Playing games

Launching

Press Play. Gameyfin watches the whole game while it runs, including games that start through a launcher that closes at once, and records your playtime. If a game quits within a few seconds, Gameyfin reads its output and tells you why in plain words where it can, on the game's card in Library and on its row in Installed.

With save sync on, a newer save from another PC is restored before the game starts and your save is backed up after it closes. See Save sync.

Windows games on Linux

Gameyfin runs Windows games the way Steam does. You do not need Steam installed.

Piece	What it does
Proton (umu)	Runs the game in Valve's Steam Runtime. UMU-Proton downloads on the first launch.
GE-Proton	Optional, with extra media codecs. Download it in Settings, Compatibility, then pick it in a game's options.
Proton-CachyOS	Optional, and often the first build to carry a fix for a new game. Downloaded and picked the same way.
Wine	Gameyfin's own fallback, downloaded when needed: for a 32-bit program on a system without 32-bit libraries, or when Proton cannot start.
Game fixes	umu's list of per-title workarounds, matched by Steam AppID when your server knows it, by title otherwise. Updated daily. A game's options can name a fix by hand.

Gameyfin downloads all of these itself, so nothing needs installing on your system. The first launch shows the download's progress on the game, and later launches work offline. A newer Proton build replaces the old one.

Prefixes

Every Windows game gets its own prefix, a small Windows environment in Gameyfin/Prefixes. Inside it, the game's folder appears as C:\Games\<title>: installers are sent there, and repacks and their patches look for the game there. Z: is your whole file system.

Once a Windows game has run, its options in Installed have Compatibility prefix, with Wine settings, Registry, Browse C:, Winetricks and Delete prefix. Compatibility settings exist on Linux only. A deleted prefix is rebuilt on next launch, but anything the game kept inside it is gone, including saves that were not backed up. Uninstalling a game offers to delete its prefix too. Prefixes kept that way are listed under Settings, Compatibility, Leftover prefixes.

Winetricks

Winetricks installs Windows components a game expects but does not bring along, such as the Visual C++ runtimes, DirectX extras or .NET. Most games need none, and Proton already applies fixes for the games it knows.

When a game fails to start because a component is missing, Gameyfin names it in the error and ticks it in the game's Compatibility prefix. Press Install there. You can also tick components yourself, or type the verbs a ProtonDB report mentions. On Proton nothing else is needed. A game on Wine needs winetricks installed on this PC.

Per-game options

Open a game's options in Installed:

• Launch options: flags passed to the game, such as -windowed.
• Environment variables: one KEY=value per line, the place for fixes copied from ProtonDB. WINEDLLOVERRIDES=dxgi=builtin turns DXVK off for this game only.
• Proton build: GE-Proton or Proton-CachyOS instead of UMU-Proton, once downloaded.
• Proton fix: the workaround Proton applies for this title. Automatic uses the game fixes list. Choose searches that list, offers the fix for the game's Steam release when your Proton build has one, and takes an id typed by hand.
• Wayland and WOW64. Wayland draws the game without XWayland. WOW64 runs 32-bit games without 32-bit system libraries, but can break anti-cheat. A variable typed in the box above wins over either switch.

Changes save on their own: switches at once, text when you leave the box. These fields are not a shell. Quoting works, nothing else is interpreted.

Installer memory limit

Repack installers can hang when they see a lot of RAM. Gameyfin caps them at half your memory (at least 4 GB) by default. Change it in Settings, Compatibility.

Shortcuts

In a game's options in Installed, add it to:

• Applications menu (Start menu on Windows)
• Desktop
• Steam, as a non-Steam game, for every Steam account on this PC. Restart Steam to see it. Handy for Big Picture and the Steam Deck.

Shortcuts start the game through Gameyfin, so the prefix, playtime tracking and save sync still apply.

Controllers

Connected controllers can drive the whole app. Press Start for the button map. The pad is only read while the Gameyfin window is in front, so it stays with the game you are playing.

Settings, Interface, Controller:

• Read connected controllers: turn controller input on or off.
• Switch to the large layout when a controller connects: bigger text and covers for the sofa. Switch back from the controller overlay at any time.

On Linux, a setup program started while a controller is connected can be driven with it: Proton's gamepad helper is turned on for the whole wizard. PROTON_USE_XALIA=0 in the game's environment variables turns it off.