Battlelogium for Steam - So Battlefield 3 isn't shit with Steam.

Battlelogium is a wrapper for Battlelog to allow better integration with Steam, inspired by Frohman :D's Battlelog on Steam


This is basically a copy/paste from my post on the Steam Community forums. Don't know how many people still play BF3 at the 'temp, but I thought I might as well post it here. If the staff have any problems with this, then I don't mind if you remove it.

I recently grabbed Battlefield 3 for $5, and I was pretty disappointed when it refused to work with Steam properly. I mean, I don't want to open Chrome whenever I play BF3, neither do I want to open Origin, then click on BF3, then click on a button on the Battlelog to get the Steam Overlay working. Similar to how I ended up making my Binding of Isaac Launcher, Frohman :D's launcher gave me inspiration to improve upon his idea if wrapping everything up in a neat package and adding that to Steam.

What makes Battlelogium different

Battlelogium is so called because it runs on Awesomium/Chromium rather than IE, which renders faster and has support for modern web technologies. Battlelogium supports custom CSS and Javascript to modify Battlelog's behavior and appearance.
Battlelogium is also open source, if you know C#, feel free to fork me on GitHub

Features

• Powered by Awesomium and Chromium
• Built with aesthetics in mind, many details have been fine-tuned to provide the best experience possible.
• By default, removes ads on the Battlelog page
• Written in C# with .NET 4 and WPF technologies
• Works seamlessly with Steam, closes Origin and Battlelog's ESNHost on quit so that one doesn't stay in-game even while Battlefield 3 is closed. The Steam Overlay also shows in-game in Battlefield 3.
• Easy installation, just unzip the contents to any directory and add to Steam.
• Page modifications such as removing advertisements can be changed or added through custom CSS styling of the Battlelog web page
• No need for Origin to be running while playing BF3
• Open source and licensed under GNU GPL v3

System Requirements

• At least 4GB of RAM
• .NET Framework 4
• Origin

Battlelogium takes about 150MB of RAM to run, since it's based off the RAM hungry Chromium (Google Chrome), so if you have a weaker PC, this may not be for you. You do not need Google Chrome installed, however, Battlelogium has its own copy of Chromium bundled.

Installation

1. Battlelogium requires .NET Framework 4. This should have already been installed if you are on Windows Vista or later and have Windows Update enabled.
2. Install Origin if you haven't done so (bleh). You can disable starting at launch, but this is not required, as Battlelogium will close Origin anyways before starting Origin again.
3. Install the latest Battlefield 3 web plugins
4. Unzip all the files in the package to any folder, I like to have it close to my Battlefield 3 install folder.
5. Add Battlelogium.exe to Steam as a Non-Steam Game.

Remove Origin Requirement

A legitimate copy of Battlefield 3 is still required, and it will ask you to verify your license when you first start Battlefield 3 with this installed. Battlelog is still required for Multiplayer

Multiplayer will continue to work, and this is not detectable by Origin (in fact, Origin has to be installed and is required for this to work) nor Punkbuster, but as a disclaimer, you are responsible for anything that happens to your accounts as a result or not, of enabling this feature.

To enable it, go into Settings > Battlelogium Settings > Remove Origin Requirement. This feature is fully reversible, you can go back and use Origin at anytime. If you have this feature enabled, since Origin will not run, it won't sync your saves nor will it update. You'll have to run Battlefield 3 manually through Origin to update and sync your saves.

Unlike other methods this does not change nor inject Origin, Battlefield 3, or any other process or dll. This method leverages Origin's built-in DRM scheme (thus Origin is required and must be installed) and is not detectable and 100% reversible.

Once again, this does not allow you to play pirated copies of Battlefield 3, and will not work with pirated copies of Battlefield 3. An Origin account is required for access to Battlelog, to download the game and to verify it once the requirement to have Origin running is removed.

This feature is 100% optional and you do not need to enable it

Screenshots

Spoiler: Loading Screen

Spoiler: Battlelog

Spoiler: Steam Overlay ingame

Downloads

Source Code at GitHub
Download from my website (v1.4.0.3) (17.7MB)
GitHub Mirrors
(Note: Download links have been shortened with Google to track downloads. If you prefer direct downloads, here you go)

More information about the downloads and configuration options is available at GitHub
I've tested this on Windows 7 x64 and Windows 8 x86, it works fine, but if you find any bugs, feel free to tell me, preferably with a log (run it with Command Prompt). More info on how to get a log is in the readme and GitHub

This would probably be my biggest project yet related to Steam. Hope you guys enjoy it

Thanks to..
Frohman :D for the original Battlelog on STEAM launcher.

ProfDoctorMrSaibot for suggestions and testing with 1.3

JJBoonie for feature suggestions and testing with 1.4

par.nofate.me for making Battlefield 3 without Origin running possible

My other works

GOGWrappers for Steam
Easily add ScummVM and DOSBOX games from GOG.com to Steam

Binding of Isaac Launcher: Revamped
A nice looking launcher for Binding of Isaac and it's DLC, Wrath of the Lamb. Inspired by ./DosBoss/'s BOIL

HawkenExhaust
Use the Steam Overlay alongside the Hawken Launcher.

 

Yeah, in the beginning, I tried to make it pretty "lightweight", then I realized Chromium is anything but. If you open up task manager if you have Google Chrome open, you'll find that like each tag has a process that has about 150MB of RAM tied to it, and this is pretty much the same thing :/ So I stopped caring about that and just focused on making it as pretty as I could.

But, anyways, I hate putting up with that stuff too, but I couldn't pass up $5 for it, and I was going to get my $5 worth. Origin, Battlelog, sucks in general. Why can't we just get the normal menu that consoles got?

 

I had some screens in the Steam thread, but I added them to OP. There's not much to show though.

 

Steam is skinnable, you can find skins here. I'm using PixelVision by Pulseh in the screenshots.

 

You can just Alt-Tab out of it, like any other game, though, it stays on top until a certain amount of seconds pass to hide Origin's startup, and keep Battlelogium on top. You can disable that behaviour by changing waitTimeToHideOrigin in config.properties to 0

 

New, major update:

Also, I recommend you update as soon as possible. Battlelog will be going through a maintenance that may break Battlelogium, and this new version allows me to notify you of updates, allowing me to push out hotfixes as soon as I can.

Download Here (12.2MB)

Try version 1.3, you won't be disappointed.

 

Battlelogium 1.4.0.1* is a major release, it comes with many User Interface changes, such as a new loading screen as well as a new feature to enable running Battlefield 3 without Origin running in the background., thanks to par.nofate.me For more info on that, see this

A legitimate copy of Battlefield 3 is still required. Multiplayer will continue to work, and this is not detectable by Origin nor Punkbuster, but as a disclaimer, you are responsible for anything that happens to your accounts as a result or not, of enabling this feature. To enable it, go into Settings > Battlelogium Settings > Remove Origin Requirement. This feature is fully reversible, you can go back and use Origin at anytime. If you have this feature enabled, since Origin will not run, it won't sync your saves nor will it update. You'll have to run Battlefield 3 manually through Origin to update and sync your saves.

This release also comes with a UI cleanup. Many of the buttons on the play bar have been moved elsewhere or removed entirely. The settings is now accessible on the navbar, and the "Settings" link under your profile button as well. The quit button has been included into the 3 Reload, Minimize and Close buttons at the top. Hotkeys have been added for convenient access. See the changelog for details.

The full changelog is as follows

Download from my website

Screenshots
The new Battlelog homepage
The new loading screen

Thanks to JJBoonie for feature suggestions and testing
*Previously 1.4.0.0 was the release, but I had to fix a last minute bug.

 

Hotfix Release 1.4.0.3 fixes a few bugs.

Download from my website (17.7MB)

 

You probably don't have .NET 4.5. Battlelogium 2 uses .NET 4.5 instead of .NET 4

 

There are already some BBLog features in there, like extended player stats Features from BBLog have to be handpicked and added to the javascript from BBLog's source and anything that uses any type of plugin API or localStorage won't work with Battlelogium.