder (for example Alan Wake 2).
• Controller support comes from PCGamingWiki too, so games that support the DualSense but don't say so on Steam start directly instead of through Steam Input.
• Backgrounds are chosen from several pictures, sharp up to 4K and calm where the text sits. Details and art are fetched once more in the background after updating.
• More folder names are recognised: short names (SkyrimSE, L4D2, AC Valhalla, Mafia 2 DE), names written together, more release groups, and folders named after an expansion. Folders that aren't games (Tools, Redist, launchers) are never matched.

Fixes

• A game that crashes says so, with its error, instead of "Welcome back".
• A game that takes a while to load shows Loading until its window appears.
• In big picture Search, PageUp / PageDown and Tab work while typing.
• The game page's text is easier to read over bright backgrounds.

What's Changed

• Dev harness: drive the real app with a virtual controller by @ApolloF in #13
• Metadata: PCGamingWiki, Epic store art, better backdrops by @ApolloF in #14
• Real-app tour: every screen, both inputs, six sizes, four launch routes by @ApolloF in #15
• Smooth big picture at 4K with 2,000 games (Orbit flicker fixed) by @ApolloF in #16
• Match audit: 958 real names, 99.1 % right, no wrong matches by @ApolloF in #17
• Art picking, controller test, welcome, collections by @ApolloF in #18

Full Changelog: v1.3.0...v1.4.0