Just played Odyssey on the Steam Deck...
- Thread starter Vingtetun
- Start date
Might be a limitation of the hub. I noticed different hubs had different power. I did try a powerful Macbook Pro USB C charger but it went into low power mode.
fedex finally delivered mine over 4 days late. Surprisingly. Been spending a decent amount of time getting emulators up on it situated but I installed elite and some other steam games. Things ran pretty decently, i haven't bothered doing any in depth testing with elite yet so i dont know what the framerate was, but motion was smooth launching from my carrier and looping around and docking again. (i run elite in linux on my regular computer...it'll be interesting to see how much this tiny wattage machine can compare to my 3900x + 5700xt which are both effectively a couple generations behind the deck).
I have to setup the controls better for the game-paddy nature of the deck. I dont plan on bothering setting up hotas on it, that just seems less than practical given the screen size of the deck and how close to your face you really need it to effectively play the game.
I think i'll plan on setting up the sticks like 4ch RC style controllers do - rather than the one being a headlook (without a modifier key being held down). It'll definitely be a more limited setup than a full hotas during combat but with the backside buttons, i think i'll have most of what i need for pve gameplay. I dont suspect i'll be doing much serious elite combat on the deck. Mostly mundane activities thrown in here and there while on the couch or something.
I have to setup the controls better for the game-paddy nature of the deck. I dont plan on bothering setting up hotas on it, that just seems less than practical given the screen size of the deck and how close to your face you really need it to effectively play the game.
I think i'll plan on setting up the sticks like 4ch RC style controllers do - rather than the one being a headlook (without a modifier key being held down). It'll definitely be a more limited setup than a full hotas during combat but with the backside buttons, i think i'll have most of what i need for pve gameplay. I dont suspect i'll be doing much serious elite combat on the deck. Mostly mundane activities thrown in here and there while on the couch or something.
So how do you like it all-in-all?
Personally, I like it a lot. Since it only has a single USB Type-C which also works as the power-plugin, I have a USB hub where I can plug in power, two USBs, and HDMI for an external screen. And when I switch the console over to desktop mode, it's just a Linux computer, which can play most games I like without any big issue. Not saying there are no issues, but in most cases they're minor (for instance Assassins Creed, works, but confusing controller setup). I'm just surprised how well it works.
I'm at this moment posting this from Firefox on it. I do my shopping, banking, media, all of it.
These games I have played or tried: Halo, No Man's Sky, Elite Odyssey, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, Satisfactory, Stationeers, Raft, Mass Effect, Lego Starwars, X4, and some other games. Half of those games I only tried to start and played for a few minutes to check, the other half I have played intensely past months.
Besides that, I installed Unity3D, Mono, C#/.net, C/C++, Rust, Code, Godot, and other apps or tools.
When it comes to the hardware, amazing tech. I like the joysticks more on SteamDeck than Switch. They're a bit bigger. It's a sturdy, solid piece of machinery. The only thing is to pay attention to the battery. Turn off wifi and such if you don't need it. There are options to optimize battery during game play. Resolution on the built-in screen is --I think-- same as Switch. On external monitor I get 1920x1080, and play most games in that resolution. And since they have connected with iFixIt.com, I'm not worried if something breaks. They thought about repair and such.
So for me, I give it a 10/10, but that's for me, and I don't think it works as great for everyone. Someone asked me if they could use it for their office, and I'm not sure I'd recommend that. Installing office software like Word etc, might not be what it's best for.
my take on the deck is ...
A. The onboard keyboard is still in need of a serious makeover and lots of love. It makes 0 sense to cram a normal looking keyboard on a screen where the keys are too small to press with fingertips. They need to design a layout that is custom (optional via setting) for gaming and another custom for typing. Using the thumbpad control for typing is impractical. And keyboard support needs access to all keys in some manner (switches etc) ...but their in-house keyboard is oddly missing up and down directional arrow keys and the D-Pad is not by default mapped to directional keys in desktop mode. I'd say if there is one thing i'm less than happy with regarding the deck, it's the on screen keyboard functionality.
B. emudeck is pretty awesome on the deck and while it's not absolutely fool proof, it's a pretty easy setup compared to how most emulator setups go. Way easier than i've ever experienced before in any other system i've setup with emulation station and the like. Almost everything just works without any configuration tweaks.
C. I've had experience with steam games and proton in linux for years now. So there's nothing surprising there for me. Game performance is still surprisingly well given the power limits on the deck. Games like Conan Exiles run surprisingly smooth at high quality settings. Same with elite. Pretty much every game i've put on it have run much better than i thought they would. RDNA2 is pretty effective.
D. Steam streaming will likely be a necessity for a few games where proton just doesn't want to work with your windows game. Or perhaps, for those games you dont want to install 170GB's of game data for. Streaming games is surprisingly viable for most non-competitive games assuming your network at home isn't crap. Minor host config may be needed to get streaming from your pc working (all within steam) ...but once you do, it's not too bad.
edit: Obviously battery life is a major thing people want to know about. Depending on the game, you'll likely get 1-3 hours of game playing time on the deck before needing to plug in. Obviously, the older the game or more simplistic and lightweight the game, the better the chance you can extend that even longer. And i'm testing on default quality settings which generally auto-choose high quality and i have not adjusted any screen settings except turning the brightness up a bit since the auto-brightness feature was making the screen a bit too dark for my liking.
Last edited:
I will agree that the on-screen keyboard is a real sore spot. For some reason it's just not very easy to use.
I have used a Steam Controller to fully operate a windows laptop connected to my bedroom TV for a couple of years now and the on-screen keyboard that the Steam Controller uses feels so much better to type with.
I don't know what it is about the Deck's keyboard that makes it feel so bad to use. I think that maybe the haptics feedback for "moving cursor over a key" is too similar to the haptic feedback for "key was pressed" and it trips me up. I honestly try to avoid doing anything that needs typed input.
I have used a Steam Controller to fully operate a windows laptop connected to my bedroom TV for a couple of years now and the on-screen keyboard that the Steam Controller uses feels so much better to type with.
I don't know what it is about the Deck's keyboard that makes it feel so bad to use. I think that maybe the haptics feedback for "moving cursor over a key" is too similar to the haptic feedback for "key was pressed" and it trips me up. I honestly try to avoid doing anything that needs typed input.
I know small touch screen keyboards can be adequate because my phone has a keyboard that's a fraction of the size of the deck's and i can type fast on it (primarily via swipe method). It's possible this attempt to recreate the full keyboard across the entire bottom of the screen is a factor (among other things). I'd prefer a cell phone sized keyboard docked to the corners or along the sides (adjustable by user) so that i can hold the deck in one hand and quickly swipe text across the keyboard or press individual keys with the other hand quickly). It's not like most people are going to have small enough hands to type "proper" on the deck's keyboard, so it should stop pretending like they will by formatting itself like it is. Everyone is going to be one-finger typing and that means a full width keyboard slows you down... it doesn't help you at all.
But also, the keyboard has issues with "focus" stealing as well. Where it seems like certain "mouse" actions switch to being owned by the on screen keyboard instead of the content it's on top of.
What i'd love to see is a cellphone-esque keyboard with swipe dockable to any corner + optional custom views of the keyboard for specific games that bring up only the keys in the grid layout you drag and drop them to so you can minimize the intrusion of such a keyboard in any given game you may need certain keyboard keys to supplement the gamepad when you dont need access to all of them. That would be awesome.
I don't even try to use the touchscreen to hund-and-peck the keys because, like you said, I use swipe-typing on my phone and hunt-and-pecking a touchscreen keyboard that large is annoying.
What I attempt to do is use the touchpads and triggers to highlight and "press" the keys (yes, it is essentially just "virtually hunting-and-pecking" the keys). I find it less annoying than using the touchscreen (but still really annoying). Because at least you get two "fingers" for pressing keys on opposite sides of the board. But for some reason it just doesn't work as well as it does on the Steam Controller -- which operates in the same way.
What I attempt to do is use the touchpads and triggers to highlight and "press" the keys (yes, it is essentially just "virtually hunting-and-pecking" the keys). I find it less annoying than using the touchscreen (but still really annoying). Because at least you get two "fingers" for pressing keys on opposite sides of the board. But for some reason it just doesn't work as well as it does on the Steam Controller -- which operates in the same way.
Another gripe I have about the on-screen keyboard is that it's pretty stubborn and continues to appear even if you've connected a bluetooth keyboard.
(The entire reason I bought a bluetooth keyboard to connect to my portable gaming device is that I have one game I play where I must log in, and provide a TOTP code, and typing that code within the time limit using the on-screen keyboard is just awful.)
(The entire reason I bought a bluetooth keyboard to connect to my portable gaming device is that I have one game I play where I must log in, and provide a TOTP code, and typing that code within the time limit using the on-screen keyboard is just awful.)
Last edited:
Oooh! Wossat?
It's a hotas type game controller I saw on Etsy and thought I would give it a shot for ED and Flight Sim. It does work very well on them but I am having problems with using it on the Stream Deck at the moment. I can't find a way to calibrate it on the Steam gaming side of the SD. There is a calibration facility in the desktop mode of the SD and it calibrates fine there. However it doesn't seem to carry through to the Steam gaming side of things. It's a very neat controller though.
HOTAS Simulator/game Controller - Etsy UK
This Computers item by BoopidooDesigns has 158 favorites from Etsy shoppers. Ships from Sweden. Listed on 28 Jul, 2022
etsy.me
Sigh...I have two coming and both in Q4. That's what I get for waiting to pre-order till Dec and Feb.
i pre-ordered in the first couple hours of being able to and just got mine this past weekend. Well over a year after.
one bonus about being so late is that you will probably get one manufactured with better parts than the early ones (especially the fan issue).
My deck is super quiet. While opening it up and all that isn't hard, it's nice to not have to replace parts on day 1 for your 500+ dollar toy.
Mine is totally quiet too. I was playing on it just now, no sound at all, only way to know the fan is going is to put my hand over the outlet and feel the warm air coming out.
Yea I tell myself that about the kinks getting worked out by the end of the year. Its one of the reasons I didn't get in a big hurry but then again never thought a billion gamers would pre-order in the first 2 hours of availability lol.
It's a highly sought after commodity, hence the porch pirates and fedex posing thieves.
Oh, well thats because people are jerks and the worst humans you can meet sometimes.
no man's sky also plays well on it.
I've had decent gameplay with elite dangerous and most normal games even after limiting the tdp to 7 watts and the vsync to 45fps. doing that has a really significant impact to battery life. easily more than an extra hour and games are not stuttery.
exception being some emulators don't like the weird framerate.
such limiters and settings can be found by pressing the button under the right track pad while playing a game and pressing the battery icon. you may need to also have developer settings turned on. this is also how you can enable the sensor and status overlay, which is helpful when making such adjustments so you can see how much room you have for reducing power.
horizons doesn't even make the deck sweat.
i have not tested Odyssey on it yet because i haven't added my account that has Odyssey yet.
I've had decent gameplay with elite dangerous and most normal games even after limiting the tdp to 7 watts and the vsync to 45fps. doing that has a really significant impact to battery life. easily more than an extra hour and games are not stuttery.
exception being some emulators don't like the weird framerate.
such limiters and settings can be found by pressing the button under the right track pad while playing a game and pressing the battery icon. you may need to also have developer settings turned on. this is also how you can enable the sensor and status overlay, which is helpful when making such adjustments so you can see how much room you have for reducing power.
horizons doesn't even make the deck sweat.
i have not tested Odyssey on it yet because i haven't added my account that has Odyssey yet.