[Outdated] Steam Portable

Yeah, it would have some interest; don't worry, no portableapp is useless
Secondly, Steam portable will include only Steam, so about 50MB, so it can be hosted anywhere.

Thirdly, your registry keys and files are right : Steam stores only data on his own folder, or into the registry, in the key you talked about.

But, Steam includes also a service : try some NSIS plugins to install and remove it on your launcher. On a local install, Steam Service executable is located in %PROGRAMFILES%\Coommon Files\Steam.

And finally, the registry keys and data the .msi installer produces are totally useless in a portabilization. Steam don't care about them when launching.

Hopes that will help you

The problem with Steam is that there are so many different games. I'd be willing to bet each game leaves different files behind.

The problem with Steam is that there are so many different games. I'd be willing to bet each game leaves different files behind.

About Steam Service, the exe located in bin foler is only used for install when first launching.

To run Steam, you have to get your exe located in CommonFiles, as seen into the services console : C:\Program Files\Common Files\Steam\SteamService.exe /RunAsService is the command used by Steam to start the service.

Secondly, I've good template of NSIS launchers. They help me a lot when making portable a new app. Tell me and I'll give you them.

Then, Online installers are hard to make with MSI's files. And Steam msi downloaded on Steampowered.com is incomplete, because it downloads files after, when first launching.

Don't need a bat file, just a line more into your NSIS code. And the plugin system you imagine will be very hard to make, it's more easy to backup the whole steam key.

Ok, we'll see this... You're the owner of the project, so do what you want.

Maybe we can share to each other our Steam Id's in order to chat on another way, not only on this forum ?

And, if you've any problem with NSIS programming, don't be scared asking me, I can help you.

I would be interested in Steam Portable, but not for my flash drive. I'd put it on my external hard drive at home, just so I wouldn't have to install the stupid thing every time I reinstall Windows. So loose registry keys wouldn't bother me as much as they would for someone who wants a truly portable Steam.

I don't even have Steam in my KeePass, but I think I have my login/pass somewhere on my computer. (Yes, I know how stupid that is, I just never use Steam, but once I build my new computer, I'll be using it a lot more.) I have a license for Half-Life 2 and I think Team Fortress 2 and a few others that are "free with license of another Source engine game".

Yeah, of course Steam Portable will be for removable devices, but firstly for removable Hard-disks, because I already tried to run a Source game on my pen and it's long, soooooo long :(...
Moreover, you're right : getting all gcf files already is a good thing: you don't need to download them everytime you want to re-install a game.

I'll be sure to test this when it comes out in beta, though, I don't think I'll be using this for day to day use for a while, considering the large amount of variables here. (Large amount of games/mods, deep integration into windows, ect)

I'll definatly be watching this if you really follow through, but I'm s little skeptical. Maybe you should start on a smaller app before diving into something as big as Steam. Theres a few good ones in the request forum, like Spybot S&D and Wax.

I wish you the best of luck on this.

If you want, I've created a code that will allow you checking if Steam Service already exists on the host post, and if not, installing it.

i can't wait for it

Yeah, me too, and I use Steam very often, but I haven't any news from Benedikt

I created your code
If you need help integrating it, pm me on Steam, or ask here.

Here is the service install code, which must be place before Steam.exe execution :

IfFileExists "$PROGRAMFILES/Common Files/Steam/SteamService.exe" +5 0
	SimpleSC::InstallService "SteamService Portable" "Steam Portable Service" "16" "2" "$EXEDIR\Data\CommonFiles\SteamService.exe" "" "" ""
	Pop $0
	SimpleSC::StartService "SteamService Portable" "/RunAsService"
	Pop $0
Exec "$PROGRAMFILES/Common Files/Steam/SteamService.exe /RunAsService"

And here's the uninstall code, after Steam.exe close

IfFileExists "$PROGRAMFILES/Common Files/Steam/SteamService.exe" +5 0
	SimpleSC::StopService "SteamService Portable"
	Pop $0
	SimpleSC::RemoveService "SteamService Portable"
	Pop $0
StrCpy $1 "SteamService.exe"
KillProc::KillProcesses

Additional Notes : For the service install, I've written that the service EXE will be into the Data/Common Files folder. It was just an example, place it wherever you want in the subfolders App, or Data. Just dont forget modifying the code

You also need to compile, the SimpleSC Plugin for NSIS, available here : http://nsis.sourceforge.net/NSIS_Simple_Service_Plugin

Yeah Chris, I haven't seen the NSIS Service Lib before, and it seems less hard to deploy than a .dll plugin. Thank's for the tip !

I'll see this with Benedikt, if he wants to use the plugin, or the .nsh file

I've exceeded Benedikt's work }:) and made my own portable version of Steam. But, it's only for testing and it will be replaced by Beneditk's version (it's a way for me to show him a good example of his future work ).

Tested on Windows XP Mode, without problems.

If anyone is interested in downloading it but only for testing purposes, ask here.

We were discussing about it on Steam just when you posted this comment

I've sent him my work, so he'll see, make his improvements and publish OUR version.

Stay tuned

I don't go too far for you to spare you from illusions, but I tested what I created on my Virtual XP Mode, because I've Windows 7 Ultimate with an Intel processor. It worked without install problems, but I'm waiting for Benedikt's feedback to continue. We need to refine some things, like the live install of Steam, but the launcher is, I think, finished and seems to work well.

I'm proud too to work on Steam Portable project, and it will also become my favourite portable app. Yeah, I'm a gamer