*** The Official Steam Deck Thread ***

[CGrieves]

Can anyone recommend a decent screwdriver to undo the case screws?. Ive heard horror stories galore about people stripping the heads. Im going to upgrading the ssd at some stage and im just getting things ready. Theres loads of philips ph0 and ph1 drivers on the rainforrest but does anyone have any they recommend that they've used on their deck?

I haven't disassembled my deck specifically, but I'd suggest one of the affordable 50+ piece "precision" driver/bit sets on the aforementioned site. I bought one* ages ago, and haven't encountered anything it didn't have a bit for (Nintendo, iPhone, Macbook etc etc). Valve won't have "done an Apple" and used prioprietary screwheads.

* Two actually- I dropped the first box, spilled it everywhere and couldn't be arsed to find the slots for every bit, so bought another and kept a bag of spares

 

[Brok]

Can anyone recommend a decent screwdriver to undo the case screws?. Ive heard horror stories galore about people stripping the heads. Im going to upgrading the ssd at some stage and im just getting things ready. Theres loads of philips ph0 and ph1 drivers on the rainforrest but does anyone have any they recommend that they've used on their deck?

Honestly, I used one from a novelty set my wife got as a gift years ago and it was fine. I was quite careful with the first screw to check it wouldnt start to strip the head but it turned out fine.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

That's great, ive got some drivers already so I'll go slow and steady with those when the time comes to do the upgrade

 

[Guest2]

That's great, ive got some drivers already so I'll go slow and steady with those when the time comes to do the upgrade

If its any assurance, I usually manage to bodge up DIY or fix it type jobs and I managed it ok.
Used a cheapo 'Jida' computer screwdriver set.

The hardest part is opening the outside cover, I tried a credit card but that wasnt strong enough and was a bit too thick. Didnt have one of those plastic opener things so ended up using just my fingers to prise it open slowly.

The connector on the SSD was also a **** (insert any word you like) to get off. Just had to wiggle it off which took about 15 mins.

Got a 2TB SSD in mine now and 1TB SDcard for emulation. The 512GB I had for emulation now has Windows 10 on it, write speed is a shocker though so its pretty slow... My download speed shoots up to 60MB/s but then quickly steps down to ~5MB/s I guess because the disk cant write fast enough.

I'm 100% not going to pollute my Deck SSD with Windows

Has anyone installed Battle.net launcher and more importantly a game within Battle.net using Proton GE? - https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/how-to-install-battlenet-on-steam-deck

Id be interested to know if Call of Duty / Warzone 2 work using Proton GE thought the launcher. I'm guessing not as havent seen anyone playing Warzone on the Deck without using a Windows OS

 

[carrot1401]

If its any assurance, I usually manage to bodge up DIY or fix it type jobs and I managed it ok.
Used a cheapo 'Jida' computer screwdriver set.

The hardest part is opening the outside cover, I tried a credit card but that wasnt strong enough and was a bit too thick. Didnt have one of those plastic opener things so ended up using just my fingers to prise it open slowly.

The connector on the SSD was also a **** (insert any word you like) to get off. Just had to wiggle it off which took about 15 mins.

Got a 2TB SSD in mine now and 1TB SDcard for emulation. The 512GB I had for emulation now has Windows 10 on it, write speed is a shocker though so its pretty slow... My download speed shoots up to 60MB/s but then quickly steps down to ~5MB/s I guess because the disk cant write fast enough.

I'm 100% not going to pollute my Deck SSD with Windows

Has anyone installed Battle.net launcher and more importantly a game within Battle.net using Proton GE? - https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/how-to-install-battlenet-on-steam-deck

Id be interested to know if Call of Duty / Warzone 2 work using Proton GE thought the launcher. I'm guessing not as havent seen anyone playing Warzone on the Deck without using a Windows OS

Considering Richocheat anti-cheat and it's false positives (I had an issue on MW2 release, I got lucky and managed to get my multiplayer ban that I got during the single player release week overturned) I would not be installing it on a Steam Deck!

 

[Guest2]

Considering Richocheat anti-cheat and it's false positives (I had an issue on MW2 release, I got lucky and managed to get my multiplayer ban that I got during the single player release week overturned) I would not be installing it on a Steam Deck!

Works suprisingly well on Win10 on Steam Deck running on a 512GB MicroSD card.
Im aweful at using the controls though as have been K&M since the 80s.

Using Windows on it is interesting. I note though that the touchscreen seems more responsive in Windows that on SteamOS and the on screen keyboard is a lot better too! More responsive and move out the way of the box you are entering text in instead of hiding it like it does on SteamOS.

The Desktop mode for SteamOS certainly needs work if Windows running on it is better for things like keyboard and touchscreen.

 

[carrot1401]

O running Warzone on Steam Deck via Windows is fine, because then it's "just a PC". I asssumed the question related to running it via SteamOS/Proton which yeah...I can't imagine Richochet being happy about someone playing on "Linux"

 

[Guest2]

O running Warzone on Steam Deck via Windows is fine, because then it's "just a PC". I asssumed the question related to running it via SteamOS/Proton which yeah...I can't imagine Richochet being happy about someone playing on "Linux"

Yeh, it was a query about running it on proton. I watched a video of someone installing Battle.net on Proton, but never playing anything on it. Great fun, install a launcher then thats it

Though I did try Warzone 2 on Deck on Windows and it works pretty well

 

[stooeh]

I have installed Diablo 3/WoW in the past using Proton but since I dual boot now there is no need currently. But no chance of WZ as mentioned due to the anticheat.

 

[Timber]

Mine finally arrived yesterday afternoon, after 3 days of it being with Parcelforce (a painful end to an otherwise smooth shopping experience).

Spent a lot of today playing with the deck and initial impressions are very high. Although I've only tried verified games like Doom (2016), Brotato, Slay the Spire and Assault Android Cactus amongst others. All all have been flawless. It does suffer from the same thing as Switch where certain games can be bit of an eyesight test (M&M: Clash of Heroes Definitive Edition) although the better games have accessibility options for this. The biggest realisation for me is that it opens so many games in my Steam library that I've either never played or would like to revisit. And this is a great machine to do that with.

I did have a weird software moment when after going into desktop mode and then returning to gaming mode the performance slider wouldn't work in Doom. I suspect this won't be the last of the quirks I see on this thing.

The Skull & Co. Grip case is lovely (like their Switch stuff) although unfortunately doesn't fit in the Valve supplied case. So might be in the market for something third-party for storage.

So early impressions are this thing has blown me away so far. A great advert for PC gaming.

 

[Guest2]

A note to people trying Windows on Steam Deck.
Make sure when imaging Windows you select NTFS instead of FAT32
I left Rufus as default, FAT32 so had write speeds topping out at 6MB/s
It worked but not well!
Wiped it, started again and dud NTFS ~25MB/s write instead, much better.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Took the plunge and upgraded the SSD.
Cloned the original 64gb to 1tb drive using an external m.2 enclosure connected to the deck and used the konsole dd command to clone.

Screws came out easily enough but getting the back off took ages. Lots of force in the end but it was off with no damage.

My deck is one of the newer ones so had the black cover, 2 screws and that popped off. Battery easily diconnected.
SSD popped out, shield came off the ssd and went on the new ssd straight away no issues. (no need to dismantle the shield covering, just slide right off and over the new one)
All back together within 30 mins and up and running

 

[Guest2]

Took the plunge and upgraded the SSD.
Cloned the original 64gb to 1tb drive using an external m.2 enclosure connected to the deck and used the konsole dd command to clone.

Screws came out easily enough but getting the back off took ages. Lots of force in the end but it was off with no damage.

My deck is one of the newer ones so had the black cover, 2 screws and that popped off. Battery easily diconnected.
SSD popped out, shield came off the ssd and went on the new ssd straight away no issues. (no need to dismantle the shield covering, just slide right off and over the new one)
All back together within 30 mins and up and running

Nice. In theory you clone the SSD to SDcard, then stick the new SSD in and clone from SD to SSD then resize it

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Nice. In theory you clone the SSD to SDcard, then stick the new SSD in and clone from SD to SSD then resize it

Yeah I had a m.2 enclosure so it was really easy to clone straight from the deck. No resizing of partions or anything else required.
Just plugged the SSD into the enclosure. Connected that to the deck, issued a DD command in konsole and 10mins later the original was perfectly cloned to the new ssd

 

[Guest2]

Sorry. that was meant to be 'in theory you could clone the SSD to SDcard..'

 

[Kill_Phil]

Any game recommendations for the deck? Have done hades, ori titles

 

[Fubsy]

Vampire Survivors. Didn't think much of it at the start. It's like digital crack.

 

[Kill_Phil]

Vampire Survivors. Didn't think much of it at the start. It's like digital crack.

Yeah did look at it but have rinsed brotato so very samey

 

[Guest2]

Any game recommendations for the deck? Have done hades, ori titles

My favourite 'game' is trying to get hard games / systems working it the Deck

PCem works better in Windows 10 installed on the Deck and Ive recently installed Windows 10 on a microSD card, booted Win10 and launch PCem (Win98 config) then playing Win9X games like Need for Speed 2 SE and Motoracer.
Doing this however is a controls nightmare unless you plug in a keyboard and mouse.

I've got Deck controls working in Windows 10 (with GloSC) but then running and emulator too complicates things...

That being said, PCem menu items are now working which dont when running PCem in Proton experimental. So its possible to mount media, shutdown and other things.

 

[Guest2]

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2. 50% off, £19.99 currently on Steam Store. Apparently works really well on Deck but multiplayer doesnt due to DRC