Fallout 2

Fallout 2

94 ratings
How To Enable Steam Overlay
By DawdlingDan
Enable the steam overlay for Fallout 2 and other games.
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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 2 (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.
19 Comments
LEGUSOR 12 Apr @ 6:18am 
Thanks! This is exactly what I was looking for as a universal method!
I found your guide when I was looking for a convenient way to make the steam overlay work in older games, and your method is much more practical than what I used to create the shortcut "GameOverlayUI.exe" and manually prescribing the GamePID and SteamPID every time the game is started.
torQee 7 Jun, 2024 @ 3:42pm 
How is possible that FO1 (with Fallout Et Tu mod) works as a charm on FO2 engine, but this crap does not. Does not make sense. Any clue ?
khyfox 4 May, 2024 @ 2:05am 
thanks
OrioN_trpg 8 Nov, 2023 @ 9:59pm 
It worked, thanks a lot
M0LDY_CR4N1UM 16 Jan, 2023 @ 1:49pm 
I've only attempted this for fallout 2 as it's the only game on the list I have. I can access the overlay however it doesn't seem to read my keyboard input. Any suggestions?
Gu 30 Nov, 2022 @ 12:45pm 
If anyone has problems getting it to work with Fallout 2: Make sure you have it installed in the same directory as the path specified in the .bat file
Kitty Overlord Lucy 17 Feb, 2022 @ 5:08am 
so this doesn't work for ffallout 2? is that correct? Thx for the time taken to respond! Cheers
Holding These Alligators Down 10 Dec, 2021 @ 9:08am 
Thank you it works. You're awesome :mug:
[B9 Phoenix] teh53m1chr157 7 Sep, 2021 @ 2:25pm 
Mann Co, you need to enable file extensions. They're hidden by default, so basically you're naming the file Example.bat.txt. Go to your Documents folder and click View, then Options, then click the View tab and in the Advanced Settings portion, scroll down and uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types". Put the file in the Documents folder and go to town. Hope that solved your problem.
Qibzamtir 13 Aug, 2021 @ 8:06pm 
Can't seem to get it to work for me. I've got all of the code pasted into the bat file but when I launch Fallout 2 (In the default, non-classic mode) I attempt to press shift+tab and nothing occurs. Still, I may think the problem stems from the fact that I can't change the txt file into a bat file. I rename it but unlike the gif shown above, I don't see a confirmation warning stating that I have changed it into the proper type of file. Any help you could spare would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!