Steam Integration and Achievements Tutorial (Tested on MV)

Intro

So... you’re planning on releasing your RPG Maker MV game on STEAM in this, the year of our lord 2025. Steam integration is turning out to be trickier than you expected, but you can’t say “no” to those sweet, sweet features. Being able to pull player data like their playtime or Steam username seem like neat lil’ tricks, but you’re after the holy grail. One of the most popular ways for gamers to track their progress through your game and for you to reward them for achieving the unlikely: STEAM ACHIEVEMENTS.

Sadly, the guides you’re finding online are old, outdated or incomplete. The official page for OrangeGreenworks is down, there’s a ton of confusion about what versions of SDKs and NW.js you need and the instructions from various sources are conflicting and confusing.

Does any of the above sound familiar? If you are struggling, as I did, with all of the above, then YOU, my friend, have come to the right place. After much, MUCH trial and error, I was able to get integration and Steam Achievements to work on my game and I will now pass my knowledge on to YOU!



Questions you may have at this point:

What is Steam Integration?

It’s your game’s ability to “talk” with Steam. Once it’s working, you will be able to pull some data directly from Steam and have it function as a variable or text in your game. This will let you do neat little tricks like call the player by their Steam name. However, if you’re like me, the functionality you’re most interested in is having a Steam Achievement pop up for the player when they perform a specific action in your game. This will require you to set up “Steam Integration”.

Does my game need to be published/uploaded on Steam to do this?

The short answer is NO, since you can run a local test to confirm that your game is, in fact, trying to pull data from Steam (you can test this by creating a dummy data file, I will explain later), but ultimately, to actually confirm that integration is working and to test if your achievements pop up on Steam, YES, you will need to already have your game uploaded to Steam.

How do I get my game on Steam?

NOPE. This guide will not be covering that. The short version is you have to pay $100 (as of the time of writing) and go through Steam’s many requirements to get your page created, your game tested, approved by Valve and published. I will not be touching on practically any of that, as I feel like there is plenty of information online on this topic, far more than I could find on the actual setting up of Steam Integration. This also goes for “creating the achievements” themselves on Steam.



Quick rundown:

There are 5 major components that are required in order for this to work and they all need to be both the right “versions” and "set up correctly". Any error with versions or installation of ANY component is very likely to result in one of countless errors or failures. Thankfully, I have done a lot of the legwork so you don’t have to! The components you'll need are:

• The correct version of each OS “Node” (various .node files).
• The OrangeGreenworks plugin (JS file).
• The correct version of Greenworks (JS file).
• The correct version of Steam’s SDK files (many files in this folder would normally need to be moved to a “lib” folder in your game files to allow for integration).
• The correct version of the NW.js (.exe file)

Credit to all those who did work, without which I would not have been able to implement integration.

• Thanks to KillerGin for creating a great guide in 2021: Setting up STEAM Integration in RPG Maker MV
  
  This is a great starting point as it covers how you would normally obtain and install all the files you need. I believe it is just somewhat outdated since I tried the versions he recommends and it did not work for me. Thanks to LandsharkRAWR, however, for commenting on this thread and advising that he was able to succeed by using these versions: NWjs 49.1, steam SDK 1.43 and greenworks v83. Those versions worked for me and they’re the ones we will be using in this guide.
• Thanks to Hudell for creating the OrangeGreenworks plugin and its guide: OrangeGreenworks - Steam Integration with Achievements and Time Log
  
  Unfortunately, the link to the plugin is down as is the site where the instructions are hosted! Bummer! But thankfully, both have been saved locally and I will be providing them to you.

Before diving in, ***BACK UP EVERYTHING***

I cannot stress this enough; I am not responsible for any damage you cause to your own game or computer by following these instructions. They worked for ME on a Windows operating system, but I recommend you back up the entirety of your project to a safe location, ideally, both on your local computer and a second location (a cloud service or maybe an external drive) before attempting.

This includes both your project folder as well as your RPG Maker MV local files since this process will require adjustments to both.

You are proceeding with these instructions at your own risk!




Alright, with the disclaimer and credits out of the way, let us begin.


I. Downloads

Normally, you would start by locating and downloading:

• NW.js version 49.1
• Steam’s SDK package version 1.43 (contains necessary .node and api files)
• Greenworks version 83
• The OrangeGreenworks plugin

Lucky for you, I have placed everything here: Incredibly Convenient WinRar File

1) So, the first step is to click the link just above this line and extract the file you receive. You should now have a folder called “PlayGG.Docs_STEAM_Integration_Bundle”.

You’re welcome.


II. Update your NW.js file

***SERIOUSLY, CREATE BACK UPS***
Again, I strongly recommend you back up both your project folder and your RPG Maker local files before attempting these changes. That way, if anything goes wrong, you can just restore your backup folders and avoid any potential issues

***COMPATIBILITY WARNING***
This process WILL REQUIRE you to update the local files in RPG Maker, specifically, the NW.js files. Some users have reported performance issues, particularly with some plugins when updating their NW.js files. I have not encountered any performance issues but I cannot speak to its universal compatibility with any plugins you may be using. If you start experiencing performance issues, restore the local folders to their original backups and again, proceed at your own risk.

1) Right click your RPG Maker MV game in Steam and click PROPERTIES > INSTALLED FILES > BROWSE
2) Navigate to the nwjs-win folder
3) Move the “www” folder and the “package” file (place them on your desktop or another folder, you will need them again shortly).
4) Delete all other files in the nwjs-win. It should now be empty.
5) From the file I provided and you extracted, locate the “nwjs-sdk-v0.49.1-win-x64” folder
6) Copy all files and folders from the “nwjs-sdk-v0.49.1-win-x64” folder into the “nwjs-win” folder.
7) Move the “www” folder and the “package” file you removed in step “3” back into the nwjs-win folder.
8) Rename the “NW.js” file to “Game”. (NOTE - This should be an executable file, so if you are displaying extensions, make sure its “Game.exe”. - I believe this name IS case sensitive since Steam's search for the executable file is case sensiti)
9) Delete the “chromedriver” file from this folder. (This is a file that is only needed for the editor playtest functionality, so it does not need to be in this folder. However, there will be copy of it will be in the nwjs-win-test folder).
10) Back out of the "nwjs-win" folder and locate the “nwjs-win-test” folder.
11) Delete all its contents (nwjs-win-test folder contents).
12) Copy and paste all the contents in the nwjs-sdk-v0.49.1-win-x64 folder into the “nwjs-win-test” folder.
13) Rename the NW.js file to “Game”. (Again, make sure it is being recognized as an executable file).

Having trouble so far?
If you are struggling or more of a visual learner, please have a look at KillerGin’s instructional video here: Dramatically Improve RPG Maker MV (and MZ) Games
This time-stamped link already starts at the 3:40 mark which is when he covers how to replace the files in the nwjs-win and nwjs-win-test folders. Everything after the 8:30 mark in his video is irrelevant to this guide. He will also show you how to confirm your update worked in the editor Playtest engine, but keep in mind that the version you will see is 49.1, not 50.2 like he does in the video.

Congratulations. You have now updated your NW.js and related files in you RPG Maker MV local folders. This by itself should help improve performance in RPG Maker. Moving on…


III. Setting up the "LIB" folder and Greenworks file

1) Navigate to your project folder. This is the folder that contains your project’s “Game” file and is usually located here: C:\Users\YOUR_USER_NAME\Documents\Games\YOUR_GAMES_NAME
2) From the file I provided and you extracted, locate the “lib” folder. Copy and paste it (the entire lib folder) into this folder. It should be on the same level/folder as your “Game” file.
(Note – One of the more time-consuming parts of this process was wrangling everything that needs to be in the lib folder from its original location. This includes several node and api files which must be pulled from various locations housed in the 1.43 SDK folder. I have already set up the lib folder with all its needed files for your convenience.)
3) From my provided files, also locate the “greenworks.js” file. Copy and paste it into the same folder (not IN the lib folder, but on its same level). Yes, it’s an odd spot for a .js file.

Your game folder should now contain your Game file, the lib folder, the greenworks.js file as well as various other files and folders. Moving on…

IV. Setting up the OrangeGreenworks plugin

1) From my provided files, locate the orangegreenworks.js file
2) From your game folder, navigate to the js > plugins folder. Copy and paste the orangegreenworks.js plugin here with your other plugin files
3) Launch RPG Maker MV, click on your plugins and add/enable your new plugin. It should ideally be placed at the bottom of your plugin list. Make sure you set it to ON.

I am assuming you are familiar with adding plugins at this point, so I didn’t go into too much detail here. Moving on…


Quick break

I would take a moment to playtest your game for a second just to make sure everything still seems normal. Maybe walk around, get into a battle… we probably don’t want to keep going if you’re experiencing any compatibility issues at this point. If you do encounter any weirdness, I would recommend replacing your game folder as well as your RPG Maker local files with the backups you created before starting this guide. (YOU BACKED THEM UP, RIGHT!?)

On the other hand, if everything is working as expected then CONGRATULATIONS! You have no idea how hard it was for me to make it to this point. Or since you’re here, maybe you do? Let’s move on to the final steps!

V. Deploy your game and modify your deployed game files

1) Deploy your game. (I assume you’re familiar with this process but just in case, make sure you don’t use the “exclude unused files” option. I would recommend encrypting since you probably don’t want Steam users going through all your game files, right?)
2) Then navigate to the deployed folder. Verify that there is a “lib” folder and that it contains the “greenworks.js” file.
3) Outside the www folder, delete everything except for the package.json file (and the www folder itself).
4) In files I provided, locate the “nwjs-sdk-v0.49.1-win-x64”. Copy and paste all of its contents into your deployed game folder. (Only its contents, not the folder itself).
5) (For testing) Create a text file (using Notepad) called “steam_appid.tx”. The contents of this text file should be your game’s App ID. This can normally be viewed on your Steam Developer page. It typically ends with zero. This file is only needed for testing purposes, when you send your game to steam’s servers, you don’t need to include it.
6) Rename the nw.js file to “Game”. (Again, assuming “Game” is the file you’ve programmed Steam to look for).

You may now double-click the Game file to playtest your game. Note that it will not launch if you do not create the text file mentioned on step 5, but that file is not necessary for deployment onto Steam.


Quick note on OrangeGreenworks plugin

In the included files, you will find one called “Steamworks Manual”. These are the creator’s instructions on how to install and use the OrangeGreeworks plugin. We have already covered all the installation stuff but you may want to review it for instructions on using the plugin itself. Some important script commands include:
This script call will return the Player’s Steam Screen Name. While playtesting, it will return “Play Test” instead.

This script call will activate an achievement called ACHIEVEMENT_NAME. While playtesting, it will only display a message on the console indicating that the achievement was activated.


VI. Deploy to Steam and test!

Once you are satisfied with local testing, you may delete the “steam_appid.tx” file and upload your game to Steam. Hooray!

Now as you may have surmised, Achievements need to be set up in Steam and assigned a specific name. Then, you can run scrip commands in your game that call that specific name and as long as you’ve followed these instructions, integration should be active and your game should be able to “talk” to Steam. For example, if you make an achievement on Steam called “ACH_Beat_Level_1”, then performing the script call


will prompt the achievement to pop up on Steam and award it to the player’s profile.


What do you mean just "Deploy to Steam and test!?"

Sorry friends, this guide will not delve into how to upload your game onto Steam or how to set up achievements there because, as with creating a Steam page, I feel there is plenty of documentation out there that will guide you. Figuring those things out was nothing compared to getting integration set up, so if integration is now working for you, you’ve conquered one of the hardest parts. Well done!

I believe that most people that end up here have already figured out Steam page publishing and game uploading, so I have decided to keep the scope of this guide focused on specifically Steam Integration.

If you're struggling to set achievements up in Steam itself, I highly recommend this AuroDev video that covers it in great detail:
How to Add Achievements to Your Game



Outro / Shameless Plug

Well friends, what an adventure we’ve had. I hope you found this guide helpful! Best of luck in your RPG Maker and GameDev journey and I look forward to seeing what great games you all come up with, hopefully now featuring Steam achievements!

Speaking of cool Steam games with Achievements, please check out my upcoming release, PIXEL PIXIE which will be releasing in the next few weeks!



Thank you and happy game-making to all!

You're amazing for putting this all together! I'm sure by the time my game is ready a lot of this will be outdated since I'm just starting out :') still appreciate you.

EDIT: Just wanted to come back to say that I decided to try this just to see what would happen. Everything seems to work exactly as it's intended to for me as well (on Windows 10), although since I don't have achievements set up in Steam, I'm not able to test the Greenworks plugin in a playtest yet. EVERYTHING else seems to work though. This is going to make my life so much easier down the road.

The only hiccup I encountered was I was not sure at first where to save the steam_appid file the instructions say to create in Notepad. It should have been obvious to save it in the "lib" subfolder of my deployed game folder, since the other files that begin with "steam" are in there, but I didn't notice that at first and tried saving the appid file for playtesting in the main game folder first, and then the www folder, haha.

I'm not sure how frequently NW files get updated, I'm hoping by the time I'm ready to deploy an actual game to Steam I won't have to reconfigure this...right now I'm still making the game and my Steam store page is still under review. That's how early I am in this process... I am thinking it will take me close to 2 years from now to have my game finished.

Hi! Sorry for the later reply.

"steam_appid" would go in the same folder your "Game" file is located in, so the same level as the "www" folder and "package" file. This is just simulating the plug in pulling the App ID as it would do from Steam if you were connected. The file should be removed before uploading to Steam.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Oh thank you again, that is very good to know! I actually do have one other question. In part III step 3 the instructions say to "Copy and paste it [greenworks.js] into the same folder (not IN the lib folder, but on its same level). Yes, it’s an odd spot for a .js file." But then in part V step 2 it says "Verify that there is a “lib” folder and that it contains the “greenworks.js” file," after deployment.

When I did my test deployment the greenworks.js file was still on the same level as the lib folder as per pt. 3 step 3, and I had to manually move greenworks.js to the lib folder. Is that normal, or was it supposed to already be there after deployment somehow...? It just said to "verify it's there" so I wasn't sure if manually putting it there was supposed to happen (or if it even matters that I manually placed the file there), or if I messed up.

That's probably a ridiculous question, but again I really appreciate the help...

You should not need to manually move anything. If you have everything where it needs to be, upon deployment, there should be a greenworks file in the described location. I'll have to double check if the files have different extensions and get back to you, but it should not be necessary to move the file in that step.

I just recently implemented Steam achievements in my MZ game; the frustrating thing is that the greenworks API has no function to retrieve how many achievements a user has unlocked, so creating platinum achievements is a pain in the ass.

You would have to track that in game using switches or maybe more easily, variables. Every achievement in game raises the value of “Total Achievements” and once you have the full number that should result in a platinum trophy, you proc it unlocking in game which would unlock it on Steam.

The problem with that is that some of the achievements can be done over multiple playthroughs, and variables are save-specific.

I was using a stat for it, but it ended up out of sync sometimes or if you manually reset an achievement via the console.

You could try a plugin that allows global variables that persist across save files. The one I use lets you choose which switches and variables persist, it's for RMMV. I've never used MZ but I'm guessing this plugin would work in a similar way?

Casper Gaming Dev Corner Global Data Plugin

I considered that too but honestly it seemed more trouble than it was worth since that would be the only thing I'd be using it for, so I just took the platinum achievement out.

So odd! I just tried it again with the same result, starting from the very beginning. After deployment I opened the game folder and the greenworks.js isn't in the lib folder. lib folder has 5 greenworks files but they are all .node for different linux and windows versions. greenworks.js is in the www folder with package.json, index.html and the other subfolders. Maybe one of my plugins is doing something weird, idk.

The game seems to run normally when I launch the game after deployment (after I manually move the greenworks.js file from the game folder to the lib folder, I mean).

Ah, this is true. You can use a “Meta Control” plug in to have switches persist between save files which solves some of that problem:

Meta Controls by Olivia
But it would not solve the issue of a player collecting some achievements on different devices (playing half on PC and half on say, steam deck).

It also, I believe, would reset the meta switches if the game is uninstalled and reinstalled? Not 100% on that. A tricky dilemma for sure.

Hello @PlayGG_Doctor .

I followed your guide step by step 3 times and I was not able to run the app after deployment. Then I checked comments and I have the same issue as @2HeadedBoy .

When I move greenworks.js from www folder to lib manualy, the game will launch. But, there is an error I'm getting (screenshot). I tried multiple variants and I'm able to run the game without the steam_appid.txt, because "Greenworks failed to load." from the console.

Any tips how to fix this?

Thanks.

EDIT: When I'm on playtest and press F8, i can see: "Steam User: [My Steam name] OrangeGreenworks.js:129 ", so that's working fine. Problem is after the deployment of the app.

Hi @2HeadedBoy @Sussuri

Apologies for the delay in reply, been very busy. Im sorry to hear that youre having some issues with the file placements. I will post screenshots of what the folders should look like each step of the way below. Hopefully this will help clarify what needs to be done.

1) This is what your "GAMENAME" folder should look like before deployment.



2. This is what the lib folder should look like pre-deployment.



3. Once you have DEPLOYED though RMMV, you will get a new "GAMENAME" folder that should look like this:



4. Within, the "www" folder should look like this:


5. And the lib folder should look like this:


6. The changes from Pre-Deployed to Deployed should be automatic, that is to say, I did not move any folders anywhere nor did I make modifications after hitting "Deploy".

7. Now, you do basically have to delete everything in the "GAMENAME" folder with the exception of the "www" folder and the "Package" file. You will replace all removed files with the contents of the "nwjs-sdk-v0.49.1-win-x64" folder and you will -

a) Rename the "nw" file to "Game" and
b) Add a text file called "steam_appid" which will contain a number, ideally the one assigned to your application on steam.

Once you have performed these steps, the "GAMENAME" folder should look like this:


Double-clicking the "Game" executable file should allow you to test the game in its deployed state.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have follow up questions.

Thx, worked perfect.

Thanks for the step-by-step guide, @PlayGG_Doctor ! But I was wondering, does this method still currently work? I followed all the steps and (thankfully) my end result matches all the screenshots you provided, but after deployment for local testing, the game doesn't seem to run; even after creating the steam_appid.txt and adding the App ID of my game to it. The window just flickers open for a moment and then immediately closes. (Oddly, removing the greenworks.js file allows the game to run normally, but I assume this removes the entire Steam-communication functionality)

All I can think of is that maybe it can't run because my game isn't ON steam yet? I just submitted it yesterday and it's still in the Review queue, so I wonder if maybe the AppID is pointing to nothing.

EDIT: Welp, nevermind. When trying to test it locally through opening the Game.exe file, it still doesn't open. However, even though my game is still in the review queue, I'm able to test it through Steam and the achievements DO work. Not being able to playtest it via the Output file is a bit annoying, but as long as the achievements work, I'm fine with that! Thanks again for the guide!

It happens to me too, but when I'm with the Steam open, I can test the game normally. It's like it gets connected to Steam in some way, even don't playing the Steam version.

Hm, yes, the method still works for me. That is peculiar that it will work on Steam but not locally. I almost feel like it must have something to do with the text file. What you are describing is what happens to me if I try to test the file locally but have forgotten to create the steam_appid text file.

When you check its properties, it is showing as a "Text Document", correct? Just making sure it doesn't have the .txt extension tacked on but is in another format. Its content should also just be nothing but a short string of numbers (typically 7) and there should be no spaces or other characters in the file.

If it's happening to two of you though, then I doubt you're both using an invalid text file but based on the information provided, I can't say I'm sure what might be causing the local launch issue.

I just used your files and it all worked great. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR HAVING IT ALL IN ONE PLACE. You are going in my Special Thanks for my game for this. You are awesome. I did have an issue at first, but then redid it all one step at a time with all of your programs and no outside sources and it works great. I was able to do this to three games and all three launch through Steam, but not outside Steam.

I'm glad it worked for you! It was a giant hassle for me to figure out the figure out the first time. At one point, I was definitely resigned to not having Steam achievements in my game since I couldn't figure it out, but I did finally figure it out. After all the help I've received from the community while working on my game, only seemed right to share my findings.

It would be an honor to be included in your game's special thanks. Very kind!