Steam Deck – Add a game in Bottles to as custom Steam game

With Bottles you can run many games, which don´t run directly through Steam. As follows you can create a custom Steam game and start a game directly from Bottles.

Create a new custom Steam game and search for „Bottles“ and add it. Than open the settings of the custom Steam game and change the start options to this:

flatpak run com.usebottles.bottles -b caffe-7.9 -e "/run/media/mmcblk0p1/Chernobylite EE/ChernobylGame.exe"

-b caffe-7.9

With -b you can set the name of the Bottle, in my case „caffe-7.9“.

-e „/run/media/mmcblk0p1/Chernobylite EE/ChernobylGame.exe“

With -e you can set the path to the exe of your game, in my case to the exe „ChernobylGamne.exe“

Another option is to create a text file and copy the lunch command in it (flatpak run com.usebottles.bottles -b caffe-7.9 -e „/run/media/mmcblk0p1/Chernobylite EE/ChernobylGame.exe“), make it executable and add this file as custom Steam game.

Steam Deck – Proton Experimental bleeding-edge beta

You can enable a mode for the Proton Experimental Version, where you get always the lastest fixes and new features. But it´s possible too, that there are bugs. I never had problems with it and it´s working sometimes much better on newer games.

At first search in the Steam Deck for Proton Experimental and enter it:

Than go to the settings:

Select Properties:

Than go to „Betas“ and select: „bleeding-edge – latest untested dxvk, vk3d-proton and wine changes“

Steam Deck – pacman / yay working

pacman / yay unfortunately do not work directly on the Steam deck because the required certificates are not present or trusted.

Make pacman work

sudo steamos-readonly disable
sudo pacman-key --init
sudo pacman-key --populate archlinux

Som installer are needing locales working. I edited /etc/locale.gen to enable UTF 8 and ISO, only uncomment the lines and than start this comman:

sudo locale-gen

You should definitely make sure that the software installed in this way is not installed on the Home partition, as is usually the case with flatpak. With a new installation, these are overwritten.

In addition, you can really break something and possibly prevent the next Steam update or cause an error.

Steam Deck – Install and run your own games

Most Windows games can be run at Linux as a custom Steam game:

  • Switch to desktop mode
  • Copy the installer or the installed game(install the game on a Windows computer and use the installed directory) to the Steam Deck (I use a SMB share on my computer the share the files with the Steam Deck over WLAN)
  • Create a custom Steam game and point it to the installer
  • Activate „Proton“ in the compatibility tab (or better ProtonGE with ProtonUp)
  • Start and install the game on C:\…
  • Take care, that all runtimes are installed with the installer. In most custom games you find a „Support“ or „Installer“ folder, where you can found the needed runtimes. You can install them like the game setup, but you have to do it in the same custom Steam game. Edit the path to the exe of the VC installer
  • Now, very important, edit the same Custom Steam Game and select the EXE of the game, because only in the Proton environment of the custom Steam game, the VC Runtimes are installed.
  • If the game was installed on C, you can find the game in the following folder: „home/deck/.steam/steam/steamapps/compdata/ID of the Proton folder (you can read it with ProtonTricks or just sort it by date)/pfx/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/“.
  • All steps must be done in the same custom Steam game. You have to edit it for installiert, runtime installers and EXE to start the game.

ProtonTricks

With ProtonTricks you can customize a settings and also display the ID’s of the games in the compdata folder. You can install it at the Desktop Mode with the GUI.

Bottles

With „Bottles“, which can installed in the paket manager too, you can set up your one WINE enviroment with a runner you like and the newest DXVK, VKD3D, WINE or Proton. With that you can run games, which Proton in Steam dont support.

In „Bottles“ you can install the runtimes you need with one click and you can select diffrent DXVK, VKD3D, WINE, Proton and what you want.

Epic Launcher / UbiSoft Connect / GoG

Also, you can install other launchers like Epic, Gog, UbiSoft Connect, etc. through this way and then install games through it. Many games are much cheaper here than in Steam.

Savegames

You have to be careful with the savegames: The savegames are of course stored in the Proton environment in the compdata folder. If you delete the custom Steam game, the savegames are also gone. So make sure you save them first.

You should find them perhaps here: home/deck/.steam/steam/steamapps/compdata/ID of Proton folder/pfx/drive_c/Users/Documents/Name of the game

Install updates for custom game

Do the same like to install the game. Do all on the custom Steam game, you installed the game first. Change the path to the update installer, install the update and than change again to the start EXE of the game.

Install custom games on SD Card

If you want to install the game on the SD Card, you have to edit the start parameters in the custom Steam games. You have to add: „STEAM_COMPAT_MOUNTS=/run/media/NameOfSdCard/ %command%“ Than you can install it on the drive „E“ and „E“ is the SD Card.

Cracked games

Of course also run with that guide, but I would like to explicitly point out not to support piracy. However, in many countries it is allowed to crack games that you have bought.

On the Steam deck, this could be useful if games cannot be played offline or the copy protection has a negative impact on performance.

Steam Deck – Desktop Mode with GameScope

With this trick you can launch the desktop mode as custom Steam game and you can use the GameScope tools in desktop mode, to setup the refreshrate TDP or something elese.

At first you have to create a script:

#!/bin/sh
unset LD_PRELOAD
exec startplasma-wayland --xwayland --x11-display $DISPLAY --no-lockscreen --width 1280 --height 800 -- plasma_session 

Than you must make it executable and now you can add it as custom Steam application.

Thanks to u/seba_dos1 for the trick.

Steam Deck – BTRFS to use the SD Card in Linux and Windows

BTRFS on your sd card can have some benefits:

  • The sd card with BTRFS can be used in Linux and Windows and if you have dual boot on your Steam Deck, you can use the same Steam library on both systems
  • BTRFS has a compression, which don´t costs much CPU performance. The sd card trasfer speed is the bottleneck and not the CPU performance. With the compression you can have faster loading times of your favorite game
  • With the compression you can save up to 40% of capacity of the sd card automatically

Here you can find the information about the project: https://github.com/Trevo525/btrfdeck

At all, you have to copy two files to the Steam Deck, that the Steam Deck can format your sd card as BTRDS and mount it with BTRFS and compression.

Steam Deck – BTRFS – Installation of two files

  1. At first you have to set the password of your Steam Deck user: http://chilltimes.de/2022/05/01/steam-deck-set-password-for-sudo/
  2. The next step is to start the „Konsole“ and don´t change the directory

3. Now you have to download the files you need. Use this command in the „Konsole“:

git clone https://github.com/Trevo525/btrfdeck

4. The two files „format-sdcard.sh“ and „sdcard-mount.sh“ must be copied in this folder: „/usr/lib/hwsupport/“ Use this 2 commands in the „Konsole“ to copy the two files:

sudo cp /home/deck/btrfdeck/modified/format-sdcard.sh /usr/lib/hwsupport/format-sdcard.sh
sudo cp /home/deck/btrfdeck/modified/sdcard-mount.sh /usr/lib/hwsupport/sdcard-mount.sh

Steam Deck – BTRDS – Format sd card

Now you can format the sd card with BTRFS:

  1. Start the gaming mode on the Steam Deck
  2. Push the „Steam“ button and select „Settings“ and go to „System“
  3. Here can select „format“ and you sd card would be formatted with BTRFS

Steam Deck – BTRFS – Steam Deck updates

Some Steam Deck updates overwrite these two files again. If your SD card does not load properly and the installed games are not recognized anymore, both files have to be copied again.

But if the SD Card is already formatted, it is also sufficient to copy only the file „sdcard-mount.sh“.

Steam Deck – PluginLoader and PowerTools

Steam Deck – PluginLoader

With the „PluginLoader“ you can add plugins and thus new functions to GameScope. Here can you find informations about it:

Steam Deck – PowerTools

With „PowerTools“ you can change CPU related settings on the fly.

What can yo do with „PowerTools“?

  • Limit the CPU threads of 1 to 8
  • Enable / disable the CPU Boost option
  • Set the CPU max frequency

Why this can help?

  • Some emulators are running better with only 1 or 2 threads and you get better performance and less issues
  • You can save energy from the battery, at games which need so much CPU threads

Here you can find the website of „PowerTools“:

Steam Deck – PluginLoader / PowerTools installation

At first you have to install the „PluginLoader“ and than the plugin „PowerTools“:

  1. If you don´t set the passwort for the Steam Deck Account, do this first: http://chilltimes.de/2022/05/01/steam-deck-set-password-for-sudo/
  2. Go to the System Settings and enable the Developer Mode
  3. Scroll down on the left side to Developer Mode
  4. Enable the option CEF Remote Debugging
  5. Switch to the Desktop mode and start the „Konsole“

5. Now enter this command in the „Konsole“:

curl -L https://github.com/SteamDeckHomebrew/PluginLoader/raw/main/dist/install_release.sh | sh
6. Now you have to type the password and enter

7. Go into the directory of the installed „PluginLoader“ with that commands, that we can install „PowerTools“ in the correct directory:

cd homebrew
cd plugins

8. Now you have to copy the „PowerTools“ files from the GIT reposiroty to the plugins folder of „PluginLoader“. We need the permissions from sudo, because the directory is no writable without:

sudo git clone https://github.com/NGnius/PowerTools

At last you can restart the Steam Deck and now you can use the „PowerTools“ plugin. Please note: You can control the plugins only with the touchpad.

Steam Deck – ProtonUp-Qt / Proton-GE

With ProtonUp-Qt you can download new Proton-GE versions and install them automatically, among other things, in Steam.

Here you can find the newest Proton-GE releases and the changelog of them: Releases · GloriousEggroll/proton-ge-custom · GitHub

Benefits of Proton-GE

  • Faster updates
  • vk3d3d / dxvk lastest git updates
  • Vanilla version of WINE
  • If you have problems with movie rendering in game or at the start, ProtonGE can fix it because of FFmpeg and FAduio enabled
  • all Proton patches
  • In some cases the Game runs with ProtonGE but not with Proton

Steam Deck – ProtonUp-Qt – Install

The installation can done in the package manager „Discover“. Just search for „Proton“ and click on „ProtonUp-Qt“ and select „install“:

Steam Deck – ProtonUp-Qt – Install Proton-GE

You can find ProtonUp-Qt in the Application menu:

Than you can click on „Add version“, select „Proton-GE“ and select the lastest version. In my case it was GE-Proton7-16. Now you can click on „Install“ and ProtonUp-Qt install the new Proton runner automatically in Steam.

You can find the new Proton version at this directory:

  • Home/.steam/steam/compatibilitytools.d

Steam Deck – ProtonUp-Qt – Select Proton-GE in you Steam game

Now you have to shutdown Steam and start it again. Now you can set the new Proton-GE version:

Steam Deck – Enable SSH

With SSH you can connect with Putty directly from your computer to the console of the Steam Deck. This way you can execute commands more easily because you don’t have to use the on-screen keyboard.

If you don´t set a password for the Steam Deck account, please do it first: http://chilltimes.de/2022/05/01/steam-deck-set-password-for-sudo/

All commands have to enter in the „Konsole“. You can find the „Konsole“ in the „Applications“ menu.

Steam Deck – Enable SSH – One time

If you want to start SSH only once (does not start automatically after a reboot), then you can run the following command;

sudo systemctl start sshd

Steam Deck – Enable SSH – Autostart

If you want to start the SSH service automatically when restarting the Steam Deck, then you can enable this as follows:

sudo systemctl enable sshd