Author: Justin Pot / Source: howtogeek.com
Your various ROM collections, Steam games, and various other Windows games are, at the end of the day, all just games. Wouldn’t it make sense to launch them all from the same place?
That’s the idea behind Launchbox, a free program that can launch ROMs with any emulator, DOS games using DOSBox, and even your PC game collection.
If you’re the kind of person who hoards games and then forgets to play them, this is for you. You’ll end up with a single interface, complete with cover art and details, to browse whenever you want to play something.We’ve shown you how to set up RetroArch, and that gives you a single interface for emulating everything you can imagine, but it’s still a system that’s separate from the rest of your game collection. Launchbox puts your ROMs alongside all the other games on your system. Here’s how to set it up.
Setting Up Launchbox
Installing Launchbox is simple: just head to the Launchbox website and follow the prompts. Note that you’ll need an email address to get the download link, and then installing works like any other Windows program.
The first time you run the program you’ll see a wizard that helps you install titles.
Again, right now, importing Steam games isn’t working, even though it’s listed among the options.
Adding Steam Games to Launchbox
In order to add your Steam games to Launchbox, you’re going to need a couple of pieces of information before you start importing games. The first thing you’ll need is your very own Steam API key. The reason for this is that Steam changed the way things work recently, and the API key that belongs to the makers of Launchbox no longer works for Launchbox users.
The good news is that getting your own API key is really simple. Head to Steam’s page for registering a web API key (and sign into Steam if you haven’t already). The site asks you to enter your website URL. If you have a website, you can enter it, but you can also type in any random website to get your API key. Copy that API key, because you’ll need it in a moment.
The next thing you’ll need is your Steam ID. The easiest way to find that is to sign into Steam (the website or the Steam client), and head to your profile page. Take a look at the URL at the top of the page, and the last part of that is your Steam ID.
With that information in hand, you’re ready to import your Steam games into Launchbox. In Launchbox, head to Tools > Import > Steam Games.
The first thing you’re asked is to fill out the user ID portion of your Steam profile. Type that in, and then hit the “Next” button.
Next, you’re asked for that API key, so go ahead and paste it into…
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