That’s what the video from Retro Corps recommends, too. I’m on holiday at the moment but will be setting it up when I get home. Very keen to replay Skies of Arcadia on it!
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Other than that I don’t have any big recommendations outside of tweaks here and there, or installing applications to access other games.
If this is somehting you think you will ever use, you can set up access to Epic or GoG games using something like Heroic Games Launcher on Steam Deck: How to Install and Play Epic Games on a Steam Deck
If you want to get remote play from your Series X to your Steam Deck going, take a look at this: How to get Xbox Remote Play on Steam Deck
Awesome. Thanks for the tips!
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I found this site that gives an idea of how well a game actually runs on the Deck rather than just “yes/no” like ProtonDB. The link above is for Space Marine 2.
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Useful, thanks. One thing worth noting is that those stats are based on a single configuration, and so one’s experience will vary if you tinker with different settings. SteamDB often provides similar details, however they are usually in the comments of people who have submitted a review. Often you will find different configurations that work for people. I like SteamDB partially because it has an extensive library and because you typically see several reviews along with each reviewer’s settings, so you get a good idea of what works.
Its also interesting that SDHQ says Space Marine 2 runs at 24 fps at 72 hz, and I see that at least a couple people were able to play it at 60fps with occasional dips to 30 in busy areas according to ProtonDB. So to me these seem like two resources that I’d probably bounce of each other to find the best settings that work for me.
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Fortunately, also many games run really well on default settings, and usually the ones I need to visit a resource to obtain guidance on codification are a small handful of AAA games.
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That’s nice to know about. Thanks.
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Tried both PoP: Sands of Time and Warrior Within from GoG via Heroic Launcher and neither worked.
SoT won’t even launch while WW launches but you can get past the profile set up as nothing brings up the keyboard.
There doesn’t seem to be anything out there on how to get them to run. Disappointing, but guess I could play console versions via emulation or just play on my wife’s laptop.
Getting games to work via Heroic can take a bit of tinkering, and also trying different versions of Proton and Wine. It there isn’t a guide it can be a bit of a hit or miss situation. And some games just plain won’t run in my experience, sadly. Another way you can do it is to add the Epic Store to Steam as an application, set it to lunch with proton, and launch Epic from within Steam. This will run it through emulation and I played a bunch of games that didn’t work in Heroic this way. It’s clunkier because you’re launching games from one launcher inside another launcher, but it does tend to work.
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I use a spigen rugged armour case and i can feel its warm in my hand from time to time, should i be worried about it overheating or not?
I don’t have a shell on mine so I can’t speak to that. My Deck gets warm but has never overheated (the way my docked Switch does all the time) or seemed to suffer significant battery damage from it. I rarely play graphically demanding games on it but I have before and it hasn’t been an issue.
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So in order to get a bit more life out of the Deck’s battery I followed the suggestions HERE.
I limited frame rate to 60, but I think any lower would probs be a game-by-game thing? Is TPD Limit worth turing on?
Most of the suggestions at that link seem to be game-by-game basis. BMO, I know you suggested that link to limit to 40Hz, but that seems to put the FPS/Hz slider won’t let me select that (I can get 40FPS though.)
Some of the other suggestions in the article I linked seem…strange (the suggestion to lower resolution so much is weird, but it is a smaller screen) but what do you guys reckon?
Battery life is my biggest complaint about the deck, but them again my Retroid 3+ need to be charged after maybe five hours playing Dreamcast games so maybe it’s to be expected.
Agreed, I make this decision game-by-game. 2D platformers and other Indies are often 60 without causing the Steam Deck to run low quickly. 3D action games tend to be set lower, 45, 40, 30 depending on the game and the impact on gameplay. I played BG3 at 24fps while handheld per a great guide I found and because BG3 movement is limited, it was never noticeable.
This is a by game basis as well. But yes, I think it is. Very few games need more than 12w, unless they are really power hungry. So I often test games at 12w to see what happens to the gameplay. If I notice zero difference I stick with it or test lower. Lots of Indies can be played sub 10w, and you’ll really get more out of a single battery charge. Some people will mention their TDP setting on ProtonDB and I’ll give that a shot if I haven’t already landed on one.
What does it allow you to go down to?
I really never change the resolution. It’s already set to 720p, and I’m happy with that. I don’t personally think it’s worth reducing further to squeeze a tiny bit more out of the Deck.
Airplane mode isn’t a bad suggestion, although I never think about doing it myself. Maybe I should.
Yeah, you’ll really feel it on anything power hungry. Compare it to lightweight Indies which usually allow for hours and hours of play.
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So moving the slider to the left gets to 47Hz and then the next left-press flips to 45FPS/90Hz.
40FPS says it’ll run at 80Hz.
Oh yes, I forgot it shows 80Hz when you select 40fps.
What settings (frame rate, battery, etc) do you have your Steam Deck on just for menus/store?
As all I’ve played this far is Riven I’ve got the console set up for that, however I realise a by-game method is probably better when I start playing more stuff. Just not sure what the baseline should be.
60fps/90hz is my default setting at startup and for menus, store, etc… That’s because it’s useful to have 60fps set for every new game to see if it runs well out of the box at 60 so I might as well keep my system set at that. I don’t bother changing the TDP setting for general menu and store browsing because I’m not doing that for very long and I don’t want to forget I’ve set it lower when I start a new game and wonder why it’s underperforming.
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Thanks, that’s a big help. I’m guessing if games let you change frame rate in their settings there’s no need to do so on the Deck itself?
Had another crack at getting PoP: Sands of Time running. It launched into the game, but the graphics are just a brown blur. I’ve read people had managed to get it or run, but I’m buggered if I know how they managed it. 
Might just have to replay on my laptop or emulated th console version.
Stupid question that probably has an obvious answer, are you playing the steam version? I know there’s also a version on Epic and GoG, so I want to rule out other launchers.
What steps to get it to run have you tried so far? Have you tried over versions of Proton?
I found these steps on ProtonDB from someone who said they got it working:
Game requires a bit of tinkering. I’ll try to write down everything here.
Custom Proton: GE-Proton9-15
For both the Deck controller and DualShock, use the most upvoted community layouts - they work quite well as the game doesn’t have native gamepad support. Menus require using the trackpad for mouse, but otherwise work fine.
To use widescreen and 16:10 properly, download the Resolution Fix from Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time GAME MOD Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Resolution Fix v.1.0.0.1 - download - gamepressure.com (thanks to the other comment for the link). Extract it into the game folder, open “pop.ini”, change resolution height to 800 (for 1280x800), HUD_posX to the one indicated for 16:10, and that should be it. You can always check PCGW for other tweaks, like getting rid of the intro videos. If you connect an external display and have problems booting the game, either try forcing the display resolution from Game Properties on Steam, or edit “pop.ini”, as with the afformentioned changes, game will force a 16:10 ratio.
After tinkering, the game ran 90 fps on OLED without any issues, doesn’t use much TDP (10w max maybe), battery lasts quite a lot. Overall, quite enjoyable experience.
From what I can tell the top voted community control layout that they are referring to above is the R. Daneel Layout.