Get started

First steps

Confirm Steam is connected, and how to work when it is not.

Before building anything on top of SteamForge, confirm it is actually talking to Steam. Almost every support question turns out to be a setup problem that this page would have caught.

Check the connection

Press Play, open the console with the tilde key, and run:

code

steam.Status

A healthy result looks like this:

code

--- SteamForge status ---
  Available        : yes
  Mode             : Preloaded before RHI
  App ID           : 480
  Steam library    : steam_api64.dll
  Entry points     : 1009 / 1009 resolved
  Bindings built   : SDK 1.65

Available is the line that matters. If it says no, the Failure line underneath tells you why in plain language.

What the modes mean

Mode	Meaning
Preloaded before RHI	SteamForge started Steam early, before the graphics device. This is the best case and the one where the overlay works.
Coexisting	Sharing a session with OnlineSubsystemSteam. Normal when the engine's Steam plugin is enabled.
Standalone	SteamForge started Steam itself. Normal when the engine's Steam plugins are off.
Mock	Not talking to Steam at all. See below.
Not Initialised	Nothing connected. Read the Failure line.

The Steam Doctor

For a fuller picture, use Tools > Steam Doctor in the editor, or run steam.Doctor in the console.

It runs a set of checks, worst first, each with a plain language explanation and a fix button where there is an obvious fix. It catches the App ID being unset, steam_appid.txt being wrong, the engine and SteamForge disagreeing about your App ID, and more.

Testing without Steam

You do not need Steam running to work on Steam features.

Set Mock Mode in Project Settings > Plugins > SteamForge:

Value	Behaviour
Editor fallback	Uses the mock only in the editor, and only when real Steam could not be reached. Packaged builds always use real Steam. This is the default and the right choice for most projects.
Always	Never touches Steam, even in a packaged build. For automated tests and build machines.
Disabled	Never uses the mock. Steam features are simply unavailable when Steam is not running.

The mock implements achievements, stats, leaderboards and lobbies. Progress persists to Saved/SteamForge/MockState.json, so it survives restarting the editor the way real Steam progress would.

Inspect it any time with:

code

steam.Mock

INFO: Mock Mode is also how you test multiplayer lobbies locally. Two Play In Editor clients share one Steam account, so against real Steam the second player joining is really the host joining their own lobby. The mock gives each client its own identity, which makes local lobby testing actually work.

Useful console commands

Command	What it does
`steam.Status`	Connection state, App ID, resolved functions
`steam.Doctor`	Full diagnostic checklist
`steam.Overlay`	Whether the overlay can appear, and why not if it cannot
`steam.Achievements`	List every achievement and whether it is unlocked
`steam.Mock`	Inspect the mock backend's state
`steam.Missing`	Steam functions the loaded library does not export

Where to go next

Blueprint basics, which covers the three patterns every feature page uses.