It’s been kinda a slow week as far as Deck news goes, so seems like a good time for a discussion post.
What’s something that’s significantly improved your deck experience? It can be a hardware accessory, software, decky plugin, etc.
I used a Dell Thunderbolt dock to dock my Steam Deck with my third monitor at work, so when it gets slow I can play with my Dualsense I keep in the drawer at work.
It hasn’t been slow in a while but when it was, oh boy, I made some progress in my games.
Hardware-wise:
I have to say that when I’m docked, it’s my 27" 1440p monitor. I love the way it looks, and it perfectly integer scales with 720p, so I have the option of running stuff in 720p native with no jaggies, and it looks fantastic.
When I’m handheld, I use a pair of light and thin bone conduction headphones so I can be anywhere in the house and have my ears open. I also use a simple pair of clip on 2x reading glasses to blow up the native screen, they cost me maybe $10 and really help out my 40s eyes.
Software wise: This is my main PC, and you know I always sing the praises of Nested Desktop because I’m always needing to bounce to Desktop mode. Decky Loader has also been transformative over the years with so many good plug ins.
But finally, I would have to say that the most impactful thing in recent times has been the Lossless Scaling frame gen… that’s a literal game changer. If you had told me three months ago that I’d be playing Baldur’s Gate 3 on my Steam Deck at 90 FPS, I’d have looked at you like you had a third eye growing out of the middle of your forehead, but here we are.
I got a gaming pillow from Mechanism. It holds the deck exactly where I want it, so my hands don’t fall asleep during long play sessions.
That looks cool. Is there any way to get something like that in the EU?
That doesn’t ship to the EU?
It does. But like the other guy says im not paying double the price because of tariffs/taxes.
@BaroqueInMind @Trihilis it ships to the EU, but the shipping costs nearly double the price.
It’s a nice thing for 57 euro, it’s overpriced for the 96 euro it becomes after shipping and taxes
This is peak laziness, but I installed a tablet mount on my bed’s headboard so when I lay down I can just have the deck screen in front of my face. I use an 8bitdo controller so I don’t have to hold my hands in the air.
I was originally going to get one of those gaming glasses that are advertised for the deck, but this accomplishes the same goal of comfortably gaming while laying down.
Mechanical keyboard, trackball, and docking station
It’s quite technical, but enabling ssh has made it much easier to transfer files over.
I use localsend
I can also recommend KDE connect, does not work well on most public WiFi though.
Yeah, ssh and ftp are really handy. Warpinator is also a really easy way to do file transfers for people who want something pretty easy to set up.
Honestly, Emudeck has been a game changer. I love how it just sets up all the emulators pretty fast and I just drag and drop and im off to the races with default controller layouts.
Used it for a long time, but IMO RetroDeck is way better in making things as dumb as possible. One of the reasons I tried RetroDeck in the first place - bug with ROM Manager, it was showing some blank forms in my face and reset didn’t helped, until the new EmuDeck update.
you know what, im always open to trying new things, I’ll definitely give retrodeck a try for sure, thank you!
Heroic launcher, kdeconnect
I upgraded my KVM switch recently to one with more ports (from 2 to 4). I used to have to get up and physically rewire the audio and switch the video input selection on my monitor when I wanted to use it instead of my main Linux desktop or ancient Win7 PC before. Now that I can just type a couple keystrokes to switch back and forth I’m actually using my Deck way more often…
Would you mind sharing your hardware setup?
- Steam Deck w/ official Dock
- IOGEAR GCS1104 (4-port DVI KVM)
- generic HDMI-to-DVI cable
- Wireless (RF) headphones – compatible with Sony TMR-RF912R transmitter; not sure on specific headphone model (it’s the one that came with the transmitter, but I can’t read the model number on the headphones any more since it’s too old)
- a generic 1920x1080 monitor with DVI input + keyboard + mouse
- XBox360 controller w/ official wireless PC adapter (USB)
I got the KVM used in good condition. It’s an older model – but I went with it anyway since it was a drop-in replacement for my 2-port setup and getting it used was much cheaper than their newer models. The newer ones support higher resolution/frame rates though, I think; I know this one won’t do frame rates above 60FPS properly even though my monitor is capable of it when plugged in directly.
There’s a few quirks with this setup. Probably most annoying is that moving the mouse typically causes computers to wake from sleep (like pressing a key on a keyboard normally does…); I think there’s a way to mask that event off with udev rules but, eh, even a decade or so after getting the original 2-port KVM I haven’t cared enough to actually bother working it out, so I guess it’s not that big of an issue to me… :p
I’ve got a JSAUX modcase, and it’s been great for deck portability. The case that came with the deck is great for protection, but too big to fit easily in my bag I take to work. The modcase provides enough protection to put the deck in a bag, and has made it a lot easier to take with me. dBrand did this first with the Killswitch case, but it was a bit more expensive than I was willing to pay. I think some other brands have since made their own versions of it, but I don’t have any experience with those.
Back button “enhancement set”.
Hated the stock back buttons and just never used them because they lined up exactly with the joint on my finger.
These just stick on with some 3M tape (definitely clean prior to application) and my fingers rest on the buttons now - and they’re way easier to click.
I also grabbed some thumb stick cover things, but those aren’t as “game changing”
Hahaha this post made me realize that the deck does have a back button. I never used them
Updated Proton-GE Latest version in Heroic launcher.
Installing OpenSUSE Tumbleweed was perfect for me. I much prefer the Plasma 6.4 Wayland desktop to gaming mode. Haven’t noticed any slowdowns.
