How to add old versions as separate games in Steam
If one was to download an old version of GTFO and just launch the game by opening the GTFO.exe executable, the game wouldn't be playable. You'd be stuck at the initial loading screen because the game isn't able to connect to Steam.
The usual way to resolve this problem was to have all the old versions in the steamapps/common/ folder next to the default GTFO folder and whenever you'd want to play one of those you would just rename the current GTFO install folder to something else and then rename one of the old versions folders to GTFO instead.
This makes Steam think that the game is up to date but upon launching it's gonna start an old version instead, however this can lead to a bunch of nasty issues, most notably your old game files corrupting because of a new game update release.
It's also rather cumbersome to have to rename folders every time that you want to launch the old builds.
Add the old builds as 'Non-Steam Game's.
By adding them like this you'll have them available in steam and are ready to go with a single button press.
Decide where you want to store your old versions.
This can be in steamapps/common/ or any other folder on your PC.
Once decided on where you want to put the game files, take one version at a time, place it in your designated folder and rename it to something that makes sense:
Something like GTFO_Rundown_1 / GTFO_R1 or similar. This is just so you know which folder is for which game version.
By adding a file called steam_appid.txt, containing the app id of GTFO 493520, into the root folder of all the old versions (right next to GTFO.exe) we're gonna be able to tell Steam that the game that's launching is actually GTFO.
This allows us to have the game stored in a location that is not steamapps/common/GTFO/ which also means that an update to the game can't break it.
You can either create the file yourself (match the spelling), open it and type/copy 493520 into the file and save, or download it here: steam_appid.txt
Make sure to copy the file next to all your GTFO.exe files / into every folder from step 1.
This step has to be done once for every old version you're wishing to add.
Open up steam and go to the Library tab, click the button in the bottom left corner called ADD A GAME and click on Add a Non-Steam Game ....
A window called Add a Game is going to open up, click the Browse button and navigate to where you placed your old versions from step 1 in the just now opened explorer window.
Open the folder of the version that you want to add and select GTFO.exe and press on the Open button in the bottom right.
After that click on the ADD SELECTED PROGRAMS button to add it to Steam.
The old version is now in your list of games in Steam, however it's just called GTFO and that would get confusing if you were to add a bunch more ...
Look for the just now added game in your steam library by searching for GTFO, choose the one that looks barebones: No fancy images, activity or community content.
Right click on it in the list and click on Properties....
Now give it an appropriate name; something like GTFO Rundown 002 - Infection for Rundown 2 for example
After doing all that and adding each of the old versions you'll end up with something similar to this:
(I added mine to a category as well to keep it a little more organized)
Now it's as easy as clicking on the Play button on any of your added versions and it's going to launch that version for you.
You can improve the look of old versions in your library a little by adding custom artwork.
By right clicking on the blank space above the Play-button you're able to change the background image and logo, as well as its position.
The same can be done with the Grid images on the recently played games shelve / collections page by right clicking and going to Manage > Set custom artwork.
- Starting an old version vanilla / without the mod is going to reset your game settings (keybinds, FOV, graphics settings, etc)! You'll have to redo those every time you switch versions.
- On some versions (notable Rundown 6) you are not going to be able to save your expedition progress resulting in you not being able to play anything other than A1 unless you already have it unlocked (circumventable by either playing with someone who has them unlocked or by using the mod with local progression)
- Playing on old versions of the game means dealing with bugs that have been fixed in newer ones.
- Old game versions take up a bunch of extra storage space as well, approximately 10 to 12 GB per version.