Hey everyone,
it’s me again, one of the two developers behind GameVault, a self-hosted gaming platform similar to how Plex/Jellyfin is for your movies and series, but for your game collection. If you’ve hoarded a bunch of games over the years, this app is going to be your best friend. Think of it as your own personal Steam, hosted on your own server.
If you haven’t heard of GameVault yet, you can check it out here and get started within 5 minutes—seriously, it’s a game changer.
For those who already know GameVault, or its old name He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, we are excited to tell you we just launched a major update. I’m talking a massive overhaul—so much so, that we could’ve rebuilt the whole thing from scratch. Here’s the big news: We’re no longer relying on RAWG or Google Images for game metadata. Instead, we’ve officially partnered with IGDB/Twitch for a more reliable and extended metadata experience!
But it doesn’t stop there. We’ve also rolled out a new plugin system and a metadata framework that allows you to connect to multiple metadata providers at once. It’s never been this cool to run your own Steam-like platform right from your good ol’ 19" incher below your desk!
What’s new in this update?
- IGDB/Twitch Integration: Say goodbye to unreliable metadata scrapers. Now you can enjoy game info sourced directly from IGDB.
- Customizable Metadata: Edit and fine-tune game metadata with ease. Your changes are saved separately, so the original data stays intact.
- Plugin System: Build your own plugins for metadata or connect to as many sources as you want—unlimited flexibility!
- Parental Controls: Manage age-appropriate access for the family and children.
- Built-in Media Player: Watch game trailers and gameplay videos directly in GameVault.
- UI Overhaul: A fresh, streamlined look for the app, community, game and admin interface.
- Halloween Theme: For GameVault+ users, we’ve added a spooky Halloween skin just in time for the season!
Things to keep in mind when updating:
- GameVault Client v1.12 is now required for servers running v13 or above.
- Older clients won’t work on servers that have been updated to v13.
For a smooth update and a guide on how to use all these new features, check out the detailed migration instructions in the server changelogs. As always, if you hit any snags, feel free to reach out to us on Discord.
If you run into any issues or need help with the migration, feel free to join and open a ticket in our Discord community—we’re always happy to help!
If you want to support our pet-project and keep most upcoming features of GameVault free for everyone, consider subscribing to GameVault+ or making a one-time donation. Every little bit fuels our passion to keep building and improving!
Thanks for everything! We’re more than 800 Members on our discord now and I can’t wait to hear what you think of the latest version.
So any Plans for a Linux client?
There is a way using it on Linux outlined here in the docs, but no plans at the time for a native linux client.
Unsupported and Unrecommended. Yeahh that was the point where I just deinstalled the Server. Didn’t want to invest the work/time in an unsupported Usecase
Wasnt there also the self compiling option? I vaguely remember something in that direction.
“Unsupported and Unrecommended” is just wording to not get flooded with tickets for varrrrrious systems. We try our best helping always.
Or available via docker for anyone claiming to be an os elitest. Looks great, not meta data that I’m interested in, but thanks for sharing/cataloguing your passion
Does it work with ROMs/emulators? I would love to be able to setup all of my ROMs on my server and just download the ones I want to play on a per-game basis. My ROMs are mostly compressed in .zip or .7z so that’s a different problem. It would be great to have my emulators configured per-device and ROMs on my server.
I’m imagining how cool it would be to have an app on Steam Deck to help manage local ROMs too. But, that would require Linux builds of the client I suppose.
Zip and 7z are not a problem, it’s exactly what GameVault needs! It does work with Roms, you can use it to browse and download them. Installing them directly into Emulators and EmulatorJS Stuff is planned!
Nice! That’d be a game changer for me for sure!
This would be cool if it could be installed on windows without docker…
Personally I just throw my roms in directories and serve them from nginx. Its easier to just pull them down on deck that way and requires no extra effort or maintenance on my end.
Everything else is on steam.
sure it works but with GameVault you can browse them and track your progress :)
Any way to get it working with yunohost? It’s basically an all in one self hosting platform that has installable plugins.
Damn yunohost definitely rings my bell my friend, it’s where and how I started self hosting as well :)
Unfortunately there are no yunohost packages from us and no plans to make one at the time. Personally, I would recommend you to ascend/evolve into using Docker Containers and something like Caprover, as the range of usable stuff and the non-containerized architecture of using yunohost is very limited and intertwined.
Appreciate the response. I use docker/docker compose at work. I just don’t like maintaining it.
Anyway Microsoft Store games can be added? Probably not eh? As they are DRM’d to hell
No unfortunately not.
your good ol’ 19" incher below your desk!
I would ask you to kindly not discuss my private parts on the internet.
Made me smile