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Joined 6 months ago
Cake day: January 10th, 2026
  • user_6282638282@sopuli.xyztoSteam Hardware@sopuli.xyz•[Discussion] What are you playing on your Deck? - June 2026
    1·
    26 days ago

    Sure, with the caveat that everyone’s definition of “playable” is different.

    I am using the latest Eden AppImage and a 1.4.2 ROM. I didn’t change anything in Eden besides controller setup and increasing the RAM to 8GB (this has to be done in the game config). This gets you fps in the teens and 20s.

    Then I ran the NX Optimizer AppImage. I used the Steam Deck preset and chose the 2nd of the 2 TotK entries on the game menu. The only change I made was the lower shadows to 512x. I don’t know if that did anything… the shadows do look pretty bad. Then I clicked “Apply”. Note that if you have multiple emulators, NX is going to try to figure out which one to apply to. I’d get rid of anything that’s not Eden AND the settings folders that are in ~/.local/share.

    NX adds a “mod” entry you can view and turn on and off in the game settings. It also installs something called UltraCam, and you’ll know that because it changes the game opening and adds UI elements. Now I have no clue what any of this stuff is doing. It’s poorly explained… Like is it just modifying emulator settings you could do yourself? Is it doing something to the ROM? No clue. You can make adjustments to UltraCam settings by hitting both triggers combined with left stick click. I changed resolution to 900p, and turned on FSR. But it’s unclear how much that helped.

    Anyway, the result is a max, locked 30 fps. It will dip while shaders are caching and when you first use ultrahand and in villages and other areas with fire. It is not smooth by any means but it’s “mostly smooth”. Usually in the open world and in shrines it’s stable. There’s also some banding from what I assume is anti-aliasing, but I don’t see any turned on in any setting I can locate, so who knows.

    Like I said, it’s good enough for me. Like you the ergonomics of the Steam Deck are so much better than Switch that I’ll take the compromise here.

  • user_6282638282@sopuli.xyztoSteam Hardware@sopuli.xyz•[Discussion] What are you playing on your Deck? - June 2026
    2·
    26 days ago

    Last month I finished up Transiruby, which is a really fun and breezy Metroidvania. The art style and the incredible chiptune soundtrack gave me big Axiom Verge vibes, despite being quite tonally different.

    My June project is getting TotK emulation working satisfactorily, which finally happened last night after far too much trial and error. I know Nintendo’s lawyers have made everyone scared but the amount of vagueposting around this subject is maddening. This means I can likely sell my Switch as it was the only game I had left to play. It also means I have to play the first 10 hours of the game again…

  • user_6282638282@sopuli.xyztoGames@lemmy.world•Why Video Games Cost So Much To Make - Jason SchreierEnglish
    13·
    1 month ago

    I think anyone with a fairly basic understanding of economics (and that is admittedly a declining number in many places) understands the idea that “salaries and benefits are expensive”.

    What he doesn’t explain that would actually be helpful is why teams are so big. Like what are all the departments that work on AAA titles, what do they do, how many people on staff relative to other departments, what does a 3D modeler make vs. a gameplay programmer?

    He also doesn’t talk about anything outside of staffing, like marketing, cinematics, voice acting, localization, bribing Geoff Keighley…

    This would all be more useful than the baby math lesson provided.

  • user_6282638282@sopuli.xyzOPtoSteam Hardware@sopuli.xyz•Steam Deck back in stock, with higher pricing
    4·
    1 month ago

    I share your skepticism, because Valve is definitely in a damned if you do/don’t situation. But…

    The only people who could justify an absurdly high price for a Steam Machine are the people who NEED a plug-and-play console-like system and can afford a high price. And that is just not a big market.

    I’m not sure it was ever a large market. Like I don’t think based on Valve’s comments during the launch that they were thinking “bigger than the Steam Deck”. It really felt like “for the subset of Deck users who want this too, and maybe it’ll surprise us.” The commentary around price has ALWAYS been “it’s going to be too expensive”, from the second it was announced, so it’s hard to know how much the price will actually impact sales, because so many people want to talk about how they’d buy a thing if not for this one factor who were never ever going to buy the thing.

    The pricing is definitely going to be a problem now, there is no way around that. But because I’m the person you are describing, I will say… I’m just over building PCs and the inherent compromises (nevermind that the component prices are crushing that market too). The guy who did the video a few months back was a) in Canada, b) buying shit in parking lots from FB marketplace, c) doing this 6 months ago, before the war. I’m not convinced it could be done reasonably today at some remarkably lower price than whatever you or I think the Steam Machine will cost.

    I don’t want the ecosystem lock-in of consoles, I already own tons of PC games. I want exactly what Valve is cooking, and not really anything else. Even if it’s an alleged better value.