Steam Overlay and Elemental » Forum Post by SavageBananaMan34

Just add these games to Steam and when you got message from your friend just press Alt+TAB or CTRL+Alt+Del to respond him/her then enter the game. That is what I am doing.

What is steam overlay? Sorry for the ignorance, but I have never used steam.

Steam overlay is like a little interface that pops up when you press some key combination (of your choosing) which has your friends lists and active chats and a web browser and everything. The nice thing is it comes up over your game so you don't have to tab out. You can add the overlay to most any game, but for some reason Stardock games don't like it.

I think problem is ImpulseReactor.dll. It is conflicting with Steam's dll so overlay is not working. Maybe Stardock can do something about this?

SavageBananaMan34

reply 3

Steam overlay is like a little interface that pops up when you press some key combination (of your choosing) which has your friends lists and active chats and a web browser and everything. The nice thing is it comes up over your game so you don't have to tab out. You can add the overlay to most any game, but for some reason Stardock games don't like it.

Thanks for the quick response!

I've used Steam's overlay with Demigod. I just had to change the hotkey for steam's overlay from shift+tab. I changed it to ctrl+`

I wish that Impulse had an option to change it also, since I use Steam's overlay a lot more than Impulse's.

Windisch

reply 6

I've used Steam's overlay with Demigod. I just had to change the hotkey for steam's overlay from shift+tab. I changed it to ctrl+`

I wish that Impulse had an option to change it also, since I use Steam's overlay a lot more than Impulse's.

I tried this on Demigod but it is not working.

I use the steam overlay with Sins sometimes. Stardock doesn't have any obligation to make it work with the steam overlay, and if it doesn't work, so what?

Anyways you have a 95% chance of it working with elemental, other stardock games do.

EDIT: I forgot to mention this but I do think Impulse is getting an instant messaging system in it's next big update, which I think is going to be at the same time the Elemental beta starts. So you could just use that, assuming it also comes with an overlay

Stardock doesn't have an obligation to do anything, but it's definitely in their interest to do this, as the biggest pc community is on steam and steam is how you stay connected to your friends when in-game. I can't think of one person I could message with an Impulse IM (I'm the only person I know who even knows what impulse is).

Since Steam is a direct competitor to Impulse, I'd say that the chances they will intentional support of the Steam Overlay and take time to make sure it works are in the 0-1% range.

That's not to say Elemental won't work with Steam overlay, but I seriously doubt Stardock will put even a single thought into making sure it's compatable.

Now, if I were Frogboy[e digicons]:frogboy:[/e] , I would intentially make sure Elemental does NOT work with any aspect of Steam, but that's just me[e digicons][/e]

Shhh.

Let's see if anyone asks for them to implement Games for Windows Live (which would actually be pretty cool) before we break out too much realism.

I'm replacing 'steam overlay' with 'MSN' or 'AIM' and giggling at the idea that it should be implemented in game by other developers. Remember, steam is 'how you stay connected to your friends when in-game'!

GFWL just sux.

The implementation is certainly complete balls, but if MS didn't suffer from serious inter-division competition it'd be a good idea. They recently made it an external app (finally), but it doesn't actually let you do anything. They've got it so hopelessly wrong you've got to wonder where all that funding went.

EDIT - Oh, sorry for not posting an unsupported one-liner.

Thrawn2787

reply 8

I use the steam overlay with Sins sometimes. Stardock doesn't have any obligation to make it work with the steam overlay, and if it doesn't work, so what?

The OP is a potential customer for Elemental saying "I want to be able to use the Steam overlay while playing Elemental." For the people tasked with selling Elemental, tihs is useful feedback. In terms of the things people are asking for feature wise, this has to be one of the simplest ones to do.

And actually, an option to change the Impuse overlay key combination would be useful too. You should mention that you'd like this over on the Impulse suggestion forum.

In all honesty, a few sales aren't going to hurt, and buying a game based on if the steam overlay works with it or not is really sad. Yes changing the hotkey would be useful, but if you want to use the steam overlay so much why not change it's hot key? Which you can do.

Thrawn2787

reply 15

In all honesty, a few sales aren't going to hurt, and buying a game based on if the steam overlay works with it or not is really sad. Yes changing the hotkey would be useful, but if you want to use the steam overlay so much why not change it's hot key? Which you can do.

We said dozen times. It is not working, change or not. It is not working.

I'd rather just ask for a stable windowed environment able to change resolutions, and perhaps even to have additional windows (so that multi-screen users can have game windows on multiple screens) to allow for easy access to any chat or voip programs; steam, skype, AIM, IRC, vent... you name it.

I think that is much more reasonable than asking for steam intigration (especially since steam is like THE compeditor of impulse)

I can tell you that we don't do anything on purpose to break Steam's overlay and that we will work to make sure it and any other overlays work.

That said, Impulse's community features are something high on our list to continue to improve.

Glad to hear that Brad.

landisaurus

reply 17

I'd rather just ask for a stable windowed environment able to change resolutions, and perhaps even to have additional windows (so that multi-screen users can have game windows on multiple screens) to allow for easy access to any chat or voip programs; steam, skype, AIM, IRC, vent... you name it.

I think that is much more reasonable than asking for steam intigration (especially since steam is like THE compeditor of impulse)

World of Warcraft has a "windowed but full screen" mode. It *looks* like full screen mode (in that it takes up the entire screen with frame or anything), but it functions like windowed mode in that you don't have to alt+tab to use other programs or things on the other monitor. It also has a normal windowed mode where you can move it around on the screen and such. There's a minor framerate hit for doing that, but most of the time it doesn't matter.

Something like that would be nice in Elemental too. Presumably we'll be able to see what type of controls they have in mind once beta hits.

Frogboy

reply 18

I can tell you that we don't do anything on purpose to break Steam's overlay and that we will work to make sure it and any other overlays work.

That said, Impulse's community features are something high on our list to continue to improve.

Thanks for information.

Thanks a lot Frogboy! I appreciate it.

Double thanks, I guess... EGADS!