If you hoard video games and aren’t selfhosting GameVault yet, you’re missing out! - eviltoast

Hey everyone,

it’s me again, one of the two developers behind GameVault, a self-hosted gaming platform similar to how Plex/Jellyfin is for your movies and series, but for your game collection. If you’ve hoarded a bunch of games over the years, this app is going to be your best friend. Think of it as your own personal Steam, hosted on your own server.

If you haven’t heard of GameVault yet, you can check it out here and get started within 5 minutes—seriously, it’s a game changer.

For those who already know GameVault, or its old name He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, we are excited to tell you we just launched a major update. I’m talking a massive overhaul—so much so, that we could’ve rebuilt the whole thing from scratch. Here’s the big news: We’re no longer relying on RAWG or Google Images for game metadata. Instead, we’ve officially partnered with IGDB/Twitch for a more reliable and extended metadata experience!

But it doesn’t stop there. We’ve also rolled out a new plugin system and a metadata framework that allows you to connect to multiple metadata providers at once. It’s never been this cool to run your own Steam-like platform right from your good ol’ 19" incher below your desk!

What’s new in this update?

  • IGDB/Twitch Integration: Say goodbye to unreliable metadata scrapers. Now you can enjoy game info sourced directly from IGDB.
  • Customizable Metadata: Edit and fine-tune game metadata with ease. Your changes are saved separately, so the original data stays intact.
  • Plugin System: Build your own plugins for metadata or connect to as many sources as you want—unlimited flexibility!
  • Parental Controls: Manage age-appropriate access for the family and children.
  • Built-in Media Player: Watch game trailers and gameplay videos directly in GameVault.
  • UI Overhaul: A fresh, streamlined look for the app, community, game and admin interface.
  • Halloween Theme: For GameVault+ users, we’ve added a spooky Halloween skin just in time for the season!

Things to keep in mind when updating:

  • GameVault Client v1.12 is now required for servers running v13 or above.
  • Older clients won’t work on servers that have been updated to v13.

For a smooth update and a guide on how to use all these new features, check out the detailed migration instructions in the server changelogs. As always, if you hit any snags, feel free to reach out to us on Discord.

If you run into any issues or need help with the migration, feel free to join and open a ticket in our Discord community—we’re always happy to help!

If you want to support our pet-project and keep most upcoming features of GameVault free for everyone, consider subscribing to GameVault+ or making a one-time donation. Every little bit fuels our passion to keep building and improving!

Thanks for everything! We’re more than 800 Members on our discord now and I can’t wait to hear what you think of the latest version.

  • Linktank@lemmy.today
    12·
    24 days ago

    I don’t understand the appeal. But maybe that’s because 99% of my games are through steam where this is kind of already a basic feature?

    Am I misunderstanding the use case here? Someone explain what is exciting about this, because the post and the link for people who haven’t heard of it didn’t really manage to explain how or why this is cool or useful in any meaningful detail.

    • TheOubliette@lemmy.ml
      10·
      24 days ago

      You can buy games in other platforms and as a result have actual proper copies that you can download and keep indefinitely. With Steam you are buying a restricted license to download and use games, and it is very convenient, but at the end of the day you can lose access for various reasons. A common one is that the upstream developers or company decide to break something. For example, companies that add DRM or account requirements after you already bought the game.

      If you buy games from some other places like GoG you get the full game files intended to be archived and run like any other program. GameVault makes it easier to organize these games and get some of the convenience of Steam back while using games you properly own.

      • Linktank@lemmy.today
        11·
        23 days ago

        Okay but like, what does it do? That’s what I’m not understanding. Are you able and willing to explain it at all?

        • steal_your_face@lemmy.mlEnglish
          1·
          23 days ago

          I think it’s like plex for games or a self-hosted steam. If you have drm free games you can host them on a central server then download and install them to other computers you have. Could be nice for data hoarders and big self holsters.

    • pe1uca@lemmy.pe1uca.dev
      7·
      24 days ago

      If your games are in steam then this is not for you, since to use steam games you need to use the steam client.
      This is for games bought in gog or any other platform which properly provides installers.

    • mesamune@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      24 days ago

      It works I’m assuming if you use gog/itch or maintain your own library. I have a couple of drives that do something similar without the UI.

  • otp@sh.itjust.works
    4·
    24 days ago

    I’ve been pretty invested in my LaunchBox setup, and this seems pretty similar.

    What are some things that GameVault does that LaunchBox doesn’t? Or features that GameVault does better than LaunchBox?

    • alfagun74@lemmy.worldOP
      3·
      24 days ago

      Honestly im not too familiar with launchbox, but from the looks of it: Launchbox has no server-side component, no steam-store-like experience, for a small community of friends and family I think. its just a front-end. We also have no fancy ROM features yet, just support for downloading them. We do have auto-extract, auto-install and so on. Also, our source code is available and not closed source.

  • mesamune@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    24 days ago

    Any way to get it working with yunohost? It’s basically an all in one self hosting platform that has installable plugins.

    • alfagun74@lemmy.worldOP
      5·
      24 days ago

      Damn yunohost definitely rings my bell my friend, it’s where and how I started self hosting as well :)

      Unfortunately there are no yunohost packages from us and no plans to make one at the time. Personally, I would recommend you to ascend/evolve into using Docker Containers and something like Caprover, as the range of usable stuff and the non-containerized architecture of using yunohost is very limited and intertwined.

      • mesamune@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        24 days ago

        Appreciate the response. I use docker/docker compose at work. I just don’t like maintaining it.

  • JoeKrogan@lemmy.world
    2·
    23 days ago

    Personally I just throw my roms in directories and serve them from nginx. Its easier to just pull them down on deck that way and requires no extra effort or maintenance on my end.

    Everything else is on steam.

  • fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    2·
    24 days ago

    I take it this only works for A. games and B. modern systems?

    I’m more interested in software than games, especially on older machines. But managing it has always been a pain. I went through the trouble of making a zip disk of old software, and a nice GUI for navigating it. But I’d love something a bit smarter for these old machines.

    • alfagun74@lemmy.worldOP
      1·
      24 days ago

      it works for anything you put into archives. Dont expect a metadata entry for software though. :D

      Regarding modern systems, Microsoft Windows 10 is our minimum supported platform. You may get it to run on older OSes aswell.

  • Hyacin (He/Him)@lemmy.mlEnglish
    2·
    23 days ago

    your good ol’ 19" incher below your desk!

    I would ask you to kindly not discuss my private parts on the internet.

  • λλλ@programming.dev
    2·
    24 days ago

    Does it work with ROMs/emulators? I would love to be able to setup all of my ROMs on my server and just download the ones I want to play on a per-game basis. My ROMs are mostly compressed in .zip or .7z so that’s a different problem. It would be great to have my emulators configured per-device and ROMs on my server.

    I’m imagining how cool it would be to have an app on Steam Deck to help manage local ROMs too. But, that would require Linux builds of the client I suppose.

    • secret300@lemmy.sdf.org
      31·
      24 days ago

      I self host to get away from relying on companies so I rather they focus development on anything but windows

  • icerunner_origin@startrek.website
    1·
    22 days ago

    I previously commented that I was interested, so I downloaded the Docker image and set it up. It has potential. I haven’t tried too much out on it, but have managed to get it to index and install a subsection of the DRM-free GOG and itch.io games I own.

    One thing I couldn’t easily see was how it deals with DLC. I own AI War: Fleet Command along with a handful of expansions which have their own installers. The server picked up the metadata for the main game, but not for the DLC, which are in their own archives. It also didn’t pick up a metadata match for “Dungeon Keeper Gold” despite it having an entry in IGDB. What I’d like to do is be able to assign the IGDB ID as part of the filename, much like one can with IMDB, TVDB and TMDB in Plex. It would also be great to be able to store and separately access non-game assets such as manuals.

    Finally, having to use Microsoft Store to install tears at my soul. Is there really no way to distribute a standalone installer?

    • alfagun74@lemmy.worldOP
      2·
      22 days ago

      First of all, thank you for trying it.

      DLC, MOD and Patch file support is on the roadmap until then it’s a solution to just put them into one tar archive or whatever.

      Regarding the metadata not being found, it can happen in rare cases, you can simply enter the igdb ID into the remap search bar and that will do the trick, no need to edit files on your server or whatever.

      Lastly the Microsoft store is only one of our multiple distribution channels, we also share precompiled executables on GitHub releases. It says it’s unrecommended but don’t worry about it. Check out the client docs for all ways to install the client.

  • cotlovan@lemm.ee
    1·
    21 days ago

    I read the description of the project, but I’m still confused on how it works.

    Where do the games get installed? On the server or the client? Is the server serving a video stream of the running game or the install files for the client?