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

Self_Destructive

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Some pics of games I've taken running on the Steam Deck.

(Pro-tip: If you open them in a new tab and "ctrl+mouse wheel down" to 50% zoom, that's essentially what it looks like on the Decks screen)

Going to spoiler them because there's quite a few.
Gears 5



Elden Ring


God of War



Persona 4 Golden



Psychonauts 2



Death Stranding



Resident Evil 2 Remake




DMC5

 

Alexandros

Every game should be turn based
Nov 4, 2018
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Some pics of games I've taken running on the Steam Deck.

(Pro-tip: If you open them in a new tab and "ctrl+mouse wheel down" to 50% zoom, that's essentially what it looks like on the Decks screen)

Going to spoiler them because there's quite a few.
Gears 5



Elden Ring


God of War



Persona 4 Golden



Psychonauts 2



Death Stranding



Resident Evil 2 Remake




DMC5

It's pretty amazing that this sort of fidelity is now achievable on a handheld.
 

LEANIJA

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I found out that Outriders runs via Proton (and therefore on the Deck) by copying an EAC file over from the Apex Legends install...


its a quick and easy fix, and it worked without a hitch – well, almost. the command line options the video tells you to use? they prevented the game from launching for me. plus, it does stutter! i'm guessing its a shader compiling thing.

also disclaimer: im playing this on my main linux machine, not the deck - FPS+gamepad controls is just not for me.

edit: will you get banned for this? I cant guarantee that, so please use at your own discretion.
 
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Amzin

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I don't know how late they send out emails but only 2 "office hours" left and I haven't gotten one today. Still thinking the US 512 model is the worst queue to be in, since multiple calculators show today as the day (after it was pushed back significantly from more data).
 

DrShrapnel

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We're going on vacation next week, and it hit me how this will be the first time I can continue playing my PC games while away from home.

Bought a 1TB Micro SD Card off Amazon, which came yesterday, Spent the evening installing various backlog games that I always wanted to get back to. In reality I'll probably keep playing Elden Ring.
 

Li Kao

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also disclaimer: im playing this on my main linux machine, not the deck - FPS+gamepad controls is just not for me.
Mmh, yeah. I played the new Cultic demo yesterday on the Deck and as much as I would like to contradict you, FPS on Deck seem to be a bad fit (at least the PC centric ones). Maybe the game simply has mediocre gamepad settings, but it didn't feel good to play, and I had to turn on aim assist.
Didn't help that the dev reworked the demo map for the worse imho, lots of sniping motherfuckers, lots of enemies in elevated positions, ughh. It also doesn't do 60 fps constant at all and heat up the Deck so it makes the fans a little noisy.
I loved the first demo, but the quality of the second iteration of the map notwithstanding, it screamed desktop.

I also feel like it loads quite noticeably slower on the sd than on the ssd of the Deck. Yeah, I was a sad puppy all around.
 
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LEANIJA

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Mmh, yeah. I played the new Cultic demo yesterday on the Deck and as much as I would like to contradict you, FPS on Deck seem to be a bad fit (at least the PC centric ones). Maybe the game simply has mediocre gamepad settings, but it didn't feel good to play, and I had to turn on aim assist.
Its certainly a matter of taste – I talked to people who prefer playing everything with a controller, and thats fair enough. I just always thought there are different control methods for different games and that the precision of a mouse is a must-have in shooty games for me personally :)
I know Valve put the gyro and the trackpad onto the Deck to try and accomodate for various game scenarios...and thats cool, but not a complete replacement, I think.


~


Someone got a VHS to play on the Deck for some reason ;)





~


KDE Plasma 5.25 was released, with several additions for touchscreens... which I can only assume were made with the Deck in mind.
 
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Knurek

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Either I got an unit with a faulty L1 button and didn't notice it before, or my L1 button broke recently.
Still can be used, but only registers when pressed on the volume buttons side. Nothing if I try to press it near the Deck's edge.
Not that big of a deal, since it still works in a way and even if it stops, I can just rebind to L4 or L5, but still...
Would've expect it to last a bit longer than 2 months (or one finished game)... :suicide-blob:
 

C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
Dec 23, 2018
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According to ParcelForce, my Deck is at the depot and a delivery route is sorted. From past experience that should be delivery today or tomorrow.

Edit: delivered! Got some games downloading already.

 
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Durante

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it would be awesome if someone sold some sort of OLED screen replacement kit. I'm not sure how viable that it -- I guess it would be impossible to get the same resolution/interface, which means that it would need software adjustments, which in principle wouldn't be a big deal since it's Linux, but in practice would be a huge deal-breaker since it would break the automated update process.
 
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Knurek

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it would be awesome if someone sold some sort of OLED screen replacement kit. I'm not sure how viable that it -- I guess it would be impossible to get the same resolution/interface, which means that it would need software adjustments, which in principle wouldn't be a big deal since it's Linux, but in practice would be a huge deal-breaker since it would break the automated update process.
Seriously this, playing Deck at night is torture.
 

Amzin

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Does anyone have experience using wireless earbuds with their deck? I know BT has latency compared to wired but there a earbuds with low-latency codecs, if the Steam Deck supports them I'd rather go without the wire I think most of the time. Mainly because I want something unobtrusive I can have in one ear while hanging on the couch with people or whatever else
 

Durante

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Something might be wrong with me because I think the Deck screen is fine. OLED would be better, but I do not miss it.
I agree, it's perfectly fine. But OLED would be even better (and IMHO it's the only thing that's viable with current technology that would substantially improve the Steam Deck).
 

Self_Destructive

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Does anyone have experience using wireless earbuds with their deck? I know BT has latency compared to wired but there a earbuds with low-latency codecs, if the Steam Deck supports them I'd rather go without the wire I think most of the time. Mainly because I want something unobtrusive I can have in one ear while hanging on the couch with people or whatever else
I've tried my Galaxy Buds Pro and there's just wayyy too much delay to even consider it. So I'm guessing it doesn't support the low latency codecs... because on my Galaxy S22 Ultra it's incredible and no delay whatsoever.

If anyone has any tips/tricks to improve that, I'd love to hear it.

Something might be wrong with me because I think the Deck screen is fine. OLED would be better, but I do not miss it.
Me too. It suits me just fine, though of course OLED would indeed be better.
 

Knurek

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Something might be wrong with me because I think the Deck screen is fine. OLED would be better, but I do not miss it.
It's compounded by Valve's choice of a 16:10 screen aspect ratio, so you get blackIPS Glow bars for both 4:3 and 16:9 content.
It's a perfectly fine screen when you have some ambient light, but trying to game at night with your lights turned off is rough.
 
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MomoVideo

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I would also prefer a 16:9 display because almost no game I tried on Deck supports its aspect ratio, but I suspect one of the reasons why Valve chose 16:10 because otherwise the screen-to-body ratio would be too small and the device would look weird.
 

Amzin

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I've tried my Galaxy Buds Pro and there's just wayyy too much delay to even consider it. So I'm guessing it doesn't support the low latency codecs... because on my Galaxy S22 Ultra it's incredible and no delay whatsoever.

If anyone has any tips/tricks to improve that, I'd love to hear it.
The Deck (well, Linux too) do support low latency codecs like aptX LL and LDAC (which is Sony-only I read?), although according to a post I saw on reddit, the Deck seems to default to normal-latency modes when gaming currently but there's a way to override that.

The Galaxy Buds are, based on everything I've read, terrible for gaming, and will have full 200-300ms latency on all non-Samsung devices because they use their own version of aptX Adaptive called Samsung Scalable except no one else supports it (maybe can't, don't know, Samsung is often worse than Apple when it comes to proprietary software stuff and it's why I never buy their hardware anymore because it never works with anything else I have the way I want it to). Samsung makes great hardware but terrible software decisions. There is, unfortunately, probably no way to improve the Samsung Buds connection to non-Samsung devices as Scalable also has a hardware component so it's not just codec support that's missing.

From the research I did, if anyone else is curious, it sounds like best case scenario is around 35-60ms but only for wireless sets that have aptX low latency/adaptive and in the case of aptX, having to manually force the mode on the Deck. Sony WF-1000XM4 are probably the lowest-effort low latency option but they're expensive and LDAC isn't quite as good as they claim, and also it's unlikely to improve - but it's supported out of the box and no fuss to make it work ASFAIK. Any wireless buds that support aptX Adaptive (which is replacing Low Latency) could potentially see improvement with better software support but require (currently) manually forcing the codec when gaming on the Deck. There are, somehow, gaming specific wireless ones from Razor that have a low-latency mode that everyone says works well (below 60ms), the problem is they have Razor build quality which means it may last 4 days, a few weeks, or indefinitely.

I generally avoid earbuds because I don't have much call to use them, but I might splurge on something just generally good that supports aptX adaptive, and hope the codec support on Deck / Linux is refined. Plus, a good pair of wired earbuds is comparatively cheap so it's feasible for me to get both kinds.

Edit: I realize I asked a question and then probably provided more info than anyone I asked would likely have had, I just kept researching after I posted. I just can't NOT research stuff when looking to buy something.
 
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Self_Destructive

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The Deck (well, Linux too) do support low latency codecs like aptX LL and LDAC (which is Sony-only I read?), although according to a post I saw on reddit, the Deck seems to default to normal-latency modes when gaming currently but there's a way to override that.

The Galaxy Buds are, based on everything I've read, terrible for gaming, and will have full 200-300ms latency on all non-Samsung devices because they use their own version of aptX Adaptive called Samsung Scalable except no one else supports it (maybe can't, don't know, Samsung is often worse than Apple when it comes to proprietary software stuff and it's why I never buy their hardware anymore because it never works with anything else I have the way I want it to). Samsung makes great hardware but terrible software decisions. There is, unfortunately, probably no way to improve the Samsung Buds connection to non-Samsung devices as Scalable also has a hardware component so it's not just codec support that's missing.

From the research I did, if anyone else is curious, it sounds like best case scenario is around 35-60ms but only for wireless sets that have aptX low latency/adaptive and in the case of aptX, having to manually force the mode on the Deck. Sony WF-1000XM4 are probably the lowest-effort low latency option but they're expensive and LDAC isn't quite as good as they claim, and also it's unlikely to improve - but it's supported out of the box and no fuss to make it work ASFAIK. Any wireless buds that support aptX Adaptive (which is replacing Low Latency) could potentially see improvement with better software support but require (currently) manually forcing the codec when gaming on the Deck. There are, somehow, gaming specific wireless ones from Razor that have a low-latency mode that everyone says works well (below 60ms), the problem is they have Razor build quality which means it may last 4 days, a few weeks, or indefinitely.

I generally avoid earbuds because I don't have much call to use them, but I might splurge on something just generally good that supports aptX adaptive, and hope the codec support on Deck / Linux is refined. Plus, a good pair of wired earbuds is comparatively cheap so it's feasible for me to get both kinds.

Edit: I realize I asked a question and then probably provided more info than anyone I asked would likely have had, I just kept researching after I posted. I just can't NOT research stuff when looking to buy something.
No, no worries! Thanks for the very detailed response. Good info to know... and yea I figured that would be the case. It's not a HUGE issue to me, but it just kinda sucks that they're basically unusable.
 
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Self_Destructive

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Tested out RE2 Remake on the Deck after the updates, and it runs as good as ever. 1080p (forced through res option in GameMode) 30fps locked with a mix of high and low settings. Looks really damn good.

While the update focuses on RT, which can make a huge difference in some scenes, the best thing about this version is the improvement to loading speeds! On my PC it takes about 2-3 seconds, and on my Steam Deck it takes about 6 seconds. Very impressed with it!

 

Paul

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Anyone tried Dragon's Dogma on Deck? I played about 5 hours of it on PC years ago and it didn't grab me, but I might be willing to give it a chance again.

I wish Enderal worked on Steam Deck.
 
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ExistentialThought

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I have not really played much Steam Deck, or really any games, over the past month. Though I just noticed today that I am over 40 percent of my library being verified or playable, which is surreal to see. Especially since a decent number of unknown titles have ran perfectly fine for me when I tested stuff.

The only two unknown titles that completely crashed was the Sealed Ampule.

I am also glad Valve is testing new and unreleased titles. I hope this expands and continues. Would love to know if preorder titles like Soul Hackers 2 or AI are compatible.
 
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Ge0force

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Are you playing in a room with lights turned off?
Lights are strongly dimmed, but not completely turned off.
Anyone tried Dragon's Dogma on Deck? I played about 5 hours of it on PC years ago and it didn't grab me, but I might be willing to give it a chance again.
I remember playing it on PS3 and I ended up liking it a lot. It's an older game of course, so I'm not sure how it holds up today. My major point of criticism back then was the lack of fast travel. Not sure if they addressed this in the later patches.
 
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Alexandros

Every game should be turn based
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Lights are strongly dimmed, but not completely turned off.


I remember playing it on PS3 and I ended up liking it a lot. It's an older game of course, so I'm not sure how it holds up today. My major point of criticism back then was the lack of fast travel. Not sure if they addressed this in the later patches.
I played the PC version and I remember it having some sort of stone or gem or whatever that you could drop anywhere and it would teleport you back to that location, just like the mark/recall spell in Morrowind.
 
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Durante

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Yeah, IIRC that was added in the PC version, at least I vaguely remember reading about that.

Edit: or rather, not specifically for the PC version, but it wasn't in the original game at launch.
 

MomoVideo

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Yup, Dark Arisen version added Infinite Ferrystone, which you can use infinitely to teleport to waypoints. You can find it in your storage when you reach the city. Throughout the game, you can also find a couple of portcrystals which you can place wherever you want and will serve as waypoints. The game world is actually pretty small so if you place those strategically then everything will be easy to reach.
 

LEANIJA

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Footage from FF7R on the Deck courtesy of GamingOnLinux:


~

I have not really played much Steam Deck, or really any games, over the past month. Though I just noticed today that I am over 40 percent of my library being verified or playable, which is surreal to see. Especially since a decent number of unknown titles have ran perfectly fine for me when I tested stuff.

The only two unknown titles that completely crashed was the Sealed Ampule.

I am also glad Valve is testing new and unreleased titles. I hope this expands and continues. Would love to know if preorder titles like Soul Hackers 2 or AI are compatible.
I noticed a few games marked simply Unsupported ran without a hassle, too. Its quite nice. And doubly so for me as I felt no need to boot into any kind of Windows for a long time now (outside of work, because they probably wont let me put Linux on my work laptop)
 

C-Dub

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Dec 23, 2018
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I’m so impressed with how Steam Deck and Linux in general works that I’m tempted to make Linux my daily driver once it has RTX support.

Might have to wait for Nvidia’s drivers to improve too. But ditching Windows for gaming feels more feasible than ever before.
 

zoku88

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I'm going to guess that this is wildly known by the people who care, but for people who play Atelier games on PC and found that the performance was really bad on the Steam Deck (and Linux on general): dotsujin (the person who does DXVK) made this d3d11.dll that fixes some of the performance issues:


With Atelier Sophie 2, I had drastic increase of framerate performance on my PC @ 4K and from being completely unplayable to about hitting 60fps in the commercial district on my Steam Deck @ 1024x576 @ medium settings.
 
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C-Dub

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I really hope they will have something like newer Samsung TVs, where you can take pictures of the TV showing color patterns with your phone, feed that to the calibration tool and have decent-ish results without having to use a colorimeter.
Doesn’t that only work on Samsung phones? It’s hard to quantify colour accuracy with the wide range of smartphone cameras out there, and with the wrong cheap shit phone you might actually cause more harm than good.

So I think Valve would need to test out the cameras on a number of phones and make per phone settings and a whitelist. Seems like a lot of work, honestly.
 
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MomoVideo

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Yup, it only works if you have one of the latest Samsung phones. It's still a cool idea tho.
 

Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
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I’m still trying to understand my feeling toward the deck. Yeah, I know, dumb. But for each moment of glory there is so many concessions.

Tried Destroy All Humans 2 demo yesterday. You have to put every graphical settings to normal to get some semi constant 30 fps, and at that point the game is really not a looker. It’s not one of those games where even low looks good.
And there is the fucking fans going ham / the deck getting warm every time the console does something a little intensive like a non indy game or just downloading something.

I truly want to love the deck, it’s a dream come true for pc gaming on the go, but many things goes further than being a little annoying,

I didn’t mention the beta (at best) UI and its inconsistencies, that will be patched.
 
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