Steam Deck and Linux Gaming

Anker I would trust, all those no name brands you have never heard of I would not trust with high power or expensive electronics. Apple does make a good quality USB-C chargers if you want to go with them and I trust more than Anker but they are probably more expensive too. They have a 20W, 30W, or 140W.

They added an external heat sink to the Deck after opening a hole in the outer case. That’s a bit extreme. It does beg the question tho: what if there was a nice outer case mod that makes it easier to connect on external cooling of some sort or even just extends the built in cooling directly?

Edit: Didn't mean to imply the Deck only has passive cooling. Changed "passive" to "built in" in above text.

I thought it already had active cooling? Are the rear vents in the wrong place for the incoming air to flow where it's needed?

So, dumb question, if I stream from my PC to my Steam Deck, does that count towards my data cap or does it function like a LAN?

Kurrelgyre wrote:

I thought it already had active cooling? Are the rear vents in the wrong place for the incoming air to flow where it's needed?

It does but it could always have more!!!!!!

Kind of reminds me of those muscle cars with the giant blowers on them.

iaintgotnopants wrote:

So, dumb question, if I stream from my PC to my Steam Deck, does that count towards my data cap or does it function like a LAN?

If you're in your house with both devices, it's across your LAN so doesn't go anywhere externally.

This is related to a convo Rykin and I were having in the Game Pass channel but it became more Steam Deck related so I've moved it here.

Rykin wrote:
pandasuit wrote:
Rykin wrote:
pandasuit wrote:

I have been playing way way too much Vampire Survivors on Game Pass PC

I downloaded that to check it out and then ended up buying it on Steam because I kept losing progress on the GP version.

Haven’t lost progress yet but I’ve been tempted to get it on Steam and port my save game so I can play it on Deck

Game Pass version just seemed to have issue keeping my save game in sync between two PCs and I lost progress because of it at least twice. Steam works flawlessly and the Steam version even read my save file from the Game Pass version with no extra work from me.

Just got the Steam version of Vampire Survivors as I was enjoying it on Game Pass PC but wanted it on Deck.

Some of my progress transferred over but not all of it. It kept things I had paid coins for but lost all my unlocks. Easy to fix by finding the sav file from the Game Pass PC version and copying into the Steam save folder with the right name. While both versions keep some data in the same spot they don't keep all the save data there and they have different file names. Data format is the same tho.

My coworker has had bad stick drift on their right thumbstick. They triaged it with some increased dead zone, but they put in an order with iFixIt back when the store first opened for a replacement thumbstick.

Today they finally got their shipment notification. And the thumbsticks and some other parts that were previously Out of Stock on the iFixIt site are now showing as In Stock.

Meanwhile, the 3rd party GuliKit replacement sticks that use Hall sensors apparently exist, looking forward to this upcoming video:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/PxIe88e.png)

So, which games are really fun on Deck in your experience and are on sale in Steam Summer Sale? I don’t just mean games that are verified, I mean games that really fit the Deck as a device. Short sessions. Plays well with Deck controls. Etc.

I guess more generically: what are you actually playing and enjoying on Deck that others might want to get and try.

I'm really enjoying Jet Lancer on the Deck.

Been a round a while, but I had not played the most recent Norse Lands campaign. I've been having a ton of fun with Kingdom Two Crowns: Norse Lands on my Deck.

pandasuit wrote:

I guess more generically: what are you actually playing and enjoying on Deck that others might want to get and try.

Civ VI and XCOM have to be mentioned first as my default go-tos.

I have been enjoying Sublevel Zero Redux, a "roguelike Descent" game. And the twinstick roguelike genre in general: Nuclear Throne, Hades, Binding of Isaac, Streets of Rogue, all great.

The new TMNT: Shredder's Revenge beat-em-up game is ideal.

Pretty much anything where it doesn't necessarily feel like I'll be "missing out" by playing on a handheld rather than a high-end machine. Or where I can use the handheld to continue a campaign while away from home. CRPGs with Steam Cloud saves are awesome.

In light of the Steam summer sale, I welcome Steam Deck owners--anyone really--to share recommended Steam Deck friendly titles.

I have found I like playing smaller scope and quicker games on my Deck.

I'll start:

Pacman 256
Vampire Survivors
Fallout 4
Dishonored 2
Trials of Fire
Gordian Quest

Chad

Pink Stripes wrote:

I'm really enjoying Jet Lancer on the Deck.

The combat in that looks a lot like LUFTRAUSERS and I loved that game. Adding this to my wish list.

*Legion* wrote:

I have been enjoying Sublevel Zero Redux, a "roguelike Descent" game.

Wishlisted.

chooka1 wrote:

I have found I like playing smaller scope and quicker games on my Deck.

Exactly this.

---

I'm still mostly just sampling games on Deck and haven't put a ton of hours into anything but the ones that I felt played great and I'm going to get back to are:
Spin Rhythm XD (touch pad support is nice)
Vampire Survivors
Dread Templar
Wreckfest
Crypt of the NecroDancer
Ikaruga
Jamestown

Considering I didn't want to play Rocket League on Deck it's unfortunate it became my most played Deck game quite quickly and was taking my time away from everything else. I solved this problem by deleting it from my Deck....

I'm looking for a better racing game for the Deck. Might have to go the emulator route to get what I want.

pandasuit wrote:

I'm looking for a better racing game for the Deck. Might have to go the emulator route to get what I want.

Have you tried art of rally on it?

Another good option is Circuit Superstars.

Horizon Chase Turbo is also not bad.

And Riptide GP is a bit old bit it was pretty good and it's only $2.

I'm really tempted to get Hot Wheels Unleashed on the Steam sale.

Pink Stripes wrote:

I'm really enjoying Jet Lancer on the Deck.

+1

Also for fans of Vampire Survivors: 20 minutes Till Dawn appears to be solid, especially for $3. Although on SD, text might be too small for some.

chooka1 wrote:

In light of the Steam summer sale, I welcome Steam Deck owners--anyone really--to share recommended Steam Deck friendly titles.

I have found I like playing smaller scope and quicker games on my Deck.

I'll start:

Pacman 256
Vampire Survivors
Fallout 4
Dishonored 2
Trials of Fire
Gordian Quest

Chad

How is Fallout 4 on it? I want to play Fallout 3 and New Vegas on the Deck!

Fallout 4 is great. Dive in and wander the wasteland.

Pool Panic plays really well on Steam Deck. It was on my wishlist for a while and was at its deepest sale ever on Steam sale right now so I grabbed it.

It’s a really low power draw game as well. At 60fps I’m getting a projected 4.5h play time. Dropping to 40hz/fps adds another 30-40 minutes.

Looks good. Solid reviews. The one negative I saw in a few reviews is the difficulty with using a controller to aim. Your experience?

Thanks for the recommendation!

Chad

chooka1 wrote:

Looks good. Solid reviews. The one negative I saw in a few reviews is the difficulty with using a controller to aim. Your experience?

Thanks for the recommendation!

Chad

Odd. The game actually recommends using a controller on the loading screen.

So far (about 50 minutes in) I haven’t had an issue using the controller to aim. If anything I’m still getting comfortable with the deck controller compared to my usual Xbone controller. It just doesn’t feel exactly right on deck so I’m a little off. Still feels way better than Switch joycons tho. I haven’t tried using the Deck touchpads for this game yet but they might be more precise if used in mouse mode. YMMV.

Purchased! I played the tutorial and a level. Fun. Good recommendation.

Chad

My Steam Deck took over a week to arrive but came in yesterday, just before my trip today. Normally I would bring a laptop for gaming but this time I am going to see how the Deck handles the job. I already have FF 1-3 installed and Monkey Island 1-3. Lego Star wars has been running smoothly so far.

Best of luck on the trip!

Good luck to everyone with a Q3 reservation!

There was a huge update for Crypt of the Necrodancer. First in 5 years (!). Tried it out on deck and it plays great. One of my favorites from the last 10 years and only $3 currently on Steam. The update added a ton of neat features, including several QOL and accessibility features to help with the difficulty curve. It’s a must own in my opinion.

Maybe this has been discussed before but have people done online coop on the Deck? Was it a smooth experience? How did voice comms work for you?

Practical question, how is the deck for switching users and family library? My daughter will be using it sometimes and there are a few games we play via family library from each others libraries. Is that functionality usable on the deck?

Has anyone got Minecraft running on the Deck?

Still don't have my Deck, but follow this site that often has guides for things like this:

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2022/0...

Might be useful?

Note that due to changes to the API used by CurseForge, MultiMC and PolyMC (and no doubt other third party launchers) can no longer automatically download modpacks from Curseforge.