Steam Integration

Steam Integration

Argosy can download and launch Steam games through GameNative, a Windows-on-Android runtime. Your Steam library shows up in Argosy alongside your emulated games in the same library view.

Steam support is experimental. It depends on GameNative being installed on your device, and on whatever hardware and driver requirements each specific game has.

Requirements

• GameNative installed on the device. Argosy detects it automatically.
• A Steam account with the games you want to play.
• Hardware capable of actually running the game. Argosy can't guarantee any Steam title will work — that's between the game, GameNative, and your device.

Signing in

Go to Settings > Steam:

1. Argosy shows a QR code.
2. Open the Steam mobile app and scan it.
3. Approve the sign-in on your phone.

Your session token stays on the device. Argosy never sees your password.

If the session expires — a password change, a two-factor reset, or just a long time away — the Steam section prompts you to scan a fresh QR.

Your Steam library

Once signed in, Argosy pulls in your owned Steam games and displays them alongside the rest of your library. Covers, hero art, descriptions, and genres are fetched automatically. There's no scraper to configure.

The library auto-syncs after login and has a 24-hour cooldown on repeat syncs to avoid hammering Steam. You can force a full refresh from the Steam settings section at any time.

If you remove a game from your Steam account, it stays in Argosy's library until you delete it manually. Argosy doesn't prune removed entitlements on its own.

Where Steam games install

Steam games land in GameNative's steamapps/common/ folder on a removable volume — usually your SD card.

Why Internal storage isn't an option

Argosy can write to internal storage just fine. The problem is how GameNative tracks installs there:

• SD card installs — GameNative scans the filesystem at launch. Any complete game folder it finds is recognised, so games Argosy downloads round-trip cleanly.
• Internal installs — GameNative relies on its own database and doesn't do a filesystem scan. Files Argosy writes to internal exist on disk but have no matching entry in GameNative's database, so launching them from Argosy fails even though the game is sitting right there.

Until GameNative adds a filesystem scan for its internal path (or a public API for external launchers to register installs), Steam downloads are SD-only in Argosy.

Picking a volume

In Settings > Steam:

• Auto — Argosy uses the first removable volume where GameNative is set up.
• Pick a volume — force installs to a specific SD card or USB drive.

Steam games can be very large — many tens of gigabytes. Check free space before starting a download.

Downloading a game

Open a Steam game's detail page and tap Download, the same as you would for an emulated ROM. Once a download is running:

• It keeps going in the background. Back out, lock the device, leave Argosy entirely, or put the handheld in standby — the download continues. No foreground screen required.
• Network drops auto-pause and resume. If Wi-Fi cuts out, Argosy pauses the download and picks it back up when connectivity returns.
• Reboots don't lose your progress. Pending and paused downloads resume on the next app start.
• Pause, resume, and cancel are available from the Downloads screen like any other Argosy download.

Only one Steam download runs at a time. If you've also got ROM downloads queued, Steam shares the overall concurrent-download budget with them so they don't fight for bandwidth.

If the destination runs out of space, Argosy stops with a clear message and waits for you to free room before retrying.

Already-installed games

If you've downloaded games through GameNative directly — either through GameNative's own interface, or before Argosy picked up Steam support — Argosy finds them on its own:

• At app startup, Argosy checks GameNative's install folder for game directories.
• Any match against your Steam library gets linked up and marked installed.
• You can play them from Argosy the same as games you downloaded through Argosy.

There's no manual import step. Games you install through GameNative later get discovered the next time Argosy starts.

Launching a Steam game

Press A (or tap) on a Steam game's detail page. Argosy hands the launch off to GameNative. From that point GameNative owns everything — its settings, controller mapping, per-game configuration — and Argosy steps out of the way.

If GameNative isn't installed, Argosy points you to the setup section first.

Cancelling or deleting

From the Downloads screen:

• Pause / Resume — freezes a download. Partial files are kept and the download picks up exactly where it left off.
• Cancel — stops the download and removes any partial files.

From a Steam game's detail page:

• Delete — removes the installed files from disk and clears the game from the "installed" list. The game itself stays in your Steam library.

Saves

Steam Cloud and Steam game save files are handled by Steam and GameNative. Argosy's Save Sync — the feature that backs up ROM and emulator saves to RomM — does not touch Steam game saves.

Known limitations

• Not every Steam game works. Compatibility is defined by GameNative and its Windows runtime. Games with intrusive anti-cheat, unusual drivers, or unsupported APIs can fail to launch, crash on load, or behave badly.
• Download speed comes from Steam's CDN. Argosy can't speed up a slow download.
• Steam rate limits apply. If you hit one, Argosy shows a "try again in an hour" message and backs off automatically.
• Session tokens can expire — a QR re-scan fixes it.
• Region and account restrictions apply. Argosy can only download games your Steam account can access.
• No Internal install location — see the section above for why.