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Valve has launched another small update for the Steam Deck with SteamOS 3.6.6 Preview now available for testing which may be essential if you're playing ELDEN RING.

Since this is in Preview, you will need to opt-in to the update which is available via Settings > System > System Update Channel.

Here's all the changes:

  • Fixed a an issue with a rare session crash during early startup of ELDEN RING
  • Fixed a general issue affecting all units on 3.6, and OLED units on 3.5, causing a slow memory leak during gameplay
  • Fixed a DSP firmware crash with previous 3.6 versions that could result in internal sound disappearing until next reboot
  • Improved responsiveness of session restart in case of session crashes caused by certain GPU errors
  • Fixed an issue that could cause videos to stutter in titles such as BlazBlue Centralfiction

Taken from the changelog.

Great to see so many fixes coming in, SteamOS 3.6 is starting to shape up quite nicely now! Are you running 3.6 or sticking to stable?

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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6 comments

Zlopez Jun 21
  • Supporter Plus
I think I experienced the memory leak issue when playing Death Stranding. I usually just put the Steam Deck to sleep and after few sessions the game just crashed. Seeing fix for that is great!
RavenWings Jun 21
Would be great if that fixed memory leak is the "big one" that still plagues a lot of open world games. For me this and the occasionaly crackling sound after wakeup are the two major unsolved issues leftover from when the Steam Deck was first released.

At least for the crackling sound there seems to be a solution using decky loaders "pause game"-plugin. I just recently heard about this and so far it seems to work fine.
Zlopez Jun 21
  • Supporter Plus
Quoting: RavenWingsAt least for the crackling sound there seems to be a solution using decky loaders "pause game"-plugin. I just recently heard about this and so far it seems to work fine.

Thanks for the tip, I didn't know there is a solution for the crackling sound, it's annoying one.


Last edited by Zlopez on 21 June 2024 at 11:30 am UTC
RavenWings Jun 21
Quoting: ZlopezThanks for the tip, I didn't know there is a solution for the crackling sound, it's annoying one.

Only been using it for about a week now, so I can´t tell anything for sure, but it seems to work for a lot of people. You have to turn on the "Pause game before suspend"-option in the plugins settings.

Another nice side effect: The game actually stops right that second when the deck starts playing its suspend-animation. It always bugged me, that the games kept playing for a few seconds in the background until the deck finally shut down.

I´d honestly expect a third-party solution like that to be buggy as hell, but so far it all works fine for me.


Last edited by RavenWings on 21 June 2024 at 11:47 am UTC
Zlopez Jun 21
  • Supporter Plus
Quoting: RavenWings
Quoting: ZlopezThanks for the tip, I didn't know there is a solution for the crackling sound, it's annoying one.

Only been using it for about a week now, so I can´t tell anything for sure, but it seems to work for a lot of people. You have to turn on the "Pause game before suspend"-option in the plugins settings.

I thought that the reason for this sound issue and some games not handling suspend mode well is that they are not paused when the suspend happens. Some games are just crashing or can't find external controller after they wake up. I found that for some game opening the menu (pausing the game) before suspend is preventing those issues.
Stella Jun 23
QuoteGreat to see so many fixes coming in, SteamOS 3.6 is starting to shape up quite nicely now! Are you running 3.6 or sticking to stable?
Tbh, I'm not really wanting to use anything other than Stable. I'm still a bit traumatised by my first Deck being defective, with countless freezes, crashes and general instability. I returned it, and the second one seems to be fine, so that's a win
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