*** The Official Steam Deck Thread ***

Soldato
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Hmm, how do you have the Miner game setup - is it just a manual DOSBOX install? I tried manually installing/running Dosbox and when creating touchpad menu it seemed to send the keystrokes fine. Also works with games on steam that come with Dosbox option to play like original Colonization.
Sorry, didnt see this.
Its Dosbox (i think pure) running within Emulation Station DE.
Yes, DOSBox-pure (0.9.7) withing Emulation Station DE.
Editing the control settings it does say ‘Emulationstation DE Controller Settings’
 
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Associate
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Been playing a lot of rocket league on the steamdeck last couple weeks. Installed through the heroic games launcher. Plays really great
I was really hoping to play this a lot on the steam deck, but I miss those dual stage triggers from the steam controller so much.. I've trained myself with them and will never be able to play without them now :(
 
Associate
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Having missed the hype train when this was first released, as I felt like i would not use it much, things in my life have changed and i am now at a point where a steam deck would fit into my gaming habits quite well, but because this hasn't been on my radar for so long, I wanted to know If i would be okay to buy one now, or wait until the newer version comes along. Only reason i ask is that i got stung last year with the nintendo switch then a couple of months later found out about the OLED version.
 
Soldato
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Having missed the hype train when this was first released, as I felt like i would not use it much, things in my life have changed and i am now at a point where a steam deck would fit into my gaming habits quite well, but because this hasn't been on my radar for so long, I wanted to know If i would be okay to buy one now, or wait until the newer version comes along. Only reason i ask is that i got stung last year with the nintendo switch then a couple of months later found out about the OLED version.
Is there a Steam Deck 2 in the making? I read articles saying there was but still a few years away
 
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Caporegime
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Having missed the hype train when this was first released, as I felt like i would not use it much, things in my life have changed and i am now at a point where a steam deck would fit into my gaming habits quite well, but because this hasn't been on my radar for so long, I wanted to know If i would be okay to buy one now, or wait until the newer version comes along. Only reason i ask is that i got stung last year with the nintendo switch then a couple of months later found out about the OLED version.

I'd be looking at the Asus ROG Ally if you've not got a steam deck already
 
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Asus ROG Ally has the better hardware.
I've got a 64GB Steam Deck with a 512GB SD card and my brother's got an Asus ROG Ally.

I really like the Deck, but when it's ran out of oomph, it's got nothing to give. The ROG Ally can be used at 15W for better performance than the deck (Can be tweaked a bit more too) and then when you need to you've got another 15W you can use.

Microsoft needs to cater their OS more towards these new handhelds though, as Steam OS is a lot better at ease of use.
 
Soldato
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Asus ROG Ally has the better hardware.
I've got a 64GB Steam Deck with a 512GB SD card and my brother's got an Asus ROG Ally.

I really like the Deck, but when it's ran out of oomph, it's got nothing to give. The ROG Ally can be used at 15W for better performance than the deck (Can be tweaked a bit more too) and then when you need to you've got another 15W you can use.

Microsoft needs to cater their OS more towards these new handhelds though, as Steam OS is a lot better at ease of use.
Ease of use is a massive point. I tried the Ally and lack of a trackpad is a deal breaker. Deck has 2.

The control customisation and community layouts on the Deck really make it for me.

It also has Proton so can run older games that even the Ally cannot natively - Motocross Madness 2 for example.

I would get the Ally if it was being used for a specific AAA title because it does have a better cpu & gpu, however that extra power is crippled by the battery life.

What’s Asus support like? I raised a ticket with Valve for my 2nd hand Deck (not booting from usb stick to recovery) they suggested RMA and sent me a brand new one!

What’s upgradeability like with the Ally? It was easy to swap my 256gb drive for a 2tb one on the Deck. There’s also Valve teardown videos and many many deck upgrade options.

More to think about that just CPU & GPU.

The screen is better, i’ll admit that. The Deck screen isnt terrible but its not perfect - looks good 1280 x 800, 7”
 
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Ease of use is a massive point. I tried the Ally and lack of a trackpad is a deal breaker. Deck has 2.

The control customisation and community layouts on the Deck really make it for me.
These are really big points. Valve have done excellent work with steam input which make the trackpads great not just for mouse control, but a plethora of other things. This makes it easy easier to play games that just don't work nicely with joysticks alone.

You could do some magic with sticks too, but the trackpads are so much more versatile and you still have sticks with the deck.

I'm hyped for a new revision of the deck simply because I know Valve care and will do the best they can whatever they come up with and seem to be dedicated to provide great software support.

Ally is a bit too expensive for me with the missing features just to gain a few FPS, when the entire draw for me is how versatile it is as a handheld device.
 
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Soldato
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These are really big points. Valve have done excellent work with steam input which make the trackpads great not just for mouse control, but a plethora of other things. This makes it easy easier to play games that just don't work nicely with joysticks alone.

You could do some magic with sticks too, but the trackpads are so much more versatile and you still have sticks with the deck.

I'm hyped for a new revision of the deck simply because I know Valve care and will do the best they can whatever they come up with and seem to be dedicated to provide great software support.

Ally is a bit too expensive for me with the missing features just to gain a few FPS, when the entire draw for me is how versatile it is as a handheld device.
I bought my Deck for emulation - PS2 & Arcade, it does a fantastic job of that but have found myself playing more games than on my PC simply for the controls.

E.g. BeamNG drive, sure it works slower than my 5800X3D and 3090Ti but the with the Steam community control layout its pick up and play. I just mapped the left track pad to be a touch menu with cursors for camera slow motion control.
Setting it all up on PC is just faff, by the time I configured everything I was bored and didnt want to play it any more. Now I just pick up the Deck, sit on the sofa and drop into an area or scenario for a quick drive around. Sure sometimes it loads a bit slow, graphics settings are on normal and fps is around 25-40 but its really playable still and just easier. A Deck 2 (or even Deck 1 v2) with OLED screen still 720p and better battery would be awesome.

Valve support is fantastic, I had no issues returning the Steam Deck dock, purely because it didnt fit in it with the rubber case I use. Support for me and make or break a company/product

PC is used for Warzone and browsing only really
 
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I bought my Deck for emulation - PS2 & Arcade, it does a fantastic job of that but have found myself playing more games than on my PC simply for the controls.
Yeah it's a great little emulation device too!

I've had a little fiddle in that area, playing patapon most recently and some other more demanding things previously.

I bought it so I could play PC games from the sofa or bed though, since I already own so many things and often find myself unable to spend time tied to the desk.

I'm not sure either of those use cases is a good argument for getting the deck vs the ally really, since the ally will play some pc games with anti cheat that the deck currently can't, and the ally can run all emulators too.

I'm not trying to fanboy, but Valve appear to me to be the most customer focused company in the gaming industry. Sure, they don't release too many games these days, but they provide better tools and support for me.

Ultimately if another company come up with something that competes in price while providing similar or better features I'll be on board. Asus currently does not.
 
Soldato
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Does anyone know if its possible to add individual games to the deck library from EmuDeck? As in not add whole system like you can in EmuDeck but just add individual games?
I would like to just add Tetris GB version to my library and maybe one or two other games
 
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Parsers (In steam rom manager) are for entire systems - If says i've got 500 games in 1 system, but want 1 game im screwed. It will go off and pull artwork for 500 games, then i'll have to exclude 499?
Then I'm not sure, sorry. I've never tried importing individual ROMs and I'm surprised it's not possible. If I get time I'll take a look tomorrow.

Edit: I guess for single roms you'd be better off adding them manually. Then you'd have to update the artwork manually too, or use the steamgriddb decky plugin to do it.
 
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Associate
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Having missed the hype train when this was first released, as I felt like i would not use it much, things in my life have changed and i am now at a point where a steam deck would fit into my gaming habits quite well, but because this hasn't been on my radar for so long, I wanted to know If i would be okay to buy one now, or wait until the newer version comes along. Only reason i ask is that i got stung last year with the nintendo switch then a couple of months later found out about the OLED version.
Good luck getting one though, Have been looking at the steamdeck page pretty much every day from the sale started and I haven't seen it being in stock at all
 
Soldato
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Then I'm not sure, sorry. I've never tried importing individual ROMs and I'm surprised it's not possible. If I get time I'll take a look tomorrow.

Edit: I guess for single roms you'd be better off adding them manually. Then you'd have to update the artwork manually too, or use the steamgriddb decky plugin to do it.
Yep, i thought of this before. Adding individual games in Steam library. But what do you add to launch x emulator to run x game within that emulator?
 
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