Check out our Monthly Survey Page to see what our users are running.
Latest Comments by Mar2ck
Steam Deck Preview update has a Unified Refresh Rate and Framerate Limit slider
7 November 2023 at 1:25 pm UTC

Does the slider jump straight from 30 to 40 fps? Because the screen can't run at 31-39 hz and with frame duplication the screen would have to run at 62-78 hz.

Radeon RX 7800 XT and RX 7700 XT revealed, plus more details on FSR 3
25 August 2023 at 8:28 pm UTC

Quoting: ShmerlMay be they can turn FSR without upscaling part into a Vulkan layer now, similar to how VkBasalt does it.

I don't think that would work considering FSR 2/3 needs access to motion vectors, depth buffer and a ton of other data from the game to work properly. It's possible in theory by having the layer read that data from the game process but that would likely require per-game support.

Factorio adds controller support in experimental update
16 June 2023 at 3:49 pm UTC Likes: 3

Quoting: Liam DaweA lot of console ports a done by a third-party, and they end up having their own code-base that's separate.
Yup it's the same case with The Sims 4 and Civilization VI. It's yet another downside of using porting companies over in-house multi-platform development.

Steam gets overhauled with new overlay, Steam Deck big stable update
15 June 2023 at 4:14 pm UTC Likes: 2

This update adds fractional scaling (finally!!) but in the process they also added a load of bugs to the way scaling is handled in different parts of the UI (desktop, big picture, in-game overlay). Relevant Github issues for anyone interested: #5908 #9565

Also if you're on KDE Plasma X11, whenever you close Steam or open Big Picture mode there's a chance the entire desktop environment will crash and therefore all of your opened programs too. If there was any reason to keep this in the beta branch a bit longer it should've been that.

Nintendo Switch emulator yuzu gets a huge performance boost
12 May 2023 at 7:14 pm UTC Likes: 15

Quoting: legluondunetWe had never known an emulator that emulates a console still on sale.
Not true, it happened with the N64 (UltraHLE), the GBA (NO$GBA) and the DS (Desmume). Citra was running most 3DS games about half way through that console's sales period so you could say that one counts too. This isn't a new phenomenon.

Huge Steam Beta upgrade with new overlay, screenshot manager & more
28 April 2023 at 4:10 pm UTC Likes: 1

They updated the server browser🥳 I'm sure the ten other people that actually use that feature are happy too

AMD Ryzen Z1 Series announced for handhelds, ASUS ROG Ally first to get it
25 April 2023 at 6:34 pm UTC Likes: 2

Isn't going from 4 GPU cores to 12 quite a big jump? I would've expected a Z1 Pro or something with 8 GPU cores to fill in the gap.

Half-Life: Alyx fully playable without VR even on Steam Deck thanks to a mod
11 April 2023 at 8:52 pm UTC Likes: 13

I love Half Life Alyx and I'm glad more people will get to experience it but I'm expecting people to play it like any old flatscreen game and then dismiss it as a mediocre shooter.

The best part about Alyx is it's tactility. The fact you can rest your hand on a wall and it doesn't just phase through, that you reload by reaching for ammo over your shoulder and shoving it into your gun, hiding behind cover during firefights by physically ducking, the god damn gravity gloves. Just throwing stuff around and flicking your wrist to pull it back to you is so fun, I don't see how that can translate to a traditional gaming setup.

I really wish Valve would port Alyx to PSVR2, then it's be more accessible but in a way that doesn't compromise the experience.

Counter-Strike 2 from Valve releasing Summer 2023, Limited Test starts today
23 March 2023 at 10:34 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: CatKillerVulkan-native and first class Linux support would be sensible for Valve, but reusing their DirectX stuff and just plumbing it through DXVK would also be well within Valve's historical norms.
Looking at Valve's track record with Source 2 games up to now, I don't think we need to worry about native Vulkan support. Every game they've released with that engine has native Vulkan support on Linux (with The Lab is the sole exception).

They've only ever used DXVK-native in Source 1 games, presumably because that engine is too old and spaghetti coded to support modern graphics APIs. Remember that no Source 1 games support DirectX 11 or 12 either.

Ship of Harkinian, a PC port of Ocarina of Time has a feature-filled upgrade
9 March 2023 at 2:10 am UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: artixbtwUgh, can someone please re-post the Discord-walled download link for the latest version?
You can download it through their Github actions page. Click on the latest build (that has a checkmark) then scroll down and download the artifact you want.