Author Topic: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (yes OLED)  (Read 29562 times)

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Tasty

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Seeing the "Console gamers are scrubs! What's so hard about tweaking an INI file?" crowd meet the "Linux is too complicated for PC gaming!" crowd has been pretty wild.

benjipwns

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The Steam RetroArch (on both OSes) is so weirdly behind the regular one that I don't even see the point if you don't want to only use the emulators it has available. That said, RetroArch itself has a problem of sprawling all over the place like this on Linux, even the "normal" versions don't put everything you need in proper locations like THE FUCKING USER FOLDER and I think it remains another frankly baffling RetroArch decision to not let you open to the folder from inside the program because it would "break the full screen experience" like fuck you, if I'm taking the step of wanting to open directly to the folder you decided to throw all your junk into I know I'm breaking the experience because you're making me paste shit or edit files already to fix something. Then there's shit like how it won't recognize certain file types and literally nothing in the program tells you this, so your easy iso rip of some game you actually own is somehow illegitimate and you have to find a specific pack out there on the internet that might not even have any seeds.

It can make you feel like siding with the people who claim RetroArch is the worst thing to ever happen to emulation and needs to be banned by the FCC.
« Last Edit: March 20, 2022, 12:07:37 AM by benjipwns »

Uncle

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even though the experience is riddled with bugs here and there, and there will be moments of getting hard locked and needing to hold down the power button, it's still awesome to play graphically intensive modern games on this thing

the most common problems in my experience will be suddenly having no buttons do anything, almost all the major issues I've had have been related to the buttons not being mapped at various times, or mapped to dumb configurations, or having your right pad mouse control cut out and then eventually return

these problems are also usually related to fucking game launchers like Rockstar Social Club or the initial windows that pop up before you get into a Bethesda game

also, I played some Playstation games for a few hours which have confirm as circle, and my thumb got really cramped, there's not really a good way to hold it and have B as your primary button for extended periods of time
Uncle

Polident Hive

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One of those nights I find myself watching videos of the Steam Deck, tempted to impulse buy. Maybe it’s good I can’t.

Whatever ergonomic woes it has, it can’t be worse than the GPD Win. Cool device dropping at the start of these handheld pc boom. Unpleasant to use.

bork

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One of those nights I find myself watching videos of the Steam Deck, tempted to impulse buy. Maybe it’s good I can’t.

Whatever ergonomic woes it has, it can’t be worse than the GPD Win. Cool device dropping at the start of these handheld pc boom. Unpleasant to use.

Can't say I found any GPD model unpleasant to use- they keep improving the ergonomics, too.  But QA is another story.  :lol :-\
ど助平

Polident Hive

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It’s a couple things with my GPD Win 1. Placement and quality of buttons, heat and fan exhaust, no good grip. Of what I’ve used, Win 2 has improvements in every area. And to its credit, it remains the smallest of all these devices.

The type of design the Steam Deck went with appeals to me more.

Bebpo

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One of those nights I find myself watching videos of the Steam Deck, tempted to impulse buy. Maybe it’s good I can’t.

Whatever ergonomic woes it has, it can’t be worse than the GPD Win. Cool device dropping at the start of these handheld pc boom. Unpleasant to use.

What's the delivery window for new orders at this point?

I pre-ordered in the first hour or two and I'm still Q3 2022.

bork

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It’s a couple things with my GPD Win 1. Placement and quality of buttons, heat and fan exhaust, no good grip. Of what I’ve used, Win 2 has improvements in every area. And to its credit, it remains the smallest of all these devices.

The type of design the Steam Deck went with appeals to me more.

The problem with the Win 2 was bad hinge design.  Very high chance it would break- I took really good care of mine and it still happened.  Had to have the whole outer shell replaced and I never used it much after that since I worried it would just break again.  I sold it off to get a Win Max in 2020 and that, while much larger, has a sturdier and better design, plus a better d-pad and buttons.  Also got a Win 3 last year and it went back to a smaller form factor (about the size of a Switch Lite) with the same excellent d-pad and buttons.  Am tempted to sell both models off and get the Win Max 2021 (the new model coming out is going to be even larger and that's just getting ridiculous) instead, but I dunno.  I see myself likely just using the Steam Deck when I get it and not bothering with GPD anymore.  Guess we'll see.  I do like that they're back on the mini-laptop clamshell design, but the increased costs and larger sizes make them seem pointless.  Might as well just get a 14" ASUS or Razer laptop for a bit more.
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Polident Hive

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I've come to dislike clamshell designs, for my personal usage. Less traveling and more I want to play this outside my office. Go on my balcony and play.

Been keeping an eye on the Aya or Ayn Odin. There's an Aya and an Ayn making these. Android, but with enough juice to do Gamecube and maybe Maximo on PS2. Like the Steam Deck, it's not readily available.

One of those nights I find myself watching videos of the Steam Deck, tempted to impulse buy. Maybe it’s good I can’t.

Whatever ergonomic woes it has, it can’t be worse than the GPD Win. Cool device dropping at the start of these handheld pc boom. Unpleasant to use.

What's the delivery window for new orders at this point?

I pre-ordered in the first hour or two and I'm still Q3 2022.

It's vaguely post-Q3 2022. Likely 2023.

bork

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I like the clamshell style for the touchpad and keyboard, plus screen protection when closed.

Aya seems to be the new king of having a new device every other month, lol.  They have a new device coming out that is a bit smaller than the Switch Lite- and about as thin!
ど助平

Uncle

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One of those nights I find myself watching videos of the Steam Deck, tempted to impulse buy. Maybe it’s good I can’t.

Whatever ergonomic woes it has, it can’t be worse than the GPD Win. Cool device dropping at the start of these handheld pc boom. Unpleasant to use.

What's the delivery window for new orders at this point?

I pre-ordered in the first hour or two and I'm still Q3 2022.

yeah at this point there's no such thing as impulse buying a (non-scalped) steam deck  :doge

I wasn't sure I wanted one at the moment preorders went up but I figured eh, it's 5 bucks and no commitment, and it turned out I reserved at the perfect time
Uncle

Nintex

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I'm very happy with my Steamdeck.
It just keeps getting better. They added variable refresh rates yesterday. You can lock both the game and screen at any framerate like 40 or 50fps without jank :rejoice
🤴

MMaRsu

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Our savior Nintex has returneth  :rejoice
What

Nintex

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Got the Megaman Zero collection. Works like a charm on my giant Gameboy.

Then tried Max Payne 3  :gun
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Akala

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Just got mail on a bit ago, I was kind of flip flopping but decided to pull trigger on.  :yeshrug

GreatSageEqualOfHeaven

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https://www.humblebundle.com/games/handheld-pc-power-bundle

I'm trying to work out what behind the scenes intrigues are occurring that Humble would release a "Specifically For Steamdeck" bundle, but then also decide to at no point whatsoever use the words "steam" or "Steamdeck" anywhere in the promotional material  :lol

bork

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Just got the email and purchased the 512 GB Steam Deck!

:phil
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Nintex

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🤴

bork

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This thing is the O.G. Xbox "duke" controller of handhelds- can't believe how huge it is.  :lol

But it's really light and very comfortable to hold.  Very impressed.

The one negative to me, so far, is the desktop mode.  It doesn't seem as smooth as it should be.  The touch controls and mouse-touchpad thing don't work well here and even a mouse I paired up wasn't working as well.  They need to work on this.  Fortunately, I don't really see this being a big problem for most people.  I'm just using it to copy game files over.  But the GPD devices spank it in this area- those are full-on Windows PCs in a handheld form factor.  With the Steam Deck, I get more of a "handheld gaming system that happens to have a Linux desktop" feel from it.
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bork

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I have this Satechi portable stand/dock that I got on sale when I got my iPad a few months ago.  That got sold off, but I kept the stand since it works with pretty much everything, including the Steam Deck.  It fits perfect on top of it and the USB-C cable from the dock is just long enough to plug into the top of the unit.  This dock is pretty pricey at $99, but it is pretty high quality and almost looks like it was made for this thing.
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bork

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Tried playing some Elden Ring.  Went through a dungeon and cleared it out/killed the bosses at the end.  The game defaulted to everything on max settings and 720P.  Ran so smoothly and looked so much better than it does running on the GPD Win 3.  I was getting so into it that I kind of zoned out and forgot I was staring at a handheld for a minute, lol.  This thing is amazing.
ど助平

Nintex

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Yes, the power of this thing is absolutely mind blowing. It also has to be the first device that pretty much everyone I talked to is happy with.
In fact for most people (including myself) it shattered expectations.

If you want a cheap stand for your Deck pull out the Wii U box, the Steamdeck fits perfectly in the Wii U GamePad cradle
🤴

Bebpo

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Sounds great!

Now that they've started doubling their shipping amounts, maybe my Q3 will get shipped soon. /fingers crossed.

bork

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Yes, the power of this thing is absolutely mind blowing. It also has to be the first device that pretty much everyone I talked to is happy with.
In fact for most people (including myself) it shattered expectations.

Yup- My only issues with it are things with the desktop mode. Some of the ways It works just don't gel with me.  I also ran into a problem copying over game files from an SSD. I don't know what happened but it acted as if everything copied over and the file sizes were correct, but none of these games were recognized as existing files. When I tried to install the games. I had to go back into the OS and delete these files outright, which wasn't a big problem until I ran into an error message saying that one of the game files was too large to be moved to the trash. Found out you have to go into the settings and enable a delete option to just permanently delete things. Why would this not be there by default? Kind of a headscratcher.  And then another game which I thought I deleted still had its files on the SSD and when I tried to move the install from the microSD over to the SSD, Steam OS told me it couldn't do it because of the existing files. No option to overwrite. But again all of this doesn't really matter when it comes to using it as its intended to and playing games.

That said, I'm very glad that this is all available. I was checking out videos to see what games work and what don't and ran across one for samurai Warriors 5 which I saw initially didn't work. Someone found a way to get it to work using a certain version of proton that you download and install.
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bork

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Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #264 on: July 03, 2022, 04:14:40 PM »
Nice to see people putting up videos like this:



Got the latest compatible protonGU 7-24 and Samurai Warriors 5 boots right up and works at full 720P resolution at 60 FPS with all settings on high.  The Switch version in comparison is an unstable 30-ish so this is a nice upgrade.

Had a friend come over last night and check out the Steam Deck.  I put Mortal Kombat 11 on there for him since he wanted to see it running- the game size is so bloated, at 109 GB, that I had to install it on a micro SD card, which took forever.  I dunno how it ran, but he quit out of it pretty quickly and tried to play Cyberpunk, which wouldn't load.  I force quit out of it and we tried again- the sound was all crackly and the speed was slow as hell, then it locked up.  I tried to force the system to reboot and nothing happened...thought it got bricked for a second there, but eventually it restarted itself.  I dunno if MK11 had anything to do with it (maybe running it off the SD card was too much and the thermals got too high?), but I verified the local files and Cyberpunk is back to normal again. Weirdness.
ど助平

Bebpo

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Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #265 on: July 04, 2022, 01:50:46 PM »
Yooo, I just got the pre-order alert pop up.

That extra production kicking in. Will join y'all soon. Good way to check out all these steam sales games I picked up.

Bebpo

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Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #266 on: July 04, 2022, 02:18:55 PM »
Looking through my library compatibility on ProtonDB, super impressed. Like 99% are native or platinum or gold. Only a few are unplayable and they're almost all FMV games.

bork

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Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #267 on: July 04, 2022, 03:03:18 PM »
Looking through my library compatibility on ProtonDB, super impressed. Like 99% are native or platinum or gold. Only a few are unplayable and they're almost all FMV games.

Steam Deck seems to have a real problem with movies in games for some reason, but the workaround I posted earlier for Samurai Warriors 5 may apply to those games, too.  Someone on Twitter mentioned to me that he couldn't play Chrono Trigger because the game crashes whenever it gets to the anime cut scenes.
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bork

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Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #268 on: July 04, 2022, 03:07:16 PM »
Unrelated to Steam Deck, but GPD is going to start crowdfunding for their Max 2 Windows-based "handheld" (it's a 10" laptop) in a few days.  The tier most people are likely going to get is $1000:

WIN Max 2 (6800U+16GB+1TB), crowdfunding price: $999, retail price: $1159.

I think I'm sitting this one out.  It should out-perform the Steam Deck, but it won't have that level of support in both software and QC.  Admittedly, it is still tempting to sell off my other two GPD devices to pay for this, but I just don't really need it at this point with both the Steam Deck and a crazy-powerful 17" laptop.

This is the info site- https://gpd.hk/gpdwinmax2

Some of those game performance specs don't look that great- Elden Ring at 34 FPS on medium?  Yeah it's at 1080P instead of 720P but that's not sounding all that enticing.  I think they just made passing on this very easy unless there's some more really positive impressions videos from Phawx and the rest.
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Nintex

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Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #269 on: July 04, 2022, 05:46:17 PM »
Looking through my library compatibility on ProtonDB, super impressed. Like 99% are native or platinum or gold. Only a few are unplayable and they're almost all FMV games.

Steam Deck seems to have a real problem with movies in games for some reason, but the workaround I posted earlier for Samurai Warriors 5 may apply to those games, too.  Someone on Twitter mentioned to me that he couldn't play Chrono Trigger because the game crashes whenever it gets to the anime cut scenes.
Proton GE works with the FMV's. I think it has something to do with codec licensing?
It was fairly easy to get it running rockpapershotgun.com/how-to-install-proton-ge-on-the-steam-deck

Also lots of unplayable games actually work fine anyway.  :doge
🤴

bork

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Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #270 on: July 04, 2022, 11:08:04 PM »
Looking through my library compatibility on ProtonDB, super impressed. Like 99% are native or platinum or gold. Only a few are unplayable and they're almost all FMV games.

Steam Deck seems to have a real problem with movies in games for some reason, but the workaround I posted earlier for Samurai Warriors 5 may apply to those games, too.  Someone on Twitter mentioned to me that he couldn't play Chrono Trigger because the game crashes whenever it gets to the anime cut scenes.
Proton GE works with the FMV's. I think it has something to do with codec licensing?
It was fairly easy to get it running rockpapershotgun.com/how-to-install-proton-ge-on-the-steam-deck

Also lots of unplayable games actually work fine anyway.  :doge

Yeah, that's what the Samurai Warriors 5 video has a tutorial on, too.  Super easy to get downloaded and apply to games once installed. 
ど助平

Uncle

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I was getting so into it that I kind of zoned out and forgot I was staring at a handheld for a minute, lol.  This thing is amazing.

it's true what they say, a small screen held at a certain distance from your face can be roughly equivalent to a large screen mounted on the wall far away, at some point you get lost in the experience and you might as well be playing on a TV (if you got a good set of cans)

 :playa
Uncle

Bebpo

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Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #272 on: July 12, 2022, 12:53:56 PM »
Valve really should fix their shipping. For a $600+ expensive thing, shipping it slowest possible Fedex and apparently not even packaged very well is pretty bad. Been following the tracking of mine for a week and it was supposed to come today but now this morning the package has a shipping exception because of WEATHER DELAY despite being in So Cal where it's nothing but sun 90F.

Guessing it'll probably come tomorrow, but I shifted around my schedule to be available to pick it up today so this sucks.

bork

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Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #273 on: July 12, 2022, 10:30:15 PM »
Valve really should fix their shipping. For a $600+ expensive thing, shipping it slowest possible Fedex and apparently not even packaged very well is pretty bad. Been following the tracking of mine for a week and it was supposed to come today but now this morning the package has a shipping exception because of WEATHER DELAY despite being in So Cal where it's nothing but sun 90F.

Guessing it'll probably come tomorrow, but I shifted around my schedule to be available to pick it up today so this sucks.

Mine came in just a couple of days.
:idont

Blame FedEx for the delays, not Valve.
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Bebpo

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Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #274 on: July 12, 2022, 11:32:33 PM »
Valve really should fix their shipping. For a $600+ expensive thing, shipping it slowest possible Fedex and apparently not even packaged very well is pretty bad. Been following the tracking of mine for a week and it was supposed to come today but now this morning the package has a shipping exception because of WEATHER DELAY despite being in So Cal where it's nothing but sun 90F.

Guessing it'll probably come tomorrow, but I shifted around my schedule to be available to pick it up today so this sucks.

Mine came in just a couple of days.
:idont

Blame FedEx for the delays, not Valve.

Eh, I get a lot stuff via FedEx and even though everyone says FedEx sucks, I usually have no problem with them. But usually people ship stuff overnight or 2-day FedEx. Valve is shipping these things using weeklong FedEx (mine shipped last week on Wednesday, it might arrive tomorrow Wednesday if I'm lucky) and cheap FedEx seems to be where FedEx fucks up a lot and causes people issues.

If they're going to use FedEx they should be sending these things 2-day or something. These are some $20 coasters, they're premium expensive electronics.

Also lotta photos out there of damaged decks arriving because they aren't packaged to withstand a ton of damage.

bork

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Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #275 on: July 12, 2022, 11:54:09 PM »
Eh, I get a lot stuff via FedEx and even though everyone says FedEx sucks, I usually have no problem with them.

I generally find FedEx much better than UPS, but none of these shipping services are perfect.  The best, from my experience, is DHL.

But usually people ship stuff overnight or 2-day FedEx. Valve is shipping these things using weeklong FedEx (mine shipped last week on Wednesday, it might arrive tomorrow Wednesday if I'm lucky) and cheap FedEx seems to be where FedEx fucks up a lot and causes people issues.

If they're going to use FedEx they should be sending these things 2-day or something. These are some $20 coasters, they're premium expensive electronics.

Also lotta photos out there of damaged decks arriving because they aren't packaged to withstand a ton of damage.

But they're not shipping all Steam Decks with that long of a wait time, or else I wouldn't have gotten mine in a few days- and I am not close to where it shipped out from.  It took several days for processing, then it shipped out, and it was one day off from the delivery estimate because FedEx picked it up from them late, according to the tracking history. 

Sounds like you'll get it tomorrow and barring no damage or defects, you'll forget all about this and enjoy THA DECK.
 :playa
« Last Edit: July 12, 2022, 11:59:23 PM by bork »
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Bebpo

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Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #276 on: July 13, 2022, 06:09:00 PM »
Got my Deck and it's been a nightmare to try to get working. Still can't get in a single game.  :maf

Bebpo

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Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #277 on: July 13, 2022, 06:17:18 PM »
The wifi on this thing is slow af. I can't image downloading large games on this. I'm trying to install Super Robot Wars 30 and it's 18gbs and it's going to take like 30 mins to download at this rate. Been downloading for like 10 mins and only at 6gb. Feels really slow compared to other gaming systems or my desktop w/steam.

bork

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Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #278 on: July 13, 2022, 06:20:22 PM »
Got my Deck and it's been a nightmare to try to get working. Still can't get in a single game.  :maf

:dead

The wifi on this thing is slow af. I can't image downloading large games on this. I'm trying to install Super Robot Wars 30 and it's 18gbs and it's going to take like 30 mins to download at this rate. Been downloading for like 10 mins and only at 6gb. Feels really slow compared to other gaming systems or my desktop w/steam.

:mindblown

Dunno what is going on with your home network, but downloads are very fast and the same as you'd get with Steam on a PC.  Are you sure that the Steam Deck itself is not trying to update at the same time?

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bork

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Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #279 on: July 13, 2022, 06:24:37 PM »
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/t50m80/how_i_fixed_slow_download_speeds_default_is_0/&ved=2ahUKEwiTxOPN8_b4AhVzkmoFHQb4DboQjjh6BAgHEAE&usg=AOvVaw3Rkqk5ul6MUuHiZnrscjNE

This is a few months old, but might work for you. Again, make sure it's not trying to update and try restarting the device before anything else. Try switching to the desktop mode and use speed test in a browser and see what the results are.  Also might want to check your router.  Do you have a USBC hub or an adapter that would let you hook up an Ethernet cable to also check and see if there's something wrong with the wifi?
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bork

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Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #280 on: July 13, 2022, 06:28:18 PM »
One other thing that could be causing this- are you trying to download the game to an SD card? Depending on the speed, it may be a lot slower to have games installed. If you did pop one in the steam deck, most likely defaulted the download storage area to the microSD You can go into the steam OS settings. You can change to either storage device anytime you want. I only use the micro SD card I have for smaller games or I will download something on my pc, put it on an external SSD, and then copy it to the microSD.
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Bebpo

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Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #281 on: July 13, 2022, 07:02:41 PM »
I'm getting about 30MB/s on 5G and 10MB/s on 2.4ghz which I guess is ok. 5G was really finnicky even doing the developer mode trick. Seems stable at this point though, was buggy initially and kept dropping steam servers.

Going through my catalog so many games I'm interested in playing are unsupported. If you install this Proton GE thing do you still run steam for the interface? Or do you have to use a custom interface to boot your games?

Like I wanted to try Dragon's Dogma on this, but it says it's unsupported. Same with Bioshock Infinite. Same with Divinity OS: EE.

Bebpo

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Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #282 on: July 13, 2022, 07:12:13 PM »
Also I just tried Fae Tactics which is supposedly supported with an all-green check. But it boots zoomed in to only 1/4th of the screen blown up and I can't see the in-game menu to change the resolution. What are you supposed to do in these situations? I went under properties and changed the resolution but it does nothing.

I'm going to try installing it on my desktop PC and changing the resolution and cloud saving out and then loading the game in deck.

Bebpo

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Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #283 on: July 13, 2022, 07:52:48 PM »
Hmm, Deck seems neat enough. I really like the screen. I was expecting much worse given that it's not OLED but it looks really nice and colorful.

Performance is a tad slower than I'm used to on a PC. Not sure if it's the hard drive being slower compared to SSDs I use or just a weaker cpu. Load times seem a bit longer in everything.

Kinda disappointed in the trackpads for mouse. Was hoping it'd be a good mouse-based game portable, but trackpad feels kind of shitty moving the mouse around. Probably why all the PnC adventure games I tried have default template set to joystick controls instead of trackpad mouse. Works ok enough, I've just always preferred mouse controls for adventure games. Then again there are a ton of tweaking options for controls so it's possible with some type of setting the trackpad can feel like a decent mouse.

Oh and I tried a tate shmup and it looked GREAT, but the controls on this thing don't seem setup well for tate mode. Couldn't find a comfortable layout to play vertically and move and shoot while holding the system. Kind of a shame since it looks so good. I guess if there's a stand you can put it vertically on in tate mode and use a bluetooth controller it'd work. But that's not very portable.

Haven't tried 3d yet. Doing the 2 hour FF14 download to try that out and see how it goes.

Overall the first few hours make it seem like this is not the plug n' play solution to PC gaming that makes it like a Switch or PSP or console where you just boot stuff and everything is fine. Still seems like each individual game is going to need some tweaking, either in getting it to run, or resolutions, or controls. But still seems a step better than trying to play steam gaming on a tablet/phone using steam link and touch controls. If there's something I actually want to play, I'll spend the 30 mins getting it setup just right.

Also the d-pad is kind of ho-hum. I think the ideal system would be modular where you could swap the analog/d-pad/trackpad/buttons around. I wish there were portables that did that. Would much rather have the d-pad where the left trackpad is (and a better d-pad too). Can't see myself playing fighters on this.

Tasty

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Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #284 on: July 13, 2022, 08:02:30 PM »
Steam Deck reminds me of the DS Phat. Gonna wait for the Deck Lite.

Nintex

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Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #285 on: July 13, 2022, 08:07:37 PM »
Over 90% of the unsupported games I tried work anyway :idont

The main issues are obscure launchers and/or FMV playback but Proton GE fixes the latter.

Quote
If you install this Proton GE thing do you still run steam for the interface? Or do you have to use a custom interface to boot your games?

Same interface it just expands the Proton versions you can select in the game settings.
🤴

Bebpo

  • Senior Member
Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #286 on: July 13, 2022, 08:36:30 PM »
Yeah, I googled those unsupported games and found that:

Dragon's Dogma - Works fine except the steam button crashes the game. So just don't ever press that until are ready to exit the game.

Bioshock Infinite - Apparently works fine? No one knows why it's listed as unsupported.

Divinity OS: EE - Native Linux version defaults to 1080p and has no controller support or something which is why it's listed as unplayable. Proton Experimental fixes those but apparently still has a couple of issues. And mods give it trouble, someone said like 10 min load times with mods installed. Sounds like this one is a pass on Deck.

bork

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Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #287 on: July 13, 2022, 09:26:43 PM »
Also I just tried Fae Tactics which is supposedly supported with an all-green check. But it boots zoomed in to only 1/4th of the screen blown up and I can't see the in-game menu to change the resolution. What are you supposed to do in these situations? I went under properties and changed the resolution but it does nothing.

I'm going to try installing it on my desktop PC and changing the resolution and cloud saving out and then loading the game in deck.

You could also try plugging in or pairing a keyboard and see if you can ALT+ENTER to resize the window.  Not sure if that works on Steam OS though?  It sounds like that game might need to be run in borderless windowed mode, possibly.  I've had that happen with some games on other (Windows) devices before.  It's not a Steam Deck-only thing.

Hmm, Deck seems neat enough. I really like the screen. I was expecting much worse given that it's not OLED but it looks really nice and colorful.

Which version did you get?  There's a difference between the the lower/mid-tier ones and the 512 GB one.

Performance is a tad slower than I'm used to on a PC. Not sure if it's the hard drive being slower compared to SSDs I use or just a weaker cpu. Load times seem a bit longer in everything.

Ditto on this too.  I got the 512 GB model and the load times are pretty good off the SSD.  Definitely a bit slower off the micro SD card (for larger games).

Kinda disappointed in the trackpads for mouse. Was hoping it'd be a good mouse-based game portable, but trackpad feels kind of shitty moving the mouse around. Probably why all the PnC adventure games I tried have default template set to joystick controls instead of trackpad mouse. Works ok enough, I've just always preferred mouse controls for adventure games. Then again there are a ton of tweaking options for controls so it's possible with some type of setting the trackpad can feel like a decent mouse.

I think these kinda suck, TBH.  Maybe they can be tweaked because they just seem too sensitive.  I hate using these for navigation in the desktop mode.  Need to see if there's at least a way to change left click to something else besides the right touchpad.   :yuck

Oh and I tried a tate shmup and it looked GREAT, but the controls on this thing don't seem setup well for tate mode. Couldn't find a comfortable layout to play vertically and move and shoot while holding the system. Kind of a shame since it looks so good. I guess if there's a stand you can put it vertically on in tate mode and use a bluetooth controller it'd work. But that's not very portable.

This is no different than using the Switch like this (unless you have that tate adapter-thing).  Worth picking up a little stand regardless, although I don't know what would allow you to have it set vertical- this thing is too big!

If you're looking for a good quality stand and don't care about it being like a dock with USB ports, check out the Genki Portable Kickstand 2 on Amazon.  It's made for Switch, but the Steam Deck works with it perfectly.  It's made of metal and feels pretty premium, plus it folds up to be pretty thin.  It's on sale for $20 right now.

Overall the first few hours make it seem like this is not the plug n' play solution to PC gaming that makes it like a Switch or PSP or console where you just boot stuff and everything is fine. Still seems like each individual game is going to need some tweaking, either in getting it to run, or resolutions, or controls. But still seems a step better than trying to play steam gaming on a tablet/phone using steam link and touch controls. If there's something I actually want to play, I'll spend the 30 mins getting it setup just right.

I don't agree with you on this- I had little trouble getting it up and running and getting right into playing games.  I did prep for it beforehand and transferred most of the games I wanted to play over via SSD so I wouldn't have to wait, but have been getting great download speeds.  The best thing about the Steam Deck is Steam OS itself- being able to tweak things on the fly at any time is just amazing.  The worst thing about it to me is trying to navigate and use the desktop Linux OS.  I feel like you NEED a keyboard and mouse available to use it.  But once I copied stuff over and downloaded Proton, I was good and have rarely needed to go back into it.

Also the d-pad is kind of ho-hum. I think the ideal system would be modular where you could swap the analog/d-pad/trackpad/buttons around. I wish there were portables that did that. Would much rather have the d-pad where the left trackpad is (and a better d-pad too). Can't see myself playing fighters on this.

The d-pad works great for fighters.  Have had no trouble doing moves.  That said, much like with any other handheld device, I typically will use a fightpad if I want to be 'serious'.  More for the button layout than the d-pad.

Yeah, I googled those unsupported games and found that:

Dragon's Dogma - Works fine except the steam button crashes the game. So just don't ever press that until are ready to exit the game.

Bioshock Infinite - Apparently works fine? No one knows why it's listed as unsupported.

Divinity OS: EE - Native Linux version defaults to 1080p and has no controller support or something which is why it's listed as unplayable. Proton Experimental fixes those but apparently still has a couple of issues. And mods give it trouble, someone said like 10 min load times with mods installed. Sounds like this one is a pass on Deck.

Like Nintex said, don't be afraid to try anything- most games will work just fine.  Also with Dragon's Dogma (And any other PC game), if you can quit back to the main menu to exit the game, that should work just fine.
ど助平

bork

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Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #288 on: July 13, 2022, 09:27:18 PM »

The main issues are obscure launchers and/or FMV playback but Proton GE fixes the latter.


It doesn't fix it, but it makes the games I've had issues with playable, at least.
ど助平

bork

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Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #289 on: July 13, 2022, 09:29:24 PM »
Steam Deck reminds me of the DS Phat. Gonna wait for the Deck Lite.

The way things seem to be going, it may be that you can buy one of the various Chinese handheld PCs and get them with Steam OS.  Saw something tonight about the GPD people working with Valve to offer Steam OS on the upcoming GPD Win Max 2 and future devices, which is kinda funny since GPD infamously lost their shit and had a meltdown over the Steam Deck when it was announced.  :P

...I still would buy a Steam Deck over a GPD device, however, simply because of the support and better QC.
ど助平

bork

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Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #290 on: July 13, 2022, 09:59:48 PM »
Got this little Annapro hardshell backpack off Amazon-



While the Steam Deck does fit in the largest pocket, it just barely does so and I'd be concerned about it messing up the analog sticks.  But there is actually enough space in here to be able to fit in the Steam Deck inside its own case and still have room to put in acessories and probably even a tablet, so I think I'm gonna hang onto it.  I use a Microsoft folding keyboard and arc mouse, which take up very little space.  Plenty of room for those, the Deck in the case, an HDMI cable, power cable, and a stand/dock.  Pretty sure I can fit a small 8bitdo controller in there, too.

Speaking of which, 8bitdo have a new small gamepad about to come out which might be perfect for portable play:


ど助平

Bebpo

  • Senior Member
Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #291 on: July 13, 2022, 10:33:36 PM »
Desktop mode is a buggy pos shit. Hit so many bugs just trying to find a .cfg file and edit it.

Bebpo

  • Senior Member
Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #292 on: July 13, 2022, 10:36:44 PM »
I hate desktop mode in this. Hopefully it's extremely rare that I have to use it.

Honestly I kind of dislike Steam Deck. Been hitting so many bugs and crashes with the OS and UI. Seems like a mess and half tempted to sell it.

bork

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Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #293 on: July 13, 2022, 11:03:06 PM »
Honestly I kind of dislike Steam Deck. Been hitting so many bugs and crashes with the OS and UI. Seems like a mess and half tempted to sell it.

I think you should spend more time getting used to things, but you're also not responding to any of my posts so I dunno what you're doing or what configuration you have.
:idont
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Nintex

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Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #294 on: July 14, 2022, 02:40:53 AM »
I seldom use desktop mode. Just to install things that aren't on Steam which so far were spotify and proton GE. Linux is not my thing either. You could also install Windows. Steamdeck is sort of a try and discover thing if you want to do/play more than just the officially verified games.

Don't forget to update the OS through the settings either if you haven't done so.

I basically use it as a Gameboy/PSP to play games best suited for handheld gaming. The trackpads work ok-ish but for something like Age of Empires or whatever it can't match a mouse.
🤴

Bebpo

  • Senior Member
Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #295 on: July 14, 2022, 01:31:26 PM »
Yeah, I'm starting to get the hang of it. Deck certainly has some boneheaded designs and it's like 1000% tweakable, which is both good and also a pain in the ass if you don't want to spend the time tweaking.

After day 1 I think the worst thing about the Steamdeck is the battery life. Holy hell is it the worst I've seen in any piece of electronics in modern times. It's bad enough I could never recommend this to casual gamers looking to get into PC gaming. It's like 2-3 hours unless you want to cap framerates, dim screens, lower graphics, etc... Feels like something I'll always need plugged in charging when not in use. But even that is super inconvenient because the charging spot is where you can't charge while it's in the case. So you have to just leave it out in the open collecting dust all day while it's constantly charging.

I usually play stuff in a couple hour sessions so will definitely be killing the battery life. I played like 20-30 mins of a simple game last night and it dropped from 100% to like 81%.

We really need better advancements in battery technology and for Steam Deck 2 to use them. Is it really draining that much more power than an ipad pro or iphone? I mean with those you get like 8-12 hours of battery life even when gaming and they're pretty powerful.

bork

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Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #296 on: July 14, 2022, 01:42:30 PM »
Welcome to modern handheld gaming.  :doge  TBH I think the battery life is pretty good overall, especially compared to the Windows-based handheld PCs.  :lol

Definitely worth looking up methods to increase battery life.  Keep a charger handy.

Wouldn't recommend keeping it plugged in all the time in case it leads to battery swell down the line- charge it when needed.  Standby is also fantastic on this thing- I had a game of Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate going, put it on standby, and came back eight hours later and the battery barely took a hit.

We really need better advancements in battery technology and for Steam Deck 2 to use them. Is it really draining that much more power than an ipad pro or iphone? I mean with those you get like 8-12 hours of battery life even when gaming and they're pretty powerful.

I really doubt you'd be getting 8-12 hours of battery life after playing a more demanding 3D game for a few hours.  It's also the amount of heat being put out.
ど助平

Bebpo

  • Senior Member
Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #297 on: July 14, 2022, 02:33:37 PM »
Yeah, sleep mode is the big game changer for PC gaming here.

I feel like Steam Deck is something that will become more useful over time, when there are actually PC games I want to play and prefer to play them away from the PC. I get a lot of games in sales/bundles, but I don't have time to play a lot of games. I've only beaten 14 games in 2022 so far. I played two levels of Shredder's Revenge on Switch and someday I'll finish it. It'll take time for Steam Deck to be useful for my gaming style.

Beezy

  • Senior Member
Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #298 on: July 15, 2022, 03:13:45 AM »
Only 14 games. :lol

I've beaten maybe 5 at most, including games that I started in 2021. I know it's less than you usually play through in a year, but you still spend more time gaming than the average adult gamer.

Bebpo

  • Senior Member
Re: Steam Deck | RNDA2, 7" display, Dock, starting at $399 (no OLED)
« Reply #299 on: July 15, 2022, 01:28:04 PM »
True. This a gaming forum primarily so my view is kinda skewed on normal there  :lol