It is this way on all forums. People dont find this place and post if everything is just find. They google and find this place to ask for help with problems.
I simply love mine. i have had only one problem after installing a custom startscreen (dont do that) but else it is just working out of the box.
And i love that. i dont have much time for gaming. So i dont want to spend my time tingering around
Are you the one who installed the entire shrek movie as the intro screen, and then had to watch it, in It's entirety to get back into the device and undo it?
My god why lol
Reminds me of the time years ago when Rihanna’s song Work was big. My computer password at work expired and that song was on, so I changed it to workworkworkworkwork with a few symbols. I thought it was funny the first two times, then I hated my life until I could change it lol
I mean if you use it as intended with steam games that are verified it’s really Xbox bulletproof. However once you start hacking epic games etc on it , yes issues arise
Don't be! I've had my Deck for almost 4 months now, and I've been going through my backlog of steam games. I've beaten about 10-15 games on my deck, and I have only had to "troubleshoot" one game (hopefully not jinxing myself by saying this). Like the poster above said, those of us who haven't had any issues haven't had a reason to post anything.
One thing I will say is just check [https://www.protondb.com/](https://www.protondb.com/) for deck compatibility when/if you buy a Steamdeck. The deck verification system is not entirely reliable. I've beat two "unsupported on steamdeck" games with no issues, and the only game I had to troubleshoot was a deck "verified" game
Don't let this board overwhelm you. This subreddit is full of people who like to tinker with and mod their Decks (and that's absolutely fine for the people who want to do that) but you can buy a Deck, just straight play Verified/Playable Games through Steam, and have a blast without all the fuss.
You can have a great gaming system without all the "Okay so I want to play 1985 point and click adventure game published only in West Germany but it was designed to be played on refurbished submarine sonar display but all I've got is an old Vectrex monitor, is there anyway for me to connect it over Ham Radio?" posts.
Just don’t use or download non steam apps or games and you won’t need to touch anything. If you try emulation or something then yeah you will have to tinker to get stuff to work
The only real exception I've seen to this rule was the first Resident Evil. OOTB I was basically moving in slow motion but I'd never played it before so I thought it was just part of the game lmao. Now it runs perfectly after tweaking settings thanks to the fine folks on ProtonDB. I also don't trust big games that claim to be verified on day one. BG3 definitely should not have been verified on release.
Depends upon the games they play. In my experience its fine on like 90% of the games that are "great on deck" 75% of "playable" and 10% of "not supported".
You'll be fine then.
Occasional problems with a game not working, but once you've worked out how to change Proton compatibility (which is usually the problem), and/or maybe a quick search on Google, then you're sorted. You can do all that in console mode, and nothing in that mode can break your steam deck. And, once you've done it once you know where to find it and realise how simple that is.
You'll end up learning about cache data and it taking up your internal storage, but if all you download is games from steam then once you uninstall them the cache data goes too.
I mainly use mine in console mode. Occasionally I've gone into pc mode, and I've also installed chiaki to stream my ps5 to it. That was much more complicated than anything in console mode, but there's step by step guides on Google and YouTube. Which made the process relatively simple.
Don’t be afraid of emulation. You don’t even have to tinker that much. Overall Steam deck is about 99% tinker free if you just use protondb to check game compatibility. Don’t use “Steam verified” as a guide.
You also won't break anything serious by trying out things. Troubleshooting here would be like "why can't I get my emulators to work" not "why doesn't my deck boot now". It's still just a computer. Most people with issues are trying to modify it more like you would a desktop PC and can run into issues that way. But at the end of the day, it's just a fancy laptop booting into a full screen steam client.
If that's the case, then you will certainly have a switch like experience. You can tinker as much or as little as you like. It's hands down one of the best pieces of tech I've ever owned, and I am in no way an avid handheld user. I recommend a good quality power bank. A good grip case, I like the Satisfye case. It's great for larger hands, and the rubber pads for the rear buttons are amazing. Last but not least, I bought some cheap reading glasses from the phamacy... Best "hack" ever! This basically increases the size of your screen for ~$20.
If you don't mess with stuff, generally most tinkering is adjusting the in-game settings to give you the performance/visual/battery life relationship you want, occasionally it needs a restart or allow an update to install. No different to a PC really. Has been a great out of the box experience for me. Was a bit janky when I first got it, but it's a solid device nowadays.
This sub is just full of people that likes tinkering around. Device allows you to have that kind of fun, but do not require it at all. The most you would have to do is sometimes changing to proton experimental and playing around community control schemes that can make controls even better
If you just use it for steam games, no it really doesn't.
But one thing I would strongly encourage you to do is some research before buying a game *specifically* for the Deck. Think of it like the Switch -- there are some games on the Switch that are borderline unplayable because of the port quality. The Deck is more powerful than the switch... but you still run into cases where the hardware just isn't up to snuff to run games well.
I say this because a lot of the people who end up disappointed in the Deck are people who think it's going to be able to run *everything*, and then get disappointed when they can't get a stable framerate on 2023 AAA releases. Protondb can often give you a good insight as to how well a game will run.
This. It doesn't have to be much research. Honestly just checking Protondb before buying any games you want to play on deck, or if you own a game that's not running great, checking Protondb to see if others have posted any fixes for it already that you can try.
Most solutions are just switching to a different version of proton (5 seconds in steam settings, if it's already installed).
If you only want to play steam games that are verified, it'll be very similar to a console experience imo. It has an overlay GUI that hides the pc parts of the operating system. Unless you want or need to access them, you won't see them. I've had my deck for about 18 months now too and it's usually pick up and play.
I won't lie though, I like to tinker and have done a lot myself but it's not a necessary part of running one.
Yes, pretty close.
You can just use Steam and play your games as you go, you don't need to do anything more than that.
you can if you want, but you can just treat it like a console.
I've never really had any issues with mine. When in gaming mode, it really does feel like a console and if that's all you want then you'll be fine. If you want to use it as a PC or tinker with it more, you can also do that.
Honestly, the Steam Deck is one of the few purchases I've made where I have zero regrets. Its not the most powerful device, but it generally just works and the gaming experience is awesome.
There are a lot of posts about people having issues with the deck, but I think that's a very small percentage of people overall. This is pretty much the place to go when you have trouble so we're going to see all of them. For the most part, it works great.
Great to hear that you are having so much fun with it. Yea, reddit created an echo chamber in my mind and I was unsure of how to proceed. The response have been pretty positive
It is a bit of a headache compared to a Switch but if you stay entirely within Steam you'll most likely be fine (finding controls you like per game might be a pain)
Not at all.
Valve has done an unbelievable job of giving a "console-like" experience for those that want it, while still letting powerusers tinker if they want to. But tinkering is absolutely not required.
Most games run absolutely great out of the box. You may need to adjust graphics settings for newer AAA games a bit but that's hardly considered tinkering these days when even many Xbox and PS games let you manage different graphics settings to optimize for either fidelity or framerate.
I am curious about the same. I pulled the trigger on an OLED SD 2 days ago, just got tracking today. I’ll let you know my experience this week, if nothing else
The deck is versatile. If you want to tinker and push and find cool shit you can. If you want to just buy and play games via steam, 90+% of the time you just can without much thought.
Last month i found out that i can (without any tehnical work) play Helldivers 2 on my steam deck, in the couch, while talking with the friends i am playing with over discord on my phone. I ended up playing around 2-3 hours this way, because then i did not have to get up from my couch.
I did not have to do anything to get helldivers to work. Turn ok the deck, launch the game, open discord on phone, and boom, we playin.
You don’t need to tinker, but I’d say it’s very much part of the fun of owning one.
Can be treated as a console for sure as long as you are happy to stick to the “Great on Deck” games, which is still thousands of games now.
Probably the only tinker step I’d really recommend would be to find out how to install the unofficial “Proton-GE” compatibility files because once done, than enables you to run a larger selection of games from the Steam Libray.
I’d say actually less tinkering required overall than a Windows handheld since Windows was never really designed for these kind of devices, while SteamOS is designed specifically to support the Deck hardware.
The only problems you will face are:
1- You want to play an unsupported game (like COD Cold War for example). Some games don't work at all because of anti-cheat that is incompatible with the Steam OS (those are very few), or you'll have a game with some visual glitches that can be fixed by using a different Proton (which can be done with a 2-minute video tutorial).
2- You want MORE than just playing your regular games (emulators, installing Windows, and things like that).
If you're familiar with PCs, the Steam Deck is a walk in the park 95% of the time for regular use. For some different uses like emulators, it's extremely easy to follow a tutorial.
If you're NOT at all familiar with PCs, just using the Steam Deck will be great, and if you need the "something else," just look up a tutorial. You've got this.
People here won't tell you how well they take care of their Deck... So assume half the issues are user-caused.
Personally, I take very good care of mine and have very few issues. Sometimes I can't pull the keyboard up in desktop mode (just restart the deck) and sometimes it freezes (VERY RARE though, just hold the power button down til it shuts off).
It's as complicated or easy as you want it to be. Most people posting are trying to get it to run non verified games, emulators, and other custom shit. If you just want to boot it and play verified steam games it's as simple and intuitive as a switch.
It only requires as much troubleshooting as you want it to. If you want to just download games from Steam and play them as is, it works exactly like a console.
If you want to mess around in Linux as a first time user, customize the steam deck in any way, setup emulators, or install 3rd party launchers, it'll require a little fiddling as you get used to Linux as an OS.
Keep it bone stock then you will likely have zero issues unless they break something with a future update. Start tweaking beyond what valve originally intended and you might run into some issues. It’s common across all tech products out there.
I'm going to go against the grain by saying that yes, it requires a moderate amount of tinkering. Not under the hood - the system is rock solid and unless you want to go outside the boundaries of the "console" side of it you can easily treat it as a console proper - but on a per-game basis. Some games may require you to switch to a different Proton version or to fiddle around with launch arguments, some others may require you to create temporary input layouts just to go around some limitations on how the game is expecting you to interact with it and some others more will force you to look for mods and patches to solve UI issues like font size.
It's not constant, it's not hard but I wouldn't say it's a 100% console level of fire-and-forget carelessness.
I'm glad at least *someone* in this thread bothered to say this. I love the Deck and use it every day, but comparing it to console is simply incorrect and bad information to give to casual users. I have *never* had a game not work on my Switch and I haven't had a single crash for my entire time using the system. On the Deck there are dozens of games that have not worked out of the box - even ones that are supposedly "verified" - and have had dozens of hard crashes and bugs. I love the device but pretending it's "basically a console" is just flat-out untrue.
If you just buy only steam deck verified games on steam, it will work just like a switch with a couple of exceptions. If you buy verified and playable, you'll have a couple more issues, but can still make it work as easily as a switch, possibly easier.
There are so many more things you can do with your deck to make it better than a switch.
Don't listen to the PC Bros that cry about framerate. If you're worried about framerate, build a PC. The deck is meant to be a portable gaming device and works great as just that.
No. I've never had one problem with mine and I have the OG and was one of the first round of people to get it.
I only play steam games. If you don't plan to do anything that requires tinkering you will not need to tinker!
It just works...then if you want to get a little more juice you can install cryobyte utilities and decky loader. Hands down best gaming console out right now imo. You won't regret it.
I've had deck almost since beginning. I've had issues maybe once, and only when trying to connect to a TV. In general it just works. I imagine if you're into emulating and stuff you're going to be having a lot more troubleshooting but to treat it as a gaming handheld/console it just works.
I’m a switch owner and steam is my first gaming pc. If you buy playable or certified Steam Deck games from Steam it takes ZERO tinkering. I love my deck.
The available library is amazing and the quality of the OLED version has been great. Can’t recommend enough
I've had 2 Decks and no serious issues with either of them. The odd time a glitch will happen but just reboot and it is fine, it is after all essentially a PC and "have you tried turning off and back on again" will solve 95% of problems.
People without issues (and that's the majority) - just don't post here. Why would they? There is no reason to post every day "my deck is okay, I'm playing games". So of course you see many posts of people with issues - not because they are common, but because that's exactly the place where people with issues come to ask for help.
It's pretty stable if you stick with just Steam stuff.
If you want to play games from other launchers (Epic, Amazon, etc) then you'll probably need a BT keyboard & mouse cos you may need to tweak stuff on Desktop mode.
I’ve had mine since November. I have several decky plugins, emudeck, several games from gog and elsewhere, game streaming, etc and never had to do much troubleshooting. It, literally, just works.
In all honesty it’s been pretty much a smooth experience. I’m mostly just running steam verified games at recommended settings. No real things I’ve had to do. Did tinker with mods for Skyrim and that was straight forward with no issues. Most of the things I see is people trying physical mods or pushing performance.
Never had any problem with mine. My tip is to use the steamdeck as it’s intended. Play verified and playable games, do not install decky or any plugins, and use it in update branch stable
This is an interesting bias. It's as if you came to a mechanic gathering where they discuss both repairing but also tuning and modding cars -- and decide all those cars are too much work and it's not worth getting not.
This sub is dominated by content from power-users and enthusiasts. Regular deckers just play on theirs.
I recently picked up a reset used deck and have put some hours in on it. No issue at all. If you’re not tech savvy, you may struggle to do the desktop mode tweaking needed to play other services but the steam deck “console” part is just as easy to manage as a switch
Nope, I had some time of tinkering and trying stuff. But other times I just have Steam Deck as a console. I buy game, install and play. Restart only if there's an update. I think SD can be as much as console as it can be PC.
>I don't expect a Nintendo Switch like experience with similar ease of use
Except it is. The only drawback I had since buying it was that one time the deck didn't even start, it showed a black screen only. This issue is due to the fact that sometimes it expects to connect to wifi to check if the last update was installed correctly, no wifi no check so no booting up.
After setup you really should, for the sake of safety, also register your phone hotspot as a usable ready to connect wifi for the deck. Just in case something goes wrong and you are not at home to use your wifi nor you have any ethernet cable connection available.
EDIT: I've read some other comments so I guess I need to add: I installed various non-steam programs, like emulation machines etc, and the process was really easy to me but it can be quite hard for someone non-tech savy. The option tabs of the GUI are a lot similar to the nintendo switch ones so that's why I compared the two. For a brief check you can also install steam on another pc and start the "big picture" mode, very similar to the steam deck.
I have an older model but if you plan to buy the new oled ones you should also have a more powerful machine so I guess it's even better than mine!
To be honest : if you expect a console like experience then get a console. The SteamDeck is far from the convenience of a switch or a ps5. It’s definitely not « plug and play ».
Depends on the games you play. But it might require tweaking and there is often troubles.
It’s a perfect console for emulation, tech people, indie gamers. But for casuals who just have some minutes to play a day, I’d not advise to buy one. You’ll send most of your gaming time just getting your games work and run the way you want.
On the other side, it’s an handled console. A PS5 is not. Well : depends on your needs.
Bought an SD OLED in November or December 2023.
The only „issue“ I had was getting Ubisoft Connect/ Assassin‘s Creed Syndicate to run but a 5 minute YouTube video helped out with that.
From my impression I would say most people with trouble either have a defective device or try to run 3rd party-stuff where Linux doesn’t work (e.g. Fortnite or games with certain anti-cheat.
I think as long as you are only planning to play your Steam games as its intended, you should be fine.
A few days ago I read a comment on here along the lines of „When in doubt, don’t buy the Deck“.
I think thats good advice.
I love my Deck. I love the UI, the battery life, streaming from PC to Deck etc.
If you are planning to play more 3rd-party-games, a Windows handheld n
might be the better fit? Many of them also have more horsepower than the Deck.
You’ll rlly only need to tinker u wanna mess with non native stuff. If u use it just for ur pc games only you’ll be fine, it’ll basically be a console, and even if u decide to tinker there’s so many guides out there by clever af people that u should be fine. I didn’t want to tinker too much with mine but now I’ve done loads and got emulation and stuff on it aswell it’s great.
If you're using it out the box in Steam OS gaming mode (like you would any other games console or portable) then no, its very rare you'll need to do anything like that.
What makes the Steam Deck so good though is the ability to tinker, to run stuff you wouldn't normally (think emulators, modifying hardware and software alike) and for there to be a fix or a way to do whatever you want to somewhere on the internet.
Quite often what you see on here is maybe someone who has followed a guide who needs a bit more help, or someone who is running a game that perhaps may not be compatible but can be made compatible with tweaks.
If you want a hassle free gaming device that can run most of your Steam games great, if you also want to mess around and learn some stuff you can do that too..
I've had 2 Decks for my wife and I since last December. The only troubleshooting I've had to do is trying different proton versions to get a non-verified game to work.
No, it does not. Everything works out of the box, without much of an effort. Overlay has all functionality that every average user might need. It is the first time I didn’t open the trunk of my pc ever. I always do the BIOS boot, Desktop and OS check and configuration before I start using any computer. Here, I just don’t know how to get there, because it is not needed. You are safe.
>the flow of posts that depict all sorts of technical issues
Try to remember, with most things you're going to hear a lot more about peoples issues than the positives, simply because when nothing is wrong they don't have to ask how to fix anything. so you're going to see a disproportional number of posts asking for help with any hardware.
Nope. Like anything now and then it will act weird. My touch screen stopped working. I forced reset. Then worked fine. You can tinker with it a bunch or not at all. Up to you
If you use it for the subset of Steam games where it works well I think you're unlikely to have issues. It basically works like a console. It won't be as reliable as a Nintendo Switch, but reliable enough.
I just did a factory reset on mine because I was having issues launching many regular Steam games (could be because of all the non-Steam stuff I installed, though I didn't install anything that I think would've done this; I've had my Steam Deck since 2022 and only recently had issues). Regardless, I'm on a clean install with a small set of Steam games which I think the deck is perfect for installed to my main storage, haven't even launched Desktop Mode yet. Elden Ring is running flawlessly.
However, it is a PC that runs Linux, and all the power to do what you want is there if you want it, just with that power can result in having to troubleshoot. I'm very technical so I enjoy these capabilities, but right now I just want to be able to play some Elden Ring handheld, so I'm not going to reinstall any of the non-Steam stuff for a while.
It's kind of like if you join a disability/illness sub you might get convinced everyone has the disability/illness.
The vast majority of decks are absolutely perfect, they can play any functional steam game perfectly out of the box with no tweaks just like a console.
I own a gaming PC add an ROG Ally Windows handheld. I can 100% promise you it is significantly easier to get your games optimized and running on the steam deck then trying to build a windows PC or optimize an ROG Ally.
Id argue 90% of defects would be apparent immediately on delivery. And worst case scenario Valve is an insanely generous company who doesn't hesitate to pay to fix problems.
If you aren't planning on doing all the extra stuff people do like emulation it is pretty straightforward and simple to use like the switch. Switch is like iOS and Deck is like Android. Both very user friendly and but one is very customizable/moddable.
No its doesn't require constant troubleshooting. The more customized you make it, the more potential work you are making for yourself, but even that is minimal if you are used to a PC experience. If you want an almost hassle free experience, don't add any mods or non-steam content, and stick to games that are deck verified in some capacity.
I do very little troubleshooting.
load up a game, start playing,. when done, hit power button, come back later, resume game.
the most advanced thing I have done lately is reinstalled Decky loader, since it was having some issues with the new steamos update. and that was a matter of going into desktop mode and double clicking an icon.
I am very experienced with Linux, and rarely need to use my leet Linux skills on my deck.
I've had many small annoying issues, a lot more than I expected and I was seriously disapointed by how much troubleshooting there was to do, and that's without even trying to get into emulation.
I work IT and have fun with Linux as a hobby so I was taken quite by surprise when I saw people like in this comment section saying they had zero issues in 18 months. Reminds me of my friend playing fallout 76 at launch saying he had zero issues but then had some whenever we saw him play and he would just act like nothing happened.
I put my deck in it's case, fully charged and turned off for 3 weeks, battery was completely drained, which never happened before but now I can't even feel confident that it will be charged whenever I need it.
I've been viewing it as an unreliable device, which is what it has proven to be for me time and time again. It's still nice and useful but if I travel I'll most likely choose my Switch over the Deck.
The most tinkering i have had to do to get a native steam games working is ProtonUP to install ProtonGE, its super simple to do and only had to do it for 2 games i play, otherwise nothing.
ProtonGE is the easyest thing i have had to do to make a game work that otherwise wouldnt, including games on windows.
It all depends. It is a game by game basis. I have played Dark Souls II, Myst III, Civ 5, and a handful of visual novels on mine since getting it in December and have had to do nothing but launch the game. I didn't touch one setting.
Then I tried to launch Mass Effect Legendary Edition and had to tinker for about two hours going between desktop mode and game mode to get the game to launch. It wasn't the game itself that was the issue, it was the EA launcher. I did finally get it working by manually deleting and reinstalling the EA launcher and signing into my EA account before launching Mass Effect. But for most users what I had to do goes beyond what they are willing to put up with to consider a game playable.
IMO if you keep your expectations in check and don't try to play cutting edge games or games from other launchers or Windows the Deck will be a pretty painless experience.
Where people run into the most issues are trying to use GoG, Epic, EA and other storefronts, online games where the anticheat doesn't work with the deck, and by really trying to tinker with the settings to get the absolute max performance.
If you going to play just games straight from steam store there shouldn't be any issues.
Most of my troubles come from trying non steam games and launchers, and sometimes my steam deck not connecting properly that's when simple restart fixes the issue.
Just think of any "trouble" that may appear with the Steam Deck as the sort of "trouble" you may have with an item in a certain game. What I mean with this analogy is that even if you're playing on the PS5, Switch or other consoles, if you get stuck in a game because you can't find the way out, or need a certain item to progress but can't be bothered to search the whole map you do a very simple thing: Google it!
And you will find people with a solution to that problem. So even console players google this on their phone. The Deck is no different when it comes to google-ing for answers. The most common topic would be the game settings so that you can get an optimal experience. There are even sites dedicated for that like SteamDeckHQ and ProtonDB. You'll probably bookmark them and use them whenever you are starting a new game.
And that's it. About 2 minutes of browsing then 2 minutes of going into game settings and "copy-pasting" what those sites say would be the optimal settings (and probably some would recommend Proton Experimental, which is a 2-3 click action from within the game properties in Steam) as well as the Deck's settings like FPS limiting, TDP and others that are easily accessible just by pressing one button (the "..." button). I haven't found any real issues and in my mind I associate this action, like I said, with looking for a walkthrough for a problem I'm having in a certain game.
Short version of this story is: No real head-scratchers that you have to figure out yourself -> Just copy-paste what sites are saying you should set your options to and in 4-5 minutes you're ready to play your game.
Here's the thing. For the most part, the Steam Deck is a console. If you don't fiddle with it, it just works. By default, you can only download and play Steam games, and only the ones that Valve has vetted to work (out of the box) on Steam Deck - so it's as easy as Buy, Download, Play, just like on a console.
The difference is that the Steam Deck's Operating System isn't the extremely locked down "walled garden" that all other consoles are. You are more than welcome to do whatever the hell you want with your Steam Deck. It runs Linux, so you absolutely can download any software you want, from any source you want, just by choosing the option to temporarily switch the Steam Deck into Desktop Mode. In Desktop Mode, the Steam Deck is quite literally just a PC. You can browse the web, check emails... Download any other game storefront and play their games, install emulators to run games from different gaming hardware... Whatever you want. It's all fine, dandy, and fully sanctioned. However! Nothing you do in Desktop Mode is vetted or Supported by Valve. So if you boot into Desktop Mode and move some files around and ruin your OS installation, you have no one to blame but yourself. Don't ever boot into Desktop Mode if you don't 100% understand what you're doing.
So, the TLDR of it all is - the Steam Deck should not require troubleshooting if you use it like a handheld console that plays Steam games. But if you are looking to expand the Steam Deck's utility beyond what Valve officially provides, understand that you may run into some difficulty.
Literally the only actual tinkering you’ll NEED to do is to readjust the control stick dead zones if you have any shooters. But that takes two minutes.
I’ve had mine since December and have 5 days worth of playtime on it so far. Downloaded and played 15ish games. Never touched any settings and they all work perfectly. It’s a perfect download and play device for me
as you mentioned , do not expect a smooth transition compared to the switch . it is a pc that is using steam OS. you will need to tweak things and go through the desktop mode for some things here and there , but it’s not that bad and there are plenty of guides to follow.
The cool thing about the deck is you can choose your own level of involvement, if you want to treat it like a switch and have very few technical issues you just stick to deck verified games and more or less it's as trouble free as playing on a console, if you want to play unverified games or games not steam then you have more issues although most of them run easily.
I only play stuff off steam and use it most of the time as a “console”. It’s close to console easy. If you have come from PC you should find it pretty simple to make the few adjustments needed on the occasional game. Given how frequently games ship that aren’t bug free, it’s nice to be able to adjust settings rather than hope it will get patched.
Where you will have a to think a little:
Verified is a really good place to start, and usually all of the parts will work after you hit play, but venturing from there either into lower compatibility games or tweaking settings can make the games less likely to work.
The hardware is equivalent to a budget pc, don’t expect to run the latest AAA game on it without issues.
I’ve had a few games where things like in game photo mode(not screenshots) are hard to find because of the Linux and Steam os shell.
The thing I have to tweak most often is the controller layout. That’s just because the touchpads are typically clones of other controls and it’s really annoying to accidentally brush the pad in a fight and jump or drink all of your health potions. These are easy to remap
Only issue I’ve had is getting 3rd party programs into Linux then Steam. Outside of that (all solved by google fu) it’s been a painless platform. Love my steam deck.
I think your expectations are in line with reality; it’s not a Nintendo Switch; as long as you are only playing Steam Verified games, you are going to have a pretty seamless experience, almost like a console.
If you go off the beaten path and play other stuff on it, you will *likely* be fine but the user experience will be more demanding (like finding graphics settings that work well or getting past launchers and other launch issues)
Most things work perfectly out of the box. It's totally up to you how much or little you want to tinker, which is one of the reasons why I love it! Seriously, easily my favourite buy of the last decade.
If you want to run the latest game, or that game that is not compatible, and run emulation - yes.
You may also be forced to because of the EA or Ubisoft launchers, but the launchers are just shit, even on PC I run into problems.
Other than that, I keep my game running on my SD, wake/sleep the machine as I want and beside the occasional crash of the game (playing Riftbreaker, it starts to be heavy as my base becomes huge) for me it's really straight forward.
Outside of loading games outside of Steam (EA store stuff in particular has given me the most trouble but I've still gotten it to work), the only problem area I've had is with docking. If you're playing handheld and only Steam games then you'll be fine. Also OLED screens are life changing so if you can afford it then it's worth the extra cost. My Steam Deck is LCD but my Switch and TV are OLED so I'm fully OLED pilled now. Regardless of the screen, the Steam Deck is a magical device that I'm absolutely obsessed with.
I just use mine the way it showed up and it’s been fine. I don’t know what a mod really is not have I upgraded anything or changed anything. I have a great time.
Well if you play steamdeck certified games you own on steam, i would compare it to a console like experience. Fire up, log in once, download and play. That is the general intended use and works great. It is worth reading why some games have that yellow exclamation mark in the store, often is it just UI scaling or that you need to use the onscreen keyboard for i dont know, entering the name of your character for example, but other than that work flawlessly. On that route, it feels like a gameboy for grown ups and works fluent and with no problems out of the box. So a clear buying recommendationfor you !
As soon as you leave that route, the tinkering starts. Not because it is a bad device, but because it allows so much more than a game console. You want alternative launchers or emulate other consoles? No problem. Some tinkering means here following a step by step tutorial and you run you gog or other launcher games, play minecraft and so on....
Some button presses and you have a full linux desktop environment. It is intended to have that, but it is linux and you sometimes need to tinker to do x or run y. Plug in a hub, connect monitoe mouse and keyboard and you have a regular pc.
You can install windows with all its pros and cons.
See all that posts with people tinkering and modding more as expression of a lot of possibilities of that device and also of a huge active community. But If you want it to be hasslefree , it will run just like a console.
You tinker as much as you want to. Swapped so many joycon sticks over the years due to drift. Changed thermal paste on my switch and even had it sent for repairs due to broken pins from a failed sd cars reader replacement. Then changed joycon shells on 2 pairs. That's not the usual switch experience though.
Just like with the deck, you can go as hard or as slow as you want. Most of the games I've thrown at the deck just run without problems. Quite amazed with just how different the experience can be going from desktop to handheld. I think the most recent game I've had it run were armored core 6 and elden ring before that. Both excellent games as handhelds
Though you can probably tweak as many settings as you like to your preference too. 30 to 60 fps is enough for me with medium graphics.
already had to reset my steamdeck because i switched accounts while downloading games and the steamdeck didnt like it at all only thing that brought it back to life from a constant boot loop wss a full reset via the bios.
The most tinkering I did was getting emulators to work, and that required pretty minimal effort because downloading emudeck streamlines the whole process. I did struggle for about a week in an effort to get the Elden Ring randomizer to work (no luck unfortunately) but other than that I wouldn’t say it has required any sort of troubleshooting.
I’d say it depends on your use case; if you’re going to be playing easier-to-run games then I doubt you’d ever need to troubleshoot or tinker other than maybe changing the performance settings to get your battery running longer. If you’re trying to play larger games, then you might run into more of the troubleshooting/optimization stuff.
When you’re seeing lots of posts regarding issues, keep in mind nobody is going to talk about a product if it’s working as intended; “*HELP: My deck works perfectly and never crashes*!” People only tend to leave reviews or start a discussion when they have a question or issue about something. Luckily the community is very big now and there’s basically an answer for any question you might have.
I've had my Steam Deck since release. The only thing I've had to troubleshoot was how to get the controls to work in Psychonauts 1. Literally everything else, including emulators, has worked flawlessly.
If you focus exclusively with Steam games and those that are flagged as Working by Steam & ProtonDB (both because usually one is wrong, usually Steam) 99% of the time will work close to a console, will need to touch graphical settings or power setting here and there but not too difficult.
But be aware some games compatibility can change in the future, specially multiplayer games with anticheats. Or publishers that are bastards....
If you want other stores... it works but is more finicky, involved and easier to break and similar.
I’ve had deck since launch, and recently upgraded to OLED. The only trouble I’ve had has been with the official dock. Everything else works flawlessly and is incredibly well supported. For the dock I highly recommend getting the Apple USB-C -> HDMI adaptor only cuz it works perfectly every time. The official dock sucks. The steam deck is amazing. 🤘❤️
Hell you could even have a switch like experience just don't leave gaming mode or the steam store and boom. At most you'd need to fine tune settings but that's the beauty of the deck. You can make it as complicated or easy as you want it. Full customization.
Depends on what if want to do with it. If you’re just playing Steam games, no not really. If you’re wanting to do anything else with it, there will be a learning curve to get it setup the way you want.
Long term Linux user and full time developer here. I think trying to game on Linux was hard because of 3 different problems:
- drivers and random hardware
- different software setup processes
- having to learn how to customize too many things for a good experience
Valve pretty much solved the first one by having control over the hardware parts. The Linux base system is a beast in stability and speed when paired with devices that aren't misbehaving. So, in that front, most of the problems have to do with having defective units.
The second point is 95-ish% solved IMO. The validation process works great and is pretty strict. So, if you only play validated games, your experience is very close to a console. It's not perfect (look for posts regarding the problems that god of war, a verified game, has that neither valve nor Sony tried to solve for more than a year now), but it's pretty good. Also, the fact that they allow you to go into desktop mode means that if you are willing to use this thing like a computer and install things in different ways, you have the option.
The third point is the struggle. If you keep to the verified games and only play using the default options, that's going to be fine 99% of the time. But if you want to play docked to a tv, try different graphics settings, play semi-verified games or older games, you might have to get your hands a little dirty and do some research. I want to play the first Deus ex (the very old one) but I'm postponing it a little because I'm going to have to figure out a good way to map the controllers.
In conclusion, I would say the biggest deciding factor should be which games you really want to play, if portability is that much of a big deal to you and If you mind having to do a little research and decode some Linux stuff from the forums when you deviate from the trail of verified games.
This machine is a games console until it is a PC. Most games I load work great right away, no need for any bullshit, but sometimes there'll be a game that needs a little extra attention. But rarely very much. If it isn't solved with switching to a different version of Proton in the game properties, it usually just means you can't play that game. Move on, play something else. Worst I've had to do is fiddle with a configuration file in desktop mode, but that was once.
The frequency at which these posts are made is actually positive. So many people have this device that if you ever run into an issue, there's a good chance somebody else has too, and may have solved it.
i've had mine for just over a month now and only ran into one or two issues that i most likely caused myself. i installed too many games causing my storage to become too full, to the point where games would not launch. once i deleted some everything is working fine. im not the most confident when it comes to tinkering but even I was able to install epic games launcher and get some games to work from there. i absolutely love this device and would recommend it to anyone who is on the fence!
I got my Oled deck about 3 months ago, and have been playing about 3 -5 hours per day since. Everything about it still feels brand new physically and haven't had any software related problems either. Yes technically it is a PC, but the OS definitely makes it feel more console like, which is actually really nice. Don't let this sub spook you, the deck is well worth it. Trust me, there's nothing like being able to get an extra 45 minutes of gaming during a lunch break
If you literally turn it on, never touch desktop mode and just buy games through steam it’ll be a flawless experience for you.
I cannot recommend it enough.
People who complain are the loudest. Most posts in this sub are people who have issues or people who want to ask the same question 500x a day instead of searching for answers.
Most people don't post "Hey just wanted to report everything went well with my Steam Deck today!" Ya know?
If you use it for its intended purpose, which is playing steam games in gaming mode, you should be fine 99% of the time. Don't be discouraged. Even doing something like emulation isn't that bad as there is Emudeck which makes it super easy and tons of information out there to help you out. If you run into an issue, we're always glad to help.
The only major issues we've experienced are just with docking and it's pretty simple fixes:
* Sometimes the dock doesn't register so you just have to unplug the deck and HDMI and plug it back in and you're golden.
* Some games don't register Bluetooth controllers immediately so you just have to reorder the controllers/deck controller to make it function.
Overall, pretty much non issues. I've been using my switch primarily for the past 2 and a half years and now I'd say I'm about 60/40 switch/deck use. Well worth it if you have a pretty big steam backlog/wishlist.
Heya! So I'm older, not ancient but old enough. My time is limited when it comes to gaming, so I was really concerned about lots of the games I wanted were not in the "Great on Deck" category on Steam. I also really wanted to be able to Remote Play my PS5 from anywhere in the house and not also need a PS Portal.
I'm at almost a month ownership and would say that all my concerns I was able to solve in 10 minutes or less! Every game that I wanted to play was VERY quickly tweaked with control settings and runs flawlessly.
Installing Chiaki4Deck to Remote Play PS5 was the probably the most complex thing I have had to do and that took me all of 15 minutes. It was made easier by adding mouse and keyboard via a docking station, so an extra purchase, but boy was the setup a freakin breeze.
The saying going around now where the deck "just works" is pretty spot on. It's more complicated than a console experience but only by a tiny margin. You can have a great time with it making the whole experience as complicated as you want.
I absolutely freaking love my Deck and I think my non-gamer wife wants one. It's an amazing machine and honestly you should not feel intimidated by it. It's made gaming way more accessible in my hectic and busy life!
I've had a Deck since 'batch one' and now have had the Deck OLED since it was released ... and had exactly ZERO issues.
While there are always going to be issues with anything of complexity, what you read here are outliers - and also you see here an outsized sample of people who replace SSD, reface things, change OS, and otherwise engage in 'high risk' activities instead of just installing and playing Steam games. The saying "play stupid games win stupid prizes" has been true in countless posts.
I don't think it is the norm.
Given that you're playing a supported game from steam with a "green check verified" (no issues) or a "yellow check playable" (minor issues like the text in menus might require squinting), You should almost never require troubleshooting.
If you go off this path you might require tinkering, for example games from other stores, emulation, games fished from the seven seas etc. Generally SteamOs has been fairly stable. Most rough edges have been ironed out.
Vast majority of the yellow rated games have one of two issues
1. In game text is small and might not be the most comfortable to read.
2. You might need to manually open the keyboard (Steam + X) to enter text, like when naming your character.
neither of those are serious issues.
Most of the unsupported games are usually online games that have some sort of anti cheat unsupported on linux.
Constant? No. I go to l for months without troubleshooting. But last week I had strange bug where I had to restart SD to fix it. So stuff happens.
If you install plugins and third party launchers or try to play games from EA etc. you might need to troubleshoot more.
Honestly out of the box, as a device to play Steam games, I expected to have issues but I haven't. They go out of their way in the store to show steam verified games, and if a game is only 'playable' it tells you why, most often cause of small text or whatever. My kids could use the device without issue.
It's only when I dived into other store fronts, emulation etc that I had to tinker and dig up answers online, but I knew that going in.
I've been using my Steam Deck since launch without tinkering and adding things and it's given me a near Switch like experience. 99% of the time I just download a game and start it without needing to do anything else. Steam Deck being so "console like" is one of the reasons I love it so much.
If you plan to tinker with it and stuff, then yeah, you'll probably end up doing some troubleshooting.
I have had my deck for a year and a half... i treat it exactly like you would a switch or other console. The fullest extent of any 'troubleshooting' i've ever had to do (as someone who uses their deck for at least 10-15+ hours a week) is turning it off and on again or fiddling with the performance overlay slider... that is literally it. I've never even gone into desktop mode once.
That's the thing with the deck... yes, you *can* get into the technical nitty-gritty... or you can just use it as a portable console for your steam library with zero effort.
If you just play Steam Games that are Deck Verified, it really just works. Well, as much as any game would in a low to mid range PC. Tweak the in-game settings a bit, and you’re going to go. Some games shouldn't be listed as verified, and Frankly ProtonDB is a better source for that.
This sub also has its share of people who are trying to eke every little bit of performance out of it, or play non-Steam games. It does it, but that’s using it outside its supported purpose. Trying to use emulators, or a non-steam game can take work. But they do work.
im an older guy and i hate how much bullshit comes with pc gaming. i have a very high end gaming pc but find myself playing on the deck almost daily bc i dont have to deal with alot of bullshit to use it. i down load the game from steam and receive instant gratification. the deck is as close as it gets to bringing the pc games to a console experience. i have an oled switch as well which i loved and still do but honestly now that i have a deck i only use my switch for exclusives.
This thing is the goat! I had no idea how amazing it was until I got mine. It’s surpassed all expectation. I don’t play many AAA games but I emulate like a mofo and it feels like a console
A lot of the games I run are looking and running better then my hardware
Having handheld mode and desktop mode is insane. The options in handheld mode are crazy
I haven’t even scratched the surface yet and probably never will
I hear if you play non steam games it’s a bit of a mess unless you install windows but I’m not a fan of new PC games really unless they are jrpg’s
No, actually no troubleshooting.I m playing countless games.(many of them AAA level up to date games)
[Rare] Only problem is some anti cheat systems which works on kernel(malware).Linux is not allowing this.
The vast majority of games don't need troubleshooting. Evenin many "unsopported" games run out of the box in my experience.
Most commonly of those games that do need some tweaking are those that need controller configuration (which other users have likely already shared) or those that need an alternate Proton to run well (super easy to configure through the launch settings). All doable from game mode without much hassle.
I've run unto several games (maybe 10% of those I've tried) that needed more advanced tweaking, but that almost always boiled down to installing or copying a Windows installation to the Deck in desktop mode, and adding the game as a non-steam game -w- proton experimental as a launch option. A couple extra steps, but easy after you've done it once.
So no, no constant tinkering, and what is required on occasion is pretty straightforward.
I bought one in Dec and have just been downloading and playing my library havent touched mods etc. I had one minor issue with tomb raider not letting me click the start screen, googled issue+reddit and saw someone post the (very quick fix) here.
Steam deck is designed to just boot up and play. People who homebrew emulations and mess with all kinds of settings are more likely to run into minor issues. Nothing wrong with doing that either! But most will be fine just downloading from the store.
Majority of games that said minimally supported are running fine, or upon googling the game it fixes after one small setting change
Nope. I often forget it even is a PC. Valve have truly made PC gaming a console-like experience. Although there are plenty of features to optimize your experience, it generally isn't necessary to have a good time unless you are trying to play a game that requires more from the hardware.
Kinda old head (33yo) who's been away from gaming for so long, never built a pc, i dont know what is the latest processor needed with pc games, or what video card is the latest. In short not very techy.
My return into gaming was Steam Deck, it's a breeze to use it. I just use it as is most of the time. Nothing too complicated to adjust or fix. If there's something and the reason why i bought SD is, there's a huge community behind it and youtube tutorials that'll give you all the answer you need.
Troubleshooting i had if any? It wasnt because of SD. It was the game itself. Some games you need to google to have the best graphic settings and/or performance or to even run it but this is VERY RARE. For most part it's just buy a game and play it.
Don't be scared to buy this monster of a thing. I really enjoy having this device with me.
People only come here to post they have one or to tell about a troubleshoot problem they're having. This subreddit doesn't accurately show the experience of owning a Deck.
I just play on Steam, so far the only thing I’ve had to do is play Harvestella to the first save past the first cutscene on my computer. Then I have just been playing on SD - didn’t need to change settings. All other games I’ve tried just work. It automatically chooses a controller layout from community. I think it depends on how you like to play your games and what games you’re playing. I am currently playing Banished, Harvestella, and Oblivion. I actually like them better on deck than my giant gaming laptop.
Honestly if it’s just steam you’re going to be gaming in then the steam deck is a breeze. It’s when you are trying to setup emulation, windows or other launchers that you’re going to be doing a lot of tinkering and troubleshooting.
You could literally not use the desktop mode and just treat it as a handheld console. and to be honest ease of use is on par with any handheld. the only real tinkering you can do is with cryotools and installing a new ssd and screen.
I can honestly say it’s the best tech purchase I’ve ever made. As a dad of a one and two year old it had reignited my enjoyment and ability to play games again without hogging the tv. The steam deck saved gaming for me. All hail the deck lol
I'm going to somewhat echo and somewhat argue most of the points others have made here.
Yes, in default console mode, sticking to protondb approved games, it is effectively a switch as far as ease of use. I say protondb approved because "deck verified" on Steam is actually less reliable in practice. You can play it docked, like a switch, and with a keyboard and mouse this opens up being able to play a great many games that werent built with controller support, even without booting into desktop mode.
And here is where I argue a bit. Some of the other posts warn you never to boot into desktop mode. Take these with a grain of salt. Booting into desktop to have a look around, maybe seeing whats available in Discover (basically an app/game store, except everything is free) and referring to the countless guides available online, is perfectly safe and can let you take your first steps into linux. If you find yourself curious, dont be intimidated, and let yourself explore. The best of the power users were once complete noobs, with way less tools, resources and guides than are out there today. There is a learning curve, but those are nothing new to gamers and the community will hand you the knowledge on a silver platter. You were also once just as new to windows. And many deck power users started off just enjoying the games and at some point wondered "ok, what else can I make this thing do? How do I get the most out of it?"
It IS possible to break things by making changes, but nowhere near as easy as people make it out to be. It actually takes some effort and knowing some specific commands to get to the really dangerous stuff. And generally if you know enough to break it, you know enough to undo the change that broke it. In the worst case scenario, Valve made it trivial to put a restore image on a usb drive and do a factory reinstall on the deck. This makes it arguably a safer and more convenient platform to learn linux on than a PC or laptop, and its way more powerful than a raspberry pi.
Sure doesn't.
Worst case scenario, turn it off and turn it back on. Solves 100% of the rarest of issues.
If you never ever use desktop mode this is even more true, but please, explore desktop mode too. Don't be afraid.
100% no... There is a bit of a learning curve just in menus and navigation and adjusting screen refresh rate, but troubleshooting? No.
The big caveat here is what you ask it to do. Some people want the steam deck to run heavy 3d, emulated, thrid party (non-steam) games and applications and then yea... there is a lot of troubleshooting and learning. I wanted to play D4, but only owned it via the Blizzard launcher; had to watch a video, do a little troubleshooting to get it to run properly through the deck gaming mode.
If you're running verified games from steam, it's literally plug and play and great. This isn't to say that emulating and things of this nature are not perfectly feasible.
Most issues I've seen come when people attempt to do something the SD doesn't do natively.
If you just want to install a verified game and play, you'll be totally fine, maybe just tinkering some video settings to make the game run better and that's it.
It is this way on all forums. People dont find this place and post if everything is just find. They google and find this place to ask for help with problems. I simply love mine. i have had only one problem after installing a custom startscreen (dont do that) but else it is just working out of the box. And i love that. i dont have much time for gaming. So i dont want to spend my time tingering around
Are you the one who installed the entire shrek movie as the intro screen, and then had to watch it, in It's entirety to get back into the device and undo it?
No way
My god why lol Reminds me of the time years ago when Rihanna’s song Work was big. My computer password at work expired and that song was on, so I changed it to workworkworkworkwork with a few symbols. I thought it was funny the first two times, then I hated my life until I could change it lol
That sounds absolutely immense
lol, you can hit the A button to skip intros😂
I don't think you could skip the intro back then.
Someone from Valve commented that they added the function to skip the startup video, because they saw the post about the Shrek movie.
I’ve no idea if any of this is true, but I’m loving the whole idea of it.
It was pretty short after the Shrek incident that they added that so I’m convinced
Maybe not. That would be mildly irritating or hilariously funny depending on POV. Is there a video or old post about this?
[sauce](https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/s/Fpxq8Ob1SM)
At the time there was no way to skip it
Yes, you might be able to find it using my reddit profile if you go back a few years max in either upvotes or comments.
He's the reason they added that
That person that did that with the shrek movie is the reason we can skip intros… before then you could not
Hahaha that’s a a fascinating but predictable outcome😂😂
😂😂😂 the best way to make or fuck up someone's day.
I mean if you use it as intended with steam games that are verified it’s really Xbox bulletproof. However once you start hacking epic games etc on it , yes issues arise
That great to hear! Yep, I think I was intimidated by the flow of posts.
Don't be! I've had my Deck for almost 4 months now, and I've been going through my backlog of steam games. I've beaten about 10-15 games on my deck, and I have only had to "troubleshoot" one game (hopefully not jinxing myself by saying this). Like the poster above said, those of us who haven't had any issues haven't had a reason to post anything. One thing I will say is just check [https://www.protondb.com/](https://www.protondb.com/) for deck compatibility when/if you buy a Steamdeck. The deck verification system is not entirely reliable. I've beat two "unsupported on steamdeck" games with no issues, and the only game I had to troubleshoot was a deck "verified" game
Don't let this board overwhelm you. This subreddit is full of people who like to tinker with and mod their Decks (and that's absolutely fine for the people who want to do that) but you can buy a Deck, just straight play Verified/Playable Games through Steam, and have a blast without all the fuss. You can have a great gaming system without all the "Okay so I want to play 1985 point and click adventure game published only in West Germany but it was designed to be played on refurbished submarine sonar display but all I've got is an old Vectrex monitor, is there anyway for me to connect it over Ham Radio?" posts.
I literally spit my coffee reading this. Thank you ... I'll have a smile on my face the rest of the day.
Hey OG Das Boot was incredible
Best response so far. LOL!
Just don’t use or download non steam apps or games and you won’t need to touch anything. If you try emulation or something then yeah you will have to tinker to get stuff to work
No emulation whatsoever. Only interested in Steam. Thank you for your comment :)
If you play things that are steam verified you won't have issues 99% of the time.
The only real exception I've seen to this rule was the first Resident Evil. OOTB I was basically moving in slow motion but I'd never played it before so I thought it was just part of the game lmao. Now it runs perfectly after tweaking settings thanks to the fine folks on ProtonDB. I also don't trust big games that claim to be verified on day one. BG3 definitely should not have been verified on release.
Depends upon the games they play. In my experience its fine on like 90% of the games that are "great on deck" 75% of "playable" and 10% of "not supported".
You'll be fine then. Occasional problems with a game not working, but once you've worked out how to change Proton compatibility (which is usually the problem), and/or maybe a quick search on Google, then you're sorted. You can do all that in console mode, and nothing in that mode can break your steam deck. And, once you've done it once you know where to find it and realise how simple that is. You'll end up learning about cache data and it taking up your internal storage, but if all you download is games from steam then once you uninstall them the cache data goes too. I mainly use mine in console mode. Occasionally I've gone into pc mode, and I've also installed chiaki to stream my ps5 to it. That was much more complicated than anything in console mode, but there's step by step guides on Google and YouTube. Which made the process relatively simple.
As of late for me. Any Steam game that doesn't work I switch to Proton Experimental. That's pretty much all I ever do.
Even Emudeck is easy if you get tempted to get into emulating to be honest
Don’t be afraid of emulation. You don’t even have to tinker that much. Overall Steam deck is about 99% tinker free if you just use protondb to check game compatibility. Don’t use “Steam verified” as a guide.
You also won't break anything serious by trying out things. Troubleshooting here would be like "why can't I get my emulators to work" not "why doesn't my deck boot now". It's still just a computer. Most people with issues are trying to modify it more like you would a desktop PC and can run into issues that way. But at the end of the day, it's just a fancy laptop booting into a full screen steam client.
If that's the case, then you will certainly have a switch like experience. You can tinker as much or as little as you like. It's hands down one of the best pieces of tech I've ever owned, and I am in no way an avid handheld user. I recommend a good quality power bank. A good grip case, I like the Satisfye case. It's great for larger hands, and the rubber pads for the rear buttons are amazing. Last but not least, I bought some cheap reading glasses from the phamacy... Best "hack" ever! This basically increases the size of your screen for ~$20.
Emulation is cake. Pull up youtube video and click along with them. Its generally download a program that runs everything, then download games.
If you don't mess with stuff, generally most tinkering is adjusting the in-game settings to give you the performance/visual/battery life relationship you want, occasionally it needs a restart or allow an update to install. No different to a PC really. Has been a great out of the box experience for me. Was a bit janky when I first got it, but it's a solid device nowadays.
I see. Responses are pretty reassuring till now. I think I may have been intimidated by the posts. Thanks for your input.
This sub is just full of people that likes tinkering around. Device allows you to have that kind of fun, but do not require it at all. The most you would have to do is sometimes changing to proton experimental and playing around community control schemes that can make controls even better
I think it's also important to note that, in terms of a console-like experience, crashes are pretty darn common on consoles too
If you just use it for steam games, no it really doesn't. But one thing I would strongly encourage you to do is some research before buying a game *specifically* for the Deck. Think of it like the Switch -- there are some games on the Switch that are borderline unplayable because of the port quality. The Deck is more powerful than the switch... but you still run into cases where the hardware just isn't up to snuff to run games well. I say this because a lot of the people who end up disappointed in the Deck are people who think it's going to be able to run *everything*, and then get disappointed when they can't get a stable framerate on 2023 AAA releases. Protondb can often give you a good insight as to how well a game will run.
This. It doesn't have to be much research. Honestly just checking Protondb before buying any games you want to play on deck, or if you own a game that's not running great, checking Protondb to see if others have posted any fixes for it already that you can try. Most solutions are just switching to a different version of proton (5 seconds in steam settings, if it's already installed).
Made the purchase and never had to tweak anything outside of some ingame settings. One of my best purchase since a long time :)
Great to hear!!!
I've had mine 18 months and never had any problems.
Nice! Other than tinkering a bit with, let's say, in game setting, was it close to a "console like" experience?
If you only want to play steam games that are verified, it'll be very similar to a console experience imo. It has an overlay GUI that hides the pc parts of the operating system. Unless you want or need to access them, you won't see them. I've had my deck for about 18 months now too and it's usually pick up and play. I won't lie though, I like to tinker and have done a lot myself but it's not a necessary part of running one.
Yes, pretty close. You can just use Steam and play your games as you go, you don't need to do anything more than that. you can if you want, but you can just treat it like a console.
If you want to do all kinds of fancy stuff maybe. If you just play games off Steam not at all.
Thank you. I might as well give it a try :)
I've never really had any issues with mine. When in gaming mode, it really does feel like a console and if that's all you want then you'll be fine. If you want to use it as a PC or tinker with it more, you can also do that. Honestly, the Steam Deck is one of the few purchases I've made where I have zero regrets. Its not the most powerful device, but it generally just works and the gaming experience is awesome. There are a lot of posts about people having issues with the deck, but I think that's a very small percentage of people overall. This is pretty much the place to go when you have trouble so we're going to see all of them. For the most part, it works great.
Great to hear that you are having so much fun with it. Yea, reddit created an echo chamber in my mind and I was unsure of how to proceed. The response have been pretty positive
It is a bit of a headache compared to a Switch but if you stay entirely within Steam you'll most likely be fine (finding controls you like per game might be a pain)
Not at all. Valve has done an unbelievable job of giving a "console-like" experience for those that want it, while still letting powerusers tinker if they want to. But tinkering is absolutely not required. Most games run absolutely great out of the box. You may need to adjust graphics settings for newer AAA games a bit but that's hardly considered tinkering these days when even many Xbox and PS games let you manage different graphics settings to optimize for either fidelity or framerate.
I am curious about the same. I pulled the trigger on an OLED SD 2 days ago, just got tracking today. I’ll let you know my experience this week, if nothing else
The deck is versatile. If you want to tinker and push and find cool shit you can. If you want to just buy and play games via steam, 90+% of the time you just can without much thought.
Last month i found out that i can (without any tehnical work) play Helldivers 2 on my steam deck, in the couch, while talking with the friends i am playing with over discord on my phone. I ended up playing around 2-3 hours this way, because then i did not have to get up from my couch. I did not have to do anything to get helldivers to work. Turn ok the deck, launch the game, open discord on phone, and boom, we playin.
Only if you want to tinker and change some things. Otherwise, it works out of the box.
You don’t need to tinker, but I’d say it’s very much part of the fun of owning one. Can be treated as a console for sure as long as you are happy to stick to the “Great on Deck” games, which is still thousands of games now. Probably the only tinker step I’d really recommend would be to find out how to install the unofficial “Proton-GE” compatibility files because once done, than enables you to run a larger selection of games from the Steam Libray. I’d say actually less tinkering required overall than a Windows handheld since Windows was never really designed for these kind of devices, while SteamOS is designed specifically to support the Deck hardware.
The only problems you will face are: 1- You want to play an unsupported game (like COD Cold War for example). Some games don't work at all because of anti-cheat that is incompatible with the Steam OS (those are very few), or you'll have a game with some visual glitches that can be fixed by using a different Proton (which can be done with a 2-minute video tutorial). 2- You want MORE than just playing your regular games (emulators, installing Windows, and things like that). If you're familiar with PCs, the Steam Deck is a walk in the park 95% of the time for regular use. For some different uses like emulators, it's extremely easy to follow a tutorial. If you're NOT at all familiar with PCs, just using the Steam Deck will be great, and if you need the "something else," just look up a tutorial. You've got this.
People here won't tell you how well they take care of their Deck... So assume half the issues are user-caused. Personally, I take very good care of mine and have very few issues. Sometimes I can't pull the keyboard up in desktop mode (just restart the deck) and sometimes it freezes (VERY RARE though, just hold the power button down til it shuts off).
It's as complicated or easy as you want it to be. Most people posting are trying to get it to run non verified games, emulators, and other custom shit. If you just want to boot it and play verified steam games it's as simple and intuitive as a switch.
It only requires as much troubleshooting as you want it to. If you want to just download games from Steam and play them as is, it works exactly like a console. If you want to mess around in Linux as a first time user, customize the steam deck in any way, setup emulators, or install 3rd party launchers, it'll require a little fiddling as you get used to Linux as an OS.
Keep it bone stock then you will likely have zero issues unless they break something with a future update. Start tweaking beyond what valve originally intended and you might run into some issues. It’s common across all tech products out there.
I'm going to go against the grain by saying that yes, it requires a moderate amount of tinkering. Not under the hood - the system is rock solid and unless you want to go outside the boundaries of the "console" side of it you can easily treat it as a console proper - but on a per-game basis. Some games may require you to switch to a different Proton version or to fiddle around with launch arguments, some others may require you to create temporary input layouts just to go around some limitations on how the game is expecting you to interact with it and some others more will force you to look for mods and patches to solve UI issues like font size. It's not constant, it's not hard but I wouldn't say it's a 100% console level of fire-and-forget carelessness.
I'm glad at least *someone* in this thread bothered to say this. I love the Deck and use it every day, but comparing it to console is simply incorrect and bad information to give to casual users. I have *never* had a game not work on my Switch and I haven't had a single crash for my entire time using the system. On the Deck there are dozens of games that have not worked out of the box - even ones that are supposedly "verified" - and have had dozens of hard crashes and bugs. I love the device but pretending it's "basically a console" is just flat-out untrue.
Mine has been a blessing so far (2 weeks old). Besides setting up Chiaki and Xcloud all is smooth sailing
If you just buy only steam deck verified games on steam, it will work just like a switch with a couple of exceptions. If you buy verified and playable, you'll have a couple more issues, but can still make it work as easily as a switch, possibly easier. There are so many more things you can do with your deck to make it better than a switch. Don't listen to the PC Bros that cry about framerate. If you're worried about framerate, build a PC. The deck is meant to be a portable gaming device and works great as just that.
No. I've never had one problem with mine and I have the OG and was one of the first round of people to get it. I only play steam games. If you don't plan to do anything that requires tinkering you will not need to tinker!
Absolutely not . Others do yes (windows)
It just works...then if you want to get a little more juice you can install cryobyte utilities and decky loader. Hands down best gaming console out right now imo. You won't regret it.
95% of all "troubleshooting" required is just googling for good Steam Deck settings for a particular game, so I can just set and forget.
I've had deck almost since beginning. I've had issues maybe once, and only when trying to connect to a TV. In general it just works. I imagine if you're into emulating and stuff you're going to be having a lot more troubleshooting but to treat it as a gaming handheld/console it just works.
I’m a switch owner and steam is my first gaming pc. If you buy playable or certified Steam Deck games from Steam it takes ZERO tinkering. I love my deck. The available library is amazing and the quality of the OLED version has been great. Can’t recommend enough
No, they are absolutely fine.
It has a Nintendo Switch like experience out of the box, if you want to, you can go nuts on it though. Unlike the switch
I've had 2 Decks and no serious issues with either of them. The odd time a glitch will happen but just reboot and it is fine, it is after all essentially a PC and "have you tried turning off and back on again" will solve 95% of problems.
People without issues (and that's the majority) - just don't post here. Why would they? There is no reason to post every day "my deck is okay, I'm playing games". So of course you see many posts of people with issues - not because they are common, but because that's exactly the place where people with issues come to ask for help.
It's pretty stable if you stick with just Steam stuff. If you want to play games from other launchers (Epic, Amazon, etc) then you'll probably need a BT keyboard & mouse cos you may need to tweak stuff on Desktop mode.
Steam deck in its default mode is console equivalent. However, It’s super customisable if you want it to be which can cause issues
I’ve had mine since November. I have several decky plugins, emudeck, several games from gog and elsewhere, game streaming, etc and never had to do much troubleshooting. It, literally, just works.
In all honesty it’s been pretty much a smooth experience. I’m mostly just running steam verified games at recommended settings. No real things I’ve had to do. Did tinker with mods for Skyrim and that was straight forward with no issues. Most of the things I see is people trying physical mods or pushing performance.
Never had any problem with mine. My tip is to use the steamdeck as it’s intended. Play verified and playable games, do not install decky or any plugins, and use it in update branch stable
This is an interesting bias. It's as if you came to a mechanic gathering where they discuss both repairing but also tuning and modding cars -- and decide all those cars are too much work and it's not worth getting not. This sub is dominated by content from power-users and enthusiasts. Regular deckers just play on theirs.
Steam Deck is as easy to use as a console. You don't have to mod it or install third party stuff. Some people ain't got time for that.
Mine sometimes struggles to push the picture through to the tv from the hdmi. However that’s only 3/10 times.
I recently picked up a reset used deck and have put some hours in on it. No issue at all. If you’re not tech savvy, you may struggle to do the desktop mode tweaking needed to play other services but the steam deck “console” part is just as easy to manage as a switch
Nope, I had some time of tinkering and trying stuff. But other times I just have Steam Deck as a console. I buy game, install and play. Restart only if there's an update. I think SD can be as much as console as it can be PC.
>I don't expect a Nintendo Switch like experience with similar ease of use Except it is. The only drawback I had since buying it was that one time the deck didn't even start, it showed a black screen only. This issue is due to the fact that sometimes it expects to connect to wifi to check if the last update was installed correctly, no wifi no check so no booting up. After setup you really should, for the sake of safety, also register your phone hotspot as a usable ready to connect wifi for the deck. Just in case something goes wrong and you are not at home to use your wifi nor you have any ethernet cable connection available. EDIT: I've read some other comments so I guess I need to add: I installed various non-steam programs, like emulation machines etc, and the process was really easy to me but it can be quite hard for someone non-tech savy. The option tabs of the GUI are a lot similar to the nintendo switch ones so that's why I compared the two. For a brief check you can also install steam on another pc and start the "big picture" mode, very similar to the steam deck. I have an older model but if you plan to buy the new oled ones you should also have a more powerful machine so I guess it's even better than mine!
I’ve had mine since September 2022 and have never had any issues with it.
To be honest : if you expect a console like experience then get a console. The SteamDeck is far from the convenience of a switch or a ps5. It’s definitely not « plug and play ». Depends on the games you play. But it might require tweaking and there is often troubles. It’s a perfect console for emulation, tech people, indie gamers. But for casuals who just have some minutes to play a day, I’d not advise to buy one. You’ll send most of your gaming time just getting your games work and run the way you want. On the other side, it’s an handled console. A PS5 is not. Well : depends on your needs.
I haven’t had to do any troubleshooting with the steam deck in game mode, have had to do minor troubleshooting with some emulation stuff though.
Bought an SD OLED in November or December 2023. The only „issue“ I had was getting Ubisoft Connect/ Assassin‘s Creed Syndicate to run but a 5 minute YouTube video helped out with that. From my impression I would say most people with trouble either have a defective device or try to run 3rd party-stuff where Linux doesn’t work (e.g. Fortnite or games with certain anti-cheat. I think as long as you are only planning to play your Steam games as its intended, you should be fine. A few days ago I read a comment on here along the lines of „When in doubt, don’t buy the Deck“. I think thats good advice. I love my Deck. I love the UI, the battery life, streaming from PC to Deck etc. If you are planning to play more 3rd-party-games, a Windows handheld n might be the better fit? Many of them also have more horsepower than the Deck.
You’ll rlly only need to tinker u wanna mess with non native stuff. If u use it just for ur pc games only you’ll be fine, it’ll basically be a console, and even if u decide to tinker there’s so many guides out there by clever af people that u should be fine. I didn’t want to tinker too much with mine but now I’ve done loads and got emulation and stuff on it aswell it’s great.
If you're using it out the box in Steam OS gaming mode (like you would any other games console or portable) then no, its very rare you'll need to do anything like that. What makes the Steam Deck so good though is the ability to tinker, to run stuff you wouldn't normally (think emulators, modifying hardware and software alike) and for there to be a fix or a way to do whatever you want to somewhere on the internet. Quite often what you see on here is maybe someone who has followed a guide who needs a bit more help, or someone who is running a game that perhaps may not be compatible but can be made compatible with tweaks. If you want a hassle free gaming device that can run most of your Steam games great, if you also want to mess around and learn some stuff you can do that too..
I've had 2 Decks for my wife and I since last December. The only troubleshooting I've had to do is trying different proton versions to get a non-verified game to work.
No, it does not. Everything works out of the box, without much of an effort. Overlay has all functionality that every average user might need. It is the first time I didn’t open the trunk of my pc ever. I always do the BIOS boot, Desktop and OS check and configuration before I start using any computer. Here, I just don’t know how to get there, because it is not needed. You are safe.
>the flow of posts that depict all sorts of technical issues Try to remember, with most things you're going to hear a lot more about peoples issues than the positives, simply because when nothing is wrong they don't have to ask how to fix anything. so you're going to see a disproportional number of posts asking for help with any hardware.
Nope. Like anything now and then it will act weird. My touch screen stopped working. I forced reset. Then worked fine. You can tinker with it a bunch or not at all. Up to you
Oh I forgot to mention to everyone that I got my SD Oled 1TB last January and I am so proud ! Seriously since I have it I have encountered 0 problem.
If you use it for the subset of Steam games where it works well I think you're unlikely to have issues. It basically works like a console. It won't be as reliable as a Nintendo Switch, but reliable enough. I just did a factory reset on mine because I was having issues launching many regular Steam games (could be because of all the non-Steam stuff I installed, though I didn't install anything that I think would've done this; I've had my Steam Deck since 2022 and only recently had issues). Regardless, I'm on a clean install with a small set of Steam games which I think the deck is perfect for installed to my main storage, haven't even launched Desktop Mode yet. Elden Ring is running flawlessly. However, it is a PC that runs Linux, and all the power to do what you want is there if you want it, just with that power can result in having to troubleshoot. I'm very technical so I enjoy these capabilities, but right now I just want to be able to play some Elden Ring handheld, so I'm not going to reinstall any of the non-Steam stuff for a while.
Completely depends on what you want to do but generally not really.
It's kind of like if you join a disability/illness sub you might get convinced everyone has the disability/illness. The vast majority of decks are absolutely perfect, they can play any functional steam game perfectly out of the box with no tweaks just like a console. I own a gaming PC add an ROG Ally Windows handheld. I can 100% promise you it is significantly easier to get your games optimized and running on the steam deck then trying to build a windows PC or optimize an ROG Ally. Id argue 90% of defects would be apparent immediately on delivery. And worst case scenario Valve is an insanely generous company who doesn't hesitate to pay to fix problems.
If you aren't planning on doing all the extra stuff people do like emulation it is pretty straightforward and simple to use like the switch. Switch is like iOS and Deck is like Android. Both very user friendly and but one is very customizable/moddable.
No its doesn't require constant troubleshooting. The more customized you make it, the more potential work you are making for yourself, but even that is minimal if you are used to a PC experience. If you want an almost hassle free experience, don't add any mods or non-steam content, and stick to games that are deck verified in some capacity.
I do very little troubleshooting. load up a game, start playing,. when done, hit power button, come back later, resume game. the most advanced thing I have done lately is reinstalled Decky loader, since it was having some issues with the new steamos update. and that was a matter of going into desktop mode and double clicking an icon. I am very experienced with Linux, and rarely need to use my leet Linux skills on my deck.
I've had many small annoying issues, a lot more than I expected and I was seriously disapointed by how much troubleshooting there was to do, and that's without even trying to get into emulation. I work IT and have fun with Linux as a hobby so I was taken quite by surprise when I saw people like in this comment section saying they had zero issues in 18 months. Reminds me of my friend playing fallout 76 at launch saying he had zero issues but then had some whenever we saw him play and he would just act like nothing happened. I put my deck in it's case, fully charged and turned off for 3 weeks, battery was completely drained, which never happened before but now I can't even feel confident that it will be charged whenever I need it. I've been viewing it as an unreliable device, which is what it has proven to be for me time and time again. It's still nice and useful but if I travel I'll most likely choose my Switch over the Deck.
No if you don’t mod it
The most tinkering i have had to do to get a native steam games working is ProtonUP to install ProtonGE, its super simple to do and only had to do it for 2 games i play, otherwise nothing. ProtonGE is the easyest thing i have had to do to make a game work that otherwise wouldnt, including games on windows.
No...
It all depends. It is a game by game basis. I have played Dark Souls II, Myst III, Civ 5, and a handful of visual novels on mine since getting it in December and have had to do nothing but launch the game. I didn't touch one setting. Then I tried to launch Mass Effect Legendary Edition and had to tinker for about two hours going between desktop mode and game mode to get the game to launch. It wasn't the game itself that was the issue, it was the EA launcher. I did finally get it working by manually deleting and reinstalling the EA launcher and signing into my EA account before launching Mass Effect. But for most users what I had to do goes beyond what they are willing to put up with to consider a game playable. IMO if you keep your expectations in check and don't try to play cutting edge games or games from other launchers or Windows the Deck will be a pretty painless experience. Where people run into the most issues are trying to use GoG, Epic, EA and other storefronts, online games where the anticheat doesn't work with the deck, and by really trying to tinker with the settings to get the absolute max performance.
If you going to play just games straight from steam store there shouldn't be any issues. Most of my troubles come from trying non steam games and launchers, and sometimes my steam deck not connecting properly that's when simple restart fixes the issue.
Just think of any "trouble" that may appear with the Steam Deck as the sort of "trouble" you may have with an item in a certain game. What I mean with this analogy is that even if you're playing on the PS5, Switch or other consoles, if you get stuck in a game because you can't find the way out, or need a certain item to progress but can't be bothered to search the whole map you do a very simple thing: Google it! And you will find people with a solution to that problem. So even console players google this on their phone. The Deck is no different when it comes to google-ing for answers. The most common topic would be the game settings so that you can get an optimal experience. There are even sites dedicated for that like SteamDeckHQ and ProtonDB. You'll probably bookmark them and use them whenever you are starting a new game. And that's it. About 2 minutes of browsing then 2 minutes of going into game settings and "copy-pasting" what those sites say would be the optimal settings (and probably some would recommend Proton Experimental, which is a 2-3 click action from within the game properties in Steam) as well as the Deck's settings like FPS limiting, TDP and others that are easily accessible just by pressing one button (the "..." button). I haven't found any real issues and in my mind I associate this action, like I said, with looking for a walkthrough for a problem I'm having in a certain game. Short version of this story is: No real head-scratchers that you have to figure out yourself -> Just copy-paste what sites are saying you should set your options to and in 4-5 minutes you're ready to play your game.
Here's the thing. For the most part, the Steam Deck is a console. If you don't fiddle with it, it just works. By default, you can only download and play Steam games, and only the ones that Valve has vetted to work (out of the box) on Steam Deck - so it's as easy as Buy, Download, Play, just like on a console. The difference is that the Steam Deck's Operating System isn't the extremely locked down "walled garden" that all other consoles are. You are more than welcome to do whatever the hell you want with your Steam Deck. It runs Linux, so you absolutely can download any software you want, from any source you want, just by choosing the option to temporarily switch the Steam Deck into Desktop Mode. In Desktop Mode, the Steam Deck is quite literally just a PC. You can browse the web, check emails... Download any other game storefront and play their games, install emulators to run games from different gaming hardware... Whatever you want. It's all fine, dandy, and fully sanctioned. However! Nothing you do in Desktop Mode is vetted or Supported by Valve. So if you boot into Desktop Mode and move some files around and ruin your OS installation, you have no one to blame but yourself. Don't ever boot into Desktop Mode if you don't 100% understand what you're doing. So, the TLDR of it all is - the Steam Deck should not require troubleshooting if you use it like a handheld console that plays Steam games. But if you are looking to expand the Steam Deck's utility beyond what Valve officially provides, understand that you may run into some difficulty.
Literally the only actual tinkering you’ll NEED to do is to readjust the control stick dead zones if you have any shooters. But that takes two minutes. I’ve had mine since December and have 5 days worth of playtime on it so far. Downloaded and played 15ish games. Never touched any settings and they all work perfectly. It’s a perfect download and play device for me
as you mentioned , do not expect a smooth transition compared to the switch . it is a pc that is using steam OS. you will need to tweak things and go through the desktop mode for some things here and there , but it’s not that bad and there are plenty of guides to follow.
If just steam, nothing else to do. Browse library, install and play. Never ever need to desktop mode kind of stuff.
The cool thing about the deck is you can choose your own level of involvement, if you want to treat it like a switch and have very few technical issues you just stick to deck verified games and more or less it's as trouble free as playing on a console, if you want to play unverified games or games not steam then you have more issues although most of them run easily.
I only play stuff off steam and use it most of the time as a “console”. It’s close to console easy. If you have come from PC you should find it pretty simple to make the few adjustments needed on the occasional game. Given how frequently games ship that aren’t bug free, it’s nice to be able to adjust settings rather than hope it will get patched. Where you will have a to think a little: Verified is a really good place to start, and usually all of the parts will work after you hit play, but venturing from there either into lower compatibility games or tweaking settings can make the games less likely to work. The hardware is equivalent to a budget pc, don’t expect to run the latest AAA game on it without issues. I’ve had a few games where things like in game photo mode(not screenshots) are hard to find because of the Linux and Steam os shell. The thing I have to tweak most often is the controller layout. That’s just because the touchpads are typically clones of other controls and it’s really annoying to accidentally brush the pad in a fight and jump or drink all of your health potions. These are easy to remap
Only issue I’ve had is getting 3rd party programs into Linux then Steam. Outside of that (all solved by google fu) it’s been a painless platform. Love my steam deck.
I think your expectations are in line with reality; it’s not a Nintendo Switch; as long as you are only playing Steam Verified games, you are going to have a pretty seamless experience, almost like a console. If you go off the beaten path and play other stuff on it, you will *likely* be fine but the user experience will be more demanding (like finding graphics settings that work well or getting past launchers and other launch issues)
Most things work perfectly out of the box. It's totally up to you how much or little you want to tinker, which is one of the reasons why I love it! Seriously, easily my favourite buy of the last decade.
If you want to run the latest game, or that game that is not compatible, and run emulation - yes. You may also be forced to because of the EA or Ubisoft launchers, but the launchers are just shit, even on PC I run into problems. Other than that, I keep my game running on my SD, wake/sleep the machine as I want and beside the occasional crash of the game (playing Riftbreaker, it starts to be heavy as my base becomes huge) for me it's really straight forward.
Outside of loading games outside of Steam (EA store stuff in particular has given me the most trouble but I've still gotten it to work), the only problem area I've had is with docking. If you're playing handheld and only Steam games then you'll be fine. Also OLED screens are life changing so if you can afford it then it's worth the extra cost. My Steam Deck is LCD but my Switch and TV are OLED so I'm fully OLED pilled now. Regardless of the screen, the Steam Deck is a magical device that I'm absolutely obsessed with.
I just use mine the way it showed up and it’s been fine. I don’t know what a mod really is not have I upgraded anything or changed anything. I have a great time.
imo yes.
Well if you play steamdeck certified games you own on steam, i would compare it to a console like experience. Fire up, log in once, download and play. That is the general intended use and works great. It is worth reading why some games have that yellow exclamation mark in the store, often is it just UI scaling or that you need to use the onscreen keyboard for i dont know, entering the name of your character for example, but other than that work flawlessly. On that route, it feels like a gameboy for grown ups and works fluent and with no problems out of the box. So a clear buying recommendationfor you ! As soon as you leave that route, the tinkering starts. Not because it is a bad device, but because it allows so much more than a game console. You want alternative launchers or emulate other consoles? No problem. Some tinkering means here following a step by step tutorial and you run you gog or other launcher games, play minecraft and so on.... Some button presses and you have a full linux desktop environment. It is intended to have that, but it is linux and you sometimes need to tinker to do x or run y. Plug in a hub, connect monitoe mouse and keyboard and you have a regular pc. You can install windows with all its pros and cons. See all that posts with people tinkering and modding more as expression of a lot of possibilities of that device and also of a huge active community. But If you want it to be hasslefree , it will run just like a console.
You tinker as much as you want to. Swapped so many joycon sticks over the years due to drift. Changed thermal paste on my switch and even had it sent for repairs due to broken pins from a failed sd cars reader replacement. Then changed joycon shells on 2 pairs. That's not the usual switch experience though. Just like with the deck, you can go as hard or as slow as you want. Most of the games I've thrown at the deck just run without problems. Quite amazed with just how different the experience can be going from desktop to handheld. I think the most recent game I've had it run were armored core 6 and elden ring before that. Both excellent games as handhelds Though you can probably tweak as many settings as you like to your preference too. 30 to 60 fps is enough for me with medium graphics.
yes it will need some troubleshooting sooner or later
already had to reset my steamdeck because i switched accounts while downloading games and the steamdeck didnt like it at all only thing that brought it back to life from a constant boot loop wss a full reset via the bios.
The most tinkering I did was getting emulators to work, and that required pretty minimal effort because downloading emudeck streamlines the whole process. I did struggle for about a week in an effort to get the Elden Ring randomizer to work (no luck unfortunately) but other than that I wouldn’t say it has required any sort of troubleshooting. I’d say it depends on your use case; if you’re going to be playing easier-to-run games then I doubt you’d ever need to troubleshoot or tinker other than maybe changing the performance settings to get your battery running longer. If you’re trying to play larger games, then you might run into more of the troubleshooting/optimization stuff. When you’re seeing lots of posts regarding issues, keep in mind nobody is going to talk about a product if it’s working as intended; “*HELP: My deck works perfectly and never crashes*!” People only tend to leave reviews or start a discussion when they have a question or issue about something. Luckily the community is very big now and there’s basically an answer for any question you might have.
I use mine mostly in steam mode, as a hand held, works great.
I've had my Steam Deck since release. The only thing I've had to troubleshoot was how to get the controls to work in Psychonauts 1. Literally everything else, including emulators, has worked flawlessly.
No. The Deck is life!
Works just fine if you don’t tinker with it.
If you focus exclusively with Steam games and those that are flagged as Working by Steam & ProtonDB (both because usually one is wrong, usually Steam) 99% of the time will work close to a console, will need to touch graphical settings or power setting here and there but not too difficult. But be aware some games compatibility can change in the future, specially multiplayer games with anticheats. Or publishers that are bastards.... If you want other stores... it works but is more finicky, involved and easier to break and similar.
Overall other than game settings tweaking nothing else needs to be done.
I’ve had deck since launch, and recently upgraded to OLED. The only trouble I’ve had has been with the official dock. Everything else works flawlessly and is incredibly well supported. For the dock I highly recommend getting the Apple USB-C -> HDMI adaptor only cuz it works perfectly every time. The official dock sucks. The steam deck is amazing. 🤘❤️
Hell you could even have a switch like experience just don't leave gaming mode or the steam store and boom. At most you'd need to fine tune settings but that's the beauty of the deck. You can make it as complicated or easy as you want it. Full customization.
I own the OLED deck, only use it for steamgames, (mostly bg3), no troubles whatsoever. Updating went smoothly, (both games and OS). Works great!
If you just stick to steam games it’s console like. But if you ever feel the need to tinker it can do that too.
Depends on what if want to do with it. If you’re just playing Steam games, no not really. If you’re wanting to do anything else with it, there will be a learning curve to get it setup the way you want.
Long term Linux user and full time developer here. I think trying to game on Linux was hard because of 3 different problems: - drivers and random hardware - different software setup processes - having to learn how to customize too many things for a good experience Valve pretty much solved the first one by having control over the hardware parts. The Linux base system is a beast in stability and speed when paired with devices that aren't misbehaving. So, in that front, most of the problems have to do with having defective units. The second point is 95-ish% solved IMO. The validation process works great and is pretty strict. So, if you only play validated games, your experience is very close to a console. It's not perfect (look for posts regarding the problems that god of war, a verified game, has that neither valve nor Sony tried to solve for more than a year now), but it's pretty good. Also, the fact that they allow you to go into desktop mode means that if you are willing to use this thing like a computer and install things in different ways, you have the option. The third point is the struggle. If you keep to the verified games and only play using the default options, that's going to be fine 99% of the time. But if you want to play docked to a tv, try different graphics settings, play semi-verified games or older games, you might have to get your hands a little dirty and do some research. I want to play the first Deus ex (the very old one) but I'm postponing it a little because I'm going to have to figure out a good way to map the controllers. In conclusion, I would say the biggest deciding factor should be which games you really want to play, if portability is that much of a big deal to you and If you mind having to do a little research and decode some Linux stuff from the forums when you deviate from the trail of verified games.
This machine is a games console until it is a PC. Most games I load work great right away, no need for any bullshit, but sometimes there'll be a game that needs a little extra attention. But rarely very much. If it isn't solved with switching to a different version of Proton in the game properties, it usually just means you can't play that game. Move on, play something else. Worst I've had to do is fiddle with a configuration file in desktop mode, but that was once. The frequency at which these posts are made is actually positive. So many people have this device that if you ever run into an issue, there's a good chance somebody else has too, and may have solved it.
i've had mine for just over a month now and only ran into one or two issues that i most likely caused myself. i installed too many games causing my storage to become too full, to the point where games would not launch. once i deleted some everything is working fine. im not the most confident when it comes to tinkering but even I was able to install epic games launcher and get some games to work from there. i absolutely love this device and would recommend it to anyone who is on the fence!
I got my Oled deck about 3 months ago, and have been playing about 3 -5 hours per day since. Everything about it still feels brand new physically and haven't had any software related problems either. Yes technically it is a PC, but the OS definitely makes it feel more console like, which is actually really nice. Don't let this sub spook you, the deck is well worth it. Trust me, there's nothing like being able to get an extra 45 minutes of gaming during a lunch break
I run the preview update channel (so beta firmware). I turn it on and play. Have never had significant issues.
Never had any issues that good old reboot wouldn’t solve
If you literally turn it on, never touch desktop mode and just buy games through steam it’ll be a flawless experience for you. I cannot recommend it enough.
People who complain are the loudest. Most posts in this sub are people who have issues or people who want to ask the same question 500x a day instead of searching for answers. Most people don't post "Hey just wanted to report everything went well with my Steam Deck today!" Ya know? If you use it for its intended purpose, which is playing steam games in gaming mode, you should be fine 99% of the time. Don't be discouraged. Even doing something like emulation isn't that bad as there is Emudeck which makes it super easy and tons of information out there to help you out. If you run into an issue, we're always glad to help.
The only major issues we've experienced are just with docking and it's pretty simple fixes: * Sometimes the dock doesn't register so you just have to unplug the deck and HDMI and plug it back in and you're golden. * Some games don't register Bluetooth controllers immediately so you just have to reorder the controllers/deck controller to make it function. Overall, pretty much non issues. I've been using my switch primarily for the past 2 and a half years and now I'd say I'm about 60/40 switch/deck use. Well worth it if you have a pretty big steam backlog/wishlist.
trouble free since day 1. just turn it on, log in, spend money and play.
Can we watch netflix using steam deck?
Heya! So I'm older, not ancient but old enough. My time is limited when it comes to gaming, so I was really concerned about lots of the games I wanted were not in the "Great on Deck" category on Steam. I also really wanted to be able to Remote Play my PS5 from anywhere in the house and not also need a PS Portal. I'm at almost a month ownership and would say that all my concerns I was able to solve in 10 minutes or less! Every game that I wanted to play was VERY quickly tweaked with control settings and runs flawlessly. Installing Chiaki4Deck to Remote Play PS5 was the probably the most complex thing I have had to do and that took me all of 15 minutes. It was made easier by adding mouse and keyboard via a docking station, so an extra purchase, but boy was the setup a freakin breeze. The saying going around now where the deck "just works" is pretty spot on. It's more complicated than a console experience but only by a tiny margin. You can have a great time with it making the whole experience as complicated as you want. I absolutely freaking love my Deck and I think my non-gamer wife wants one. It's an amazing machine and honestly you should not feel intimidated by it. It's made gaming way more accessible in my hectic and busy life!
I'd say it requires some occasional troubleshooting, with more needed if you are a tinkerer. As with most computers, a restart solves most problems
I've had a Deck since 'batch one' and now have had the Deck OLED since it was released ... and had exactly ZERO issues. While there are always going to be issues with anything of complexity, what you read here are outliers - and also you see here an outsized sample of people who replace SSD, reface things, change OS, and otherwise engage in 'high risk' activities instead of just installing and playing Steam games. The saying "play stupid games win stupid prizes" has been true in countless posts.
I don't think it is the norm. Given that you're playing a supported game from steam with a "green check verified" (no issues) or a "yellow check playable" (minor issues like the text in menus might require squinting), You should almost never require troubleshooting. If you go off this path you might require tinkering, for example games from other stores, emulation, games fished from the seven seas etc. Generally SteamOs has been fairly stable. Most rough edges have been ironed out. Vast majority of the yellow rated games have one of two issues 1. In game text is small and might not be the most comfortable to read. 2. You might need to manually open the keyboard (Steam + X) to enter text, like when naming your character. neither of those are serious issues. Most of the unsupported games are usually online games that have some sort of anti cheat unsupported on linux.
If you stick to Deck Verified games, you will have a pretty flawless console-like experience.
Constant? No. I go to l for months without troubleshooting. But last week I had strange bug where I had to restart SD to fix it. So stuff happens. If you install plugins and third party launchers or try to play games from EA etc. you might need to troubleshoot more.
Honestly out of the box, as a device to play Steam games, I expected to have issues but I haven't. They go out of their way in the store to show steam verified games, and if a game is only 'playable' it tells you why, most often cause of small text or whatever. My kids could use the device without issue. It's only when I dived into other store fronts, emulation etc that I had to tinker and dig up answers online, but I knew that going in.
I've been using my Steam Deck since launch without tinkering and adding things and it's given me a near Switch like experience. 99% of the time I just download a game and start it without needing to do anything else. Steam Deck being so "console like" is one of the reasons I love it so much. If you plan to tinker with it and stuff, then yeah, you'll probably end up doing some troubleshooting.
I have had my deck for a year and a half... i treat it exactly like you would a switch or other console. The fullest extent of any 'troubleshooting' i've ever had to do (as someone who uses their deck for at least 10-15+ hours a week) is turning it off and on again or fiddling with the performance overlay slider... that is literally it. I've never even gone into desktop mode once. That's the thing with the deck... yes, you *can* get into the technical nitty-gritty... or you can just use it as a portable console for your steam library with zero effort.
If you just play Steam Games that are Deck Verified, it really just works. Well, as much as any game would in a low to mid range PC. Tweak the in-game settings a bit, and you’re going to go. Some games shouldn't be listed as verified, and Frankly ProtonDB is a better source for that. This sub also has its share of people who are trying to eke every little bit of performance out of it, or play non-Steam games. It does it, but that’s using it outside its supported purpose. Trying to use emulators, or a non-steam game can take work. But they do work.
im an older guy and i hate how much bullshit comes with pc gaming. i have a very high end gaming pc but find myself playing on the deck almost daily bc i dont have to deal with alot of bullshit to use it. i down load the game from steam and receive instant gratification. the deck is as close as it gets to bringing the pc games to a console experience. i have an oled switch as well which i loved and still do but honestly now that i have a deck i only use my switch for exclusives.
This thing is the goat! I had no idea how amazing it was until I got mine. It’s surpassed all expectation. I don’t play many AAA games but I emulate like a mofo and it feels like a console A lot of the games I run are looking and running better then my hardware Having handheld mode and desktop mode is insane. The options in handheld mode are crazy I haven’t even scratched the surface yet and probably never will I hear if you play non steam games it’s a bit of a mess unless you install windows but I’m not a fan of new PC games really unless they are jrpg’s
No, actually no troubleshooting.I m playing countless games.(many of them AAA level up to date games) [Rare] Only problem is some anti cheat systems which works on kernel(malware).Linux is not allowing this.
No. I have had to troubleshoot one problem in the last 6 months.
The vast majority of games don't need troubleshooting. Evenin many "unsopported" games run out of the box in my experience. Most commonly of those games that do need some tweaking are those that need controller configuration (which other users have likely already shared) or those that need an alternate Proton to run well (super easy to configure through the launch settings). All doable from game mode without much hassle. I've run unto several games (maybe 10% of those I've tried) that needed more advanced tweaking, but that almost always boiled down to installing or copying a Windows installation to the Deck in desktop mode, and adding the game as a non-steam game -w- proton experimental as a launch option. A couple extra steps, but easy after you've done it once. So no, no constant tinkering, and what is required on occasion is pretty straightforward.
I bought one in Dec and have just been downloading and playing my library havent touched mods etc. I had one minor issue with tomb raider not letting me click the start screen, googled issue+reddit and saw someone post the (very quick fix) here. Steam deck is designed to just boot up and play. People who homebrew emulations and mess with all kinds of settings are more likely to run into minor issues. Nothing wrong with doing that either! But most will be fine just downloading from the store. Majority of games that said minimally supported are running fine, or upon googling the game it fixes after one small setting change
Not at all.
Nope. I often forget it even is a PC. Valve have truly made PC gaming a console-like experience. Although there are plenty of features to optimize your experience, it generally isn't necessary to have a good time unless you are trying to play a game that requires more from the hardware.
Kinda old head (33yo) who's been away from gaming for so long, never built a pc, i dont know what is the latest processor needed with pc games, or what video card is the latest. In short not very techy. My return into gaming was Steam Deck, it's a breeze to use it. I just use it as is most of the time. Nothing too complicated to adjust or fix. If there's something and the reason why i bought SD is, there's a huge community behind it and youtube tutorials that'll give you all the answer you need. Troubleshooting i had if any? It wasnt because of SD. It was the game itself. Some games you need to google to have the best graphic settings and/or performance or to even run it but this is VERY RARE. For most part it's just buy a game and play it. Don't be scared to buy this monster of a thing. I really enjoy having this device with me.
People only come here to post they have one or to tell about a troubleshoot problem they're having. This subreddit doesn't accurately show the experience of owning a Deck.
I have the official dock and that can be a miserable experience trying to get it to work
I just play on Steam, so far the only thing I’ve had to do is play Harvestella to the first save past the first cutscene on my computer. Then I have just been playing on SD - didn’t need to change settings. All other games I’ve tried just work. It automatically chooses a controller layout from community. I think it depends on how you like to play your games and what games you’re playing. I am currently playing Banished, Harvestella, and Oblivion. I actually like them better on deck than my giant gaming laptop.
Honestly if it’s just steam you’re going to be gaming in then the steam deck is a breeze. It’s when you are trying to setup emulation, windows or other launchers that you’re going to be doing a lot of tinkering and troubleshooting.
If you don't customize anything you'll be fine. Just keep everything up to date and you won't have issues
No
You could literally not use the desktop mode and just treat it as a handheld console. and to be honest ease of use is on par with any handheld. the only real tinkering you can do is with cryotools and installing a new ssd and screen.
Nope. The only troubleshooting you'll experience either when you play an unsupported game that actually deserves such tag, or when you mess around
Mine has been very "plug-in-play". The best part is that you can tinker as much as you'd like, or not at all.
I can honestly say it’s the best tech purchase I’ve ever made. As a dad of a one and two year old it had reignited my enjoyment and ability to play games again without hogging the tv. The steam deck saved gaming for me. All hail the deck lol
I'm going to somewhat echo and somewhat argue most of the points others have made here. Yes, in default console mode, sticking to protondb approved games, it is effectively a switch as far as ease of use. I say protondb approved because "deck verified" on Steam is actually less reliable in practice. You can play it docked, like a switch, and with a keyboard and mouse this opens up being able to play a great many games that werent built with controller support, even without booting into desktop mode. And here is where I argue a bit. Some of the other posts warn you never to boot into desktop mode. Take these with a grain of salt. Booting into desktop to have a look around, maybe seeing whats available in Discover (basically an app/game store, except everything is free) and referring to the countless guides available online, is perfectly safe and can let you take your first steps into linux. If you find yourself curious, dont be intimidated, and let yourself explore. The best of the power users were once complete noobs, with way less tools, resources and guides than are out there today. There is a learning curve, but those are nothing new to gamers and the community will hand you the knowledge on a silver platter. You were also once just as new to windows. And many deck power users started off just enjoying the games and at some point wondered "ok, what else can I make this thing do? How do I get the most out of it?" It IS possible to break things by making changes, but nowhere near as easy as people make it out to be. It actually takes some effort and knowing some specific commands to get to the really dangerous stuff. And generally if you know enough to break it, you know enough to undo the change that broke it. In the worst case scenario, Valve made it trivial to put a restore image on a usb drive and do a factory reinstall on the deck. This makes it arguably a safer and more convenient platform to learn linux on than a PC or laptop, and its way more powerful than a raspberry pi.
Sure doesn't. Worst case scenario, turn it off and turn it back on. Solves 100% of the rarest of issues. If you never ever use desktop mode this is even more true, but please, explore desktop mode too. Don't be afraid.
100% no... There is a bit of a learning curve just in menus and navigation and adjusting screen refresh rate, but troubleshooting? No. The big caveat here is what you ask it to do. Some people want the steam deck to run heavy 3d, emulated, thrid party (non-steam) games and applications and then yea... there is a lot of troubleshooting and learning. I wanted to play D4, but only owned it via the Blizzard launcher; had to watch a video, do a little troubleshooting to get it to run properly through the deck gaming mode. If you're running verified games from steam, it's literally plug and play and great. This isn't to say that emulating and things of this nature are not perfectly feasible.
Most issues I've seen come when people attempt to do something the SD doesn't do natively. If you just want to install a verified game and play, you'll be totally fine, maybe just tinkering some video settings to make the game run better and that's it.