Steam Deck

I have an X-Arcade dual joystick that I’m trying to use with Arcade games via EmulationStation on the Steam Deck.

The joysticks work but I’m having two problems that I’m looking to solve. They should be universal problems, not just about this joystick unit, so I’m hoping someone here can guide me.

1. How to set controller order within EmulationStation? I use a Steam Controller to navigate the Deck otherwise but have to turn it off when I start an arcade game or the X-Arcade won’t work. I think it’s the controller order I’ve read about but can’t see where to set this.

2. How to set controller inputs for a specific game in EmulationStation? I see the input settings menu but I believe this overrides all games. I don’t see how I can bring up the old MAME menu for game specific inputs. Do I have to do this via config file in desktop mode instead?

The joystick unit has the PCB upgrade that allows X-input. I can see both joysticks as XBox 360. The deck is updated as of August 1st stable release. EmulationStation with 2.1.1 and all other desktop application updates applied including EmuDeck emulators and flatpaks. Based on some other issue and advice, I have previously pointed EmulationStation to a different and newer MAME emulator vs the one that came with the EmuDeck install.

Here's the article with the rest of the photos.

My steps, if anyone has to replicate. I'm not sure if everyone will start from here... it's possible that you already have the prerequisite installed from another game. But I'll give my fix path in case anyone starts from the same place I did.

For me, what I saw to start: When running, a brief spin, and then about ten seconds later, a change back to the green play button. Complete no-go.

My fix path went:

1. Started in Desktop mode, for maximum troubleshooting flexibility.

2. Going to Manage > Properties, I changed BG III compatibility option to Proton Experimental.

3. Tried relaunching game... this time, an error returned that I needed to run the game along with Windows Net Desktop runtime (.net 6.0.20).

This error had its own link button, but in case you don't get the link or error, but still want to see if this is your fix, the link took me here for the download.

4. I added that downloaded file as a non-steam game in Steam, set its compatibility to Proton Experimental, then I ran it and installed it. (Note: For stuff like this, leave it in your Steam library after you're done with these steps... if you delete it later, it takes out the file path and it will stop working, and you'll have to do all this all over again.)

5. Every person is going to get a unique directory number created for them in their file structure for this file. Find it by following the path in your file manager (default file manager is Dolphin): /home/deck/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/

Then sort by "last modified," and the file folder you're looking for will pop to the top (it should say something like "last modified two minutes ago," "last modified just now," or something like that... because you just did this, so you know this is the correct one). Write this number down, it's the unique-to-you location id I was talking about earlier.

Finally, go back to Baldur's Gate III and the Manage > Properties. In the launch options, paste exactly this command, except substitute your unique ID number in place of the string of Xs here:

STEAM_COMPAT_DATA_PATH=/home/deck/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/XXXXXXX %command%

(Note: there is a space between your ID number and %command%.)

And if your issue was for missing the Net prerequisite, then this should get it running for you. Have fun!

I am looking some like the popup camera of the Oppo F11 Pro that can be connected via USB-C. Here is an example:

I think something exactly this small would be impossible as most of its connections, board and circuits are inside the smartphone. So, maybe even a little bigger would be fine as long it would not be just impossibly massive like normal webcams are for my use case.

All I need it for is to scan Pokemon TCG Live codes from booster packs I open while not at home. So for video quality as long as a QR Code is readable its fine.

In case anyone's having connectivity issues like I was, I thought I'd share what fixed it for me.

What was happening for me was that my download speed would grind to a halt, and I'd get a yellow exclamation mark on my signal strength indicator in the top right corner. I'm using an old TP-Link Archer C7 with OpenWrt.

I've seen people recommend disabling WiFi Power Management in developer tools, or changing 5Ghz channels on your router. Neither of those helped in my case. What fixed my issue was switching the 5Ghz channel width on my router from 80Mhz to 40Mhz. If changing channel width alone doesn't fix the issue for you, try experimenting with different combinations of channel and channel width.

What games are your currently plaything through on your deck? Would you recommend them to other players?

I had a micro SD card slotted into a carrying spot and the little section at the end with the lip to pull it out of its slot snapped off.

Does anyone know if they still work at that point, or do the electronics go all the way to the end?

Tried to upload a photo, but was running into issues.

When connecting the Steam Deck to a HiDPI monitor, I would like to have the scaling set to 150%. However, this scaling does also apply to the Steam Deck.

Is there a way to decouple the two scaling percentages in order to have 100% on the Steam Deck’s screen and 150% on the HiDPI monitor? Thanks.

Edit: Talking about desktop mode.

Is the performance for docked games better in game mode or desktop mode? Let’s say CS:GO - would the performance (docked) be better in game mode (resolution set in properties to 1080p) or desktop mode (1080p)? Thanks.

How do you use your Steam Deck docked?

I had fun playing it on PC, but the game is just that much more fun and immersive on the Deck. I'd say it's the first game where I've noticed a big difference since I got my Deck last week.

On the other hand, I found Slay the Spire to be better on PC. The controls and smaller screen seem to get in the way a little bit more.

Any other suggestions for games that really shine on the Deck vs PC?

I was on the edge buying the thing and told myself that if I use it 50 hours it's a reasonable purchase. Now I'm sporting closer to 200h within one year I could not be happier.

Did you have any (self made) goals when buying Steam Deck? Did you achieve those? Or did you buy it and now it's collecting dust? I'm curious

Hi!

Recently, I came across both EmuDeck and retroachievements.org. Playing a little Silent Hill and checking my achievements for the game at the website, I saw they only counted as "softcore", and reading up on the topic, I learned about something called "Hardcore Mode". In this mode, an emulator won't give you additional features of e.g. saving state etc., basically emulating the original experience as close as possible.
I'm by no means a completionist, but I wonder how this would feel like. I haven't found any related setting in EmuDeck so far though and my googling skills fail me here. Does any of you folks have a hint where to enable that?

I am trying to play the Linux version of Bean's Quest purchased from the Humble Store. I extracted the tar file but I get the following error when trying to run the game:

error while loading shared libraries: libXrandr.so.2 cannot open shared object file: no such file or directory

Is there a way to resolve this dependency?

I also tried installing the Windows .msi version as a non steam game but the msi just exits when I open it and proton is greyed out when trying to select it.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Hi all, I have an interesting issue that I'm hoping can be solved. I have a pair of Anker Soundcore A40 earbuds and they connect fine to the Deck. However the Deck doesn't pick up on the microphone input at all - I've had a look under input devices and it fails to show up. Is there anything I can do (packages, drivers etc) to get this to work?

According to SteamDeckHQ it can reach stable 30 FPS even with a TDP of 11 and even 40 FPS (although with some dips), these tests are only on the first leve though; we'll have to wait for a full review

https://games.sega.com/bassfishing/?lang=en

Key will be delivered on Aug 1st to your email.

Yeah, weird question, I know. I'm just curious if any of the dyes ExtremeRate use happen to fluoresce under UV light. It might make for a neat looking effect.

UPDATE: I bit the bullet and ordered atomic purple, and it has a nice glow under UV

I have recently upgraded my SSD in the Steam Deck to a 1TB one and created a 300GB Windows partition on it to be able to play Genshin Impact. So far so good, that is working as it should.

Before upgrading I had the 64GB model and used a 512GB SD card. On that I had Diablo 4 installed and it was working perfectly fine. But now I'm unable to get it to work again. I can't remember which Proton version I used but pretty much any version I tried (including GE-Proton ones) is not working now that I'm trying to install and run Diablo 4 on the new 1TB SSD.

Did anyone else experience something like that?

Edit: As long as I'm in Desktop Mode I can add the "Battle.net Launcher.exe" to Steam and launch it with Proton Experimental and I'm able to install Diablo 4 but as soon as I go back to Gaming Mode the Battle.net launcher isn't starting anymore.

I am currently using my SteamDeck in desktop mode connected to my standard USB-C-dock. The same dock with the same cable is used by me for at least 8h per day with my work laptop (And previously my personal laptop) without any issues.

On the steam deck I get frequent disconnection of my USB devices tho. This is especially bad when the deck is on high load on either the CPU or GPU. I already tried to disable auto suspend for USB (echo -1 > /sys/module/usbcore/parameters/autosuspend), but this didn't help the situation at all. Looking at dmesg, there are no errors, just "USB disconnected" messages as if I disconnected the devices by unplugging. Forcing a rescan of the USB-Port by unbinding and rebinding it (Or manually removing the cable and reattaching) fixes the issue until the next load spike.
I know that first and second gen ryzen had issues with the USB-controllers (Or more precisely the first and second gen chipsets). Is this issue also present on the steam deck?

I don't think it is signal integrity issues, as other devices work perfectly fine with the same dock/cable combo and the display signal is steady (Which is normally the first to go before USB). Additionally, the dock seems to only utilize the USB2 connection on the cables and leave the other lanes all to displayport. So it should cut out even less.

Anyone here with any idea on how to fix this? It is making it impossible to use the deck in desktop mode for me. While writing this post, I listened through 3 songs on youtube and every time a new page loaded the USB connection just plain dropped.