I am using an ROG Xbox Ally X handheld, using the Widget. When using the xbox app, the images do not appear, it shows an icon of a person and a lock symbol.
If you scroll up a few messages you can see an example of what I mean -- I've given permissions and such, it loads and finds my games. Just the xbox app does not show the thumbnails
I have given windows permissions and the widget seems to be working (it found my Steam games). I am able to go into the widget and click "Fix my library" and it shows all the icons loading in the widget only. The icons do not appear in the Xbox app library itself though.
I've seen a few reports of this on https://www.reddit.com/r/XboxAlly/ recently. Unfortunately, I don't think this is something that can be fixed on my side. To be clear, this is not caused by the widget, the Xbox app has this issue no matter if the widget is used or not.
This is different from a normal situation where a cover image is missing, and SteamGridDB can help you replace it with something. A missing cover is displayed like the fourth icon in the screenshot below:
The icon you are seeing with a user and a padlock symbol is not something normally displayed by the Xbox app. Only Microsoft knows what this padlock icon actually means, my best guess is that there is some permission issue that does not allow the Xbox app to access the folder with the cover images it generated for Steam games. They still exist, and that's why SteamGridDB can read them and change them, it's just that the Xbox app cannot display them for some reason.
At this stage, I believe this is a bug in the Xbox app that only Microsoft can fix.
I do not have this issue myself, so I can't reproduce it to see if any solution can be found without waiting for a fix from Microsoft. I asked a user who reported this to try to delete their `ThirdPartyLibraries` folder that contains the images (located in `C:\Users\{yourWindowsUsername}\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.GamingApp_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\`), Xbox app would recreate that folder, but that did not help.
The only other option I can think of right now is to try to use "Repair" and/or "Reset" options in “Settings -> Apps -> Installed apps -> Xbox -> Advanced options”, or maybe even uninstall the Xbox app and reinstall it. If you could try those and report if any of those helped, that would be great.
Here is an update for you, and maybe it may spark another suggestion.
I tried doing the Repair option. No luck.
Next I tried the Reset option. No luck.
I made sure the Windows account I am signed into is an Administrator of the device. Confirmed. Still no luck.
I went and added another Windows account (mine) and made sure to also be an Administrator. The app for my Windows user is working.
The windows account that is having issues is my son's account. This may be stemming from a family permissions issue. I am going to investigate from that angle, maybe I (the Family Manager) need to allow or grant SteamGridDB some additional permissions from the Windows Family Environment that I am not aware of?
> Here is an update for you, and maybe it may spark another suggestion.
>
> I tried doing the Repair option. No luck. Next I tried the Reset option. No luck. I made sure the Windows account I am signed into is an Administrator of the device. Confirmed. Still no luck. I went and added another Windows account (mine) and made sure to also be an Administrator. The app for my Windows user is working.
>
> The windows account that is having issues is my son's account. This may be stemming from a family permissions issue. I am going to investigate from that angle, maybe I (the Family Manager) need to allow or grant SteamGridDB some additional permissions from the Windows Family Environment that I am not aware of?
Most recent update for you.
I installed a game from Ubisoft Connect as well, and that is having image loading issues as well. I think it is all Third Party games inside the Xbox app.
This is not related to SteamGridDB, you are correct.
I've submitted a Problem in the Xbox App via their Feedback App (this is where I was directed when reporting a bug) and hope to find answers there.
Yes, when I mentioned permissions, I meant permissions of the Xbox app itself, not the widget. At least that's what the padlock icon suggests, it's just a logical assumption, especially when it works for other users on the same machine. The core problem is that something prevents Xbox app from displaying any images it generated for the third-party libraries, so unfortunately this can only be fixed by its developers.
@robertmapes @lirrik
Hopefully I can add some further info. I just setup Widget and the auto replace all steam pics worked fantastic. Later on, my son signed into the Xbox app and all the picture for our steam games are gone, same Lock icon as Robert showed above. In the widget all the pics are showing correctly, tried a "Refresh" and "Restore my changes" but no change.
**Note** we don't change the Windows store account, or steam account when we swap our Xbox accounts.
When I logged back into the xbox app with my account, all the pictures are back and perfect again.
Also tried reverting all the Steam pics back to the original icons under my account, then when my son logged in all the original icons are gone (not sure if this was an issue before as we were using Steam Big Picture).
Sounds like you guys already confirmed this is an issue with the Xbox App itself, not this Widget. But wanted to add my info regardless.
Looks like only adult xbox accounts can see the Steam artwork:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ROGAlly/comments/1qw2f67/xbox_app_and_fse_missing_cover_art_lock_icon/
I tried changing my Son's account to 18 (unrestricted) and haven't been able to get the Steam pics to work... Must still know its a child account.
But logged in to the xbox app with another Adult account and the Steam pics load perfectly.
@D1Vad22 Thank you for finding the solution. Account holder age is not something that crossed my mind. My assumption was there is some relationship between local Windows accounts and Microsoft/Xbox accounts causing permission issue.
I could see Microsoft trying to play it safe and make sure children could not see any images not reviewed by Microsoft, since those come from third-party stores and are out of its control. There are some NSFW variations of artworks on SteamGridDB too, although I don't think Microsoft actually thought of SteamGridDB specifically here.
But I am still not sure this is intentional because the way it's implemented does not make it clear it is a restriction for a child account - it could still be a bug in the Xbox app affecting children accounts specifically.
Agree. Microsoft should make the intention clear as its wasting a lot of users time trying to fix it. Plus also allow the adults to override the block.
Looks like you can close this issue though. Glad we got to the bottom of it