Steam Deck Owner's Lounge

[FelixWright]

This thread is general discussion for Valve's Steam Deck. Do you own one? If you do, What have you been playing on it, and where? Have you found any games that really complement the Deck? What settings do you use? Do you have any accessories for it? How about any tips/tricks/mods? Have you tried hacking metroid on your deck? If you don't own a Deck, do you have any questions about it? All this and more, right here.

What Is The Steam Deck? (.pdf booklet)

The Steam Deck is a handheld gaming PC. Others have come before it like the GPD Win but the deck has truly cemented this form factor in the PC gaming space as more than "just a fad." It comes in 3 price tiers: $399, $529, and $649USD. (+ tax) A highly competitive price for the specs you get. Some highlights include:

• Custom AMD RDNA2 APU gives a powerful 4 core 8 thread processor with graphics horsepower similar to an 8th gen console (Xbox One, PS4) sipping 15 watts at full power and supporting AMD Fidelity Super Resolution (FSR) scaling to keep performance rock-steady or add significantly to battery life with minimal loss in visual fidelity


• Custom Dual trackpads with haptic feedback, 4 back paddles, 2 capacitive joysticks, 6 axis gyro, analog triggers, and ambient light sensor provide all the bells and whistles you could ever want in a controller all into one integrated package. Combine with steam's highly customizable controller configuration & youve got the perfect handheld input device for nearly any game you play.


• 16GB DDR5LP Memory @5500MT/s (8GB addressable by APU) to get the most graphics performance out of the APU


• 7 inch 1280x800 IPS touch screen supporting great viewing angles and colors while also letting you type with your fingers. The best model has a glass anti-glare coating great for bright or outdoor areas


• USB 3.2 Type C port supporting 45W fast charging, HDMI2.0 and DisplayPort 1.4 from pretty much any adapters or dongles or docks you attach it to, as well as external storage, input devices and even displays.


• Dual band WiFi and Bluetooth 5.0 for hooking up wireless audio or multiple controllers for split screen/couch co-op play


• Upgradeable storage through speedy microSD slot and internal m.2 2230 NVME SSD


• Headphone Jack Eliminates the need for bluetooth or audio dongles (Yep, these are increasingly becoming uncommon enough to warrant a spot on this list)


• Easy to repair with screw based disassembly and easily swappable modules being sold by ifixit. Some third parties are selling upgraded internals like Gulikit with their Hall Effect stick modules kit.


• It's a PC™ so of course it supports most things you hook up to it, you can attach a USB-C dock and use it like a desktop, you can play games with mods, install other OS, there is a recovery environment, you can fine-tune power consumption and clocks and refresh rate to make the most of its 45WHr battery


• SteamOS 3.0 Holo allows for a seamless console-like interface when you want it, and a KDE Plasma desktop interface when you need it complete with an on screen keyboard. Includes Proton, allowing you to run most Windows games seamlessly on Linux

What games work on the Deck?

Pretty much any without an anticheat. Controller Support goes a very long way but is not a requirement. Your best source for game compatibility is ProtonDB.

Anything I should do right after getting a Deck?
[spoiler]

Yes! You should export your desktop controller layout as a template in case it ever gets ruined, or you want to use it in games. Here's how:

- settings ▶ controller ▶ scroll down to Desktop Layout and hit "Edit" ▶ ⚙ Gear icon ▶ Export Layout
- Export Type: New Template
- Save

Whenever you need to import it back:

- gaming or big picture mode
- settings ▶ controller ▶ scroll down to Desktop Layout and hit "Edit"
- select your current layout (NOT view layout or edit layout)
- this will take you to the load new layout screen in the templates tab by default.
- scroll allll the way down to User Created Templates ▶ select the one you just exported

Applying the Desktop controller layout to a game:

- library
- [program]
- controller icon
- select your current layout (NOT view layout or edit layout)
- this will take you to the load new layout screen in the templates tab by default.
- scroll allll the way down to User Created Templates ▶ select the one you just exported

[/spoiler]

Help, my built-in controller isn't working anymore! I've rebooted and they still don't work!
[spoiler]

• hold the power button until a menu appears
• use the touch screen to select "exit to desktop"
• use the touch screen to open steam
• settings ▶ controller ▶ general controller settings ▶ "UNHIDE DEVICES"

[/spoiler]

A game is running weirdly!
[spoiler]

First, look at ProtonDB or the Steam Community Forums for the game you're trying to play. Chances are someone has already gotten it to work. Don't always take "no it doesn't work" for an answer!
Second, experiment with it in desktop mode. It may just need some additional tweaking there in order for it to work in Gaming mode.
Third, check out protontricks. More on that below.

[/spoiler]

People recommend using Protontricks, what's that? Where do I get it? How do I use it?
[spoiler]

Out of the box the Steam Deck is able to run a lot of Windows games and programs through the Proton compatibility layer. Sometimes though Proton doesn't have everything the program needs, or it doesn't work right, and that's where Protontricks comes in. It lets you download and install various redistributable runtime libraries needed to run some programs in Proton. Say for example you are playing a game and it has sound issues. Chances are that installing directsound and directplay with protontricks will fix it.

You can get Protontricks in Discovery, the "app store" of sorts when you are in desktop mode. Once installed, you can find it in the Utilities section of the "Start" menu.

Once you open Protontricks (it will take a while to open), you will be given a list of your installed games to choose from. Try and remember the Steam Game ID for later, just in case. For example, the ID of Cave Story+ is 200900.

After a while a new menu will appear with a list of options. For compatibility purposes the one you want to select is "Select the default wineprefix" and hit OK.

Another menu with a list of options will appear. Most likely you will be trying to install a windows component, so you'll select "Install a Windows DLL or component" and hit OK.

Now a long list of various windows components appear. Based on whatever guides you're following, or your own intuition if none exist, tick the boxes of the things you want to install.

You will see a lot of pop-ups and warnings during this process. The only one you should worry about is if there is an exit "Code 1. Aborting." This is an issue with the cabextract command that protontricks runs. It doesn't take kindly to symlinked files and causes it to error out.

So the solution is to instead run protontricks in the terminal. Open Konsole and type

Code Select Expand

com.github.Matoking.protontricks --no-bwrap [steam game id] [desired windows component]

For example I had to do this to install directsound for Space Beast Terror Fright. I ran:

Code Select Expand

com.github.Matoking.protontricks --no-bwrap 357330 dsound

It'll do its thing and error out again. But this time you will get to see the location of the symlinked file that causes the Code 1 exit. Keep your eye out for any messages that end in permission denied or access denied. For me, installing dsound, it was:

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/home/deck/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/357330/pfx/dosdevices/c:/windows/syswow64/dsound.dll : permission denied

The solution? remove the file:

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rm /home/deck/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/357330/pfx/dosdevices/c:/windows/syswow64/dsound.dll

And run the protontricks command again:

Code Select Expand

com.github.Matoking.protontricks --no-bwrap 357330 dsound

Rinse and repeat removing any files it has denied permissions for until it successfully installs. You  may see a lot of warnings and errors but you will know it's installed when it doesn't end by Aborting.

From there, just launch your game. Hopefully whatever it is that was broken is now fixed!

[/spoiler]

[Zhs2]

I got myself a second tier Steam Deck, and I found out I like the GPD Win schema instead because those fit in a pocket and don't require an incredibly obvious carry case to transport anywhere. (I've had smaller devices like a DS Lite stolen right out of my hands while riding a public bus. You can imagine my paranoia.) That said, it seems neat and powerful, although if you do want to play it portably you need to do a lot of tweaking with your games to find the optimal FPS-to-battery-usage ratio or you'll find it dead in an hour or two (depending on what you play of course, and it can play AAA titles incredibly well if my brother testing Doom Eternal on it has anything to say.) To me it seems most useful as a road trip distraction. I get a lot more use out of my GPD Win2 otherwise, even if that isn't anywhere as powerful - I do have a perfectly capable gaming PC on my desk, plus an actual hardware Steam Link for the living room TV if the whim calls for it, and from there the GPD Win2 fits into my use case as a "not-so-demanding random indie titles in my library" playtime device.

[FelixWright]

I got myself a second tier Steam Deck, and I found out I like the GPD Win schema instead because those fit in a pocket and don't require an incredibly obvious carry case to transport anywhere. (I've had smaller devices like a DS Lite stolen right out of my hands while riding a public bus. You can imagine my paranoia.) That said, it seems neat and powerful, although if you do want to play it portably you need to do a lot of tweaking with your games to find the optimal FPS-to-battery-usage ratio or you'll find it dead in an hour or two (depending on what you play of course, and it can play AAA titles incredibly well if my brother testing Doom Eternal on it has anything to say.) To me it seems most useful as a road trip distraction. I get a lot more use out of my GPD Win2 otherwise, even if that isn't anywhere as powerful - I do have a perfectly capable gaming PC on my desk, plus an actual hardware Steam Link for the living room TV if the whim calls for it, and from there the GPD Win2 fits into my use case as a "not-so-demanding random indie titles in my library" playtime device.

Ahh yeah GPD win definitely wins out in the portability dept. For the longest time I wanted one but never got around to it before the Deck came out.
Battery life is definitely a weak spot of the deck though as you said all the options you have to get the most out of it help immensely. I love messing around with this stuff and can often get caught up tweaking performance or controls instead of actually playing games lol.
Most of my experience with the Deck so far has been on long trips/flights as well. Sometimes when I'm not in the mood to sit at my desk or use a mouse and keyboard to play games I'll play with it on the couch or in bed or something. I've also been using it to get my feet wet with linux again, especially gaming and even romhacking on linux. It's not the most ideal setup of course but I've even figured out how to get MAGE working:

[spoiler]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASW6dxhWPdQ[/spoiler]

I had a lot of laptops around before I got my Deck and for the most part they have been replaced by it when I'm in the mood to use something portable.

[FelixWright]

I recently got my hands on this NewQ 5-in-1 portable dock.


once i figured out how to dump and decrypt cartridges from my 2ds xl with godmode9, as well as setting up EmuDeck, I found this:
https://steamdeckhq.com/tips-and-guides/how-to-play-3ds-games-dual-screen-with-citra-and-steam-deck/
It's a guide which shows how you can use the deck and a TV for dual screen play like the WiiU's DS virtual console.


It took some effort, but voila! it works! I even used some cheat codes that make the game run at 60FPS and let you single walljump.


Thanks to the dock being clipped on I can just sit back in my couch and play. That said, it is a pretty hefty cable.
I've got a "Redmere technology" HDMI cable on the way that will hopefully alleviate excessive strain on the hdmi port.
That just leaves one problem. It's a bit of a pain in the ass getting the citra window to span both screens.

currently I need to:

• snap the citra window to the top left of the TV
• drag-extend the window to the right, spanning across both screens
• turn off the title bar; from this point on I must have an external keyboard and use alt + F3 to resize windows
• drag-extend the window down to the bottom of my deck's screen
• drag-extend the window down to the bottom of the tv's screen

If I were doing this on windows I could just install and run Borderless gaming, have it detect the Citra emulation window, and select "SUPER SIZE ME!" to span it across both screens. So far in Penguinland/ KDE land, not so much. It's a real pain in the butt. If there's a way to streamline this, help would be greatly appreciated.

[FelixWright]

If there's a way to streamline this, help would be greatly appreciated.

Update: Have mostly streamlined this process. Downside is I can't find a way to get citra to stop hogging the screen while it's running.

[FelixWright]

Update Update: Got that thin hdmi in. 36 AWG thickness!!! Wow. I was worried it would introduce latency since it's got controllers on both ends to amplify signals blah blah to be this thin and long but it works like a dream. If you're going for a similar setup I can happily say it's well worth the investment. It takes away pretty much all strain on the portable dock. I know the 10ft hdmi cable I was using before is probably old and thicker than what you could normally get today, but here's a size comparison photo anyway.


I also discovered that on some smart TVs like mine you can download a Steam Link app. Grab that sucker, set the picture to game mode, and you're off to the races! If you run into problems with the resolution in desktop mode, pop into Steam -> Settings -> Remote Play -> Advanced Host Options and untick the box labelled ☑ Dynamically Adjust Capture Resolution to Improve Performance.
It has some latency but this would be an excellent way to set up party games and couch co-op.

[FelixWright]

I've found that some games refuse to uninstall with the error message: "Missing Shared Content." For example, trying to uninstall Call of Duty Advanced Warfare Multiplayer.

The solution to this is you need to uninstall the base game in order to then uninstall those extra bits.

Also i can highly recommend grabbing the decky loader. It has a bunch of really awesome plugins such as randomly picking out a game for you, giving you a place to jot down quick notes, see ProtonDB grading, quick access to gamefaqs, other people's configs for getting the game to work on Deck, cloud saving for games that don't have it, the list goes on and on.

Also that in gaming mode, you can't use the full screen for things like Discord. The solution to this I've found is to hook up a keyboard (or do a custom controller bind) that does Ctrl + Shift + F to make it full screen.

[FelixWright]

The long-awaited SteamOS 3.5 is now here in the stable branch: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1675200/view/5484882897552407488

Also, there's a Steam Deck OLED now. It's better in pretty much every way, especially in display, power consumption, and maintenance departments. Even the case and power adapter are better. It's a crazy refresh honestly. It's not really worth upgrading from Deck to Deck OLED, but man I am envious of the people who waited to get a Deck until now.