Every article tag can be clicked to get a list of all articles in that category. Every article tag also has an RSS feed! You can customize an RSS feed too!
We do often include affiliate links to earn us some pennies. See more here.

Update: many months later, I was clearly right and they actually fixed it.


CD PROJEKT RED recently released another major patch for Cyberpunk 2077. Curiously, they added a dedicated Steam Deck preset in the graphics options.

Nice to see they're paying attention and tweaking things like they said they would be. However, I'm not sure what they're trying to achieve with this new option. Checking between the various presets available, the new Steam Deck option is exactly the same as the Ultra setting. It seems broken and doesn't do anything, or it wasn't supposed to be live right now but no matter the case, it's really not right. Doing a benchmark on the Steam Deck with the setting gives an overall sub-30FPS. If you reload the game with Steam Deck set in the settings, it just goes back to Ultra as the preset too.

To show it clearly here's the Steam Deck setting, followed by Medium and the difference is striking:

YouTube Thumbnail
YouTube videos require cookies, you must accept their cookies to view. View cookie preferences.
Accept Cookies & Show   Direct Link

Of course this was tested and verified across multiple runs, quitting the game between preset changes and such to ensure it was actually fully set. It's just broken, perhaps a copy and paste error.

Hopefully CDPR will take another look and actually set it correctly, as there's simply no way this is what it's supposed to be. For now, it's something to keep in mind.

New Update: After some more fun investigating, the Steam Deck preset definitely doesn't work right. By itself, it sets High+Ultra but it's more than that.

Going from Medium to Steam Deck and running the benchmark, it gave a higher performance than my video.

Reloading the game, it then says it's preset to Ultra. So I set it to Steam Deck again and run benchmark to see really low performance. Then I set it to Low, go back to the menu, then back in and set again to Steam Deck and run then benchmark again, and it's the best performance I've seen yet.

Cyberpunk seems to grab onto what preset you had last for Steam Deck, and any restart when you've set to Steam Deck seems to jack it back up to Ultra. So, the Steam Deck preset is definitely broken which is why other videos may show a different performance or visuals.

Low: 46.31 average FPS
Swapping Low to Steam Deck: 46.26 average FPS

Medium: 36.72 average FPS
Swapping Medium to Steam Deck: 36.30 average FPS

High: 28.39 average FPS
Swapping High to Steam Deck: 28.11 average FPS

Go back to even just the menu after going through the presets and setting Steam Deck, then back into the benchmark: 22.07 average FPS as it seems to default Steam Deck preset to High+Ultra. Saw the same behaviour on desktop too.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
17 Likes
About the author -
author picture
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly checked on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. You can also follow my personal adventures on Bluesky.
See more from me
The comments on this article are closed.
All posts need to follow our rules. For users logged in: please hit the Report Flag icon on any post that breaks the rules or contains illegal / harmful content. Guest readers can email us for any issues.
11 comments

Werner Mar 23, 2022
hmm weird, according to this video it seem to work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_lthCD2III


Last edited by Werner on 23 March 2022 at 12:22 pm UTC
Liam Dawe Mar 23, 2022
hmm weird, according to this video it seem to work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_lthCD2III
There is absolutely no way with those graphical settings (high/ultra) that video is correct. Lots of the preset options don't take effect until you restart the game I've found. The Deck simply cannot handle those settings. Edit: they have FSR on and set to Balanced too, so I tried that as well and nope - performance not close to that video.


Last edited by Liam Dawe on 23 March 2022 at 12:57 pm UTC
Mohandevir Mar 23, 2022
The parameters were commented out and they forgot to remove the "#"?
Werner Mar 23, 2022
thanks for the info, was just wondering about the video i found ;)

hmm weird, according to this video it seem to work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_lthCD2III
There is absolutely no way with those graphical settings (high/ultra) that video is correct. Lots of the preset options don't take effect until you restart the game I've found. The Deck simply cannot handle those settings. Edit: they have FSR on and set to Balanced too, so I tried that as well and nope - performance not close to that video.
Spl-it Mar 23, 2022
View PC info
  • Mega Supporter
hmm weird, according to this video it seem to work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_lthCD2III

Yeah, something funky is going on there, as comparing the video shows the quality doesn't match, at all.
(right video is GOL)
Liam Dawe Mar 23, 2022
hmm weird, according to this video it seem to work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_lthCD2III

Yeah, something funky is going on there, as comparing the video shows the quality doesn't match, at all.
(right video is GOL)
Yeah, even with FSR on, their video shows lighting and textures at a much lower quality level for sure. So either way, something in Cyberpunk is not correctly setting things.
Mountain Man Mar 23, 2022
Cyberpunk 2077 being broken in some fashion is a "dog bites man" story.
Liam Dawe Mar 23, 2022
After some more fun investigating, the Steam Deck preset definitely doesn't work right. By itself, it sets High+Ultra but it's more than that.

Going from Medium to Steam Deck and running the benchmark, it gave a higher performance than my video.

Reloading the game, it then says it's preset to Ultra. So I set it to Steam Deck again and run benchmark to see really low performance. Then I set it to Low, go back to the menu, then back in and set again to Steam Deck and run then benchmark again, and it's the best performance I've seen yet.

Cyberpunk seems to grab onto what preset you had last for Steam Deck, and any restart when you've set to Steam Deck seems to jack it back up to Ultra. So, the Steam Deck preset is definitely broken which is why other videos may show a different performance or visuals.

Low: 46.31 average FPS
Swapping Low to Steam Deck: 46.26 average FPS

High: 28.39 average FPS
Swapping High to Steam Deck: 28.11 average FPS

Go back to even just the menu after setting Steam Deck, then back into the benchmark: 22.07 average FPS
eldarion Mar 23, 2022
Going on expecting CP2077 ultra settings to work without issues on steam deck is wishful thinking. That alone shows you that the game steam deck preset is broken. SD can't handle it. Then again, if you wanted to play on ultra you would not be playing on that specific device.


Last edited by eldarion on 23 March 2022 at 3:01 pm UTC
furaxhornyx Mar 24, 2022
View PC info
  • Supporter Plus
...when Cyberpunk 2077 runs better on Ultra on a Steam Deck than on your GPU on Medium...
Corben Mar 24, 2022
Yesterday I thought the patch to 1.52 has wrecked the great performance patch 1.5 has brought again. I wasn't able to get a smooth experience anymore while e.g. just turning the character's view around. No matter what I tried helped, lowering to High preset, with DLSS to quality... still choppy. And before it was possible for me to play on Ultra preset without any DLSS or FSR.
Best I could do was setting it to High and FSR to quality, unfortunately there was a visible quality loss.

But it was on my end, obs was apparently causing it, as after shutting it down the issue was gone.


Last edited by Corben on 24 March 2022 at 7:11 am UTC
While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on:

Reward Tiers: Patreon. Plain Donations: PayPal.

This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!

You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
The comments on this article are closed.