|OT| Valve's Steam Deck - OLED refresh shipping to folks

TheTrain

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Jun 11, 2019
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I'm playing Tales of Arise rn on Deck and its truly what I, almost, expect from a verified game. 45FPS locked, 3h of battery life with almost maxed out settings (Only shadow at medium). Only thing that its preventing it to be akin a verified label benchmark is the lack of arbitrary resolution. (Something that baffles me in 2023)
 

Alexandros

Every game should be turn based
Nov 4, 2018
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Valve have this new page with the top 100 most played games on Steam Deck this year so far:

One interesting thing about it is that it includes "unsupported" games.
That's pretty funny! I wonder why games like Sons of the Forest and Boltgun are marked as unsupported.
 
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Li Kao

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Is there a big downside to using EA Play (or whatev) on Deck vs the Steam versions of games ?
 

Mivey

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Is there a big downside to using EA Play (or whatev) on Deck vs the Steam versions of games ?
The games are exactly the same,so there couldn't be any differences. You are just lending those games, and they'll drop from your library after you stop subbing. You're also always graced with the dumb EA launcher, but that's regardless of whether you have EA play or not.
 
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C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
Dec 23, 2018
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Is there a big downside to using EA Play (or whatev) on Deck vs the Steam versions of games ?
EA Play through Steam, or launched as non-Steam games?

If it’s EA Play for Steam the experience is identical. If you’re adding them to Steam as non-Steam games (i.e. your subscription is from outside Steam) then you have to deal with the disadvantages of them being a non-Steam game. That includes a lack of Steam platform features and no shader pre-caching via the client.
 
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Li Kao

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The games are exactly the same,so there couldn't be any differences. You are just lending those games, and they'll drop from your library after you stop subbing. You're also always graced with the dumb EA launcher, but that's regardless of whether you have EA play or not.
Yeah, sorry, I suspected I wasn't using the right term. I meant plain old EA app. As in the successor to Origin, not the sub service.
I was tempted to re-buy Mass Effect Legendary and Dragon Age 2 on Steam, to consolidate my library. But unlike Anno, there is a good chance I will want to play them on Deck, so if it's all the same, that's 20 something that can go elsewhere.

I meant, using the EA app on Deck as a non Steam game, will it support Steam Input, things like that.
 

C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
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Yeah, sorry, I suspected I wasn't using the right term. I meant plain old EA app. As in the successor to Origin, not the sub service.
I was tempted to re-buy Mass Effect Legendary and Dragon Age 2 on Steam, to consolidate my library. But unlike Anno, there is a good chance I will want to play them on Deck, so if it's all the same, that's 20 something that can go elsewhere.

I meant, using the EA app on Deck, will it support Steam Input, things like that.
Okay, then to clarify: Adding EA games as non-Steam loses you things like achievements. You won’t get shader pre-caching so you will get shader stutter. Steam Input should work fine.
 
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Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
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Decisions, DECISIONS ! Losing achievements was expected, but a bummer. Shader cache is a big bummer. But is it a 20 something bummer :thinking-blob:

-

Wait, you mean that if I subb on Steam for 3 something, I get to play the Steam version with all the advantages ? And when the subb lapses the games are still in my library with the cheevos, just un-launchable ?
Interesting if so. Mivey C-Dub I summon you for confirmation.

As an aside and for curio's sake, does EA play gives access to DLC ? Irrelevant as the games I want are ultimate edition but good to know. Like For 3 I have access to every Sims 4 dlc ?
 
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C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
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Don’t know enough about EA’s sub, so I can’t answer that. But I guess if the game is available on EA Play, you’ll be able to access the full Steam version of that game for as long as you’re subscribed.

The game disappears from your library when your sub ends, but like when you refund a game, you keep the cheevos as far as I’m aware.
 

Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
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Don’t know enough about EA’s sub, so I can’t answer that. But I guess if the game is available on EA Play, you’ll be able to access the full Steam version of that game for as long as you’re subscribed.

The game disappears from your library when your sub ends, but like when you refund a game, you keep the cheevos as far as I’m aware.
Yeah seems like the games are hidden on the account but the stats being are saved, coming back in case of a purchase.
Meh, I suppose 20 more is not the end of the world.
 

C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
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Thanks!

That actually looks like a really useful feature. I really hope someone makes a Decky alternative for Steam Windows, because it’s weird to have a bunch of features on my Deck and not have them when using BPM on my desktop.
 

itsamiracle

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Dec 31, 2018
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It would really help if Valve made easy to edit library metadata locally, even if they didn't allow you to sync the changes through their service.
Do it Gabe :minos_gun:
 
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C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
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It would really help if Valve made easy to edit library metadata locally, even if they didn't allow you to sync the changes through their service.
Do it Gabe :minos_gun:
People have been literally been asking for this for years and it's fallen on deaf ears.

Valve are very particular about what they let users do on Steam, and what they don't, and they've rigidly stuck to that for the longest time.

I'd like to see a lot more customisation available for Steam in general, including:
  • Desktop and Big Picture theming
  • Library plugins (community made, for quickly adding and syncing other libraries to Steam)
  • Metadata plugins (for editing game information, using external grid providers and adding functionality to the client Valve won't)
  • Browser windows as apps, so we can natively add any website as a local Steam app (such as Netflix, other stores, game streaming services)
I know you can do all of these with third party apps but they don't always work well, and for ones that edit information in the Steam client, one client update can totally break the entire plugin system, which makes them hard to rely on and kind of ephemeral in a way that I find deeply unsatisfying.

Of course I'm speaking largely from a HTPC background, but I'm sure there are other enhancements to Steam that the community would like for Desktop mode that Valve won't do.
 

C-Dub

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On a more Linux & ROG Ally and less Steam Deck (but still related), I'm hearing good things about ChimeraOS on ROG Ally. Apparently it gives users a Steam Deck like experience (without the trackpad) and an awesome Web UI so you can remote administer the system from a PC on your LAN.

To be honest, a Web UI for Steam in general (and Deck, and any new Steam Console that may or may not release) would be a great feature for Valve to add. As a HTPC user, anything that means I don't need to use a keyboard with my PC is a big benefit.
 
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itsamiracle

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On a more Linux & ROG Ally and less Steam Deck (but still related), I'm hearing good things about ChimeraOS on ROG Ally. Apparently it gives users a Steam Deck like experience (without the trackpad) and an awesome Web UI so you can remote administer the system from a PC on your LAN.

To be honest, a Web UI for Steam in general (and Deck, and any new Steam Console that may or may not release) would be a great feature for Valve to add. As a HTPC user, anything that means I don't need to use a keyboard with my PC is a big benefit.
Cockpit?
 
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C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
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Cockpit?
I don't think that's what I'm looking for. I can't remote install Steam games with it. What I'd like is something more game-focused, because that's where remote management interests me the most.

ChimeraOS uses something called Chimera that I'd like to see available as a more OS agnostic thing. Right now it's specifically designed for ChimeraOS though, so I'm not sure how feasible it'd be running on SteamOS. Plus I'd also like the feature on Windows so I can have the same functionality on my HTPC.
 

TheTrain

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So it runs better with SD card than SSD? Because the loading in the second tweet X is far faster than the first.
I think it's just because in the DF video you are seeing a like a benchmark of that portal thing. I'm pretty sure that you'll see that kind of transition only in that sequence and nothing more. Back in the day of the PS5 release there were a lot of criticism because they did not pushed that kind of gimmick more in the game.
 

C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
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So it runs better with SD card than SSD? Because the loading in the second tweet X is far faster than the first.
It's not an apples to apples comparison.

The SD card shows portals all in the same area (functionally the same as a portal in, well, Portal - or the original Prey), whereas the SSD video shows the proper thing, which is portals to completely different areas that have to be streamed in from storage in as you traverse the portal.

I'd be interested to see the same scene from the opening running from SSD and SD card.
 
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MomoVideo

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Is anybody else playing Diablo IV on Steam Deck? I'm experiencing some frame time spikes during traveling, I think it might be a VRAM issue but I am not sure. Otherwise, it works well on low-medium settings and FSR set to balanced at 40 Hz. I'm wondering if there is a way to mitigate this issue.
 

Mivey

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Is anybody else playing Diablo IV on Steam Deck? I'm experiencing some frame time spikes during traveling, I think it might be a VRAM issue but I am not sure. Otherwise, it works well on low-medium settings and FSR set to balanced at 40 Hz. I'm wondering if there is a way to mitigate this issue.
If it is due to the game loading, then there is not much you can do, that would be a memory bandwidth issue. In principle, things like DirectStorage could for that on Windows, on Linux you'd first need support for such techniques on the Linux kernel, and then Proton devs would need to extend Proton to translate DirectStorage instructions to whatever it is the Linux kernel might implement.
 
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FunnyJay

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I tried Mafia 3 on the Deck today. Listed as unsupported, and ProtonDB is filled with reports of all the workaround needed to get it to work.

It works fine out of the box. Graphics jitter once or twice, but otherwise I get a stable 30 FPS.
The controller preset from Hanger13 is completely busted, but if you change to Gamepad as controller configuration, it works. However, all the button prompts are then completely gone.
I've googled about it, and not found any solution that actually makes them show up again.
 
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FunnyJay

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Any thoughts on the easiest way of playing GOG games on the Deck?

I've seen a few different suggestions of how to do it:

  1. Through Heroic
  2. Through Lutris
  3. Install the GOG on your Windows desktop PC, copy the files over to the Deck, add it to Steam, and choose Proton version.
  4. Download the GOG installer for the game, add that as a Steam "game", install, then do some switcheroo to the game .exe instead.
I've installed Heroic, but not actually downloaded anything through it yet. I find it a bit weird that you "need" to set Wine/Proton version for each game in the Heroic launcher, instead of just choosing Proton version through the Steam UI. Or I might be mistaken? It all seems a bit intimidating.

I'm interesting in trying to play my GOG copy of The Saboteur, since it is not available through Steam...
 
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C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
Dec 23, 2018
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Any thoughts on the easiest way of playing GOG games on the Deck?

I've seen a few different suggestions of how to do it:

  1. Through Heroic
  2. Through Lutris
  3. Install the GOG on your Windows desktop PC, copy the files over to the Deck, add it to Steam, and choose Proton version.
  4. Download the GOG installer for the game, add that as a Steam "game", install, then do some switcheroo to the game .exe instead.
I've installed Heroic, but not actually downloaded anything through it yet. I find it a bit weird that you "need" to set Wine/Proton version for each game in the Heroic launcher, instead of just choosing Proton version through the Steam UI. Or I might be mistaken? It all seems a bit intimidating.

I'm interesting in trying to play my GOG copy of The Saboteur, since it is not available through Steam...
Heroic. It adds some of the Galaxy client features like cloud saves, so you can easily move between PC and Deck.
 

C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
Dec 23, 2018
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This looks pretty neat. Relies on BoilR to add the games to Steam though, otherwise you're launching the launcher through Steam and then launching the game through that which is... not ideal.

I think there are better ways of doing this. Heroic if you're only interested in GOG, Amazon and Epic. For everything else, I think Lutris does a better job.
 
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LionelInoe

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I've installed Heroic, but not actually downloaded anything through it yet. I find it a bit weird that you "need" to set Wine/Proton version for each game in the Heroic launcher, instead of just choosing Proton version through the Steam UI. Or I might be mistaken? It all seems a bit intimidating.
In steam, you can technically assign a unique proton version for each game as well. This is normal as game compatibility might regress in a proton update, so the option always needs to be there to go back.

Otherwise, you have to think of Heroic as it's own launcher outside of steam and thus it does all of it's own proton/wine/compatibility layer management on it's own. This is good as Steam won't have fixes preconfigured for miscellaneous games like they do with games that exist on their own platform. If you configure the games, you should be able to use BoilR to integrate them with steam like any other app and you won't be forced to use the heroic client.
 

Mivey

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Sep 20, 2018
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Im guessing its just imported.. there is 25% VAT on import stuff
The price of the Deck in Europe is already with VAT (which is between 20 to 25 in the EU, depending on country) and I think wholesalers don't pay VAT, or at least they get large tax write offs if they do (VAT is aimed at customers, and companies generally pay far less taxes). So unless the Norwegian store is buying these individually in small numbers, we are still seeing a massive markup here.
 

Riru

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The price of the Deck in Europe is already with VAT (which is between 20 to 25 in the EU, depending on country) and I think wholesalers don't pay VAT, or at least they get large tax write offs if they do (VAT is aimed at customers, and companies generally pay far less taxes). So unless the Norwegian store is buying these individually in small numbers, we are still seeing a massive markup here.
Hmm 🤔yeah idk what's up with the price tbh
 
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