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Latest Comments by Mohandevir
AMD Ryzen Z1 Series announced for handhelds, ASUS ROG Ally first to get it
26 Apr 2023 at 12:36 pm UTC Likes: 1

If it was that easy to beat the Steam Deck, Aya Neo and OneXPlayer would have beaten it. They already have these "more powerful" devices. Thing is, SteamOS is a major reason of the Steam Deck's success. Windows is unfit for the task and Gamescope-Session comes with lots of "push a button" features that Windows doesn't have at all or requires you to hack into it.

On top of that, from comments I read on forums, many users value the Steam validation tool, because it gives an easy way to know if the game is a good fit for a handheld (button mapping, text and UI scale and all these things that do not link to games that don't run on a Linux OS). This and the awesome community support that the Steam Deck as gained.

Thank you, but no thank you. I'll wait for the Steam Deck 2 that will blow the Asus Ally out of the water, like every new device that comes to the market, at a much lower price.

Valve doesn't need much to make a Steam Deck 2 a huge success
5 Mar 2023 at 6:16 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: EikeI would have never seen this b(r)etzel thing if you had not talked so much about it, and now I cannot unsee it!
Lol! Sorry.

Personally, it's not really an issue.

This said, I didn't even mentionned possible interferences... Valve warned user to be careful when replacing the original nvme because it could cause interferences. Could be similar with the screens. Some may cause interferences, other may be too sensible to them. Every time you change a component in such a compact design, you must revalidate the whole thing. There are always unforseen surprises... Sometimes good, sometimes bad.

Valve doesn't need much to make a Steam Deck 2 a huge success
5 Mar 2023 at 5:02 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: CatKiller
Quoting: MohandevirMy point is more pixels means more strain on the APU. Unless the Steam Deck 2 comes with a much more powerful APU, which may mean shorter battery autonomy, that's a tradeoff I would avoid.
For sure, it's definitely a balance that need to be struck. APU and battery tech improvements might cover it by the time the next gen is ready, and if they don't just stick with the lower res.

As for the bezel thing it might be caused by the internal components that require too much space?
Nah, it's because they were trying to hit a price point, the same as it not having great colour reproduction. The bezel is the (quite chunky in this case) part of the screen that doesn't display anything. Having pixels that go all, or almost all, the way to the edge is an engineering challenge, so displays where they've managed to do so are more expensive.
Still, I wonder what design choice they would have made in using a 1280x800 8" no bezel screen... Meaning, keep the exact display size surface and just remove the actual bezels. Could the Steam Deck get smaller? Would it cause airflow issues? Does these no-bezel screens generate more heat than the one they chose?

Valve doesn't need much to make a Steam Deck 2 a huge success
4 Mar 2023 at 9:38 pm UTC

Quoting: CatKiller
Quoting: MohandevirI don't see the point in the resolution race.
Game devs are more likely to test their UI at 1080p than 720p (unless they're targeting the Deck specifically, in which case the actual resolution doesn't matter, since they're testing for whatever it is). The bezels are too big so, if you get rid of those, you either get a smaller screen, bigger pixels, or more pixels. Of those (assuming there's adequate performance), more pixels is best. That's why I suggested it, anyway; OEMs just like putting big numbers on spec sheets.
My point is more pixels means more strain on the APU. Unless the Steam Deck 2 comes with a much more powerful APU, which may mean shorter battery autonomy, that's a tradeoff I would avoid. Actually the Steam Deck is 800p and many devs already take that into account. Lots of games have been updated to cope with that. I have confidence they will continue to do so, no matter what Valve settles for.

As for the bezel thing it might be caused by the internal components that require too much space? Since Valve didn't want bigger/more pixels, they may have decided to fill the space with bezels? Just a mechanical designer perspective on the matter and only one example of what may have been. Personally, I'm fine with them.

But hey, your opinion is as good as mine. :smile:

Valve doesn't need much to make a Steam Deck 2 a huge success
4 Mar 2023 at 3:16 pm UTC Likes: 1

To begin with, I really like my Steam Deck the way it is.

If I had one wish, it would be egpu support integrated into the docking station. Some chinese company did miracles with the RX6600m mobile chip. Maybe something equivalent, at the current gpu gen? Along with the Steam Controller 2 release, It would make for an awesome Steam Machine.

I don't see the point in the resolution race. 1280x800 is pretty fine, imo. Maybe 1600x1000, but I wouldn't go higher than that. I'd use a more powerfull apu to try and reach stable 60fps in most AAA games, personally. But in any case, it would require better battery life, so...

I still think Valve hit the sweet spot, with the current Steam Deck. And please don't consider any modifications to the inputs layout. It's awesome as it is.

Wreckfest is a smashing good time on Steam Deck
21 Feb 2023 at 2:44 pm UTC Likes: 1

Dirt Showdown on steroids? Looks great and fun.

Returnal is just rough on Steam Deck but great on Desktop Linux
16 Feb 2023 at 2:04 pm UTC

Quoting: MaxineLet's stay optimistic : the game just released, we could see some optimisation in the coming days. :grin:
Yep! Unless things have changed, Sony is a great supporter of the Steam Deck. Returnal is not tested yet on it. It's not too far fetched to think that an upcoming update in the next few days/weeks will make it playable. They've done it with other games.

Framework begin offering 2TB SSD upgrades for Steam Deck
9 Feb 2023 at 7:42 pm UTC Likes: 1

Unsurprisingly sold at an hefty price (399$CAN), but really awesome nonetheless. Thanks Framework!

Big new Stable Update for Steam Deck and Desktop Steam
2 Feb 2023 at 2:33 pm UTC

Quoting: STiAT
Quoting: Mohandevir"The new BigPicture mode has been made the default one"

Meaning it's now the Steam Deck UI for desktop users too?

Edit: Yep! Just confirmed it. Performances are still abysmal, on Nvidia gpu.
Question, do you have "Enable GPU accelerated rendering in web views" enabled in Settings / Interface? I read that helps with the new big picture mode on NVidia for some reason.
Ah? No. I just wanted to see if it was really the case. I'll have a look. Thanks!

Edit: Just confirmed. It was enabled by default. In my case, enabled or disabled doesn't make much of a difference. Maybe because I'm on an old laptop with GTX980m?

These were the most popular Steam Deck games for January 2023
2 Feb 2023 at 2:29 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: Phlebiac
Quoting: MohandevirI was able to rip my whole Wii library from my old scratched DVD's.
Got any tips on good tools for that? Does it require anything special hardware-wise? (I think there was some console platform where there was a specific model of DVD drive that would be able to properly read them, but I don't remember details.)
https://dolphin-emu.org/docs/guides/ripping-games/?nocr=true [External Link]

Personally, that's what I followed. I used my Wii and an SD card to setup the Homebrew channel. Once it's done, I copied the content of the USB Loader GX zip file to an external drive (Fat32 partition), launched it via the Homebrew channel entry and began to install my games on the external drive (inserting the DVD into to Wii will prompt an options menu, just choose install). After that, I added Priiloader to my Wii (same as USB Loader GX) and configured it to boot directly into USB Loader GX, so that I may start my games from the external drive... The DVD drive on my Wii is doing some really disturbing noises and it destroyed a couple of my DVDs already. From that point, I recuperated the .wfs files of each games, from that external drive and put them on my Steam Deck (Emudeck). Dolphin can read them as is, even if broken in multiple files (Fat32's 4gb max). The final touch is to configure the controller layouts per game (in Dolphin). There are good tutorials for that if you google it.

Edit: With a simple udev rule addition and a Dolphin USB passthrough for the Portal, I was able to play Skylanders: Spyro's adventures/Giants/Swap Force on my Steam Deck... I connected our Swap Force portal to my usb hub and it got recognized.

https://www.reddit.com/r/DolphinEmulator/comments/k12x1o/skylanders_portal_on_linux/ [External Link]

Seriously, for all games, the visual upgrade over standard Wii graphics completely justifies it (Gamescope FSR, I tested it on my Holiso install on the PC that's connected to my 1080p TV).