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aloishammer:
I appreciate it, but I don't have and don't expect to acquire any skill in AHK scripting, so I can't maintain it on my own.
-aloishammer (January 20, 2017, 06:08 PM)
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No skill needed. Save script, add paths, install autohotkey and copy script shortcut to Windows Startup folder. Then the links will be up to date on each boot.
-Nod5 (January 21, 2017, 12:36 PM)
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I understand. But I'm considering long-term possibilities: the Steam manifests may change format next month or tomorrow. They might move, vanish, be renamed, split into pieces, or combined with something else. Maybe Steam will start running them through gzip to save storage and transmission costs. Those are just a few very simple examples.

I avoid becoming dependent on tools that I can't be reasonably sure will continue working in the long term—the long term being years.

Again, I gave GameSave Manager as an example; it's theoretically a very simple tool that does a very simple job (and far better than Steam's Cloud Save feature), but it was maintained by one person who had Something happen that meant he couldn't work on it for a couple years. Luckily, I happened to discover it existed after it was clear it had been abandoned. (Temporarily, but no one knew that at the time.)

Again, thanks, but it's not for me. If I can't maintain it myself—and, at present, I can't—I need to be sure that someone else can... and will. 😁

IainB:
I reckon this could be quite a useful discussion for Steam games players, though having just re-read it, I must confess to being somewhat mystified as to the objectives per the OP and subsequent posts and whether the outcomes have so far been able to help resolve the questions posed.

Regardless, I have learned some things from this discussion. I was interested that @aloishammer raised the issues in the OP, since I had had similar questions in my mind for a while now (related to automating Steam game startups), so I am grateful for that and also:

* (a) to @wraith808 for the info on using the Steam URL Converter to get the current links into FARR.     :Thmbsup:
* (b) to @Nod5 for the explanation of the Steam "url" format used in the shortcuts and the nifty bit of AHK script to generate up to date shortcuts.    :Thmbsup:
The challenge for me is that I need to support and keep 3 different laptops (3 different manufacturer brands) in such a state as they have a consistent, common look-and-feel, so that users can use them interchangeably without noticing any/much difference. I am always in favour of automating things, but this can sometimes become more  complex where there are shared Steam game libraries.

I also have had problems with trying to work around the death-grip of GFWL, and had found some great Fallout 3 script hacks that did just that, but sadlement Fallout 3 now only seems to work on one of the laptops, and for the life of me I can't figure out why only that one.

However, there is hope - as @aloishammer says:
Fortunately, a lot of angry people have worked very hard at removing GFWL runtime requirements from older, unsupported titles. PCGamingWiki has a lot of details on this.
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aloishammer:
However, there is hope - as @aloishammer says:
Fortunately, a lot of angry people have worked very hard at removing GFWL runtime requirements from older, unsupported titles. PCGamingWiki has a lot of details on this.
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-IainB (January 21, 2017, 09:31 PM)
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Oh, yes. The PCGW link I provided deals with specific titles and links to tools and methods for removing the GFWL dependency from each—or else provides information on a newer, re-released build. Where no solutions appear possible, the games' status is noted. I only have a handful of GFWL titles, fortunately, and the BioShock titles have just now gotten the "HD" re-release treatment, which I would hope means they have no GFWL dependencies whatever. 😉

I can't recall specifics, but I've used XLiveless (linked on PCGW) for everything but FO3, and had considerable success. In the case of FO3, bear in mind that the Embryo engine Bethesda Software keep inflicting on gamers is frequently unstable. That is, GFWL may not necessarily be what's preventing FO3 from running in some cases.

If you haven't already, I suggest installing FOSE. Whether or not you use any mods that require it—many do—I've found that it seems to make the game just a little bit more stable. I believe there are also several FOSE-dependent mods that patch out some unpleasant bugs in the executable. Nexus Mods has virtually every mod ever released for a Bethesda title, and should have these. I don't recall names—sorry. See also: the Nexus Mod Manager, which is fantastic.

Additionally, editing the binary to set the /LARGEADDRESSAWARE (LAA) linker flag is a very, very good idea. It's something FOSE can't do, I believe. One of the better tools I've found for this is creatively called "Large Address Aware." If you prefer to use the command line—maybe for automation?—EDITBIN.EXE from the Microsoft Visual Studio tools can change any of the Portable Executable (PE) header flags, including LAA.

...Visual Studio has a free-as-in-beer Community Edition, starting from VS2015. If all you want is EDITBIN, use the web installer, if you can, and perform a custom install. Turn off everything possible, other than the C++ tools selection; I don't recall the exact description, unfortunately. Alternately, I THINK that you can get it in the Microsoft Build Tools. I'm having trouble unpacking the executable to confirm.

Most of this is referenced on the PCGW page for Fallout 3. 😉

IainB:
@aloishammer: Thanks for the above pointers. I had already tried some FO3 Nexus mods. However, nothing has so far enabled FO3 to play properly. The Nexus mods got FO3 to start up, the file selected loads, then crashes during load. That's on 2 of the laptops. The 3rd laptop plays FO3 without any mods ... I have no idea why, and cannot spot the differences that might be behind it. Spent hours on troubleshooting FO3. 

aloishammer:
@aloishammer: Thanks for the above pointers. I had already tried some FO3 Nexus mods. However, nothing has so far enabled FO3 to play properly. The Nexus mods got FO3 to start up, the file selected loads, then crashes during load. That's on 2 of the laptops. The 3rd laptop plays FO3 without any mods ... I have no idea why, and cannot spot the differences that might be behind it. Spent hours on troubleshooting FO3. 
-IainB (January 22, 2017, 07:40 PM)
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Jiminy Cricket.

Maybe you've already gone through all of this, but: I'm thinking back up your FO3 saved games, uninstall FO3 and every bit of related software (FOSE, etc.), and make a clean sweep of any other Fallout-related config files or the like. Voidtools' Everything is fantastic for this kind of work. Be certain to kill the actual .INI files, in case there are bad settings. In fact, be very careful about editing Gamebryo .INIs in general. 😉

Unfortunately, the Gamebryo engine does periodically cause save file corruption, even if you're not using a single mod. Corrupt save files may just cause strange behavior in the game—but they can cause a crash to desktop, too. 😝 I usually back up TES / Fallout save files once or twice a day.

That's all I can really think of. That, and check a few things, like make sure FO3 runs with Administrator privileges—it might need it; I don't know—and review any GPU driver settings you might have. If you're using an NVIDIA GPU, NVIDIA Inspector is really good for this kind of thing.

Also, like I said, try using FOSE if you haven't already, and try setting the LAA flag.

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