Steam Deck updates out for Stable and Beta, better Refresh Rate Switching

The Phawx's latest video tested Steam Deck's RRS and found the black screen lasted about 2/5ths of a second. Assuming this newest update came after he filmed that part, the change between refresh rates must be practically instantaneous at this point.

If they keep going down this dark path, Valve will end up evoking vile powers, reaching back through time itself to deliver 'negative black screen time.'

FedEx needs to show up... pretty sad when you wish your friends would decide not to come over, so that you can spend moments with your precious Deck!

who would guess that reducing the refresh rate would be one of the most hyped features...
and that is only possible when you control the display, that sort of thing wont work on generic hardware, because some monitors may not support it, so its perfect for an handheld.

So, I was planning on playing some D&D today, go to the store that is 2 min from my house, and of course as I'm walking through it, security camera catches the FedEx guy more or less tossing the box onto my porch. Nothing damaged of course, it's carrying case is great. But that meant I had to wait a few torturous hours waiting to be able to open it (somehow in the D&D game out of the first 5 d20 rolls made, 4 of them were 1s... not a good way to start a session...)

Now of course I'm waiting a few hours to download some games. I really need faster internet...

There’s people who still play d&d? How awesome.

My package hasn’t moved an inch since Fri evening, I guess German people don’t work on weekends, even in shipping companies.

The Phawx's latest video tested Steam Deck's RRS and found the black screen lasted about 2/5ths of a second. Assuming this newest update came after he filmed that part, the change between refresh rates must be practically instantaneous at this point.

If they keep going down this dark path, Valve will end up evoking vile powers, reaching back through time itself to deliver 'negative black screen time.'

Soon, the screen will go black for 2/5 of a second before you change the setting.

I have now received mine (512GB). Basically, an absolutely great device.

BUT:

• Left trigger becomes a little mushy (maybe rubbing against something), at about an input value of 28000 (full press is 32767).


• The high-pitched whistle. Oh, yes, I can hear it!


• The unit does not lie flat when placed on a table (tested with three tables). It wobbles diagonally from top left to bottom right. If you put a twice-folded sheet of 80g DIN-A4 paper underneath, it disappears. Without this, in some environments (e.g. on a moving train) the DECK will constantly wobble when placed on the table in front of you.


• If you grip it around the middle, e.g. to carry it somewhere, it creaks a little (middle bottom).

I have now read many posts where people have reported such and other smaller but quite relevant problems. I know of one case where someone RMAed their unit three times, only to receive a defective unit each time. Some problems can be solved by doing it yourself. But this is not always possible and is risky anyway. Some have destroyed their DECK with it.

Have any of you had such experiences and how do you deal with them?

There’s people who still play d&d? How awesome.

My package hasn’t moved an inch since Fri evening, I guess German people don’t work on weekends, even in shipping companies.

Ha, 5th edition is HUGE right now. Granted, I hate it, but sadly you go where the players are. Kind of like how developers make games for Windows because that is where the gamers are... or used to be! Loving the Deck, I managed finally to get Neverwinter installed. Now I just need to get used to joystick control.

I have now received mine (512GB). Basically, an absolutely great device.

BUT:

• Left trigger becomes a little mushy (maybe rubbing against something), at about an input value of 28000 (full press is 32767).


• The high-pitched whistle. Oh, yes, I can hear it!


• The unit does not lie flat when placed on a table (tested with three tables). It wobbles diagonally from top left to bottom right. If you put a twice-folded sheet of 80g DIN-A4 paper underneath, it disappears. Without this, in some environments (e.g. on a moving train) the DECK will constantly wobble when placed on the table in front of you.


• If you grip it around the middle, e.g. to carry it somewhere, it creaks a little (middle bottom).

I have now read many posts where people have reported such and other smaller but quite relevant problems. I know of one case where someone RMAed their unit three times, only to receive a defective unit each time. Some problems can be solved by doing it yourself. But this is not always possible and is risky anyway. Some have destroyed their DECK with it.

Have any of you had such experiences and how do you deal with them?

Ha, so the person who RMA'd it three times is the reason 3 other people haven't gotten theirs?

I did see a post on Reddit about the left trackpad feeling weaker on the haptics than on the right one. Sounds like it's intentional though. Other than that, my thoughts are that the Steam Deck is much lighter than I thought it'd be!

So far I've fired up Neverwinter (which runs really fast and smooth) and Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, which runs flawlessly. I haven't played much of Neverwinter, as it finished downloading very late last night and I need to figure out the controller layout for everything.

I did have to tweak the desktop mode so it actually had the right controller config to scroll, etc. And it doesn't look like Firefox has the touch screen tweak (something about MOZ_XINPUT2 or something, will have to find the setting again). This is likely standard on Manjaro, as it probably isn't often used on Touchscreens.

Steam Deck has confirmed that I really think the Atari VCS would be AWESOME with SteamOS installed on it. On that note, I should play more Asteroids: Recharged...

There’s people who still play d&d? How awesome.

My package hasn’t moved an inch since Fri evening, I guess German people don’t work on weekends, even in shipping companies.

Ha, 5th edition is HUGE right now. Granted, I hate it, but sadly you go where the players are.

I've been playing it some lately too--when Covid started, my group decided to add an extra game, and we went for a nostalgia hit with old school AD&D 1st edition, doing the original Giants/Drow modules. After a couple of years we got a bit sick of the shortcomings of 1st edition, so we thought hey, let's update to the latest--translate our characters into 5th edition.
After playing it a bit, I'm sort of surprised by how . . . not different it is. It has some cute new stuff, all the character classes have various interesting options and schticks they can do. And the system is clearly more systematic--rules are more consistent across the board and stuff.
But you're still really limited by the class system. And there's still hardly any way to do stuff that isn't fighting. Skills are very limited, if anything more so than in late 1st edition. And the spells are still just this ad hoc list of "If the system has this particular spell, you can do this particular thing"--there aren't a lot of utility spells, and your wizard might be able to sling a fireball but there's no feeling like they generally know anything about fire.
All in all, it's kind of fun for a little short term experiment, but there's no way I'd go for it as a system to use for a real campaign.

I did see a post on Reddit about the left trackpad feeling weaker on the haptics than on the right one. Sounds like it's intentional though.

With regard to the two trackpads, I can't see any difference on my device.

So far I've fired up Neverwinter (which runs really fast and smooth) and Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, which runs flawlessly. I haven't played much of Neverwinter, as it finished downloading very late last night and I need to figure out the controller layout for everything.

Performance-wise, the device has far exceeded my expectations so far. The performance of Nier:Automata, for example, is downright amazing. But are there also defects with your device or is everything perfect?

I did have to tweak the desktop mode so it actually had the right controller config to scroll, etc.

In desktop mode, the right trackpad goes to full haptic, but remains functionless. The left one does nothing. But this is certainly a software problem.

I did see a post on Reddit about the left trackpad feeling weaker on the haptics than on the right one. Sounds like it's intentional though.

With regard to the two trackpads, I can't see any difference on my device.

So far I've fired up Neverwinter (which runs really fast and smooth) and Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, which runs flawlessly. I haven't played much of Neverwinter, as it finished downloading very late last night and I need to figure out the controller layout for everything.

Performance-wise, the device has far exceeded my expectations so far. The performance of Nier:Automata, for example, is downright amazing. But are there also defects with your device or is everything perfect?

I did have to tweak the desktop mode so it actually had the right controller config to scroll, etc.

In desktop mode, the right trackpad goes to full haptic, but remains functionless. The left one does nothing. But this is certainly a software problem.

My device is fine, played Dark Alliance for like 4 hours(?) Last night.

Change the controller profile to the Desktop Template and the problems of navigating mostly go away.

There’s people who still play d&d? How awesome.

My package hasn’t moved an inch since Fri evening, I guess German people don’t work on weekends, even in shipping companies.

Ha, 5th edition is HUGE right now. Granted, I hate it, but sadly you go where the players are.

I've been playing it some lately too--when Covid started, my group decided to add an extra game, and we went for a nostalgia hit with old school AD&D 1st edition, doing the original Giants/Drow modules. After a couple of years we got a bit sick of the shortcomings of 1st edition, so we thought hey, let's update to the latest--translate our characters into 5th edition.
After playing it a bit, I'm sort of surprised by how . . . not different it is. It has some cute new stuff, all the character classes have various interesting options and schticks they can do. And the system is clearly more systematic--rules are more consistent across the board and stuff.
But you're still really limited by the class system. And there's still hardly any way to do stuff that isn't fighting. Skills are very limited, if anything more so than in late 1st edition. And the spells are still just this ad hoc list of "If the system has this particular spell, you can do this particular thing"--there aren't a lot of utility spells, and your wizard might be able to sling a fireball but there's no feeling like they generally know anything about fire.
All in all, it's kind of fun for a little short term experiment, but there's no way I'd go for it as a system to use for a real campaign.

Yes! Can't agree more.

I once got into some debate with a roandom internet stranger about D&D encouraging the murder hobo. It literally gives you advancement for mainly killing things. There is very little non-combat ways to grow your character. This was in a thread where others were complaining that GURPS had a bunch of useless skills in it...

The Phawx's latest video tested Steam Deck's RRS and found the black screen lasted about 2/5ths of a second. Assuming this newest update came after he filmed that part, the change between refresh rates must be practically instantaneous at this point.

If they keep going down this dark path, Valve will end up evoking vile powers, reaching back through time itself to deliver 'negative black screen time.'

Soon, the screen will go black for 2/5 of a second before you change the setting.

Secret freesync/VRR support confirmed!