[ExtraMetadataLoader] Stopped fetching steam trailers for newly added steam games

[majima-everywhere]

Pre-Request Checklist

• I have checked and confirmed this is not a duplicate issue
• I have verified that I'm using the latest version of the extension by checking for updates in Playnite
• I have modified the placeholder issue title according to this issue

Extension name

ExtraMetadataLoader

Bug Description

Since recently (26th Nov), ExtraMetadataLoader no longer retrieves Steam video trailers for EVERY newly added games in the Playnite library.

What still works:

• Video trailers continue to appear and play correctly for older games already in the library before the issue began
• Steam logos (auto or manual retrieval) still work normally for both old and new games

Even if a game already exists in my playnite library with a working steam video trailer, creating a new second entry for the same game causes the new entry to fail to display any trailer, while the old entry continues to work normally.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Add a steam game / or (manually) a new game and retrieve its steam metadata
2. Open the game’s detail page
3. The entry doesn't have a "video" section (The logo loads and appears successfully though)
4. Check extensions.log |ERROR|ExtraMetadataLoader#VideoPlayerControl:Error deserializing steam appdetails json file in X:\Playnite\ExtensionsData\705fdbca-e1fc-4004-b839-1d040b8b4429\a5e572b7-1ee0-4298-94b9-c9d97945c219_SteamAppDetails.json

The game is Hi-Fi rush picked randomly for demonstration purposes

(Optional) Create a duplicate entry of a game's playniote page that already has a working trailer => The old entry works while the new entry fails.

Logs

Error shown when opening a newly created game entry:

|ERROR|ExtraMetadataLoader#VideoPlayerControl:Error deserializing steam appdetails json file in X:\Playnite\ExtensionsData\705fdbca-e1fc-4004-b839-1d040b8b4429\a5e572b7-1ee0-4298-94b9-c9d97945c219_SteamAppDetails.json
|DEBUG|Extras#ThemeExtras:Pushed "Grid View - Hi-Fi RUSH - DEMO BUG"

Opening the old (working) entry produces no errors:
|DEBUG|Extras#ThemeExtras:Pushed "Grid View - 🎮 Hi-Fi RUSH - Steam"

Screenshots

newly created game entry:

Opening the old (working) entry:

[RetroFlock]

The same is happening to me

[supersmo]

I've run into the same issue.
The reason is that response from the appdetails API no longer contains data.movies.mp4
e.g https://store.steampowered.com/api/appdetails?appids=435790
The cached version of the file on my PC:

            "movies": [
                {
                    "id": 256665982,
                    "name": "What is 10 Second Ninja X?",
                    "thumbnail": "https://shared.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/256665982/movie.293x165.jpg?t=1466609338",
                    "webm": {
                        "480": "https://video.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_trailers/256665982/movie480.webm?t=1466609338",
                        "max": "https://video.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_trailers/256665982/movie_max.webm?t=1466609338"
                    },
                    "mp4": {
                        "480": "https://video.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_trailers/256665982/movie480.mp4?t=1466609338",
                        "max": "https://video.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_trailers/256665982/movie_max.mp4?t=1466609338"
                    },
                    "dash_av1": "https://video.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_trailers/435790/63051/7889665d389a4fbe8bbefd6e4f3a56a5fc9d7d62/1751284716/dash_av1.mpd?t=1466609338",
                    "dash_h264": "https://video.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_trailers/435790/63051/7889665d389a4fbe8bbefd6e4f3a56a5fc9d7d62/1751284716/dash_h264.mpd?t=1466609338",
                    "hls_h264": "https://video.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_trailers/435790/63051/7889665d389a4fbe8bbefd6e4f3a56a5fc9d7d62/1751284716/hls_264_master.m3u8?t=1466609338",
                    "highlight": true
                }
            ],

What is now returned by the appdetails api:

            "movies": [
                {
                    "id": 256665982,
                    "name": "What is 10 Second Ninja X?",
                    "thumbnail": "https://shared.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/256665982/movie.293x165.jpg?t=1466609338",
                    "dash_av1": "https://video.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_trailers/435790/63051/7889665d389a4fbe8bbefd6e4f3a56a5fc9d7d62/1751284716/dash_av1.mpd?t=1466609338",
                    "dash_h264": "https://video.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_trailers/435790/63051/7889665d389a4fbe8bbefd6e4f3a56a5fc9d7d62/1751284716/dash_h264.mpd?t=1466609338",
                    "hls_h264": "https://video.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_trailers/435790/63051/7889665d389a4fbe8bbefd6e4f3a56a5fc9d7d62/1751284716/hls_264_master.m3u8?t=1466609338",
                    "highlight": true
                }
            ],

The Steam Store page seems to use the trailer links that are left.
The m3u8 link for instance was playable using the hls player here: https://livepush.io/hls-player/index.html

When inspecting the m3u8 file you can get more urls for different qualities.
e.g. The one with resolution: RESOLUTION=854x480 has the file name: hls_264_2_video.m3u8

I guess the key question is. Can the videoplayer in playnite play .m3u8 or .mpd files?

For now the the old trailers files still exist and hopefully follow a convention so they can be "guessed", but who knows if those files will be deleted soon. I haven't checked if new titles on Steam even have the mp4 videos.

One temporary and simple solution for now would be to assume the mp4 files are there and attempt to play them instead of getting them from the appdetails api. The more future proof solution is to play the .m3u8 files or .mpd files.

[majima-everywhere]

I guess the key question is. Can the videoplayer in playnite play .m3u8 or .mpd files?

I think ExtraMetadataLoader uses Windows Media Player
https://github.com/darklinkpower/PlayniteExtensionsCollection/wiki/Extra-Metadata-Loader

        "movies": [
            {
                "id": 256665982,
                "name": "What is 10 Second Ninja X?",
                "thumbnail": "https://shared.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/256665982/movie.293x165.jpg?t=1466609338",
                "dash_av1": "https://video.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_trailers/435790/63051/7889665d389a4fbe8bbefd6e4f3a56a5fc9d7d62/1751284716/dash_av1.mpd?t=1466609338",
                "dash_h264": "https://video.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_trailers/435790/63051/7889665d389a4fbe8bbefd6e4f3a56a5fc9d7d62/1751284716/dash_h264.mpd?t=1466609338",
                "hls_h264": "https://video.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_trailers/435790/63051/7889665d389a4fbe8bbefd6e4f3a56a5fc9d7d62/1751284716/hls_264_master.m3u8?t=1466609338",
                "highlight": true
            }
        ],

I didn't succeed to play these on Windows Media Player Legacy and the more recent one.
The recent one doesn't support opening network streams though

However, I was able to play them using VLC through network stream
.m3u8 was more stable in my case
VLC was going nuts when I tried the .mpd ones

[joyrider3774]

yt-dlp can download the dash_h264 urls and when the downloaded file gets assigned manually to a game inside playnite the legacy mediaplayer can play it. So at least for downloading the files the dash_h264 urls could be used using yt-dlp.exe. So for downloading trailers the same system as youtube downloads could be used but i don't know if dash_h264 urls are always available

edit: i just patched a local version to yank out the mp4 stuff (also in the streaming) and replace downloads with yt-dlp.exe downloads as is done with youtube downloads for the dash h264 urls they work perfectably fine but the downloads are a lot slower. You also have to remove the -f mp4 format

hang on basically i replaced this https://github.com/darklinkpower/PlayniteExtensionsCollection/blob/emlCrashFix2025/source/Generic/ExtraMetadataLoader/Services/VideosDownloader.cs#L85C15-L85C30 with

if (downloadVideo)
{
    var videoUrl = steamAppDetails.data.Movies[0].DashH264;

    var youtubeDlPath = extraMetadataHelper.ExpandVariables(game, settings.YoutubeDlPath);
    var ffmpegPath = extraMetadataHelper.ExpandVariables(game, settings.FfmpegPath);
    var args = string.Format("-v --force-overwrites -o \"{0}\" \"{1}\"", tempDownloadPath, videoUrl);
   
    var result = ProcessStarter.StartProcessWait(youtubeDlPath, args, Path.GetDirectoryName(ffmpegPath), true, out var stdOut, out var stdErr);
    if (result != 0)
    {
        logger.Error($"Failed to download video in youtube-dlp: {videoUrl}, {result}, {stdErr}");
        playniteApi.Notifications.Add(new NotificationMessage(
            Guid.NewGuid().ToString(),
            string.Format(ResourceProvider.GetString("LOCExtra_Metadata_Loader_NotificationErrorYtdlpDownloadFail"), videoUrl, result, stdErr),
            NotificationType.Error)
        );
    }
    else
    {
        ProcessVideo(tempDownloadPath, videoPath, false, false);
    }                
}

I also yanked out the mp4 part in the json class of movie and only added dash_h264 url here https://github.com/darklinkpower/PlayniteExtensionsCollection/blob/emlCrashFix2025/source/Common/SteamCommon/Models/SteamAppDetailsResponse.cs#L74

public class Movie
{
    [SerializationPropertyName("id")]
    public uint Id { get; set; }

    [SerializationPropertyName("name")]
    public string Name { get; set; }

    [SerializationPropertyName("dash_h264")]
    public Uri DashH264 { get; set; }

    [SerializationPropertyName("thumbnail")]
    public Uri Thumbnail { get; set; }

    [SerializationPropertyName("highlight")]
    public bool Highlight { get; set; }
}

and finally i removed the video player streaming mp4 part usuage in VideoPlayerControl.xaml.cs it seems to work for me now at least when i manually download video trailers, microtrailers seemed to remain working. I did not create a pr i only applied this locally in a checkout with me as i don't know what other effects yanking out the mp4 part in movie has (which no longer is returned)

it seems video download speed can be improved by adding but i don't know if steam would blacklist us (our ip's) if we downloaded to many fragments at too high speed at once or if they have trothling or not but in a test from commandline the difference is big.

-N, --concurrent-fragments N    Number of fragments of a dash/hlsnative
                                video that should be downloaded concurrently
                                (default is 1)

[darklinkpower]

Fixed in ad9f6d5

[darklinkpower]

Update v1.83 with fix is now available. It worked fine in my testing but let me know if there are any issues.

[majima-everywhere]

Thanks for the patch and fix @darklinkpower !

Tested on 500+ Steam games that previously had missing trailers => Trailers now reappear instantly for the vast majority of them (no refresh needed.. which is a huge relief).

Update v1.83 with fix is now available. It worked fine in my testing but let me know if there are any issues.

However, trailers are still missing for a subset of games, regardless of whether they were released years ago/recently/just last month. Trailers do seem to be available via the Steam API for the affected titles

Below is a list of games where trailers still don't appear in Playnite, in case it helps narrow down the cause :

Anno: mutationem
Arc Raiders
Call of Duty Modern Warfare (this one https://store.steampowered.com/app/2000950/Call_of_Duty_Modern_Warfare/)
Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War
Demon Turf Trials
Dinocop
Far Cry 4
Forestrike
Half-Life
Half-Life: Opposing force
Half-Life: Blue shift
Lil Gator Game
Monsters are coming! Rock & Road
The Seance of Blake Manor
Total Chaos
Violent Horror Stories 2
Windswept
LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues
LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars
LEGO Harry Potter Collection
LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes
Uno
Ball x Pit
Bodycam
Bully
Call of Duty 1 (from 2003)
Call of Duty 2
Call of Duty Black Ops 7
Cowboy Life
Echoes of the end
Geoguessr Steam Edition
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - The Definitive Edition
Grand Theft Auto IV: The Complete Edition
Kriophobia
Little Rocket Lab
Max Payne 2
News Tower
Saint Row: The Third
Space Engineers
Spore
The Crew
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon® Breakpoint
Wall World 2
Warframe
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
Assassin''s creed rogue
Enshrouded
Hitman 2 SIlent Assassin
Hitman Contracts
Naraka
Okami HD
Pillars of Eternity
Prototype 2
Assassin's creed III
- missing trailers for 54 games (among 571)

Out of 30 games released this December, trailers don’t show up in Playnite for 18 of them, despite trailers being available on Steam:
No means no
Abandoned Archive
Alchemy Factory
Angeline Era
Bots & Bops
Cowboy Life Simulator
Dunjungle
Go slimy go !
Hail to the rainbow
Hell of fear: mind breach
Kingdom of night
Light up the town
Uphold
Pigment
She is leaving
Windswept
Ultimate sheep raccoon
Uniduni

[joyrider3774]

@majima-everywhere trailer streaming is being guessed, since steam no longer provides the links in their returned json from steam api. So it is normal it don't find trailers for certain games if you don't download them but stream. It is even possible that for new games steam does not make the mp4 files anymore and that in the future they will delete all of them even for older games. So when streaming you might expect less and less trailers to be found in the (near) futrue. Downloading trailers however does work as it uses ffmpeg to download the dash video streams returned by the api and as long as those urls remain existing downloads will work

[darklinkpower]

@majima-everywhere What @joyrider3774 is correct, unfortunately Steam changed the way they deliver videos. They only provide streamable formats since some time ago, instead of normal videos as before. What the extension tries to do is see if videos are available in the format https://video.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_trailers//movie_max.mp4 when streaming but Steam is removing the videos for some games with that address format and it's not being created for newer games.

For example.

• Arc Raiders: https://video.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_trailers/1808500/movie_max.mp4
• Warframe: https://video.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_trailers/230410/movie_max.mp4

For games having this issue I'm afraid the only solution is to download the videos.