Fallout

Fallout

112 ratings
How To Enable Steam Overlay
By DawdlingDan
Enable the steam overlay for Fallout and other games.
3
3
   
Award
Favorite
Favorited
Unfavorite
How To
Create a new text file on your computer and rename the text file extension from .txt to .bat
eg. ForceSteamOverlay.bat
Right click -> edit the new batch file. Copy the code from the box down below, paste it inside the new batch file and save it.
To use, double click on the batch file.

Then just start Fallout (or any other game in the exe list) as you usually would in Steam. It'll recognise the game and enable the Steam overlay. You can now use Steam chat, screenshot functionality etc.



@Echo off :: Alter this path if your Steam installation lies somewhere else. set steamPath=C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam :: List of games tried and working. :: Fallout (high resolution) > falloutwHR.exe :: Fallout (classic) > FALLOUTW.EXE :: Fallout 2 (high resolution) > fallout2HR.exe :: Tomb Raider Legend > trl.exe :: Tomb Raider Underwold > tru.exe :: Add game exe's here, seperated with a space. set exes=falloutwHR.exe FALLOUTW.EXE fallout2HR.exe trl.exe tru.exe :: Not really necessary but as a precaution, :: give the game some breathing room before starting the overlay. (in seconds) set delay=3 :: No need to alter anything below this line :: set gamePID= set steamPID= echo Waiting on game start.. : Search REM Grabbing and feeding the Steam pid in the command eliminates occurance of overlay not popping sometimes, no need for game app ID. REM Do it here in the search to be sure, in case of this batch being ran before Steam was started. if defined steamPID (goto SkipSteamSearch) else (for /f "tokens=2" %%s in ('tasklist ^| findstr /i "steam.exe" 2^>NUL') do set steamPID=%%s) : SkipSteamSearch for %%e in (%exes%) do (for /f "tokens=2" %%p in ('tasklist ^| findstr /i "%%e" 2^>NUL') do set gamePID=%%p) if not defined gamePID (timeout 3 /nobreak > nul & goto Search) else (echo Game started) & (echo Forcing overlay) timeout %delay% /nobreak > nul start "" "%steamPath%\GameOverlayUI.exe" -steampid %steamPID% -pid %gamePID% -manuallyclearframes 0 :: List of games tried where the overlay still don't work. :: Fallout 2 (classic) > fallout2.exe :: Pharaoh + Cleopatra > Pharaoh.exe :: Zeus + Poseidon > zeus.exe
Notes
If your Steam installation is located somewhere other than the default: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam like on another hard drive for example. You will need to change the steamPath line in the script to reference your steam install location.

I've added compatibility for games in my Steam library. If you wish to add compatibility for more games, just add their exe names to the exes list.
17 Comments
vita 20 Oct @ 5:51pm 
thank you so much
Antique 27 Apr, 2024 @ 6:38am 
it works per session for me i think. if i run the batch file before launching. impressive nonetheless though
Ahlendor 26 Apr, 2024 @ 9:25am 
That's amazing. Thank you :steamthumbsup:
Shigeru Miyamoto 31 Jan, 2023 @ 9:49pm 
I did everything on this guide, yet still doesn't enable steam overlay for some reason :(
SecretAgentKiiN 特务健 17 Oct, 2022 @ 8:37am 
Brilliant :steamhappy::FH5Superstar:
slash 25 Sep, 2022 @ 4:33pm 
much appreciated fren
grateful slut 6 Aug, 2022 @ 8:46pm 
I wanna weigh in.

This fix absolutely enables the Steam overlay in Fallout 1. I can take screenshots, click on elements in the overlay, open guides, etc.

**However**, I can't type anything in. At all. Not in chat, not in the web browser, nothing.

I'm using Fallout Fixt 0.81 Alpha with the high resolution patch. I've tried the three rendering modes (Basic, Direct Draw, DirectX9), different resolutions, and enabling and disabling the hi-res patch altogether. No luck.

Credit to you for getting the overlay working this well, though! This problem has plagued me for almost ten years.
★ Adieu! 2 Apr, 2022 @ 6:31pm 
!Gracias!. Esta guia me permitio tomar capturas de pantalla del juego :jawagrin:
Switaly 8 Oct, 2021 @ 1:44pm 
Fallout 3 ?
SenorGrande 31 Aug, 2021 @ 7:06pm 
:surprise: Awesome! This solution works fine! Thank you so much! :manthumbsup: