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Valheim updated with full gamepad and Steam Deck support

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Time to wander through the Black Forest from your bed, as Valheim now has a fresh update available that was previously in a public Beta to add in gamepad support and work nicely with the Steam Deck. It's the same Beta we wrote about previously but it's now available for everyone.

Want to see it on the Steam Deck? Got you covered:

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By default, it appears that Valve picked Proton 7.0-1 for Valheim to run on Deck, even though it has a fully supported and nicely working native Linux version. It's not clear why they picked Proton but there you have it. After doing some testing, I can safely say this is going to be awesome on a Steam Deck. While it has a few performance issues here and there, a lot of games are the same with stuttering when bits load in, which will improve over time. It's comfortable as heck with Deck controls though, the Valheim team did a great job on controller support.

The non-spoiler patch notes include these highlights:

New Content:


* Suddenly… Frost Caves!
* Anniversary drinking horn added. Skål!

Fixes & Improvements:


* Pause function in singleplayer
* Full controller support! (Gamepad legend and alternative glyphs)
* Gamepad text input when running through in steam big picture mode
* UI, settings and Steam Deck fixes
* FPS Limiter and reduced background performance
* Split dialog can take numeric input
* Signs can now be built without a workbench
* Bug fixes and quality of life improvements
* Armour stand now supports atgeirs and shield styles
* Nomap mode tweaks

Valheim is available to buy on Humble Store or Steam

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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7 comments

crt0mega Mar 1, 2022
Quoting: Liam DaweBy default, it appears that Valve picked Proton 7.0-1 for Valheim to run on Deck, even though it has a fully supported and nicely working native Linux version.
Last time my girlfriend tried to run Valheim native, it didn't run well. There have been several updates since then, maybe we should try it again ^^
const Mar 1, 2022
I tried the beta with my gamepad and couldn't find how to throw away stuff from the inventory with the gamepad. Was killed because my char didn't move an inch any more because of *overweight*. :D
Everything else worked pretty well. Can imagine it playing amazing with the steamdeck controls.
Philadelphus Mar 1, 2022
Was this from when they were accidentally testing Proton versions even when native versions were available, and they haven't yet updated with the new test? Or it could just be the native version doesn't work well on the Deck. Actually, maybe you could test that Liam.

Actually actually, that brings up a question: how easy is it to select between native and Proton versions of games on the Deck?
fabertawe Mar 2, 2022
I find it very odd they wouldn't use the native version, maybe this will come.
Uberkeyser Mar 2, 2022
Nice, but how about some footage (with FPS indicator) of a large stone building with terraformed ground surface under it. That's ususally the part where Valheim terribly faults (in its current state)
areamanplaysgame Mar 2, 2022
Quoting: crt0mega
Quoting: Liam DaweBy default, it appears that Valve picked Proton 7.0-1 for Valheim to run on Deck, even though it has a fully supported and nicely working native Linux version.
Last time my girlfriend tried to run Valheim native, it didn't run well. There have been several updates since then, maybe we should try it again ^^

The game doesn't perform as well as it should, but I don't think that's just the Linux native build. I think it is poorly optimized on Windows as well, and I would be surprised if running it with Proton improves performance.
TheRiddick Mar 2, 2022
I saw one person review this and they were getting 30fps.. (press review) good to see things got a bit patched at launch. Should still run better IMO


Last edited by TheRiddick on 2 March 2022 at 10:05 pm UTC
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