LazyGecko1
Published
While none of the fixes I've mentioned are absolutely necessary, I do believe that they significantly improve the gameplay.
This game doesn't have the level of setting customisation available in most PC games. In order to change the game's FPS/refresh rate, resolution and disable VSync, you need to boot up the game once to create the config file "BGE.player.ini" located at: "/home/deck/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/2556990/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/Saved Games/Beyond Good & Evil - 20th Anniversary Edition" (if installed to SSD on a Steam Deck). Once created, edit it according to the instructions in this Steam Community post: https://steamcommunity.com/app/2556990/discussions/0/4344366409318235518/ The line: “PresentationInterval = 0” without the quotes, can be entered under the [Display] heading to disable VSync. Some people have reported disabling VSync as being necessary to get the custom FPS/refresh rate to work correctly, but you’re experience might be different. Personally, I did disable it, as the Steam Deck has built in VSync that can be toggled from the Quick-Access menu anyway.
I changed the right trackpad to "As Mouse" with left mouse-click on press and changed the left trackpad to "Single Button" with right mouse-click on press.
Being a modern Ubisoft game, one must sadly put up with the god-awful Ubisoft Connect launcher. The launcher has a mandatory requirement of having to sign in to a Ubisoft account every single time you start up the game and even if you tick the box that says "Remember Me" it will not, in fact, remember you and ask you to re-enter your details every single time (at least, this was my experience on Steam Deck OLED). With some tinkering you can disable the Ubisoft Connect launcher, but keep in mind that an initial first time login, along with (apparently) additional reaffirming logins down the line are still necessary. This is done by just turning off your internet whenever you want to play the game. BUT, if you prefer, you can do what I did and install SteamTinkerLauncher and enable the "Block Internet" toggle in the STL Game Menu for BG&E-20th. An installation guide for STL on Steam Deck is available here: https://github.com/sonic2kk/steamtinkerlaunch/wiki/Installation#steam-deck
On Steam Deck, when in gaming mode with default settings there is an unintentional letter-boxing bug that cuts of some of the top and bottom of the screen. It is clear that this is a bug as the game renders to the display correctly, without letter-boxing, when playing the game in desktop mode. In order to fix the issue in gaming mode, simply go into the Properties menu for the game and in the General tab, change the Game Resolution setting to whatever resolution you specified in the .ini file (for me it was 1920x1080, but the default is 1280x720) AND also activate the toggle underneath that says "Set resolution for internal and external display". The letter-boxing will now be gone and the game will render correctly in 16:9.
Hopefully, one day in the future, there may be a method of completely removing Ubisoft Connect from this completely offline, completely single-player, 20+ year-old game without having to resort to less than legal means. It IS now possible to completely bypass the Square Enix login on the Steam re-release of Final Fantasy VII, thanks to the 7th Heaven mod manager and launcher by Tsunamods, so it might be possible that a dedicated team of fans are able to do something similar for BG&E-20th. Sadly, however, I don't think that's very likely. Here's hoping I'm wrong.
The game plays great on Steamdeck unmodified, but has minor control issues and broken FMVs, will hopefully be patched soon.
Using the Steamdeck's built in controls: Standard attacks, performed by tapping the right trigger, can sometimes "stick" when attacking repeatedly and instead charge into a power attack that won't fire untill the trigger is pressed again. This can be a bit irritating during hectic fights, but is hardly gamebreaking.
FMV files, which the game uses for multiple secrets that I won't spoil here will not play correctly when playing on Steamdeck. While the audio, which consists only of atmospheric music, DOES play, the actually important video does NOT play forcing the player to look up the footage on youtube, significantly breaking the wonderful sense of immersion the game creates. A second, much more minor, issue is that the menu of the leaderboard at the end of one of the game's optional challenges can't be navigated or closed with gamepad controls and must instead be operated with mouse controls.
In my opinion, this game's Steamdeck status should be 'Playable' rather than 'Verified', at least untill the compatability issues I've pointed out have been patched.
