Topic: [Guide] Ice + Steam = Ultimate Frontend for all games on your PC

[KaZudra]

Steam Big Picture mode is a glance at Valve's attempt to take the console market, at first it was rough and not too different from running Steam in grid mode, Now we have such advancements as the Xbox Guide Button brings up steam Overlay (only works in big Picture) and (New addition) Allowing an Exit Option in the Steam Overlay. It's 2014, and Emulation is pretty common amongst PC Gamers, and Well, most of us are already using a controller for them, such as a good amount of games as well. By using Steam's Big Picture mode, and a program named "Ice", We're gonna put your entire collection of emulated games on steam individually, and use Steam as the Ultimate Front-end for all of your games.


As a Bonus, I want to add Joy2key as a needed program, Xpadder is good, but for windows 8 it needs UAC confirmation, also lacks a great deal of advanced settings that makes Joy2Key Vastly Superior even though it lacks the visual layout...


Hardware Needed
a PC, higher end the better...
A high compatibility controller, the Wired Xbox360 controller is what I'm using...
HDTV (optional), a means to stream or connect to designated HDTV

Programs needed
Steam
Ice
Emulators (Campatability)
(optional) Joy2key

Instructions

• Install Steam, Close Steam... Ice only works while Steam is Closed
• Extract Ice, Follow these instructions...
• Run Ice again, if done correctly you should be seeing all of your games, you can tidy up, Edit games' titles, and Get some banners
• Run Steam in Big Picture mode, enjoy

Special Notes
For Dolphin, by Right-clicking properties and edit config... you can adjust key settings per game
Joy2Key allows automatic Profile switching when focused on key programs, Just make a bind-less profile as your default and set up every game that would need Joy2key, once set up you can play Binding of Isaac on Controller, and only keep those binds when playing that game only.
Higan, a Multi-emulator, Sporting Accurate emulation for SNES, NES, and other 2D Nintendo consoles, has an Issue with Closing via Steam Overlay, you can solve this issue by making a Alt-f4 binding for Joy2Key for the emulator
PCSXBonus acts wierd in big picture mode interacting with Overlay, nothing game breaking or major, Just choose your game before exiting.


Now that you are done...
Enjoy every game in your PC's library (Except the Keyboard+Mouse only games) On Big Picture mode as if every game were ported to your system, with enough console feel to compete with what's hot today, I hope anyone can find this informative in any ways, and as always, thank you for reading.

[X]

Sounds interesting, however I've noticed that Joy2key does not work with some controllers. If you can alleviate that issue then it would be awesome.

[Aridale]

in what way is joy2key more advanced than xpadder?

[KaZudra]

in what way is joy2key more advanced than xpadder?

automatic profile switching mostly, plus it can emulate mouse controls and macros easier