A script that creates human readable symlinks for Proton game prefixes - now adapted for desktop (Arch-based) Linux systems!

Prerequisites

Note

This is made with desktop Arch Linux (or derivatives thereof) in mind, and only tested with the native version of Steam! Currently won't symlink correctly on Flatpak environments ~~(though you probably shouldn't be running Steam containerized anyways :x)~~.

Install Protontricks either:

From the AUR:

$ git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/protontricks.git
cd protontricks
makepkg -si

# or more simply, if you use an AUR helper (yay/paru):

$ {paru|yay} protontricks  # then select protontricks

From the chaotic-aur:

# pacman -S protontricks

From Flathub:

$ flatpak install com.github.Matoking.protontricks

Installation (Package Manager)

Build from the AUR!

$ git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/shortix-desktop.git
cd shortix-desktop
makepkg -i

Once finished and installed, enable with:

$ systemctl --user enable --now shortix

Proton prefix symlinks are created in $HOME/.steam/protonPrefixes

Background and explanation

The original author, Jannomag, wanted to have easier access to the prefixes for the games on their Steam Deck, so they created Shortix.

And then some other numbnut whom you might have heard of came across the original project, and wanted to use it on their desktop to more easily mod Steam games ~~and maybe talk about it eventually in a modding video hint-hint nudge~~.

This fork provides:

A modified shortix(.sh) that creates its shortcuts and mark files in $HOME/.steam/protonPrefixes (to mitigate home folder clutter as much as possible) - and also named as a typical executable!
Fixed the systemd service unit to be installed in the central package-installed directory (/usr/lib/systemd/user) and deployed to a user's systemd services directory (~/.config/systemd/user).
Packaged to build and integrate nicely on Arch Linux systems!

How shortix works:

Runs protontricks to get a list of all installed games, including Non-Steam games.
Use the data to create symlinks in /home/{yourUsername}/.steam/protonPrefixes
If there's a dead end symlink, it will get removed
The script will be executed every 15 minutes by a systemd system service

To change the restart interval, adjust /usr/lib/systemd/user/shortix.service - change the 1800s value to your desired value in seconds, then save and run systemctl --user reload-daemon

You can also manually invoke the script by simply running shortix.

Prefix removal script

An additional script, shortix-delete, allows you to delete a game(s)' prefix or shadercache folder - when run, simply drag-and-drop any proton prefix and/or shadercache symlinks from a file browser into the terminal window it's being run in.

Press enter afterwards, and the script will notify you about the paths and confirm whether you want to delete them.

Warning

The deletion will remove the prefix / shadercache completely! Prefixes often includes game-specific configuration files and/or user data/save files--if your game doesn't support Steam Cloud Saves, please backup any files you care about restoring later before confirming!

Tested systems / distros

EndeavourOS (w/ native Steam/Protontricks)

Contribution

If you have any suggestions, let Jannomag know on his repo! This fork aims to otherwise remain in-sync with upstream.

As for the nature of this fork, I would like to see about making the shortix delete script into a GUI application, but I'll leave that for someone else to worry about!

SeongGino / shortix