How To Add A Non Steam Game Metro

How to install the Epic Games Launcher on the Steam Deck

No Windows installation or hardcore Linux engineering required

The Epic Games Launcher running on the Steam Deck, showing the Epic Games Store screen.

Did you know you can install the Epic Games Launcher on your Steam Deck, using its more readily available tools and settings? For months it'southward looked like the only mode to get non-Steam games running on Valve'due south handheld PC would be to do away with SteamOS and install Windows instead, but in that location's actually no need to take such desperate measures if you lot want your Epic Games Store library and your Steam library next.

All credit to Liam Dawe, of GamingOnLinux, for finding (so updating) this method. I've translated it into pace-past-step text below, but do get to GamingOnLinux and click on a bunch of articles or something, because I guarantee those videos take got at least 85% of the earth's hardware editors stroking their chins and nodding. Although there are a lot of individual steps, it's nothing as well scary if you've ever used a file manager before. And since y'all're reading a PC gaming site, I'm bold y'all have.

I thing: I strongly recommend grabbing a USB-C hub and using information technology to connect a mouse and keyboard. Installing the Epic Games Launcher on a Steam Deck is theoretically doable if yous use the trackpads for left- and correct-clicks, but it's and so, and so, then much faster and easier with proper peripherals. And if the Steam Deck is your first PC? Our best gaming mouse and best gaming keyboard guides have some suggestions.

The Outer Worlds running on the Steam Deck.

How to install the Epic Games Launcher on the Steam Deck

Step i: Enter Desktop Way by holding downwards the power push, then selecting "Switch to Desktop" from the list of options.

Step ii: Open up a browser (Firefox comes pre-installed), head to Epic Games and download the launcher's installer. Make a note of wherever you save information technology to – it should be in Home > Downloads by default.

Step 2 of how to install the Epic Games Launcher on the Steam Deck: going to the Epic Games Launcher webpage and downloading the installer.

Step 3: Open upward the Steam app, click "Games" at the top, then "Add together a Non-Steam Game to My Library". Just as you may accept done loads of times on a desktop!

Step 3 of how to install the Epic Games Launcher on the Steam Deck: Adding the installer as a non-Steam game in the Steam app.

Step four: The Epic installer won't initially appear in the listing of apps that pops up, so click the Browse button and navigate to wherever you saved information technology. Make sure the File Type field is ready to "All Files" so that the installer tin can appear at all, then select it and click "Open up". Back in the "Add a Game" window, the installer should now be selected, so click "Add together selected programs".

Step 4 of how to install the Epic Games Launcher on the Steam Deck: Finding the installer in your files and clicking "Open".

Step 5: Success office one: Steam now recognises the installer. Observe information technology in your Steam library by searching for "Epic", or just scrolling downwards through your list of games, then right-click it and select "Backdrop". If you lot're using the Deck's trackpads instead of a mouse, pressing down on the left pad registers a right-click. Which sounds odd just also feels totally normal if yous're right-handed? Ergonomics are weird.

Step 5 of how to install the Epic Games Launcher on the Steam Deck: Right-clicking the Epic Games installer in Steam and opening its Properties.

Step 6: In the Compatibility tab of the Properties bill of fare, cheque the "Strength the use…" box, then select the latest installed version of Proton from the drop-downward menu beneath. This will get the Epic Games Launcher running nether the same Linux compatibility layer that the Steam Deck uses to get almost Steam games running.

Step 6 of how to install the Epic Games Launcher on the Steam Deck: Forcing the installer to use Proton for compatibility.

Stride 7: Close the Properties window and launch the installer in Steam. Click "Install" in the setup wizard and wait a fleck.

Step 7 of how to install the Epic Games Launcher on the Steam Deck: Closing the properties window and launching the installer through Steam.

Stride viii: The next few steps require some spelunking into Steam's own files. Open upwards the Dolphin file manager, click the 3-line icon in the pinnacle-right corner, then select "Show Subconscious Files." And so, navigate to Home > .local > share > Steam > steamapps > compatdata.

Step 8 of how to install the Epic Games Launcher on the Steam Deck: Finding Steam's compatdata folder using the Dolphin file manager.

Step ix: Annoyingly, the folder you lot want is named with a random string of numbers, just as the first GamingOnLinux video points out information technology should exist a much longer string of numbers than the others in compatdata. Open it up, then continue navigating through pfx > drive_c > Program Files (x86) > Launcher > Portal > Binaries > Win32.

Step 9 of how to install the Epic Games Launcher on the Steam Deck: opening the folder with the highest number, then navigating through it to the Win32 folder.

Footstep 10: Discover the EpicGamesLauncher.exe file, right-click it and select "Copy Location" to copy that exceedingly lengthy file path. And then, head back into Steam and right-click on the Ballsy installer to open its Backdrop menu again.

Step 10 of how to install the Epic Games Launcher on the Steam Deck: Copying the location of the EpicGamesStore.exe file. Then, opening the installer's Properties in Steam again.

Step 11: In the "Shortcut" field, delete the existing shortcut path (except for the quote marks) and paste in the new ane. Do the same with the "Kickoff In" field, except this time, delete "EpicGamesLauncher.exe" from the stop of the path. Close the window once yous're washed.

Step 11 of how to install the Epic Games Launcher on the Steam Deck: In the

Stride 12: Success part two! Launch the installer in Steam again, and there it is: the Epic Games Launcher. Subsequently it finishes installing, you tin can log in with your existing credentials and ready well-nigh installing games from your Ballsy library. However, we're not quite washed yet…

Step 12 of how to install the Epic Games Launcher on the Steam Deck: Launch the installer in Steam to open the launcher fully.

Stride thirteen: Remember how the executable was in a Win32? Once the Epic Games Launcher is fully installed and updated, it creates and starts using a Win64 folder instead, and leaving "Win32" in the Shortcut and Start In paths will break both. Fortunately, you don't have to deep-dive into those files once more to fix this: just open the installer's Properties once again in Steam, and in both the Shortcut and Start In fields, delete "Win32" and supplant it with "Win64". Close the window and this should continue everything working.

Step 13 of how to install the Epic Games Launcher on the Steam Deck: Closing the launcher, then going back into its Properties and replacing both instances of "Win32" with "Win64".

Step 14: The other big issue to address is accessing microSD cards; past default, the Epic Games Launcher can only install games to the Deck's integrated storage due to a Proton quirk. To fix this, first by opening Dolphin and finding "master" in the Removable Devices section of the sidebar – this is your microSD menu. Click on information technology.

Step 14 of how to install the Epic Games Launcher on the Steam Deck: To fix Steam Deck microSD cards being unrecognised by the Epic Games Launcher, first find the card in Dolphin.

Step 15: Click near the top of the Dolphin window, where information technology reads "primary", to run across the file path. Highlight and copy this path.

Step 15 of how to install the Epic Games Launcher on the Steam Deck: Click and copy the file path of the microSD card.

Stride 16: Once over again, head back into Steam and open up the Backdrop menu of the Epic installer (which at this point is essentially the full Epic Games Launcher). Scroll down to the "Launch Options" field and manually blazon in (without quotes) "STEAM_COMPAT_MOUNTS=". Then, paste in the file path, followed by a space, so "%control%" (besides without quotes). Close the window and you should now be able to select the microSD as an installation location for Epic game downloads.

Step 16 of how to install the Epic Games Launcher on the Steam Deck: In the installer's Properties, type STEAM_COMPAT_MOUNTS=, then paste the file path, then leave a space and type

Step 17: One last bit of optional but recommended setup is to disable those pop-up notifications (y'know, ads) that appear whenever yous load up the Ballsy Games Launcher. This is specially important when loading the Launcher from the Deck's primary Gaming Mode, equally unlike in Desktop Mode, those pop-ups will mess with the Launcher's window size. It's easily done: in the Launcher, click on the circular icon with the first initial of your username in information technology, and so click Settings. Scroll down to the Desktop notification section, and but uncheck both boxes to nix the notifications.

Step 17 of how to install the Epic Games Launcher on the Steam Deck: To prevent issues with pop-up notifcations, launch the Epic Games Launcher, enter its own settings menu and uncheck both Desktop notifications.

Getting in that location is quite the expedition, but having access to Epic Games… games on the Steam Deck is admittedly worth the try. Besides, all it actually takes is searching through files and tinkering with Steam settings, which you may well have done before in Windows. You don't need to be a savant of Linux's more than arcane utilities, like the control line interface.

Of the games I've tried, through the Launcher, The Outer Worlds ran flawlessly, and then too did Control after a one-time failure to launch. Both work seamlessly with the Deck controls, and don't interfere with the quick suspend/resume feature. The main compatibility issue volition be anti-crook; Epic take said they've no plans to adjust Fortnite's Easy Anti-Cheat to piece of work on Linux, and getting the Ballsy Games Launcher to work won't change that on the user end. Unlike Steam, Epic's app also won't track which games are and aren't compatible with the Steam Deck – but for games available from both storefronts, yous could always check our regularly updated list of Steam Deck Verified games. If Valve has granted a game a Verified rating, it should (in theory) work just also when running information technology through the Epic Games Launcher.