wavey

7 hours ago, JohnC said:

Archer Maclean.

60's no age. His snooker and pool games were properly revolutionary. I always fondly think about IK+ whenever I see @ScouserInExile post.

1 hour ago, T Pot said:

Anybody rocking Windows only on their Deck? I'm tempted to bin off steam OS and Uuse Win11 with steam auto launching in big picture mode at boot. That way I have acess to my Gamepass games and a few others that just won't play well with Steam OS no matter what I do. 

Yep Windows-only here, because I wanted to maximise compatibility with my library, and minimize crashes and glitches in-game. And it's fine! I haven't done anything with the UI outside of games, so I'm using plain Windows to launch them - not ideal, but it's only for me and I don't have the time to set up anything fancier.

To setup you can just install Windows from USB, then the Steam-supplied hardware drivers, and it will basically be working. I did find a much more comprehensive guide, which I plan to go through at some point (so I can't vouch for its quality yet): https://github.com/baldsealion/Steamdeck-Ultimate-Windows11-Guide/wiki

The one fiddly part is the driver for the controller input - Steam has its own, so any game through that is fine. For games outside of Steam, I need to quit Steam completely and start another driver, SWICD. But after that, Gamepass games etc work fine.

Having said all that though, I'm probably going to dual-boot Windows and SteamOS when it's supported properly. There's *one* game I've had an issue with, Toree 2, a cute/cheap little platformer, but whenever I launch the game it's getting rogue inputs from somewhere which makes it unplayable - like there's an extra controller plugged in, with the left stick jammed in one direction. It's Deck verified, so presumably it is fine under SteamOS. But that's the only game I've seen that happen in so far, and SteamOS is much nicer to use overall.

2 hours ago, Gotters said:

is it just price arbitrage though beyond that ?

GOG sells games without DRM, so you can download and keep them even if GOG go belly-up. They also put some work into making older games still playable on newer systems, and provide extra stuff for some games - soundtracks, manual scans, guides etc. But for modern games, yeah it's usually just down to price.

33 minutes ago, shirubagan said:

Any chance you could PM me how to roll back the OS? I am utterly clueless.

It was a full re-install for me, I'm afraid, I'm not sure if there's a less drastic way to do it. I followed this guide to get hold of an older installer.

17 minutes ago, shirubagan said:

I have no clue what I'm doing with Windows at all and was mucking about with it on an SSD for Game Pass, but yesterday's updates seem to have borked it. I'll stick to SteamOS until Win11 is officially supported/I can get someone who knows what they're doing to set it up for me.

If it's the latest Win 11 update (22H2) then I know that can cause a crash with the audio driver for the deck - I had to install an earlier version (21H2).

3 minutes ago, T Pot said:

Could you just have Steam open at startup and have it start in Big Picture mode? I've read that their plans soon is to replace big picture mode with the interface from Steam OS which would be great. 

Yes I'm sure that's an option, and the Deck UI will be nice when they release it, but it's not a priority for me at the moment, it's only an extra tap or two.

Gamepass was the main attraction for me, but yeah, it's definitely not something I would recommend to everyone. If you're not having any problems, stick with SteamOS, it looks like updates are regular and it will only get better over time.

1 minute ago, yakumo said:

If you wiped the deck to be Windows only, does this mean you lose a lot of functionality baked into Steam OS?. Also is performance worst as well playing in Windows?. plus I guess configuration is more of a hassle since you have to manually tweak everything?. Also what app are you talking about regarding the controller?, is there a video demonstrating this as well?. 

Loss of SteamOS functionality - yes, you lose e.g. the automatic graphics memory management SteamOS does, so I put it up to 4G in the BIOS. By default you lose the menus that pop up for the Steam and ... buttons, but I've not looked into those at all yet. For Steam, the experience is exactly the same as a desktop running big picture mode, with the same kind of Steam overlays and configuration options. Valve do provide Windows drivers for the GPU, Bluetooth, audio, wifi etc.

Performance - I remember seeing benchmarks where people have measured a performance loss under Windows, but it's not something I've noticed while playing.

Configuration being a hassle - not that I've noticed, any more than on a standard Windows desktop. But I haven't looked at e.g. optimizing the battery performance, so if that's a concern I'd do more research first.

Controller - there are a few ways to support the controller in Windows I believe (outside of Steam - inside, it works perfectly). I use this app, but haven't tried out any of the alternatives yet.

At the moment, I must say I have something that doesn't feel like a console at all outside of the games themselves, and it's a question of taste whether you're alright with that or not. I'm sure I could get it booting into some kind of frontend to make it nicer, but for me it's not worth the hassle. I have it booting to a Windows desktop - it's ugly and a lot less nice to use than the SteamOS deck mode, but like I say, I was aiming for the stability and compatibility of games more than anything else.

5 hours ago, thesnwmn said:

If I had a main guess with most of these it's that its window/display management is very dodgy. It simply gets itself into situations where its picked the wrong thing (or nothing) to render to the physical screen and so the user cannot see what they're meant to.

I know this won't be for everyone, but I've put Windows on mine, and I have no regrets so far. Having games run in their natural environment rather than through an emulation layer solves a lot of these kind of problems, and for me that kind of stability is worth sacrificing a bit of faff around launching games and maybe some performance. Plus being able to install Gamepass games locally is a big advantage. Suspend / resume works perfectly, Steam big-picture mode is an OK alternative to the (better) SteamOS deck UI, the only real issue is getting non-Steam games to recognise the controller - in my setup this means quitting Steam fully and loading up another app for the controller before launching a game.

Maybe I've been unlucky, but I've seen a few game crashes, and I've occasionally had the controller become unresponsive. XCloud is great when it works, but sometimes just boots to a white screen, and it's not much use out of the house. It feels alien to be thinking of Windows as more reliable than Linux, but for games I wondered if it might be.

Has anyone tried a Windows-only setup for the SteamDeck?

Don't get me wrong, SteamOS is incredibly impressive in what they've managed to do, and I love Linux and use it all day every day at work. But as a way to avoid all the small incompatibilities, the workarounds for certain games, checking the Verified / Playable status, and being able to install Gamepass games, I'm wondering if it might be a more straightforward route for the sake of a dodgy £15 Windows key from Amazon.

So before I take the plunge, has anyone here tried it? I know Valve have now released Windows drivers for the hardware, but are there any pitfalls, or will it screw performance, or anything like that? Or should I wait for SteamOS 3 and go down the dual boot path?

It looks like the game has been optimized to cull all the polygons outside of a 4:3 ratio screen - is there any way to change the resolution to something 4:3?

I will say GTA V runs really well - I have it on Steam, and there’s a little bit of faff first time round dealing with the Rockstar launcher, but when it’s running it looks good and is a pretty solid 60fps. I think it starts with the graphics options quite low, but I made it native resolution, and bumped up most of the options a notch or two, and it’s coping well. It’s installed on SD card as well, and it seems plenty fast enough to stream the map in.

I was really impressed as I still think of it as a recent game, but I guess it’s like 7 years old now.

Mine arrived today, lovely bit of kit!

(Warning, shipping talk follows)

I don't know if my shipping experience was unusual, but in case it helps anyone expecting to order one:

- Ordered on Saturday

- In Steam, order said 'Shipping soon' until Weds morning

- From Weds, the GLS tracker info they sent said that they were waiting for the package to be given to them

- It was still saying this on Thursday night!

- Friday morning, Parcelforce said they had it nearby, and it arrived Friday lunchtime

So it looks like it wasn't tracked at all through the Netherlands, but it was a nice surprise to get it today.

21 minutes ago, SuperCapes said:

Oh Yeah!!!!!

Nice one, same here! Apologies if this has been discussed to death, but for the UK what kind of time frame is it from getting a tracking number to delivery? (I'm not even sure which country they're being sent from!)

I wonder who this was?

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/xbox/forum/xba_profile-xbo_topother/game-pass-subscription-cancellations/361b0608-c07b-41e8-9536-f6cb79318b88

Quote

Xbox has identified a fraudulent group of resellers who were stacking multiple instances of the PC introductory offer and converting it to Game Pass Ultimate. To resolve this issue, we have notified the impacted users individually prior to having their fraudulently acquired subscriptions cancelled.

My main problem with the finale was the big discussion about the Ship of Theseus.

What with the sitcom theme, they should have gone with Trigger's Broom instead.

I haven't had much time for gaming recently, but was sent this as a lovely surprise, and it's great so far. Part visual novel, part puzzle / detective game - the setting seems full, rich and interesting, and a little creepy. One thing in particular I appreciate is that the UI that you spend all your time with has been really thoughtfully designed. Also, it's beautiful. Recommended!

Just in time, they've added subscription support for non-fruit-based devices:

https://kermodeandmayo.supportingcast.fm/

31 minutes ago, NoVisAnima said:

Oh it's even better than you think

https://www.grumpygamer.com/april_fools_2022

He did announce it on April 1st

 

Now that’s commitment to a bit.

11 hours ago, b00dles said:

I keep checking this thread in case it was a delayed April fools

From 2013:

Up with the blue-haired feminists!

(Imagine being the bloke who wrote in moaning about blue-haired feminists originally, and not thinking he was going to get the very shortest of shrift, it boggles the mind.)

On 28/03/2022 at 12:37, Sureshot said:

This is looking good:

 

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/patricks-parabox-review

I've played it for a few hours, really good so far. Very inventive, and the difficulty curve is just right at the moment - I've only been completely stumped by one level so far, but they all require a bit of thought. Recommended!

2 hours ago, womblingfree said:

It’s going to be an Apple Podcast apparently, behind a £2.99 a month paywall.

Where did you see this btw? Just wondering if there are any other details, I wouldn't mind paying for the show but I'd rather stick a fork in my eye than use the Apple podcast app, so I hope there are other avenues available.

Also, Summer of Soul is incredible, I honestly can’t imagine anyone not loving it. 

2 hours ago, Hanzo the Razor said:

I had thought Barry Cryer probably died years ago. He's one of those blokes who looked old even when I saw him on telly when I was young. Then I heard him on Radio 4 a few weeks ago. He was still bloody funny too.

He had just started a new podcast just before Christmas, Now Where Were We - the conceit was that he and his son would catch up with friends he’d not seen during Covid down the pub. It’s great, but it is wall-to-wall showbiz anecdotes and jokes, so it will depend on your tolerance for that. There are only six episodes, the first ones with Stephen Fry and Danny Baker are particularly good, but it shows how sharp and funny he remained till the end.