Steam Deck gets a set of nice bug fixes in a new client update

I recently encountered a nasty bug where my Deck was unable to shut down (the shutting down animation just kept playing) and all I could do was to leave it overnight to drain the battery.

Does anyone know if Valve are inviting users to report bugs? On Github or elsewhere?

(The presumed reason: trying to launch the installed itch.io launcher, added as a non-steam game, from the Game UI, being unable to abort or kill it when it didn't open, then unsuccesfully trying to fix it with a shutdown)

The only frustration I've had with my Deck so far is that when you buy a new game via the Web, the Deck's "Recent" view doesn't put it at the top of the list. The PC Steam client does, but the Deck doesn't. So I have to go hunting for, either alphabetically, or filters or something. Not sure why they made that decision, and it's probably only an issue during the Steam sale, but there it is.

Quoting: scaineThe only frustration I've had with my Deck so far is that when you buy a new game via the Web, the Deck's "Recent" view doesn't put it at the top of the list. The PC Steam client does, but the Deck doesn't. So I have to go hunting for, either alphabetically, or filters or something. Not sure why they made that decision, and it's probably only an issue during the Steam sale, but there it is.

Hmm, that's odd. It does for me but it takes a minute or two to show up on the Deck Home screen.

Quoting: Guest

Quoting: brokkrI recently encountered a nasty bug where my Deck was unable to shut down (the shutting down animation just kept playing) and all I could do was to leave it overnight to drain the battery.

Does anyone know if Valve are inviting users to report bugs? On Github or elsewhere?

(The presumed reason: trying to launch the installed itch.io launcher, added as a non-steam game, from the Game UI, being unable to abort or kill it when it didn't open, then unsuccesfully trying to fix it with a shutdown)

Most mainboards have implemented a "hold the power button down for 10s" to kill the power. Laptops especially needed this when batteries were unable to be easily removed, and it's basically carried on in most hardware. I would imagine this handheld has something similar (I don't have one, no intention of getting one, but I'd be very surprised if such a feature wasn't implemented).

It does. I've had to use it once when the initial update failed to progress.

My biggest issue at the moment is that (at least for some games - One Deck Dungeon for instance) the input does not work after disconnecting an external gamepad until the whole Steam Deck gets rebooted. Just restarting the game does not have any effect.

My second biggest issue is https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/t8qa15/i_am_having_problems_with_the_wifi_of_the_steam/ - and yes, disabling power saving helps (a lot), but it does not fully fix the issue.

I've encountered a bug myself. More of an annoyance, but can ruin the experience. When navigating the Steam Deck menus I've fallen into a state a couple times where no matter then directional input I give, the menus always scroll up. Down on the left stick... scrolls up. Down on the DPad... scrolls up. Down on the right stick... still scrolls up. If I go left or right on any of the controls, I eventually hear the little chime you get when you come to the end of a list, but the screen itself does not change.

I can easily break out of this state by hitting the back button to take me to the previous menu. At this point, the previous menu works as expected. If I go back to the menu I was on, it, also, works as expected.

Like I said, this is more an annoyance (as I can break out of the problem easily enough by switching menus), but it often occurs when I'm scrolling large menus (like during... a sale) and having to leave that menu to break the issue means I loose where I was previously.

One work around I have for this issue is to use the touch screen. The scrolling up issue only happens with the controller buttons, but not the touch screen, so, I *can* use the touch screen instead... it's just the touch screen is not my favorite.


Last edited by ObsidianBlk on 28 June 2022 at 2:13 pm UTC

Quoting: ObsidianBlkno matter then directional input I give, the menus always scroll up

I've had this too. I think (but am not certain) that some element above the current screen has the UI focus, and that, even though the focus is moving correctly based on input, the scrollbar moves "towards" the element that's actually in-focus off-screen.

Quoting: soulsource

Quoting: ObsidianBlkno matter then directional input I give, the menus always scroll up

I've had this too. I think (but am not certain) that some element above the current screen has the UI focus, and that, even though the focus is moving correctly based on input, the scrollbar moves "towards" the element that's actually in-focus off-screen.

That makes sense, but that needs to be fixed, IMHO.

I love my Deck and the EULA fix is much appreciated (even though I figured out how to overcome this).

Anyway, for me the only real thing that requires some polish is the handling of external device, in particular displays. I have mostly issues with the Deck when connecting or disconnecting an external display via USB-C. Sometimes the magnification from parts of the GUI (e.g. Steam menu) is broken, sometimes the display stays dark. I understand that this is probably not on prio 1 of their issues tracker. For people doing more than playing with that wonderful device this issue can become very tricky.

They really need to fix the on screen keyboard. It very frequently does not register key presses which makes entering passwords incredibly frustrating. All keyboard input really.

Hands down the worst thing is the wifi dropping after exciting a game, like someone above mentioned.

Quoting: brokkrI recently encountered a nasty bug where my Deck was unable to shut down (the shutting down animation just kept playing) and all I could do was to leave it overnight to drain the battery.

When that happens (usually as a result of my own hacking) I ssh into it and initiate a shutdown/reboot there, which makes it shut down cleanly.

Quoting: dos

Quoting: brokkrI recently encountered a nasty bug where my Deck was unable to shut down (the shutting down animation just kept playing) and all I could do was to leave it overnight to drain the battery.

When that happens (usually as a result of my own hacking) I ssh into it and initiate a shutdown/reboot there, which makes it shut down cleanly.

Interesting. I would have assumed that sshd would terminate pretty quickly once shutdown commences, regardless of whether something else hangs. But it's worth testing for sure.

Quoting: brokkrInteresting. I would have assumed that sshd would terminate pretty quickly once shutdown commences, regardless of whether something else hangs. But it's worth testing for sure.

The issue here is that when Steam hangs, the shutdown doesn't commence at all, because Steam client is waiting for a game (or whatever) to close before it actually triggers system shutdown. If you do it manually via ssh, you're bypassing Steam.

The actual shutdown doesn't start until the screen goes black and shows the Deck logo, like on a startup.


Last edited by dos on 8 July 2022 at 11:04 am UTC