RaphaniacZX
Published
DXVK_ASYNC %command%
Game has crippling shader compilation stutters where the FPS dips to 0 for seconds in regular proton, sometimes getting you killed or leading to crashes, switching to GE-47 and forcing async with the launch command fixed these stutters for the most part and increased overall performance. however the game would now crash when trying to do a new game or access parts of the inv menu indicating it crashes upon trying to touch the previous shaders but never gave me issues when doing newer sections, leading to me deciding to reinstall to load everything through this setup.
I recommend 30fps if docked or 40fps on handheld, medium settings or lower, FSR 2 to Quality docked and Performance or Balance if trying to reach for a mostly consistent 40fps, I never saw lowering the in game res to help much at all but only make all menus really blurry with no significant performance gain over just using the FSR slider.
Need to test for longer to make call, 2gbs of VRAM in BIOS or higher might be worth trying if you experience these crashes
Devs did not put even the slightest effort to checking for Steam Deck issues before release leading to performance being mediocre by default despite it working really well on PC, will try to update/do a new report if I find any other solutions to smooth out the exp, if this sounds like too much hassle I recommend sticking to the 2008 release
PROTON_FORCE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE=1 %command%
Used FF13Fix and the 4GB "Large Address Aware" with the readme's indications here: https://github.com/rebtd7/FF13Fix
Set up 3 back buttons, one for "Enter", one for "Esc" so you can esc + enter to quickly quit the game out and a final button for A turbo for extended fights, this all as QoL extras.
When on handheld I did 40hz/40fps with 10w TPD and no GPU limit on the performance part of the QAM, I found 10w was the border line to not dropping frames in gameplay in the most taxing areas, but if you don't mind elongated drops to 30 in few places or will play with 30fps, 8w is fine. I found myself on 3hrs+ battery/2:30 on the heaviest areas.
In launcher I did x4 MSAA (noticeable diff on hair up close) and 1024 shadows. If you're a new player x2 MSAA is fine and 2048 shadows are also doable in case you want them, resolution to 720p, test changes a couple times and when you decide it's fine for you close the game, open it and set the don't show again checkbox to be done with the launcher.
This is what has worked out so far:
- Using FF13Fix (link above), no changes to the default .ini settings
- In Decky Loader (https://github.com/SteamDeckHomebrew/decky-loader) install PowerTools plugin, in game turn off SMT and set gpu min freq to 1200mhz
- Applied 4GB patch to ffxiii.exe in a PC and then retransferred the file to the deck, this paired with the noted launch options. This one isn't as important as the first two if you want to avoid the hassle but it does help stability/smooth out stutters.
I've been on a rollercoaster of a ride trying to get this abandoned PC port to the forbidden smooth 60/40fps target when docked/handheld. Using the fixes above just turn off the per game profile when docked in the QAM and you should experience a decent 60 or close to 60 most of the time, then turn the profile back on when playing on handheld for the 40h/40 3hrs+ battery life.
Also if you're fine with 30 fps, that plus the fixes I explained above should get you the most consistence with battery life and performance headroom. I will post an update later on if I find any other "breakthroughs" beyond the big two changes with powertools and the and the ff13fix. Also as a final note I did not find disabling the Powertools fixes on handheld to improve battery, so I recommend you just set them, leave them alone and adjust the QAM as necessary.
