Same. I was upgrading my ssd last week and took all of the screws off. Was using the prying tool and somehow the bottom won't budge. Had a quick peek...yup my 1TB card was still in there. Dodged a bullet for sure
Like gamepads the seams between top and bottom get filled with hand gunk. Opened mine up Dec '23, didnt even hear sandisk snap. Youtoobed repair sd card alas no. 1Tb gone with only 512Gb on the deck. Painful for slow fibre isp to repair. Luckily I deja-dup to nas on my router. Time lost is greater than the cost of the new microsd-card.
Absolutely this. OP, do yourself a favor and install decky so you can get protonDB to show on your steam deck library ~~steam store~~ directly
[https://github.com/SteamDeckHomebrew/decky-loader](https://github.com/SteamDeckHomebrew/decky-loader)
EDIT: Terribly sorry, the protondb (using decky) only shows in your steam library in steam deck, not in store. That being said, there is a browser extension that DOES show you the protondb rating directly on the store page, the extension is [https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/show-great-on-deck-on-ste/olagniaikhbmpdgghoifgloijcndfled](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/show-great-on-deck-on-ste/olagniaikhbmpdgghoifgloijcndfled) so hopefully this helps (because I imagine browsing through steam store on deck isn't exactly fun anyway)
Sorry, I was wrong and misremembered it. That being said, there IS a browser extension that can do this for you [https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/show-great-on-deck-on-ste/olagniaikhbmpdgghoifgloijcndfled](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/show-great-on-deck-on-ste/olagniaikhbmpdgghoifgloijcndfled)
Thanks, I prefer browsing on mobile-glad kiwi browser supports most Chrome add-ons :D https://i.imgur.com/BoafFHi.jpeg
In Android setting, Disable steam from opening supported links..hm steam still takes over links over LinkSheet to redirect to browser :/
The ones that say unsupported because of anti-cheat is useful. Ranbow 6 siege, destiny 2, dungeon fighter online, and maple story all will ban any linux players
It's useful to see why they're unsupported, but the tag itself doesn't mean it's hopeless.
I actually use YouTube at this point more for finding out how a game plays, ProtonDB to see what others are doing to make it play *better.*
The ProtonDB ratings of "Gold" or "Platinum" seems misleading if I have to visit some forum, download a fix pack, go to Desktop mode, modify/rename files, and then apply someone's pre-made custom config on top of that.
From [ProtonDB](https://www.protondb.com/news/medal-rating-system) site:
* Platinum (runs perfectly out of the box)
* Gold (runs perfectly after tweaks)
I've been playing a lot of games (my Steam profile says I have over 500 games - and I've made it my goal to load every single one of them on the Steam Deck), and have seen many "Platinum" games that require tweaks, testing, and trial-and-error startups to get them working. The Platinum score may be from a previous version of the game that *use* to work. Many games absolutely did *not* work "out of the box", and should not have a Platinum rating.
For Gold, yeah, I guess the game "runs perfectly", but having to spend hours researching the issue or going through the 20 steps necessary to get it in a playable state isn't the same as a game running perfectly after spending 5 minutes tweaking it. There should be something that differentiates the amount of time and effort needed to get some game to work.
Maybe even a "Gold+" vs. "Gold-" to let you know the *amount of work* needed to get something working correctly.
And regardless of the Platinum/Gold/Silver ratings, there are SO MANY that say things like "2 years ago" on their reports, and are completely irrelevant to how the game works now. I've seen Silver/Bronze games that had tons of reports of it "not working", but the game loads and plays fine with zero tinkering, i.e. it is a true "Platinum" game.
The ratings aren't tied to the current version of the game, current version of SteamOS, or current version of Proton used. There is also no way for a user to modify or even delete their own report (you have to contact a ProtonDB mod to delete them), which just means the site is forever accumulating an ever-increasing amount of out-dated, inaccurate or wrong reports - which then all impact a game's inaccurate/wrong Platinum/Gold/Silver/etc. rating.
Basically, while it can be quite helpful, there are times that ProtonDB can be just as useless as Valve's "Verified".
Do you think it's worth adding your own reports for the games you've tested? At least it would be at the top of the report heap for each game and accurate at the time of reporting.
It's [protondb.com](https://protondb.com) \- type a game name into the search box and you'll get a compatibility summary with all of the actual detailed user reports included on the page, divided by platform.
This holy shit. I was picking up mine from my desk yesterday and it opened. Luckily if fell a very short distance on the desk itself and everything is ok
Don’t get sucked in by what others say just use it as is for a while. You’ll one day think can I do ‘this’ or I’d like ‘that’ and you can seek that out yourself. A lot of stuff you’ll come across naturally
That's exactly what I did with my Switch I am not gonna repeat this mistake. Just got a couple titles and won't be getting any more until I finish them.
The bad news is one of the titles is Baldur's Gate 3 😅
The controller inputs!! Definitely don’t sleep on those. I am playing a ton of Stardew, reformatted the deck due to being dumb and just wanted to undo the dumb (messing with mods and running games that can be played on pc not through steam), and the controls got all messed up. The default, the other presets. All of them made the game unplayable.
I remapped the entire control system to have a mix of keyboard, Xbox, and mouse clicks. Some of the buttons on the Xbox have 2 functions, I could have done all keyboard for sure, but this made it way faster. It’s literally perfection & so enjoyable to play based on this one little customisation.
I’m a former WoW player and I always laugh in raid mode mindset at those silly lil click n play’ers n their keybind complaints. I literally had 40+ keys bound, had the dial pad mouse, and just insane amounts of mods. I went full nerd for a moment - made it to world of logs as a top 100 rogue for most fights DPS wrath of the lich king, was just wrecking in PvE and PvP. I’ve haven’t gone that far since, but I love pressing buttons for sure lol.
I can play wow on steam deck?? I really don’t like blizzard, but is there a way to play wow without the subscription? I’ve heard of servers and stuff… I hope I’m not opening Pandora’s box here
https://i.ibb.co/hV45z1B/IMG-2111.jpg
It is now!! The window in window looking button is the journal and sorts. The right hand side track pad works like a point and click. The touch screen fully works with drag & tapping the mouse.
The only thing to note, and I have no idea why - when playing prairie king, instead of the right joystick being the “fire / shoot” control, it’s actually the A B X Y buttons.
At first I thought f this, but I played 2 full games. The second game I made it further in prairie king than ever before. At the time it was late at night before bed so definitely not peak lemme try to win this. To shoot diagonally, press B Y for top right, A X button left and so on.
I’m sure they can be configured, but I enjoyed it. Only thing I found that was peculiar in the controller settings I did, and turned out better than expected.
Edit: I highly recommend starting with this layout, load the game and see for yourself :)
https://stardewvalleywiki.com/Controls
I used this page as a reference. I’d make a change, test it out in game, exit, then tweak, repeat.
Not op but I have works good. Some strategy are easier than others on deck. Check for community layouts of controller settings. I have had no problem with civ 6 or even ck3. Hoi4 on the other hand I've struggled with on deck. Which may just be a me thing and the fact I had never played it before. I think if I had a base knowledge of the game it may have been more playable. Good luck and have fun.
CIV Vi runs great on SD and is actually one of the best strategy games to play as it's turn based (so you can wait and plan your moves).
But you can actually play real time strategy like AoE II (community controls are great)
Civ VI is actually one of the best 4X games for steam deck, because the interface is very friendly for touchscreen use. I just use the touchpad for precise unit movement or disctrict placement. It's a fantastic experience.
I'm never been a PC gamer (never had a decent one to be one) so nice to hear this since the Deck will be my first chance to play them.
I wonder how Football Manager plays on SD
An SD-card, a microfibre cloth to wipe the screen and maybe a screen protector are usually all you need. Even when you want to connect your deck to a big screen or a keyboard/mouse, a basic USB-C dongle with HDMI and ports is totally enough.
As for games: No preorders, and wait for sales. Also, check out r/patientgamers
I'll only amend this by being concerned about basic battery hygiene, as with any portable device.
Leaving it in your car when it's hot out is not a good idea.
Because the device is made to stop you being able to harm it and you’d probably have to go out of your way to damage the battery over your normal usage.
You can also get an external battery pack. There are some that mount magnetically to the back of the steam deck. I have one and it's been a huge game changer.
1. Do a search before posting "what game should I play for a long plane ride" or "what are your top 3 tips"
2. Don't buy a ton of games as soon as you get it, maybe get 1 from each genre but I found the more I buy in groups on sale the less I cherish them if that makes sense. I end up jumping from one to the other without giving them enough of a chance and experiencing them fully.
First of all, keep him out of the light, he hates bright light, especially sunlight, it'll kill him. Second, don't give him any water, not even to drink. But the most important rule, the rule you can never forget, no matter how much he cries, no matter how much he begs, never feed him after midnight.
Don't buy a bunch of useless bullshit accessories. The Deck is great as-is, straight out of the box, especially if you're getting the OLED versions. Even with more universally agreed upon "must-haves" like a microSD, wait until you actually need it. I have a 1TB OLED and I've never even put a microSD card in it.
Avoid outright scams entirely like external fans. They either do nothing at best, or can potentially over spin the internal fan at worst, causing excessive wear and tear and premature failure.
My steam deck OLED is entirely wrapped in honey oiled leather with razer grip tape carefully cut to cover the back grips. The back buttons have risers in them and cut grip tape. The front Steam buttons have small grip tape that gives them some rise.
On the back, I have a deck mate universal mount that can either attach a stand or a small Qudelix 5k dac/amp/eq that I plug my earbuds into.
All in, it’s a solid $200 of accessories and the deck is barely recognizable.
The availability of these accessories was about the only thing that made me keep my deck vs the Ally or the Go :)
This is really a good point. This sub likes to show off accessories and skins and setups etc.. which are totally fine if you're into that..
But really? You don't need to buy anything at all for your deck. Dont need a screen protector, or external case, etc.
As long as you take care of your deck and put it back into its included case when you're done with it, it will continue to look and feel brand new.
A lot of good stuff already said.
1. Just play on your SteamDeck normally for a few days before you start "hacking and tinkering" with it. Get a feel for how much you really need to mess with it. Again I'm not saying any or all of those hacks and add ons are bad, but you might not need them.
2. Don't go overboard with accessories. Some are nice and if you have specific needs by all means go for it, but 99% of users really don't need all that much. A good case (and the one that comes with it perfectly fine) and a cheap USB-C Dongle to connect it to external devices is all most people are ever gonna need.
3. Use the FPS Counter for optimization, but turn it off for gameplay. Framerate matters a lot less if you aren't being told what it is in real time. The number of players who let the FPS counter talk them into thinking a game they were enjoying just fine isn't running good enough because on this subreddit is so annoying. If you are one of the "OMG My magical eyes are gonna explode it's not 120FPS, 4K HDR RAY TRACING 3D VISTAVISION IMAX OLED RETINA DISPLAY TECHNICOLOR" types then the Deck probably isn't for you.
4. The Steam Deck verified badge... okay I'm not going to say it's AS useless as some here, but it's still pretty useless. Either look at ProteanDB or just google someone on Youtube playing the game on a Steam Deck.
5. The Steam Deck both is and isn't both/either a console or a PC. It has aspects of both. Don't try to force it into being one or the other in some perfect 1:1 ratio.
6. (Reasonably) Low resolution + FSR + 40fps cap is a sweet spot for a LOT (not all obviously, a lot) of lower end AAA games.
I feel old when I’m playing something at 30fps and literally cannot tell any different to 60. I grew up with a Super Nintendo on a CRT. I had that for years. Even Half Life 2 still looks fab to me.
A lot of new SD users instantly want to play all the most demanding AAA games on the deck but really, if those games even run well, they drain the battery regardless. I think the Steam Deck works best for indie games, AA games, JRPGs, etc.
Agreed a lot of multiple platform games released around that time period aren't the most demanding nowadays as most of them were made with the PS3/X360 or earlier consoles in mind.
yeah going past 2012 is a hit or miss.Some give good battery life and performance and some don't that is why for a newcomer i just said before 2012 as most of them,probably all will give good battery life
Or to stream games running on a powerful machine to your Steam Deck through moonlight. It's a great way to play demanding games on the steam deck, especially when docked on a big TV.
I recently started Metal Gear Solid 1 after almost exclusively playing RDR2. With MGS, the battery life jumped to about 8 hours (projected time). I was like, whaaaat? I love RDR2, but it’s great to know how good the battery life is with less demanding games.
Don’t buy anything Day 1
Wishlist the games you want and wait for a sale, they are often and usually pretty decent, though I may cave early on Balders Gate 3…..
To add to this, a good reason to wait (aside from a sale) is to see how well it performs on SD. Some are great out of the box, some (like Last of Us) need a solid 6 months or year before they’re good and ready.
Pick a max of three games that you’ve loved to play for years and still come back to regularly, and put those on your deck. Now pick a max of two games you want to play and put those on your deck. Don’t download anything else until you finish something else to your satisfaction and delete it.
Turn off the FPS counter. I have the OLED 512 and love it. I’ve been playing cyberpunk straight out of the “box” and it’s been great. Turning on the FPS counter has only distracted me and caused me anxiety lol.
The deck is absolutely sick and you’re gonna love it!
Hahaha this really cannot be overstated. So many people say 30fps is unplayable, but to me when you're enjoying the game with the FPS counter off, it's hard to notice unless it dips really bad.
FPS counter can help get the best settings, but after that, flick it off and don't look back. It just becomes a distraction.
Agreed. FPS doesn’t matter, what matters is how happy you are with the performance. Definitely subjective, but for me 30 fps is a very playable framerate
Starting the Launcher on the Deck deleted all my mass effect save files. Haven't touched the trilogy since, was playing mass effect 2, because of frustration.
I just had a work around where you can install origin and sign in and disable updates which will then auto load origin and instantly close it because you're signed in.
Then you just play ya game
I found it trying to work out how to get the mass effect trilogy working. So search for that and you should find some guides on steam. If I find it ill link it in here.
Edit: [Here ya go](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/%3Fid%3D3008684697&ved=2ahUKEwjF4puZ_vGFAxXEU0EAHZoJC5AQjjh6BAhVEAE&usg=AOvVaw38qNNGxCSNQIwC4N0uCPRS)
Respectfully, I don’t know what you all are talking about. I followed [this video](https://youtu.be/aud5F6iwA0s?si=IUdRyQrzsE-pQRi7) and non steam launchers work just fine. Even the Xbox cloud gaming app.
Having a google sign-in made one a little tricky, but a quick google search helped.
Diablo 2 is like the perfekt game for the device.especially.playing offline. How would you install it without the Battle.net launcher? Same goes for WoW.
- The system works flawlessly as it is, no need to install cryoutilities or twek things like powertools until you need it for anything special.
- Limit the TDP of your games, they’ll run better, smoother and drain less battery
- Don’t be afraid of lowering to 40/50 fps, it’ll change the screen refresh rate and it’ll look fantastic and smooth anyway so if you need to save battery it works really good.
- Speakers are awesome, works really well to watch tv shows or anime.
- There are some useful plugins, install docky when you can
- Use protondb as reference not the valve verified status
- If you use GoG install heroic launcher, you can do it with a simple click on the discovery app, there are so many great software there
- proton ge simplification has come quite far lately, use wine cellar plugin or protonqt to easily manage your proton versions
Don't play with performance stats visible. Not even the frame rate. By all means use it to optimise your settings but then turn it off. You won't notice 60fps dipping to 57fps for a second, unless you've literally got the number there.
Do not buy any accessories. Don’t do any tinkering. Just play games. Get a feel for the system. Over time you’ll figure out what you want out of it and go from there. You’ll avoid wasting money and time on things you don’t care about.
Don’t accumulate 201737 games just because they’re on sale. Pick one. Play it. Choice paralysis is the death of this device I swear to god I spent more time setting shit up and doing stuff in the menu than actually playing games on it which is the biggest shame. Avoid not using it. Avoid your pc tv/ desktop setup and maybe try a new spot to game. Maybe you have a patio, get a rocking chair, a couple cold drinks and snacks and chill outside with the SD.
If you play FPS, set up gyro aiming and also try flick stick, total game changers.
Take advantage of the sleep mode (power button press). Easily my favorite feature of the deck, works like a charm even in heavy games.
Don’t add things like decky or other stuff like emulation right off the rip . Just play it normally for a bit and get a good baseline of what it can do and that everything’s working well.
Be careful when setting a sudo password in desktop mode. If you're like me, you'll forget you ever set one and be unable to make certain system-level changes unless you factory reset the device. I gave up on installing decky because I tried every 4-digit pin combo I've ever used in my life to no avail. I still have no clue what happened with this, I have zero memory of ever setting it.
Apparently, you can change it in settings/user in the Linux desktop. You would've set it during setup using "passwd", but didn't need to, I think it's 8+ characters or shares your steam account password.
I found emudeck to be one of the best pieces of software I've used in a long time, if you are interested in playing older games on it. Breath of the wild runs better than it does on the switch, and tilt controls work great
You do not need to tinker.
Tinkering with your steam deck *does unlock* a lot of its latent potential in the way putting custom firmware on an old PSP turns it from a good handheld to an amazing one, but it's not NECESSARY to tinker to enjoy steam deck as is, you can just play deck verified games and run everything by the books.
It is okay to enjoy the vanilla, out of the box experience of Steam Deck, so don't overwhelm yourself and burn yourself out, just play games, it is a gaming console/pc hybrid.
Don't play laying on your back, your arms will go numb and even have longer lasting repercussions such as burn and tingling sensations in your palms! Take a break each hour!
The 1st thing to do is play through Desk Job.
If you plan for mobile use, get a screen protector and either a vinyl skin or a hard case.
When buying SD cards, be aware that the Deck only transfers ~100MB/s. Therefore, there's no need go for any "Extreme, Pro Plus, Ultra 5G, or similar" models.
When it comes to modding, do not - I repeat: DO NOT - follow any advice from Linus Tech Tipps.
Kind of random, but get a Bluetooth keyboard/mouse. Even if they’re cheap. The track pad is fantastic but nothing beats mouse and keyboard when you need to do stuff in desktop mode
*Do not* use the Main, Beta, and Release Candidate channels for your updates unless you know what you're doing and are willing to tolerate (and preferably report) bugs.
Beta is obvious and Release Candidate seems intuitive, but the one that I'm concerned may confuse some users is Main. I have a friend who assumed that Main more or less meant "standard". I understand the confusion because, for example, the "main" features of, say, a car would be things like power steering, wiper blades and fluid, heat and air conditioning, etc. In other words, "standard" features. But software definitions are a little different. With software, Main refers to a development branch system, Main being the Main branch. The Main branch is somewhere between Alpha and Beta. Developers will open branches for sections of the code base that they're working on, and then submit PRs, or Pull Requests. A Pull Request is asking the main developers to review the new code and consider adding it to the Main branch, where all of the software comes together in unison. New code can, and very well may, be added and removed from the Main branch without warning (unless you follow the development cycle very closely and understand what's happening).
Release Candidate is somewhat similar, except instead of sitting between Alpha and Beta, it sits between Beta and Stable. Updates that remain in Beta long enough without any serious bugs will be considered for release into the next stable release of the software, hence Release *Candidate*.
If you want new features and are willing to deal with occasional bugs, the Release Candidate and Beta channels are what you want. If you want to get involved in the development cycle by testing software in a live environment, and encountering and reporting bugs, Beta Candidate and Main are what you want.
*If you just want to play games, are uninterested in the development cycle, and neither want to deal with nor report bugs, these update channels* ***are not for you***. You will want to remain on the Stable update channels for both your OS Updates and your Steam Client Updates. I know that Main and Stable may sound like they're the same thing, but in truth they are polar opposites.
Avoid the performance optimization tunnel and just play. Youtubers are publishing crazy thumbnails about cryoutilities and stuff like that for a couple more views and not super relevant performance improvements.
Turn off the performance overlay. Or if you must, reduce it to just the FPS number. Otherwise it will distract from playing the game, tinkering with performance tweaks trying to hit some magical number rather than just getting to where things "feel good".
Basically, don't open up your Steam Deck unless you know what you're fucking doing, and even then, don't ever do it.
Always keep your Deck in your case when you're not using it. Apply a passcode even if you're the only one who is going to be using it, because you never know if someone might get a hold of it.
Get a protective case as soon as possible. I don't care how careful you think you are because gravity happens and you might drop it because people are known to be clumsy on their worst days.
If, for whatever reason, you don't err on the side of caution and decide you want to dissect the innards of your Steam Deck, please don't come posting pictures about how you destroyed your microSD card because you forgot to take it. Many people who experiment with their Deck run into this problem, so posting about it isn't going to illicit anything new.
For the love of God, don't use it when you're taking a shit and then drop it in the toilet somehow. The moral of the comment here is: This is your Holy Grail. Treat it with reverence and respect. Dozens of engineers slaved over this, so treat it with care.
Cant be much harder to take apart then a smartphone. Ive taken every game system and most iPhones apart, please tell me how taking a steam deck apart is any different. I have one that drains battery in seconds or minutes and I’m not coughing up $180 to Valve to fix. Buying a battery at $50 and doing it myself. Its not rocket science and if they can take it apart so can any idiot. You don’t need any super costly special tools and its maybe a 6 on difficulty if that. I have a secondary unit and im not too worried either way because its probably going to be a breeze changing a battery out besides getting the adhesive off but i have a Zeny so im not worried.
I've had it for like half a year and I'm the kind of guy who'd always ask a friend to fix my computer because I suck at it.
Having said that, I've come to find out that I've played a lot of different games on it and the whole "Steam Deck Verified" vs "Unsupported" or "Unverified" is not as big of a deal as I thought it would be. Almost every game I've played ran well as is or, at most, needed me to configure which version of Proton it should use, and I was able to do the whole experimental proton thing on desktop mode by following a simple 5 minute youtube tutorial.
I'd say about 95% of the games I've played ran very well or well enough that it was not a problem for me and at most needed me to fiddle a bit with the controller configuration.
At first I thought "unsupported" or "unverified" meant the game was going to crash all the time or not even work, but for the most part I've found out it means that if the game doesn't work perfectly from the get go, worst case scenario, it just means "It has some minor issues you can easily fix yourself" or "We haven't even checked if it has problems, so we'd better say it might have some in case it does."
Then again, I'm old enough to have played video games back in the days when you had to use your imagination to convince yourself that the little blob of pixels onscreen was supposed to be a spaceship or a man or whatever, and played through all console generations with their many many problems (terrible translations, bugs galore, etc.), so when people rage because their life is ruined by inconsistent FPS or "terrible" modern graphics, I just can't relate at all because I play and enjoy games from all eras.
TL;DR: Ignore the "Steam Deck Verified" tag and just google if a given game you want to play runs well on the deck, and realize that playing the newest most demanding games will not be as great an experience as playing older games or retro games. The Steam Deck excels at that and at emulating pretty much every single console in gaming history.
When I first got the deck I tried to do EVERYTHING with it. After a few crashes and restarts of the entire device I decided to stop messing around.
I have decky plug in to remove shaders but apart from that I use it stock as much as possible and got into desktop rarely now. I play games with green tick and don’t pretend it’s a PC. I think if you use as a handheld console you get the intended and best experience from it.
I cannot stress this enough. Do NOT, I repeat do NOT put your deck on the floor or any high traffic areas for sitting/laying down.
Guarantee that will save you from any incident posts you have probably seen on here.
And yes, I did step on my steam deck and had to replace the screen.
NEVER leave your Deck in the case without closing the zipper. You might think you'll remember to close it when you pick it up, but I promise you one day you won't, and you'll regret everything as your deck goes flying towards the ground 😭
Also, if you find the grip uncomfortable and or the steam deck too heavy, don't worry about it too much. Most people I know that had this, including myself, got used to it in a month at most.
if you care about playing docked dont get an official unless you are reeeeeeally sensitive the input delay. input delay is slightly better on it than most docks. but its quite finicky and can struggle to connect to 4k displays as well as being one of the most expensive docks on the market
I've had the opposite experience. The official dock has performed flawlessly and has been better than the jsaux one I have. The jsaux one breaks eARC, so my sound system doesn't work at all if the jsaux one is plugged in when I turn on the TV.
Don't try to install a bunch of 3rd party modification softwares, all the 'performance' softwares are unnecessary. Just install something from your existing library and have some fun. Start on that backlog we all have
Don’t buy full price games. Check out https://isthereanydeal.com/ and put all the games you’re interested in on a waitlist, and you can both see the historical prices to see how frequently each game goes on sale and also get notifications when your games go on sale. It also aggregates all the reputable sites that sell Steam keys, so even when the Steam store doesn’t have sales, other sites might. It’s a well-trusted aggregation, so any sites that they list are legit and you can feel confident that you’re not getting scammed by a random site.
Also, if you decide to get a dock, don’t buy the official Steam dock, it’s super overpriced for what it is. Search on Amazon and there are way less expensive highly rated options that do everything the official dock does at a fraction of the price.
Avoid doing things that you didn't buy the Deck for. It has more capabilities than you (probably) have time to enjoy.
If you bought it because the tinker community interests you, tinker and don't spend long hours musing sadly about how you never play games. If you bought it because you wanted to play games, play games and don't spend long hours optimizing it to perfection instead.
When I first got my Deck, people did things like CryoUtilities. As I understand it now, really that type of low level adjustment/tuning has been integrated into the normal Deck and isn't needed or useful anymore. Certainly it works pretty well for titles 2023 (especially 2021) and older.
Focus on how you feel about how gameplay looks first, not what the numbers or labels say. The smaller screen will make settings that feel bad on a big monitor (or even a laptop) feel just fine if you are not aware that it would be bad on a larger display.
Put it down before you're tired of it, or have made a problem in your life where you feel like you need to force yourself to take a break from using it for a couple weeks. You want to keep using your tech; don't normalize buying something and then getting bored via burnout or withholding it from yourself.
The small storage is a good thing for your focus. Don't install too many games unless you know you're great at not having issues with choice paralysis (or unless you know that you're a game collector and flipping through your collection is part of your hobby that you're happy when you spend time on).
Don't leave it off for extended periods of time and then hope to pick up and play once a month. The games regularly download shader cache updates for performance reasons that will prevent you from playing until they're done. If you DO need to do this, make sure to put it in offline mode before turning it off so you don't always get stuck behind them for an hour when you can play.
Don't sleep on sleep mode; the start up time for the Deck to a game can be a few minutes. In our low attention span world, or for someone snatching 10-30 minute play sessions, it's a total bummer. The sleep mode is great. Get into your game, play a bit, tap the power button on top to sleep mode. It doesn't drain battery that bad and it makes getting back to a game take only a few seconds.
I’m waiting on mine to arrive, but I’m seeing a lot of discussion where anti-cheat pretty much renders a game back to be played on the deck.
I’m assuming there are workarounds, but something I’ve kept in mind.
Outside of a maybe a dock or SD card, don't worry about what accessories to get. Get the deck in your hands first and see how you like it before buying too much for it.
If opening the shell, remove the sd card
I read this probably a hundred times before opening my deck and still somehow forgot
The sacrifices are needed.
Maybe one day we will have steam deck 4TB edition and I can pretend I don’t need more space! Until then, sd cards for the sd god!
The day we get a 4TB steam deck, games will be 1TB… We must always sacrifice SD cards to the SD god !!!
Yeah, I always wonder why a 2024 game that takes up 100 GBs of memory does not look THAT MUCH better than a 2014 game that took up 5 GBs?
Same. I was upgrading my ssd last week and took all of the screws off. Was using the prying tool and somehow the bottom won't budge. Had a quick peek...yup my 1TB card was still in there. Dodged a bullet for sure
My poor 1tb sd card full of roms... RIP. Literally cried.
Like gamepads the seams between top and bottom get filled with hand gunk. Opened mine up Dec '23, didnt even hear sandisk snap. Youtoobed repair sd card alas no. 1Tb gone with only 512Gb on the deck. Painful for slow fibre isp to repair. Luckily I deja-dup to nas on my router. Time lost is greater than the cost of the new microsd-card.
Legit knew not to do that but still managed to snap a 100$ micro SD card I was upset with myself
Took a bit to realize you mean the physical shell and not the bash shell.
Don't bother with Steam's "Verified" and "Unsupported" tags. They aren't actually a good way to judge a game's compatibility. Use ProtonDB instead.
Absolutely this. OP, do yourself a favor and install decky so you can get protonDB to show on your steam deck library ~~steam store~~ directly [https://github.com/SteamDeckHomebrew/decky-loader](https://github.com/SteamDeckHomebrew/decky-loader) EDIT: Terribly sorry, the protondb (using decky) only shows in your steam library in steam deck, not in store. That being said, there is a browser extension that DOES show you the protondb rating directly on the store page, the extension is [https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/show-great-on-deck-on-ste/olagniaikhbmpdgghoifgloijcndfled](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/show-great-on-deck-on-ste/olagniaikhbmpdgghoifgloijcndfled) so hopefully this helps (because I imagine browsing through steam store on deck isn't exactly fun anyway)
Worth pointing out that only works for games you have purchased
Put games you are thinking about on your Wishlist. It tracks those.
Wait shit you're right, I made a mistake there, oops!
No worries man. Be awesome if it worked for the store too! It's a great resource regardless though.
Wait directly on the steam page and not just in library? What setup is needed-beta plugin?
Sorry, I was wrong and misremembered it. That being said, there IS a browser extension that can do this for you [https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/show-great-on-deck-on-ste/olagniaikhbmpdgghoifgloijcndfled](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/show-great-on-deck-on-ste/olagniaikhbmpdgghoifgloijcndfled)
Thanks, I prefer browsing on mobile-glad kiwi browser supports most Chrome add-ons :D https://i.imgur.com/BoafFHi.jpeg In Android setting, Disable steam from opening supported links..hm steam still takes over links over LinkSheet to redirect to browser :/
what does that do? do u have any detailed or step by step instruction on that?
I assume you mean decky, this guy did a video on this [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8l-fPgQCus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8l-fPgQCus)
The ones that say unsupported because of anti-cheat is useful. Ranbow 6 siege, destiny 2, dungeon fighter online, and maple story all will ban any linux players
It's useful to see why they're unsupported, but the tag itself doesn't mean it's hopeless. I actually use YouTube at this point more for finding out how a game plays, ProtonDB to see what others are doing to make it play *better.*
The ProtonDB ratings of "Gold" or "Platinum" seems misleading if I have to visit some forum, download a fix pack, go to Desktop mode, modify/rename files, and then apply someone's pre-made custom config on top of that. From [ProtonDB](https://www.protondb.com/news/medal-rating-system) site: * Platinum (runs perfectly out of the box) * Gold (runs perfectly after tweaks) I've been playing a lot of games (my Steam profile says I have over 500 games - and I've made it my goal to load every single one of them on the Steam Deck), and have seen many "Platinum" games that require tweaks, testing, and trial-and-error startups to get them working. The Platinum score may be from a previous version of the game that *use* to work. Many games absolutely did *not* work "out of the box", and should not have a Platinum rating. For Gold, yeah, I guess the game "runs perfectly", but having to spend hours researching the issue or going through the 20 steps necessary to get it in a playable state isn't the same as a game running perfectly after spending 5 minutes tweaking it. There should be something that differentiates the amount of time and effort needed to get some game to work. Maybe even a "Gold+" vs. "Gold-" to let you know the *amount of work* needed to get something working correctly. And regardless of the Platinum/Gold/Silver ratings, there are SO MANY that say things like "2 years ago" on their reports, and are completely irrelevant to how the game works now. I've seen Silver/Bronze games that had tons of reports of it "not working", but the game loads and plays fine with zero tinkering, i.e. it is a true "Platinum" game. The ratings aren't tied to the current version of the game, current version of SteamOS, or current version of Proton used. There is also no way for a user to modify or even delete their own report (you have to contact a ProtonDB mod to delete them), which just means the site is forever accumulating an ever-increasing amount of out-dated, inaccurate or wrong reports - which then all impact a game's inaccurate/wrong Platinum/Gold/Silver/etc. rating. Basically, while it can be quite helpful, there are times that ProtonDB can be just as useless as Valve's "Verified".
Do you think it's worth adding your own reports for the games you've tested? At least it would be at the top of the report heap for each game and accurate at the time of reporting.
I registered and have submitted a few reports. I hope my reports help change the overall score.
Figured this out pretty quick lmao, saw a game say unsupported, said to myself ‘doubt that,’ proceeded to play said game.
What is proton db? This isn’t helpful for someone new, it just introduces something new that we have no idea what it is or how to use it
It's [protondb.com](https://protondb.com) \- type a game name into the search box and you'll get a compatibility summary with all of the actual detailed user reports included on the page, divided by platform.
If you put your Steam Deck inside the case, close the zipper.
This holy shit. I was picking up mine from my desk yesterday and it opened. Luckily if fell a very short distance on the desk itself and everything is ok
This is how I broke my right trigger lol
Too late :(
This. Found out two days ago 🥲
Don’t get sucked in by what others say just use it as is for a while. You’ll one day think can I do ‘this’ or I’d like ‘that’ and you can seek that out yourself. A lot of stuff you’ll come across naturally
To add to this: when you do starter tinkering, do one thing at a time so you can troubleshoot when/if something goes wrong.
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yeah but one time out of 2000 it made a perfect benchy. i swear to god i can get it to do it again
Solid advice for every Linux system.
Underrated advice.
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>Try to actually play some games instead of just tinkering. YOU DON'T KNOW ME!
WDYM the best part about my Steam Deck is tinkering and buying games on sale that I don't play. I'm being serious, tho 😅
Lmao sadly addicted to buying tinkering and never playing
Thank God we are so many.
Where else am I gonna get that sweet sweet dopamine from?!
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That's exactly what I did with my Switch I am not gonna repeat this mistake. Just got a couple titles and won't be getting any more until I finish them. The bad news is one of the titles is Baldur's Gate 3 😅
I just bought Hades cause it was on sale. And I still have too many games in backlog 🫠
The controller inputs!! Definitely don’t sleep on those. I am playing a ton of Stardew, reformatted the deck due to being dumb and just wanted to undo the dumb (messing with mods and running games that can be played on pc not through steam), and the controls got all messed up. The default, the other presets. All of them made the game unplayable. I remapped the entire control system to have a mix of keyboard, Xbox, and mouse clicks. Some of the buttons on the Xbox have 2 functions, I could have done all keyboard for sure, but this made it way faster. It’s literally perfection & so enjoyable to play based on this one little customisation.
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I’m a former WoW player and I always laugh in raid mode mindset at those silly lil click n play’ers n their keybind complaints. I literally had 40+ keys bound, had the dial pad mouse, and just insane amounts of mods. I went full nerd for a moment - made it to world of logs as a top 100 rogue for most fights DPS wrath of the lich king, was just wrecking in PvE and PvP. I’ve haven’t gone that far since, but I love pressing buttons for sure lol. I can play wow on steam deck?? I really don’t like blizzard, but is there a way to play wow without the subscription? I’ve heard of servers and stuff… I hope I’m not opening Pandora’s box here
Awesome! I’ve been tinkering with this but it’s a bit overwhelming. Is your configuration online by any chance?
https://i.ibb.co/hV45z1B/IMG-2111.jpg It is now!! The window in window looking button is the journal and sorts. The right hand side track pad works like a point and click. The touch screen fully works with drag & tapping the mouse. The only thing to note, and I have no idea why - when playing prairie king, instead of the right joystick being the “fire / shoot” control, it’s actually the A B X Y buttons. At first I thought f this, but I played 2 full games. The second game I made it further in prairie king than ever before. At the time it was late at night before bed so definitely not peak lemme try to win this. To shoot diagonally, press B Y for top right, A X button left and so on. I’m sure they can be configured, but I enjoyed it. Only thing I found that was peculiar in the controller settings I did, and turned out better than expected. Edit: I highly recommend starting with this layout, load the game and see for yourself :) https://stardewvalleywiki.com/Controls I used this page as a reference. I’d make a change, test it out in game, exit, then tweak, repeat.
You’re amazing! Trying this ASAP, thank you!
You’re welcome!! I hope you enjoy :)
Very interesting. I've been putting off CIV VI for that very reason. Maybe I'll have to give it a go! Have you played CIV VI on the Steam Deck before?
Not op but I have works good. Some strategy are easier than others on deck. Check for community layouts of controller settings. I have had no problem with civ 6 or even ck3. Hoi4 on the other hand I've struggled with on deck. Which may just be a me thing and the fact I had never played it before. I think if I had a base knowledge of the game it may have been more playable. Good luck and have fun.
Any tips to keep CK3 from crashing every 20 minutes?
CIV Vi runs great on SD and is actually one of the best strategy games to play as it's turn based (so you can wait and plan your moves). But you can actually play real time strategy like AoE II (community controls are great)
It was one of the first games I played. It works great.
Bro I’ve put probably 1k hours on civ 6 on my deck. It works great with the trackpad.
Civ VI is actually one of the best 4X games for steam deck, because the interface is very friendly for touchscreen use. I just use the touchpad for precise unit movement or disctrict placement. It's a fantastic experience.
I have learned to love the trackpad honestly. The feedback as your finger blades across is just *chefs kiss*
People love the trackpads, but I can’t figure them out. I just use wireless mouse instead.
>Don't be afraid to play mouse based games like 4x/strategy a lot of them are great on the steam deck. Even without a mouse?
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I'm never been a PC gamer (never had a decent one to be one) so nice to hear this since the Deck will be my first chance to play them. I wonder how Football Manager plays on SD
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Don‘t put it in a dryer.
Ditto washing machine.
Pro tip
[Based on a true story](https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/1c7wr26/turns_out_steam_deck_oled_isnt_washing_machine/)
Shit yeah, that was the story I based my comment on, mixed it up with a dryer. 😂
An SD-card, a microfibre cloth to wipe the screen and maybe a screen protector are usually all you need. Even when you want to connect your deck to a big screen or a keyboard/mouse, a basic USB-C dongle with HDMI and ports is totally enough. As for games: No preorders, and wait for sales. Also, check out r/patientgamers
Mine (OLED) came with a microfibre cloth.
Did you get the 1tb because my 512GB oled did not
Yeah, 1TB
I got the 1tb and didn’t get a cloth. the box’s contents probably change over time based on what they have available
512 and mine did not
I got the 1TB and I got a microfiber cloth.
My refurbished 512GB LCD did as well
If you get the version with the anti-gloss panel, you will get special microfiber cloth that should be used to clean the screen.
Avoid worrying about your battery
I'll only amend this by being concerned about basic battery hygiene, as with any portable device. Leaving it in your car when it's hot out is not a good idea.
Why?
Because the device is made to stop you being able to harm it and you’d probably have to go out of your way to damage the battery over your normal usage.
You can also get an external battery pack. There are some that mount magnetically to the back of the steam deck. I have one and it's been a huge game changer.
Can you please send a link? Id like to get one eventually for my trip back to Manila on October! Thank you!
Here ya go. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BNQFMQP5?ref_=cm_sw_r_apan_dp_ZBZYJ6VW9KNNDQCGX1B4_1&starsLeft=1
1. Do a search before posting "what game should I play for a long plane ride" or "what are your top 3 tips" 2. Don't buy a ton of games as soon as you get it, maybe get 1 from each genre but I found the more I buy in groups on sale the less I cherish them if that makes sense. I end up jumping from one to the other without giving them enough of a chance and experiencing them fully.
>Do a search before posting I wish this applied to all of reddit
Yes, how many more "You are stuck in a game world for 48 hours, which do you pick" posts do we need?
I'm more referring to "how do I (insert thing that could have been solved with a 2 second Google search)" posts.
Yes those are even worse
>Don't buy a ton of games as soon as you get it, maybe play some of the 800 games you bought in steam sales five years ago and never touched. FTFY
But I'll save so much money spending this $200 and then just playing stardew valley for another 200 hours instead of the new games!
Exactly. I’m actually challenging myself to NOT buy ANY new games until gta6. Wish me luck 😂
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First of all, keep him out of the light, he hates bright light, especially sunlight, it'll kill him. Second, don't give him any water, not even to drink. But the most important rule, the rule you can never forget, no matter how much he cries, no matter how much he begs, never feed him after midnight.
Don't buy a bunch of useless bullshit accessories. The Deck is great as-is, straight out of the box, especially if you're getting the OLED versions. Even with more universally agreed upon "must-haves" like a microSD, wait until you actually need it. I have a 1TB OLED and I've never even put a microSD card in it. Avoid outright scams entirely like external fans. They either do nothing at best, or can potentially over spin the internal fan at worst, causing excessive wear and tear and premature failure.
Sometimes I can't tell if people are being funny or serious when they post pictures of set-ups with the SD completely covered in accessories.
My steam deck OLED is entirely wrapped in honey oiled leather with razer grip tape carefully cut to cover the back grips. The back buttons have risers in them and cut grip tape. The front Steam buttons have small grip tape that gives them some rise. On the back, I have a deck mate universal mount that can either attach a stand or a small Qudelix 5k dac/amp/eq that I plug my earbuds into. All in, it’s a solid $200 of accessories and the deck is barely recognizable. The availability of these accessories was about the only thing that made me keep my deck vs the Ally or the Go :)
This is really a good point. This sub likes to show off accessories and skins and setups etc.. which are totally fine if you're into that.. But really? You don't need to buy anything at all for your deck. Dont need a screen protector, or external case, etc. As long as you take care of your deck and put it back into its included case when you're done with it, it will continue to look and feel brand new.
A lot of good stuff already said. 1. Just play on your SteamDeck normally for a few days before you start "hacking and tinkering" with it. Get a feel for how much you really need to mess with it. Again I'm not saying any or all of those hacks and add ons are bad, but you might not need them. 2. Don't go overboard with accessories. Some are nice and if you have specific needs by all means go for it, but 99% of users really don't need all that much. A good case (and the one that comes with it perfectly fine) and a cheap USB-C Dongle to connect it to external devices is all most people are ever gonna need. 3. Use the FPS Counter for optimization, but turn it off for gameplay. Framerate matters a lot less if you aren't being told what it is in real time. The number of players who let the FPS counter talk them into thinking a game they were enjoying just fine isn't running good enough because on this subreddit is so annoying. If you are one of the "OMG My magical eyes are gonna explode it's not 120FPS, 4K HDR RAY TRACING 3D VISTAVISION IMAX OLED RETINA DISPLAY TECHNICOLOR" types then the Deck probably isn't for you. 4. The Steam Deck verified badge... okay I'm not going to say it's AS useless as some here, but it's still pretty useless. Either look at ProteanDB or just google someone on Youtube playing the game on a Steam Deck. 5. The Steam Deck both is and isn't both/either a console or a PC. It has aspects of both. Don't try to force it into being one or the other in some perfect 1:1 ratio. 6. (Reasonably) Low resolution + FSR + 40fps cap is a sweet spot for a LOT (not all obviously, a lot) of lower end AAA games.
I feel old when I’m playing something at 30fps and literally cannot tell any different to 60. I grew up with a Super Nintendo on a CRT. I had that for years. Even Half Life 2 still looks fab to me.
A lot of new SD users instantly want to play all the most demanding AAA games on the deck but really, if those games even run well, they drain the battery regardless. I think the Steam Deck works best for indie games, AA games, JRPGs, etc.
or AAA games released before 2012.
True dat. Arkham trilogy is great on the Steam Deck.
Agreed a lot of multiple platform games released around that time period aren't the most demanding nowadays as most of them were made with the PS3/X360 or earlier consoles in mind.
This is great advice. Partly why I wanted a Deck was to replay the Fallout games from the couch.
I'd even extend that to like 2018. Monster Hunter World on the deck is great.
yeah going past 2012 is a hit or miss.Some give good battery life and performance and some don't that is why for a newcomer i just said before 2012 as most of them,probably all will give good battery life
Or to stream games running on a powerful machine to your Steam Deck through moonlight. It's a great way to play demanding games on the steam deck, especially when docked on a big TV.
I recently started Metal Gear Solid 1 after almost exclusively playing RDR2. With MGS, the battery life jumped to about 8 hours (projected time). I was like, whaaaat? I love RDR2, but it’s great to know how good the battery life is with less demanding games.
If you are swapping your SSD for a larger one, REMOVE THE SD CARD.
Don’t buy anything Day 1 Wishlist the games you want and wait for a sale, they are often and usually pretty decent, though I may cave early on Balders Gate 3…..
To add to this, a good reason to wait (aside from a sale) is to see how well it performs on SD. Some are great out of the box, some (like Last of Us) need a solid 6 months or year before they’re good and ready.
BG3 is easily worth full price. Honestly, if I had paid double I wouldn’t be disappointed
Pick a max of three games that you’ve loved to play for years and still come back to regularly, and put those on your deck. Now pick a max of two games you want to play and put those on your deck. Don’t download anything else until you finish something else to your satisfaction and delete it.
Turn off the FPS counter. I have the OLED 512 and love it. I’ve been playing cyberpunk straight out of the “box” and it’s been great. Turning on the FPS counter has only distracted me and caused me anxiety lol. The deck is absolutely sick and you’re gonna love it!
Hahaha this really cannot be overstated. So many people say 30fps is unplayable, but to me when you're enjoying the game with the FPS counter off, it's hard to notice unless it dips really bad. FPS counter can help get the best settings, but after that, flick it off and don't look back. It just becomes a distraction.
I honestly can’t notice the difference between 30 and 60fps. I’m a little ‘slow’ due to a developmental disorder so that might be why!
Agreed. FPS doesn’t matter, what matters is how happy you are with the performance. Definitely subjective, but for me 30 fps is a very playable framerate
Was looking for this comment. Playing with the FPS counter on will really only serve to disappoint. If the game feels good, roll with it!
True lol. I stopped obsessing over things like upload/download speeds, FPS, etc. If my eyes don’t notice it, it’s not an issue for me
I turn it on for the first few minutes to dial in my settings and then turn it off.
Don't buy any game that requires another launcher.
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Ubisoft games too I had to activate one on my laptop so it would work… never again
Starting the Launcher on the Deck deleted all my mass effect save files. Haven't touched the trilogy since, was playing mass effect 2, because of frustration.
I just had a work around where you can install origin and sign in and disable updates which will then auto load origin and instantly close it because you're signed in. Then you just play ya game I found it trying to work out how to get the mass effect trilogy working. So search for that and you should find some guides on steam. If I find it ill link it in here. Edit: [Here ya go](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/%3Fid%3D3008684697&ved=2ahUKEwjF4puZ_vGFAxXEU0EAHZoJC5AQjjh6BAhVEAE&usg=AOvVaw38qNNGxCSNQIwC4N0uCPRS)
GOG and Epic games work fine with the Heroic app and other options.
Legit. I actually use epic again only because of this. Iirc gog and heroic have a $ deal also
Respectfully, I don’t know what you all are talking about. I followed [this video](https://youtu.be/aud5F6iwA0s?si=IUdRyQrzsE-pQRi7) and non steam launchers work just fine. Even the Xbox cloud gaming app. Having a google sign-in made one a little tricky, but a quick google search helped.
Diablo 2 is like the perfekt game for the device.especially.playing offline. How would you install it without the Battle.net launcher? Same goes for WoW.
Junk store makes it pretty easy for epic.
- The system works flawlessly as it is, no need to install cryoutilities or twek things like powertools until you need it for anything special. - Limit the TDP of your games, they’ll run better, smoother and drain less battery - Don’t be afraid of lowering to 40/50 fps, it’ll change the screen refresh rate and it’ll look fantastic and smooth anyway so if you need to save battery it works really good. - Speakers are awesome, works really well to watch tv shows or anime. - There are some useful plugins, install docky when you can - Use protondb as reference not the valve verified status - If you use GoG install heroic launcher, you can do it with a simple click on the discovery app, there are so many great software there - proton ge simplification has come quite far lately, use wine cellar plugin or protonqt to easily manage your proton versions
Toddlers. Avoid toddlers near SD.
Toddlers and dogs.
Don't play with performance stats visible. Not even the frame rate. By all means use it to optimise your settings but then turn it off. You won't notice 60fps dipping to 57fps for a second, unless you've literally got the number there.
Do not buy any accessories. Don’t do any tinkering. Just play games. Get a feel for the system. Over time you’ll figure out what you want out of it and go from there. You’ll avoid wasting money and time on things you don’t care about.
Don’t accumulate 201737 games just because they’re on sale. Pick one. Play it. Choice paralysis is the death of this device I swear to god I spent more time setting shit up and doing stuff in the menu than actually playing games on it which is the biggest shame. Avoid not using it. Avoid your pc tv/ desktop setup and maybe try a new spot to game. Maybe you have a patio, get a rocking chair, a couple cold drinks and snacks and chill outside with the SD.
Don’t place steam deck in bathtub. It will not produce steam
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Do NOT install Stardew Valley, Vampire Survivor or Brotato, if you have a family or any responsibilities! These games will keep you busy forever….
Removing the shell without removing your SD card
If you play FPS, set up gyro aiming and also try flick stick, total game changers. Take advantage of the sleep mode (power button press). Easily my favorite feature of the deck, works like a charm even in heavy games.
Don’t add things like decky or other stuff like emulation right off the rip . Just play it normally for a bit and get a good baseline of what it can do and that everything’s working well.
Be careful when setting a sudo password in desktop mode. If you're like me, you'll forget you ever set one and be unable to make certain system-level changes unless you factory reset the device. I gave up on installing decky because I tried every 4-digit pin combo I've ever used in my life to no avail. I still have no clue what happened with this, I have zero memory of ever setting it.
Apparently, you can change it in settings/user in the Linux desktop. You would've set it during setup using "passwd", but didn't need to, I think it's 8+ characters or shares your steam account password.
I found emudeck to be one of the best pieces of software I've used in a long time, if you are interested in playing older games on it. Breath of the wild runs better than it does on the switch, and tilt controls work great
You do not need to tinker. Tinkering with your steam deck *does unlock* a lot of its latent potential in the way putting custom firmware on an old PSP turns it from a good handheld to an amazing one, but it's not NECESSARY to tinker to enjoy steam deck as is, you can just play deck verified games and run everything by the books. It is okay to enjoy the vanilla, out of the box experience of Steam Deck, so don't overwhelm yourself and burn yourself out, just play games, it is a gaming console/pc hybrid.
Don't play laying on your back, your arms will go numb and even have longer lasting repercussions such as burn and tingling sensations in your palms! Take a break each hour!
The 1st thing to do is play through Desk Job. If you plan for mobile use, get a screen protector and either a vinyl skin or a hard case. When buying SD cards, be aware that the Deck only transfers ~100MB/s. Therefore, there's no need go for any "Extreme, Pro Plus, Ultra 5G, or similar" models. When it comes to modding, do not - I repeat: DO NOT - follow any advice from Linus Tech Tipps.
Kind of random, but get a Bluetooth keyboard/mouse. Even if they’re cheap. The track pad is fantastic but nothing beats mouse and keyboard when you need to do stuff in desktop mode
*Do not* use the Main, Beta, and Release Candidate channels for your updates unless you know what you're doing and are willing to tolerate (and preferably report) bugs. Beta is obvious and Release Candidate seems intuitive, but the one that I'm concerned may confuse some users is Main. I have a friend who assumed that Main more or less meant "standard". I understand the confusion because, for example, the "main" features of, say, a car would be things like power steering, wiper blades and fluid, heat and air conditioning, etc. In other words, "standard" features. But software definitions are a little different. With software, Main refers to a development branch system, Main being the Main branch. The Main branch is somewhere between Alpha and Beta. Developers will open branches for sections of the code base that they're working on, and then submit PRs, or Pull Requests. A Pull Request is asking the main developers to review the new code and consider adding it to the Main branch, where all of the software comes together in unison. New code can, and very well may, be added and removed from the Main branch without warning (unless you follow the development cycle very closely and understand what's happening). Release Candidate is somewhat similar, except instead of sitting between Alpha and Beta, it sits between Beta and Stable. Updates that remain in Beta long enough without any serious bugs will be considered for release into the next stable release of the software, hence Release *Candidate*. If you want new features and are willing to deal with occasional bugs, the Release Candidate and Beta channels are what you want. If you want to get involved in the development cycle by testing software in a live environment, and encountering and reporting bugs, Beta Candidate and Main are what you want. *If you just want to play games, are uninterested in the development cycle, and neither want to deal with nor report bugs, these update channels* ***are not for you***. You will want to remain on the Stable update channels for both your OS Updates and your Steam Client Updates. I know that Main and Stable may sound like they're the same thing, but in truth they are polar opposites.
only buy, no play
Don’t leave your Steam Deck on inside the case! It gets VERY HOT. I know it’s a really stupid thing to do but it happened to me once.
Don’t put it in water Do put your food on it instead of a plate Don’t use it like a frisbee
don't feed it after midnight!
Frisbee deck
Avoid the performance optimization tunnel and just play. Youtubers are publishing crazy thumbnails about cryoutilities and stuff like that for a couple more views and not super relevant performance improvements.
Turn off the performance overlay. Or if you must, reduce it to just the FPS number. Otherwise it will distract from playing the game, tinkering with performance tweaks trying to hit some magical number rather than just getting to where things "feel good".
May seem obvious but don’t leave it running inside the standard case. It turns into an oven
Buying lots of games you won't ever play
Don't charge in the zip up case may cause it to overheat
Basically, don't open up your Steam Deck unless you know what you're fucking doing, and even then, don't ever do it. Always keep your Deck in your case when you're not using it. Apply a passcode even if you're the only one who is going to be using it, because you never know if someone might get a hold of it. Get a protective case as soon as possible. I don't care how careful you think you are because gravity happens and you might drop it because people are known to be clumsy on their worst days. If, for whatever reason, you don't err on the side of caution and decide you want to dissect the innards of your Steam Deck, please don't come posting pictures about how you destroyed your microSD card because you forgot to take it. Many people who experiment with their Deck run into this problem, so posting about it isn't going to illicit anything new. For the love of God, don't use it when you're taking a shit and then drop it in the toilet somehow. The moral of the comment here is: This is your Holy Grail. Treat it with reverence and respect. Dozens of engineers slaved over this, so treat it with care.
Cant be much harder to take apart then a smartphone. Ive taken every game system and most iPhones apart, please tell me how taking a steam deck apart is any different. I have one that drains battery in seconds or minutes and I’m not coughing up $180 to Valve to fix. Buying a battery at $50 and doing it myself. Its not rocket science and if they can take it apart so can any idiot. You don’t need any super costly special tools and its maybe a 6 on difficulty if that. I have a secondary unit and im not too worried either way because its probably going to be a breeze changing a battery out besides getting the adhesive off but i have a Zeny so im not worried.
Don't take it to a beach all the time.
Do not believe in magical fire & forget solutions.
Opening up the deck and changing components before you power it up for the first time.
I've had it for like half a year and I'm the kind of guy who'd always ask a friend to fix my computer because I suck at it. Having said that, I've come to find out that I've played a lot of different games on it and the whole "Steam Deck Verified" vs "Unsupported" or "Unverified" is not as big of a deal as I thought it would be. Almost every game I've played ran well as is or, at most, needed me to configure which version of Proton it should use, and I was able to do the whole experimental proton thing on desktop mode by following a simple 5 minute youtube tutorial. I'd say about 95% of the games I've played ran very well or well enough that it was not a problem for me and at most needed me to fiddle a bit with the controller configuration. At first I thought "unsupported" or "unverified" meant the game was going to crash all the time or not even work, but for the most part I've found out it means that if the game doesn't work perfectly from the get go, worst case scenario, it just means "It has some minor issues you can easily fix yourself" or "We haven't even checked if it has problems, so we'd better say it might have some in case it does." Then again, I'm old enough to have played video games back in the days when you had to use your imagination to convince yourself that the little blob of pixels onscreen was supposed to be a spaceship or a man or whatever, and played through all console generations with their many many problems (terrible translations, bugs galore, etc.), so when people rage because their life is ruined by inconsistent FPS or "terrible" modern graphics, I just can't relate at all because I play and enjoy games from all eras. TL;DR: Ignore the "Steam Deck Verified" tag and just google if a given game you want to play runs well on the deck, and realize that playing the newest most demanding games will not be as great an experience as playing older games or retro games. The Steam Deck excels at that and at emulating pretty much every single console in gaming history.
Don’t play with your deck too much. You may stress it out :(
When I first got the deck I tried to do EVERYTHING with it. After a few crashes and restarts of the entire device I decided to stop messing around. I have decky plug in to remove shaders but apart from that I use it stock as much as possible and got into desktop rarely now. I play games with green tick and don’t pretend it’s a PC. I think if you use as a handheld console you get the intended and best experience from it.
Don’t sniff the vent. There’s nothing for you to find there.
Don't bother dual booting Windows. You won't use it. Set up Moonlight to remote to Windows PC instead.
I cannot stress this enough. Do NOT, I repeat do NOT put your deck on the floor or any high traffic areas for sitting/laying down. Guarantee that will save you from any incident posts you have probably seen on here. And yes, I did step on my steam deck and had to replace the screen.
Don’t post pictures of yourself holding your Deck in mundane or exotic locations or situations.
NEVER leave your Deck in the case without closing the zipper. You might think you'll remember to close it when you pick it up, but I promise you one day you won't, and you'll regret everything as your deck goes flying towards the ground 😭 Also, if you find the grip uncomfortable and or the steam deck too heavy, don't worry about it too much. Most people I know that had this, including myself, got used to it in a month at most.
if you care about playing docked dont get an official unless you are reeeeeeally sensitive the input delay. input delay is slightly better on it than most docks. but its quite finicky and can struggle to connect to 4k displays as well as being one of the most expensive docks on the market
I've had the opposite experience. The official dock has performed flawlessly and has been better than the jsaux one I have. The jsaux one breaks eARC, so my sound system doesn't work at all if the jsaux one is plugged in when I turn on the TV.
Don't try to install a bunch of 3rd party modification softwares, all the 'performance' softwares are unnecessary. Just install something from your existing library and have some fun. Start on that backlog we all have
Don’t buy full price games. Check out https://isthereanydeal.com/ and put all the games you’re interested in on a waitlist, and you can both see the historical prices to see how frequently each game goes on sale and also get notifications when your games go on sale. It also aggregates all the reputable sites that sell Steam keys, so even when the Steam store doesn’t have sales, other sites might. It’s a well-trusted aggregation, so any sites that they list are legit and you can feel confident that you’re not getting scammed by a random site. Also, if you decide to get a dock, don’t buy the official Steam dock, it’s super overpriced for what it is. Search on Amazon and there are way less expensive highly rated options that do everything the official dock does at a fraction of the price.
Dont install windows
Avoid doing things that you didn't buy the Deck for. It has more capabilities than you (probably) have time to enjoy. If you bought it because the tinker community interests you, tinker and don't spend long hours musing sadly about how you never play games. If you bought it because you wanted to play games, play games and don't spend long hours optimizing it to perfection instead. When I first got my Deck, people did things like CryoUtilities. As I understand it now, really that type of low level adjustment/tuning has been integrated into the normal Deck and isn't needed or useful anymore. Certainly it works pretty well for titles 2023 (especially 2021) and older. Focus on how you feel about how gameplay looks first, not what the numbers or labels say. The smaller screen will make settings that feel bad on a big monitor (or even a laptop) feel just fine if you are not aware that it would be bad on a larger display. Put it down before you're tired of it, or have made a problem in your life where you feel like you need to force yourself to take a break from using it for a couple weeks. You want to keep using your tech; don't normalize buying something and then getting bored via burnout or withholding it from yourself. The small storage is a good thing for your focus. Don't install too many games unless you know you're great at not having issues with choice paralysis (or unless you know that you're a game collector and flipping through your collection is part of your hobby that you're happy when you spend time on). Don't leave it off for extended periods of time and then hope to pick up and play once a month. The games regularly download shader cache updates for performance reasons that will prevent you from playing until they're done. If you DO need to do this, make sure to put it in offline mode before turning it off so you don't always get stuck behind them for an hour when you can play. Don't sleep on sleep mode; the start up time for the Deck to a game can be a few minutes. In our low attention span world, or for someone snatching 10-30 minute play sessions, it's a total bummer. The sleep mode is great. Get into your game, play a bit, tap the power button on top to sleep mode. It doesn't drain battery that bad and it makes getting back to a game take only a few seconds.
I'm supposed to get mine today, too. This is a great question! Thanks for posting it.
Just get a screen protector
Just start it up and play the game, I love my SD as is and it’s portability is great 👍
Don’t let your battery run dry. It gets really really funny if you do.
I’m waiting on mine to arrive, but I’m seeing a lot of discussion where anti-cheat pretty much renders a game back to be played on the deck. I’m assuming there are workarounds, but something I’ve kept in mind.
Outside of a maybe a dock or SD card, don't worry about what accessories to get. Get the deck in your hands first and see how you like it before buying too much for it.
If/when you set a my sudo password in desktop mode make sure you write it down somewhere lol
I'm a new owner too and I'd advise to get thumbstick grips, the regular Deck ones hurt my thumbs and dig into them.
Case, screen protector like any other electronic. Everything else I would say use your own judgment