Edit: This isn’t about this specific game in particular! The point is that install folders are just disappearing when they shouldn’t.

I have just installed a non-steam game right after a fresh re-image of SteamOS. Genshin Impact is the game in question. At first I added the installer .exe to Steam as a non-steam game and successfully installed it. The next step would be to add the launcher .exe as a non-steam game. But I couldn’t find it in the ‘Steam/steamapps/compatdata/[random numbers]/pfx/drive_c/Progam Files (x86)’ folder like expected and just installed it again without thinking twice about it. This time I could find the launcher.exe and added it as a non-steam game.

Now I could launch the launcher.exe through Steam and installed Genshin Impact from there and chose the C:/Program Files (x86) as the install location (from a weird Windows looking directory chooser). The game downloads and installs successfully and I close the launcher. Now the next step of the guide I’m following tells me to switch back to Gaming Mode and launch the game. I do that and it immediately closes again. I go back into Desktop Mode to see what’s up. Maybe it just can’t launch in Gaming Mode, but in Desktop Mode it behaves the same and closes immediately. To investigate I navigate to the installation folder again and see that the launcher installation has completely disappeared but the game itself is still installed and after adding the GenshinImpact.exe as a non-steam game I’m able to launch the game without problems.

But my question is now, how do I prevent this from happening? Why does a folder just disappear? Again I’m on a freshly re-imaged SteamOS and this is the first thing I’ve done before setting anything else up.

Any help is much appreciated!

Notes: This is the guide I was following to install the game

As a side note: In the video the guy is just right clicking and selecting ‘Add to Steam’ in Desktop Mode when I do that it just opens the dialogue window to choose the file I want to add to Steam instead of adding it directly. Is this a setting or something?

It gets even weirder: Just now I wanted to rename the as a non-steam game added ‘GenshinImpact.exe’ and upon clicking into the text field all input fields on that interface just cleared. Of course I wanted to add the target again and what do I see? Nothing. The game just disappeared. What the hell is going on?

  • copygirlEnglish
    2•11 months ago

    Doesn’t each separate .exe you add as a non-Steam get its own proton prefix? That is, each of them end up with their own [random numbers] folder that doesn’t match another?

    and chose the C:/Program Files (x86) as the install location

    This might be the problem, but I’m not sure. When you choose C:/ as the install location in the installer, that C:/ is inside the proton prefix of the installer executable. I believe you’ll want to choose a place outside of that. For example Z:/home/deck/Games/Genshin Impact or the SD card like the guide was showing.

    I’m guessing when you deleted the installer.exe from your games list, it removed the proton prefix for it, deleting the game you installed in there alongside it? Either way, from a quick glance that’s what I could see you did differently from the video guide.

      • copygirlEnglish
        1•11 months ago

        Well at least here he chose something different.

          • copygirlEnglish
            1•11 months ago

            Well there’s three executables here: The initial installer, which installs the launcher, and the launcher, which installs and updates the game. You do want to keep the launcher around (and install that in its own location outside the installer’s proton prefix). I was just trying to come up with an explanation why the game disappeared. If you didn’t make the mistake I speculated you might have then yeah, I’m not sure.