Kao
Published
Tried default proton, proton experimental, proton 8. Tried verifying game file integrity. No joy. Hangs at steam logo, then closes out to library page.
Given the game has a native MacOS app that I have never even been able to load I had low expectations but it's been a breeze on SteamDeck
Worked out of the box with default settings and controls. Only changes I made were to controls for personal preferences.
The game recommends using headphones for full audio experience, and I found the audio quality to be excellent. When playing on battery, I used 18ohm impedance ear canal buds to save battery, but when docked I used 70ohm on ear headphones, and the immersive sound really shone.
40hz refresh rate
I'd come to expect lag and crashes having played NMS on a iMac bootcamp partition, and was therefore expecting similar on my deck, but it's been so much better. Most played game on deck so far.
It works as well as the current state of the game allows it to work. Framerate issues are no worse than the Windows experience.
Infrequent "Fatal Error" while game is starting, but restarts OK. Twice in a month since v1.0. Unable to replicate reliably.
The game is still in need of optimisation. Some maps get a solid 60fps (underground car park), some maps tank to 25-30fps (areas of SFC). Most manage around 45. After much tinkering with in-game settings I've found high settings, 45fps cap (deck uncapped) and v-sync off gives the most consistent performance. Also, and ymmv, I've found that disabling day/night cycle, setting sun angle to max, cloud cover to max has helped with consistency by minimising shadow contrast.
The game is more stable on Steam Deck than on MacOS, which was my previous experience of playing the game.
Changed right stick from camera movement mouse to camera movement joystick.
When playing on battery I switched to 40hz and half-rate shading. Reverted when docked to monitor.
There was an incompatibility warning, which can be ignored, but as a result it defaults to the lowest graphic settings which can be adjusted once the game loads.
I need varifocals due to my age, I found I was peering over the top of them for close-ups more than usual. YMMV if you don't have old man eyes.
There were occasional crashes, but these have been a known issue on windows for a while. I've played for approx 70 hours on the deck and experienced 4 or 5 crashes. Game reloaded fine straight away and no progress was lost. No more than a minor annoyance.
Graphic settings will need to be adjusted as the installer thinks it's an incompatible potato and sets everything to the lowest. I found the High preset to be a good starting point, and then I turned vsync off, turned TAA and FidelityFX on. Motion blur, bloom, lens flare, screen effects are all off, but that's more personal prefs. At 40hz on native screen, it's a steady 40fps. Connected to a monitor at 60hz, it's consistently in the high 50's
A very minor issue on the controller mapping/settings screen where i was unable to scroll down to view mappings below the fold. Not an issue on other settings screens as they all fit the screen.
At one point whilst playing docked I noticed the fan was going superfast and the GPU was at 99%. Seemed odd, so I experimented with locking the GPU and found that 1300 was a sweet spot, GPU stabilised around 60%, with frames locked to 41 (1080p Monitor @ 165hz, official dock)
Works out of the box, looks good, runs well. An excellent "reclining on the sofa with your deck" game
40hz, 40fps
