Steam Deck and Linux Gaming

Pink Stripes, check your wording.

Custom boot videos

https://steamdeckrepo.com/

Robear wrote:

Pink Stripes, check your wording. :-)

LOL, that was a typo!

Orphu wrote:

Custom boot videos

https://steamdeckrepo.com/

Have you seen a Sega themed one with the audio “Steam Deck” when it launches?

1. Wow, this is a really nice piece of kit.
2. Hmm, it works well enough but there aren’t that many games in my library that support it.
3. There so many games on my pile, I kinda regret buying this.
4. Okay, that first game I finished on it was awesome. What’s next?
5. For now, I’m only adding new games to my library that are “verified.”
6. Now let’s see how well this can run emulators!

I’m at #5 right now. It took me a short while to warm up to it, but I'm kinda loving it now.

Almost every game that is marked playable in my library has performed excellently so far, even most of the unknowns as well so dont worry too much about playability rating.
Report from my first weekend away with the deck follows.
Spent the weekend at my in laws, gamed a good deal and had a great experience with the deck. Battery life was not an issue, i just charged it whenever i was doing something else and it was starting to get low. Generally got 6+ hours to a charge just by limiting to 40fps.
There was a mix of in and outdoor, plus in car use and i had no issues with glare, despite some notable sun(upgraded screen definitely worth it from my perspective) .
I have a very bad back and after car trips i have to spend extended time lying on my back on a hard floor to correct and while i needed to shift slightly from side to side to avoid excessive arm fatigue it was manageable and made the experience much less irritating.
Games played: space court, outland, dead cells,
stellaris, stardew valley, dex, mark of the ninja, monster sanctuary, gordian quest, okami, no man's sky, chasm, ff10.

pandasuit wrote:
Orphu wrote:

Custom boot videos

https://steamdeckrepo.com/

Have you seen a Sega themed one with the audio “Steam Deck” when it launches?

No, I've not been able to find a good one.

Here a bad one with no sound:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeckBo...

Here's a Saturn one:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeckBo...

Paladin Tom, the "verified" status initially served as a gatekeeper for me. However, far more games work fine that initially suggested. Easy to way to check is here: https://www.protondb.com/
Search for your game in the top left and you will see a rating (platinum - no problem, gold- easy tweak, red- doesn't work).

Have fun!

Chad

P.S. What was the first game you finished on the Deck?

chooka1 wrote:

Paladin Tom, the "verified" status initially served as a gatekeeper for me. However, far more games work fine that initially suggested. Easy to way to check is here: https://www.protondb.com/
Search for your game in the top left and you will see a rating (platinum - no problem, gold- easy tweak, red- doesn't work).

Have fun!

Chad

P.S. What was the first game you finished on the Deck?

Awesome. Thanks for the link!

First I finished Guacamelee which I had started on my pc ages ago. Then I completely burned through Limbo which is unbelievably good, and now I’m playing Owlboy which I am really enjoying. (So much so I’m wondering why I haven’t heard more about it because it’s great so far.)

Apologies for my ignorance, but I have a Steam Deck on the way and I’m wondering if there is a way to “wishlist” across multiple stores. Basically I have a handful of games I want to play on Steam Deck and I want to see watch out for sales across all the places they can be purchased and played on Steam.

DSGamer wrote:

Apologies for my ignorance, but I have a Steam Deck on the way and I’m wondering if there is a way to “wishlist” across multiple stores. Basically I have a handful of games I want to play on Steam Deck and I want to see watch out for sales across all the places they can be purchased and played on Steam.

Does “Is There Any Deal” allow you to maintain a wishlist limited to only things available on Steam or resellers?

I'd second ITAD. You can limit it to the storefronts you specify and customize alerts based on them too.

https://isthereanydeal.com/

Anyone have a third party dock that they can recommend?

I bought the one posted by jamos5 last week:

jamos5 wrote:

More than I was expecting. It includes a charger though which is probably why it's a lot more than the other docks that are out there. I think I'll probably end up getting the JSAUX one

I only got it on Monday and haven't used it all that much but, so far, it's working great!

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/wcp8W4c.jpg)

That dock was on sale yesterday but I balked after reading some of the negative reviews. Sounds like they have a quality control issue where the docks they ship are all over the place.

Has anyone with the 64 or 256Gb versions gotten an anti-glare screen protector? Any recommendations or suggestions?

Pink Stripes wrote:

Has anyone with the 64 or 256Gb versions gotten an anti-glare screen protector? Any recommendations or suggestions?

This is the one I got, which I have no complaints about. It completely covers the screen and doesn’t show smudges or fingerprints (as long as your hands are clean).

ruhk wrote:
Pink Stripes wrote:

Has anyone with the 64 or 256Gb versions gotten an anti-glare screen protector? Any recommendations or suggestions?

This is the one I got, which I have no complaints about. It completely covers the screen and doesn’t show smudges or fingerprints (as long as your hands are clean).

I got a glare one. Either way, I think a screen protector is recommended. After a week or so I looked at it at an angle and saw a micro scratch off the backlit area so I bought one.

I’m personally still using my old Skull & Co Jumpgate Core (not the stand) that I originally bought for my Switch.

EmuDeck 2 is out. Update was pretty easy. Just re-ran the setup link I already had on my desktop.

Has any one of you found a good guide to hooking the Steam Deck up to a 4K tv?

If it is as powerful as a ps4 pro, it should be able to deliver a performance like it on a tv, right?

I'm coming from consoles and haven't really tinkered with pc gaming since the 90s, so I'm not that good with all the technical stuff.

I bought a new hdmi-cable and that actually made a difference, but I still think the quality is a bit fuzzy.

I've been tinkering with resolution and fsr. Is there anything else I can do?

I use Elden Ring and Skywalker Saga as benchmarks, and Elden Ring look quite good, but not that bright. Skywalker Saga kind a looks like a ps3-game.

To be honest, I hoped that with the Steam Dock we got a tv-mode I guess not....

I’ve been struggling with this too. Notably I don’t think the Steam Deck supports HDR, which is part of the problem.

It's not going to run things at 4k very well at all. Some of the statements and expectations around the Steam Deck are a little blown up.

Yes, it CAN run at 4k. Should you for 90% of games? Absolutely not.

It struggles to run demanding games at a consistent 60fps at 1080p on most games with settings at high/medium.

Can it upscale from 800 resolution to 4k and run it smoothly? Yes, for most things. But that's not really running at 4k and it does not look the same.

astralplaydoh wrote:

Can it upscale from 800 resolution to 4k and run it smoothly? Yes, for most things. But that's not really running at 4k and it does not look the same.

So you seem to be more tech-savvy than me. What would you recommend for the best experience? And does it make a difference what game you're playing?

Partydiktator wrote:
astralplaydoh wrote:

Can it upscale from 800 resolution to 4k and run it smoothly? Yes, for most things. But that's not really running at 4k and it does not look the same.

So you seem to be more tech-savvy than me. What would you recommend for the best experience? And does it make a difference what game you're playing?

Run the Steam Deck at either 720p or 1080p and let the upscaler in your TV do the rest would probably be the best solution for now. Not all TVs have great upscalers, but most can handle simple 2x or 3x integer scaling.

Also, temper expectations. Treat it more like an upgraded Switch than a PS5.

The above advice is great. For most games while docked, try setting the game settings to 1080p on high and turn on your frames display. If it's always falling below 50-60 fps, drop a few settings down.

You can also just google Steam Deck Game Settings Elden Ring

Replace Elden Ring with whatever you want to play. I guarantee some tech nerd has found great settings to enjoy the game with.

I’m definitely not expecting it to output 4k native. I am a little disappointed at the lack of HDR. If I’m being honest about what I expected out of a device this large, I was hoping for something akin to an OG PS4 with HDR, basically.

The fact that it can play games like Elden Ring, Horizon, Spider-Man and God of War I think says that expectation wasn’t too far off. I just wish it looked a little nicer on the TV. That said, I haven’t used the official dock yet, so maybe if I try that I’ll get a better / more seamless picture than I did with a basic HDMI adapter.

I should say that in my short time with it I’ve found a couple of reasons to really fall in love with the device. Namely that it covers games I can’t play on any other single platform.

To start with I configured EmuDeck and focused on just Wii and GameCube which opened up 2 Fire Emblem games I’ve barely touched and Rhythm Heaven Fever, a game in a series I love that I’ve never played.

Secondly, I dug into the Steam catalog of chill games that the Switch doesn’t covered and I’m really enjoying Lake, Euro Truck Simulator 2, Session and a few others that aren’t available on Switch. I’m a big fan of chill games like simulators, but I haven’t had much access to them since I don’t play on PC, so there might be whole new avenues of games opened up to me with this.

Try Dorfromantik, DSGamer.