soulsource
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- Comment on Valve is working on a version of proton for ARM devices 1 month ago:
Me neither. I only (have to) use Windows at work, all my own PCs have been running Linux for decades…
I do know however, that WSL emulates most (but not all) Linux syscalls, so you can ran (nearly) all Linux programs on Windows - including WINE. There is also a driver in Mesa so that you can render 3D graphics from within WSL on any DX12 graphics card.
- Comment on Valve is working on a version of proton for ARM devices 1 month ago:
They will likely write their own emulator, but don’t forget about WSL. You can already run WINE on Windows, I wouldn’t be surprised if you could also run FEX+WINE on Windows for ARM.
- Comment on Valve is working on a version of proton for ARM devices 1 month ago:
by intercepting syscalls and executing them directly
Not only syscalls. FEX and Box64 also allow using native libraries instead of emulating them. That leaves basically only the game logic to be emulated.
- Comment on Valve is working on a version of proton for ARM devices 1 month ago:
Yep. The big question is if the gap will close enough that ARM chips indeed end up delivering better power efficiency with emulation than an AMD64 chip that delivers the same performance without emulation.
My bets would be on the native AMD64 chip ending up more power efficient. To be honest, I would not bet too much money though.
- Comment on Valve is working on a version of proton for ARM devices 1 month ago:
ARM based Deck would be a huge improvement to battery life. Don’t get your hopes up too high. You will need an emulation layer like FEX of Box64, and unlike WINE those do have quite a substantial overhead.
It is impressive how far those emulators have come, especially since they got the option to use native libraries instead of emulated ones, but the game logic itself will always need emulation…
This doesn’t mean it can’t be done, it just means that the ARM CPU needs to be pretty fast to counter the emulation overhead, and that’s why I have my doubts about the energy efficiency…
(Btw: I have tried running several AMD64 games on my A311D powered MNT Reform laptop with Box64. It’s impressive how well the emulation runs, and how many games are actually playable already. However, I also encountered a lot of games that don’t reach enjoyable FPS on that hardware. With a faster ARM chip though…)
- Comment on Adding gog games to steam deck 2 months ago:
This. There is very little need for third-party tools, as long as you don’t want to install a whole lot of games. After all, the installation process only happens once per game, and also without tools it doesn’t take very long.
As a step-by-step guide:
- Download the games from the GoG website. You can find them if you hover the site’s header bar, where your user-name is displayed. There’s a “Games” button which brings you to the list of games, where you can download the installers directly. The downloads are listed under “Download Offline Backup Game Installers”.
- Unpack the game installer.
- Innoextract is your friend here. No need to run the installer, just unpack the files. Works with both, Windows and Linux games.
- Alternatively, if it’s a native Linux game, you can just run the installer directly on the Steam Deck.
- For Windows games you can theoretically also use Proton directly on the deck. However, the process is annoying, so I won’t go into details.
- Alternatively, you can run the installer on your desktop PC and copy the files to the Deck via sftp.
- Add the game to Steam Library. This can be done in Desktop Mode. There’s a menu entry in Steam’s “Games” menu for that.
- In the File Browser, you need to disable the file filter, as it (iirc) only shows .desktop files by default. You’ll want the game’s executable though.
- If it’s a Windows game, go to the game’s properties page in Steam, and force a specific compatibility tool for it, namely some recent version of Proton.
- For native Linux games this step is usually not needed, but some very old games need to set the Steam Linux Runtime here.
- For DOS games, check out my blog post about DOSBox on the Deck.
- I don’t know how well it works on the Deck (never tried it, as I don’t feel it’s necessary), but there would also be boxtron.
- Last, but not least, use sgdboop to set some artwork.
- Comment on How good is the Steam Deck really? (Not a gamer) 2 months ago:
I only use my Steam Deck while I am away from my gaming (Linux-)PC. The reasons for this are that for me a big screen wins compared to the small (and relatively low-res) display of the Steam Deck, and also the games I usually play play way better with mouse and keyboard than with gamepad input… Also, the Steam Deck is relatively heavy, so gaming in bed or stuff like that also isn’t that enjoyable…
That said, the Steam Deck absolutely shines in situations where I cannot access my gaming PC. I usually take it with me when I go for a longer train ride, and also brought it along for vacation.
Compatibility wise I am in the situation that all the games I ever tried are working on the Steam Deck, but that’s mostly because I have been using Linux exclusively for decades, and have made it a habit to check if a game is going to work before buying it. Though, in recent years that habit slightly changed, thanks to the work Valve has put into WINE development. While back when I switched to Linux most Windows games would not run via WINE, nowadays one can expect that almost all games do. It is still a good idea to check protondb first, of course. Also, there are still a few games that need tinkering to get them to run, and protondb usually has some info on how to do that.
One negative point I have to mention is battery runtime. It strongly depends on what one is playing, but very demanding 3D games can drain the battery in 1.5 hours. However, I am talking about the old LCD model here, the newer OLED models run longer with one charge (though I don’t know how long actually).
Another negative is the display resolution. Most games don’t mind running on 1280x800, but some do. This can lead to illegible text, broken UI, or, as is the case with Stellaris, a different UI that is less convenient to use.
And last, but not least, performance. The Steam Deck GPU is just enough for the built-in display’s resolution, and also only under the assumption that games are reasonably optimized. I have not yet been in the situation that I would have gotten unplayable FPS, but I have heard a lot about games only running with 20 FPS, and needing upscaling… So, basically don’t expect it to run Crysis (yes, I know that joke is old, and that the Steam Deck can run Crysis just fine).
- Comment on With SteamOS coming, Microsoft needs to up its game in the handheld gaming market [if it's going to compete] 2 months ago:
No. Or rather, not yet. Valve has not released SteamOS 3 for anything other than the Steam Deck, but is planning to do so at some point in the future.
I honestly wouldn’t recommend SteamOS for anything other than a dedicated gaming device though. It excels at its use case of launching games via Steam, but for everything else it is quite cumbersome… I would much rather install a general purpose Linux distribution and run Steam on it.
- Comment on Windows is Now Officially Supported on OLED Steam Deck 2 months ago:
I would rather trust GamingOnLinux here:
While it is not in any way officially supported by Valve, they have now released Windows drivers for the newer Steam Deck OLED model.
(emphasis mine)
- Comment on What remote do you use? 4 months ago:
To answer your question: I use an Xbox Series X gamepad. However I cannot recommend this cheaply built piece of junk.
I also tried to use the DualShock 4, but with that I had the problem that it interfered with my WIFI connection. I’m not sure if this is a general problem, or only happens with my WIFI base station though. Also, the DualShock controller has a severe drawback, and that is its short battery runtime, compared with the issue that you cannot easily switch batteries…
So, my recommendation: An Xbox One gamepad. While I don’t own one, I am using them regularly at work, and they basically have all the advantages of the Xbox Series X gamepads, and have a way better build quality.
I would also recommend Xbox 360 gamepads, but they need a dedicated base station, which is very expensive.
- Comment on Microsoft Gaming CEO: “I think we should have a handheld, too” 5 months ago:
And their gamepads for Xbox were pretty good too. Past tense, because those of the Xbox Series X suck (including the “Elite”).
- Comment on Are you using GOG games on your Steam Deck? 5 months ago:
and adding it to Game Mode
Wait, waaaaaat? Lutris can do that? Okay, time to download it on my Steam Deck, like, right now. (Okay, not actually right now, I am at work, but today in the evening.)
- Comment on Looking forward to this one on Steam Deck since it'll support support Linux out of the box! 6 months ago:
Just to add this: Star Control 2 is not only free (as in free beer), it is free (as in free speech). The open source project is hosted on SourceForge (yes, that still exists), and has a website that is worth checking out: sc2.sf.net
- Comment on Best deck games for a flight? (as in...possibly running on batteries) 7 months ago:
Anything 2D… Or emulators for old (2D) consoles, or DosBOX…
- Comment on Old School Rally plans full support for Steam Deck - got me feeling nostalgic 7 months ago:
I already asked over at the GoL forums, but I think it’s worth repeating: Does anyone know where one might find a legal download of this game? mobygames.com/…/rally-championship-international-…
It seems GoG does not have it, and I would really like to play it again - for nostalgia reasons.
- Comment on Steam Deck vs that Asus thingy 7 months ago:
You can also use Steam as a launcher. In Desktop Mode there is a menu entry “Add a Non-Steam game to my Steam Library”. For Windows games, you can just browse to their .exe file. After adding it to the library, you can open the Library Entry’s Properties page, and choose Proton as compatibility tool.
That way you get your non-Steam games in your Gaming Mode launcher.
To get nicer images, there’s a website named www.steamgriddb.com that also has a small Flatpak tool that you can use in Desktop Mode to set icons/banners for your Non-Steam games.
- Comment on Steam Deck vs that Asus thingy 7 months ago:
The Orange Pi Neo will ship with a custom version of Manjaro, and is imho the only Steam Deck competitor that is even worth considering.
- Comment on [Discussion] Some good budget wireless controller for the Deck?? 7 months ago:
Just take an Xbox 360 gamepad, and an Xbox Series gamepad in your hands and compare them. Press the buttons, move the sticks, try the triggers.
One feels like quality. The other feels like <beep> - especially the D-Pad.
- Comment on [Discussion] Some good budget wireless controller for the Deck?? 7 months ago:
Stay away from any Xbox Series X/S gamepads. They are cheaply made trash.
I bought the standard version of it for my Deck, expecting it to be somewhat comparable to my Xbox 360 gamepad (which I really like, but which does not have Bluetooth), but nope, it is so much worse…
A friend bought the Elite version, and he also agrees that those gamepads are utter garbage.
- Comment on Third party docks 8 months ago:
When I got my Steam Deck the official dock did not exist yet, so I went for a relatively cheap USB hub with power delivery and display port alt mode. I ended up buying this one, and haven’t regretted it since: dlink.com/…/dub-m420-4-in-1-usb-c-hub-with-hdmi-a…
- Comment on Recently set up dual boot.. 8 months ago:
I played without mods, and had the same issue.
I’m pretty sure it’s a bug in the native LInux version of Pathfinder: Kingmaker. The Linux build works fine, as long as you play with mouse/keyboard, but with gamepad input the kingdom management screen doesn’t work at all…
What I did in order to play it on the Deck was to tell Steam to use the Windows version via Proton instead. (Properties -> Compatibility -> Force a specific compatibility tool -> Proton (I don’t remember which version I used).
- Comment on What "Great on Deck" titles have you been enjoying? 9 months ago:
Yes, it’s pretty neat. Though I must confess that I stopped playing at some point and rather continued playing Hades instead.
- Comment on What "Great on Deck" titles have you been enjoying? 9 months ago:
Some cool SD verified games nobody mentioned yet:
- Hades
- Cult of the Lamb
- Potion Craft (really great gamepad support)
- Against the Storm (though the controls take a while to get used to)
- Griftlands
- Terraformers
- Comment on The Legion Go made me thankful for my Steam Deck 11 months ago:
I’m talking about sftp access. The sshd is disabled by default, and the deck user doesn’t have a password set either. If you want to push your ROM files over to the deck over network, you need some way to tell systemd to start sshd - the usual one being
sudo systemctl start sshd. - Comment on The Legion Go made me thankful for my Steam Deck 11 months ago:
You also need to transfer the ROM files, what either means using a USB drive, takig out the SD Card, or using some form of network file transfer. The Steam Deck comes with sshd preinstalled, so gaining sftp access is just a matter of enabling it, but most guides to do so just mention how to do it on the command line… And for some weird reason Windows users seem to be afraid of terminal windows… (I just had to google if there even are graphical frontends for systemd… The answer is of course yes.)
- Comment on The Legion Go made me thankful for my Steam Deck 11 months ago:
They do mention emulators, and I honestly don’t know which ones are available on Steam - and you still need to copy the ROM files somewhere…
As a Linux user I find that rather easy to do, even on Steam Deck with immutable root FS, but I can understand how a Windows user might get frustrated by it.
- Comment on The Legion Go made me thankful for my Steam Deck 11 months ago:
Familiarity.
If an alternative isn’t 100% identical to a tool one is used to, one automatically has reservations, and the slightest inconvenience immediately turns into a blocking issue. On the other hand, one is typically inclined to ignore problems with tools one is used to.
There isn’t much one can do about this, other than trying to keep an open mind, and being aware of that bias.
- Comment on Autumn Sale 11 months ago:
Turmoil is on discount. It’s very simple, but a lot of fun.
- Comment on [Question] Does the steamdeck/emudeck support wireless multiplayer? 1 year ago:
There’s another thing that might be relevant: The Game Mode UI on the Steam Deck doesn’t support creation of ad-hoc wireless networks (afaik). I think (but never tried it) that it’s possible in Desktop Mode though.
- Comment on What are your favourite casual games on the steam deck? 1 year ago:
That solely depends on the question what you consider “Casual”. I’ll go with the definition “a game that doesn’t need a significant time investment per play-session”.
- Super Hexagon: Amazing music, simple game, but challenging.
- Triptych: Tetris with soft body physics. The game is great, the sound a bit annoying. Also, I don’t think it’s available on Steam, so it needs manual installation (and input bindings).
- Cultist Simulator: While the game is very obscure, it doesn’t require a lot of time per session - you can start it, play 5 minutes, and exit it again.
- Hades: It’s a Roguelite. You die. A lot. That’s why each session can be rather short.
- Loop Hero: It’s not as “casual” as the others, as it takes some time for each run, but not too much.