Steam Deck, a perfect companion to your Steam Ant - The Bear and Badger

Lurch666

I can hear the fan but so far it's been quiet enough not to bother me.
Then again my tinnitus could have something to do with that.

Lurch666

Playing yakuza 0 at work with headphones and I noticed a problem with the audio where every second it appears to have a very brief moment of silence like the audio is having trouble keeping up.
Didn't notice it last night cause I had the volume low and wasn't using headphones.

Changing the resolution didn't make a difference (thought it might have been a resource problem) but looking on the web it appears that game had some audio issues on PC so maybe it's something that can be patched.

Don't know if it's just me having this problem but it seems strange to have an issue with a steam deck certified game.

GurtTractor

b0r1s

Quiter fans anyone? https://www.techradar.com/news/are-your-steam-deck-fans-too-loud-ifixit-is-working-on-an-upgrade

Blue Swirl

Good old iFixit.

Lurch666

Tried playing yakuza zero with the frame rate limited to 30 and it's made no difference so I'm thinking this is software related.

If anyone has a deck and yakuza 0 could they try it and see if they have the same issue?
It's no big deal as I'm still playing the game but just wondering if this is just happening to me.

Ed_Flanders

You could give Proton experimental a try. I'm playing Yakuza 0 on a crappy laptop with an igpu and it works "fine". Low resolution, low fps, but no audio issues with Proton experimental. I'm on Debian, but I guess it can't be that different from the Deck OS.

dynamiteReady

Waiting for a hack to turn this into an optimised GamePass machine. Wonder if Microsoft themselves won't encourage that, if not actually develop the mod themselves.

Yossarian

Microsoft and Valve are working together:

https://www.ign.com/articles/steam-deck-supports-xbox-game-pass

Really it will be waiting for full Windows support, I imagine.

GurtTractor

I think you can already use Windows with it, but there's many problems currently IIRC. Official support would be great.

b0r1s

It’ll get there definitely. All MS need to do is encourage the Proton compatibility with devs. I don’t think Windows on Steam Deck is the way forward. It’s a shit OS for SoC machines. It would literally kill the 64GB model.

Yossarian

I don’t know, I can’t see Microsoft pushing for their dev teams to build versions of games for rival operating systems. We don’t see Mac versions of XGS games, and that’s a much larger market.

b0r1s

Depends, it's Xbox goal to have GP on everything. I'm sure they'd port to PS4/5 if Sony let them.

Minnesänger

Yossarian wrote:

I don’t know, I can’t see Microsoft pushing for their dev teams to build versions of games for rival operating systems. We don’t see Mac versions of XGS games, and that’s a much larger market.

Would put money on it being adding Proton compatibility to Gamepass games, like b0r1s says, rather than adding more Windows support to Steam Deck. Yes, Mac is technically a bigger market but I don't buy that comparison (personally, ofc) - Steam is the default PC gaming storefront whereas Macs aren't synonymous with gaming. If they're looking to grow Gamepass on PC, makes sense to accommodate Steam.

monkey

GP on non-Windows platforms has been all cloud-based so far hasn't it? Making it natively compatible with other platforms also means making all their third-party devs do it too. Or you get the same patchy implementation of the service that SteamDeck currently has with Proton.

I think there'll be an almost pain-free way of using the SteamDeck with Windows down the track. Between Valve and MS (and community hacks to fill in the gaps), it doesn't seem that unlikely. But yeah it's not optimal for a handheld with limited storage and a funky interface.

Minnesänger

b0r1s wrote:

Depends, it's Xbox goal to have GP on everything. I'm sure they'd port to PS4/5 if Sony let them.

Yup, as a subscription service, makes sense to get it out there. And, adding Proton support cuts into their market by precisely 0% as these Steam owners are already on PC...

b0r1s

Steam Deck is going to sell millions, Mac has always been a flat market share, Apple just aren't interested in gamers. And the majority of Steam Deck users aren't going to pay PS £100 to add a bulky OS, if the numbers are there, then MS will go with the volume. It's like the old argument of not putting Office on an iPad. Once MS clocked the numbers of course they were gonna port it.

Minnesänger

monkey wrote:

GP on non-Windows platforms has been all cloud-based so far hasn't it? Making it natively compatible with other platforms also means making all their third-party devs do it too. Or you get the same patchy implementation of the service that SteamDeck currently has with Proton. I think there'll be an almost pain-free way of using the SteamDeck with Windows down the track. Between Valve and MS (and community hacks to fill in the gaps), it doesn't seem that unlikely. But yeah it's not optimal for a handheld with limited storage and a funky interface.

Yeah, and Cloud has been on things like iOS, no?

Down the line, who knows? But very, very much doubt this collab means a focus on native windows support for steam deck rather than MS just encouraging Proton support for GamePass games.

b0r1s

Cinty knows.

monkey

I just want Windows on it. This may be skewing my thinking.

Minnesänger

Boris knows.

monkey

I've got serious Linux bigotry. I've had to use it a few times and always find it completely unintuitive with stupid UI choices.

Send it back to where it came from imo.

Yossarian

Minnesänger wrote:

b0r1s wrote:

Depends, it's Xbox goal to have GP on everything. I'm sure they'd port to PS4/5 if Sony let them.

Yup, as a subscription service, makes sense to get it out there. And, adding Proton support cuts into their market by precisely 0% as these Steam owners are already on PC...

They’re on PC, but not on Windows. I think that Microsoft are unlikely to support initiatives that could undermine their dominance of the PC OS market.

b0r1s wrote:

Steam Deck is going to sell millions, Mac has always been a flat market share, Apple just aren't interested in gamers. And the majority of Steam Deck users aren't going to pay PS £100 to add a bulky OS, if the numbers are there, then MS will go with the volume. It's like the old argument of not putting Office on an iPad. Once MS clocked the numbers of course they were gonna port it.

Mac has already sold millions.

And this argument about “look at the potential user base” is the same one that people trotted out when talking about Starfield launching on PlayStation, and we know how that turned out.

So far, Xbox has shown zero interest in putting their games on other platforms besides a couple of Switch ports, and Spencer has already suggested that this was probably a mistake.

It’s not impossible that this could change, of course, but it would be a big turnaround from how Xbox has been approaching things so far.

GurtTractor

monkey wrote:

I've got serious Linux bigotry. I've had to use it a few times and always find it completely unintuitive with stupid UI choices. Send it back to where it came from imo.

There are many desktop environments, all with fairly different UIs tbf. But yeah I've tried several and with the best will in the world there remains some basic elements that are lacking compared to Windows, which for all its bloat and messiness does get a lot of the basic experience right.

I've only tried to use it for a desktop machine though, I think on something like the Deck a bespoke lightweight Linux OS clearly makes a lot of sense.

Minnesänger

I mean, it's Cloud right now, which is in line with everything else. And more windows support in general for the Deck is a known thing. But, don't see it turning out the way you imagine, Yoss, especially given how successful Steam have been at pushing proton compatibility.

Don't get the Starfield comparison either - been pretty clear from Sony and MS that they view console exclusivity as separate from PC this gen. It's also not about "potential user base" either - Steam owners buy games, and if the money was there to port to Mac natively then developers would too. They don't because Apple clearly don't care about native desktop / laptop gaming and neither do their users.

Kow

I thought Microsoft stated that they wanted Xbox game pass on as many devices as possible? Surely Steam Deck is a perfect fit and would get more subscribers.

Minnesänger

Kow wrote:

I thought Microsoft stated that they wanted Xbox game pass on as many devices as possible? Surely Steam Deck is a perfect fit and would get more subscribers.

Yes.

b0r1s

b0r1s wrote:

Cinty knows.

Kow knows.

Minnesänger

KnOWs

Yossarian

Minnesänger wrote:

Apple clearly don't care about native desktop / laptop gaming and neither do their users.

Apple created their own gaming API.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_(API)

But yeah, this is besides the point. As I say, it’s not impossible that this could change, I just don’t think it should be expected as it would be a pretty big change from how Xbox has been approaching things so far. And putting GP on everything could well be simply referring to cloud gaming.

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