Need to get the data files from a Windows game on Steam? steamget from Icculus can help

Sometimes you might need the Windows game files from a game on Steam, possibly for running it in an open source game engine that supports Linux. It can usually be tricky, but a little script called "steamget" from Icculus can help.

Just giving this a bit of a boost, since I thought it was neat and Icculus is a very clever boy.

The script is simple and relies on you installing SteamCMD, which is simple enough to do (instructions on that linked page). Then, you just run the script in terminal with: a Steam username, an appid (the number you get in the URL on Steam store pages), either windows/macos/linux for that platforms files and optionally a beta branch name and a password, if one is needed for that beta branch. Here's an example for X-COM: UFO Defense:

liam@liam-mate:~$ '/home/liam/Desktop/steamget.sh' liamdawe 7760 /home/liam/xcom/ windows

I've tested it myself, by doing exactly that. Then I could simply use those files in the openXcom open source game engine. It worked a treat!

I asked Icculus about why you don't need a password, he said that SteamCMD will ask for a password and a Steam Guard code if you haven't logged in recently as it's all handled by SteamCMD. I didn't get either, likely as it detected my main PC correctly.

No more resorting to running Steam in Wine for me, this little trick will do the job nicely when I need to grab Steam files. Of course, this can also help for a variety of other things and I'm sure people will find other uses for such a script.

You can find the script here. If you like this sort of thing, Icculus has a Patreon.