Steam won't let me open 2 RPG Makers

Simple question.

In the non-steam version of RPG Maker I can open up RPG Maker twice. Great for transfering material from one project to another.

Steam doesn't let me do that because I "already have the program open."

How do I circumvent this?

What I do is just right click on the running RPG Maker application icon and click on the program name; it then opens a new window with no project in it. This is on Windows 7, mind you; no idea how this looks or if it works in 8 :)

Really? Hmm, it gives me the same error:

Failed to start game (app already running)

Do you have RPG Maker in Steam?

you may be able to run it sepretly from the steam apps directory. 

That might be what makes it possible, yeah; I don't start it from Steam, but from a shortcut to the app exe itself.

How do I run it separately from the Steam apps directory then?

Once I figure that out I should be good to go. Thanks for the help.

I don't believe you can with the steam version. They put a lot of work into making sure the content of the steam platform is secure, and they don't let you have more than one version of a program from your library open at once.

you have to go to program files x86 (im on a 64 bit so may be diffrint for you) then click on somthing once press s find steam open it go to apps>common>RpgmakerVXACE> then the .exe try that

I have been able to run two versions simultaneously on steam.  Here is how:

First start your original project, and have the program open.  

Next go to your C:\Users\"name'\Documents\RPGVXAce you wish to open as well with the current.  Where name is the username for your login.

Double click the other projects "Game" icon, this will open a second copy of the program with a blank window.  Drag the game icon into the open blank window.  



Now you can copy and paste events between your projects, or work two at the same time.  If you click on the steam window it will say "App already running" but it will not close the window.

Steam only does that to preserve your resources.

Weird. When I try to double click a project's "Game" icon it tries to open it up through steam and then gives me the steam error (app already running).

Not sure why my steam is acting differently.

Then you didn't right-click on the program in the task bar, but right-clicked on the regular program icon.
To use multiple instances with steam,


1) start the first instance regularly with steam


2) after the running program appears in the taskbar, right-click on that program bar in the taskbar and then click on the program name there to open another instance.

Sorry guys, I think my Steam is just behaving oddly. I'm not sure why.

I'm definitely right clicking the icon on the task bar, where all my open program icons are. You know, near the start bar.

It's just not working. I do have the cloud beta enable, but still...

Probably does not help you, as I am still on windows xp, but everytime I open a ".rvproj2" (usually "Game.rvproj2") project file it opens an instance of RPG Maker (even if I open the same project).

And it doesn't open the actual project whose "Game.rvproj2" I opened, but rather the last closed project.

Directly opening "RPGVXAce.exe" also works, I assume a shortcut would work too.

In my system it is located in "C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\RPGVXAce\", probably something similar in other windows versions.

Thanks, but I definitely tried that. The .exe in the local files just opened it up through steam. Not sure why it wants to open up through Steam every time.

Did you try opening it directly from the directory AFTER you already opened it from Steam? It works fine for me (Windows 7, if that makes any difference).

Solved this by going to Properties in steam and going to Betas and choosing an option other than the Steam Cloud version.

you need to start the exe directly not the destop shortcut created by steam (it doesn't link to the exe)

you can make your own shortcut from the exe if you dont want to navigate to the steam aps folder all the time