ASInstaller now launches any app on your PC, not just ours

ASInstaller started as the way to install and update Syndicate products. The new version still does that — and now it is a launcher for everything else on the machine as well: Steam games, GOG titles, ordinary Windows programs, all in one library.

It finds what you already have

There is nothing to import by hand. ASInstaller reads the places Windows already keeps its records — uninstall entries in the registry, Steam's own manifests, GOG's installed titles — and builds the library from them. Engine runtimes and anti-cheat helpers are filtered out, so the grid holds things you would actually open, not plumbing.

Scanning is a deliberate action, not a background process. An earlier build watched for new installs and popped a toast every time one appeared; it was irritating, so it is gone. You scan when you want to scan.

Covers and icons handled for you

A launcher full of grey squares is a worse launcher. Artwork is resolved by a stable id from our media bucket, so when we add cover art for a game, everyone who has that game detected picks it up — no update, no download, no reinstall. Your own art always outranks ours: point an entry at your own image and it stays yours.

The store, and packages

Alongside detection there is a store, split three ways: Syndicate products, games, and applications. Downloads arrive as .asins packages — a zip carrying a manifest, the payload, optional shortcuts and pre/post-install steps. Install, shortcuts and library registration happen in one pass.

Those manifests, the catalogue and the store listing are all written in SYNX — our own configuration format. Adding a title to the catalogue is editing a text file, not rebuilding the app.

Updates that do not nag

ASInstaller updates itself in place — a portable swap of its own executable rather than an installer wizard. By default it tells you an update is ready and lets you decide. Flip Auto-install updates on and it applies them silently at startup instead. Off by default, because silent self-modification should be a choice.

Getting it

Windows, free, at aperturesyndicate.com/download/asinstaller. If you already run it, the update will find you.

One library for the whole machine — ours and everyone else's.