Installing windows games on Steam deck

[Maximo101]

I have a couple windows games I want to intall on my new steam deck. There is an .exe file and a .bin file. I have saved the files on my sdcard in the downloads folder.
I tried 'bottles' to install the game, but at the start of the install after running the exe file, it asks me where the rest of the files are. I found the dowload folder and pointed to it, but the steam deck doesn't seem to see the bin file, or continue to install.
Bottles instructions are pretty generic, can someone point me to guides or tell me what I'm doing wrong?
I understand linux can run windows executable files.
Thanks for any help.

 

[Maximo101]

wow. all these answers to sift through...

so you copy the game folder(s) to your internal drive on the steam deck or the micro sd card you are using in the deck. You can also install files from a plug in usb drive, I used a Sandisk extreme ssd with usb-c plugged into a hub on the deck. This saves deleting the install files afterwards off the micro sd card or internal memory.

Open the Steam app in desktop mode. Go to Games at the top pull downand & use 'add a non-steam game to your library'. Browse to your setup.exe file and add it. Then highlight it in your library list (usually at the bottom in 'uncatagorized'). Click on the gears icon, go to campatibility in the pop-up window, and force the use of proton when using the file. I use proton - experimental, but some of the others also work on various games. [X] out of the window, and go run the setup executable in the library. It should start to install the game and ask you where to put the files. I like to use the SSD card under a 'games' folder. Make sure you can find the install folder. Using default C:/ can lead to problems afterwards in most cases.

After the game installs, find the game exe file where it was installed by similarly using Games pulldown, and add non-steam game to library, and forcing it to use proton again. Like above. You can also remove the setup file from your library, you won't use it again. I put the game exe, if it works ok, into my steam library favorites to make them easier to find among 2,000 game emlation files.

Some games won't work properly without C++ libraries or DirectX, which don't stay installed on linux. Use protontricks to solve this issue.