u/BBQKITTY

Hey everyone! So, we are hosting our first community competition until July 1st 12pm PT, perfect for the Steam Summer Sale, where you can win a $30 Steam game of your choice.

The competition is for HITMAN's new The Wizard contract, and whoever gets the highest mission score wins. All you have to do is play the contract, take a screenshot of your end screen, and upload it here or on our Discord server in a dedicated channel.

And don't worry if you don't have a high score! Everyone who participates will be entered into a runner-up raffle, and a randomly chosen person will get a $15 Steam game of their choice.

You can also read up more details on the competition in our dedicated article!

Good luck!!

https://steamdeckhq.com/proton-ge-11-1-releases-optiscaler-support/

GE-Proton 11-1 has finally been released after months from the latest update, and it's a massive one. We have D7VK integration, Optiscaler support, Discord Bridge, protonfixes, and a huge video rework to make videos from games that had issues now work correctly.

It's a huge changelog, so I won't post the whole thing here, but we have it fully posted in our article in the link above!

Proton updates:

• d7vk added (not enabled by default). Use PROTON_USE_D7VK=1 to enable. It is enabled via protonfix on Tex Murphy: Overseer
• discord bridge added. (not enabled by default). Use PROTON_DISCORD_BRIDGE=1 to enable. (proton-cachyos)
• optiscaler support added. (not enabled by default). Use PROTON_USE_OPTISCALER=1 to enable' (proton-cachyos)
• winealsa channel count override option added. (not enabled by default). Use WINEALSA_CHANNELS to tune. Possible values is the number of speakers, such as 2 (to disable spatial audio), such as 4 (2 front, 2 rear), 6 (5.1) or 8 (7.1). (Vyrolian)
• winealsa spacial downmix override option added. (not enabled by default). Use WINEALSA_SPACIAL=1 to enable. (Vyrolian)
• xrandr added to build so that auto-detection of default monitor can work without relying on host xrandr when a default monitor is not set for wine-wayland. This means if you accidentally forget to set a monitor for wine-wayland it should display on the default one found by xrandr now instead of just defaulting to the far left.
• updated star citizen patches
• added patches for Task Bar Hero (thaylorz)
• added patches for VRChat webcam face tracking (LilFishyChan)
• Entire build rebased onto latest proton 11 bleeding-edge
• Standalone patches for VR rebased onto proton 11 (so you can use with umu outside of steam on non-steam VR games)
• wine-native rsx3d library created to for older games (games like Tex Murphy no longer need 3rd party rsx3d winetricks)
• Enable .exe dynamic relocation and only relocate files which have relocations. For XIV specifically, this fixes issues with low address space being filled up by everyone and everything and, as a result, some plugins failing to apply their hooks and leaving the game in an unstable state. (0x0ade)

Protonfixes updates:

• d7vk protonfix added for tex murphy overseer
• d7vk protonfix added but temporarily disabled for Gabriel Knight 3 (d7vk has a flicker problem with this game)
• font fix for Ground Control 2 (CommandMC)
• protonfix added for Senren * Banka (R1kaB3rn)
• protonfixes added for several older ID tech games: Medal of Honor: Allied Assault War Chest, Soldier of Fortune: Platinum Edition, Quake, Hexen II, Star Wars Jedi Knight/Jedi Knight II, Return to Castle Wolfenstein (SinnohConfirmed)
• protonfix added for The Fruit of Grisaia (R1kaB3rn)
• protonfix added for Need for Speed Underground 2 (MatthiasDillen)
• protonfix added for GOG version of Quake II (SinnohConfirmed)
• protonfix added for Zero Zone (XargonWan)
• protonfix added for Gray Zone Warfare (ProjectSynchro)
• protonfix added for Persona 5: The Phantom X (NelloKudo)
• protonfix added for MONGI: Star Drive (NelloKudo)
• protonfix added for cxbx-reloaded (BlueInterlude)
• protonfix added for Assassin's Creed 1 (CommandMC)

The Steam Machine's price and release date have been revealed, and it is rough. We posted a few articles about it, but to be concise, I am just going to put all of them in this one post.

Steam Machine Price Announcement

Valve Gives Green Light to Install SteamOS On Desktops

Valve Wanted To Sell The Steam Machine for $750

The Steam Machine is Too Expensive Video

https://steamdeckhq.com/dbrand-companion-cube-steam-machine-case-is-live/

Hey everyone! So, we were one of the lucky few to get a copy of dBrand's Companion Cube Steam Machine case. I only received it today, but I have it in front of me and am happy to answer some questions about it. It's definitely on the pricey side, but I can definitely see the quality here. It's harder than I thought, and definitely has some weight to it, but it will very obviously protect the Steam Machine once it's inside. And the design, along with the Steam Controller skin, is great and consistent with Portal to a tee.

So, feel free to leave some questions in the comments, and I will happily answer them.

And no, we don't have a Steam Machine (yet).

https://steamdeckhq.com/news/godot-engine-update-with-steam-frame-support/

Earlier today, the open-source Godot engine just got its 4.7 update, which includes day-1 support for the Steam Frame!

https://steamdeckhq.com/steamoss-3-8-has-been-released-with-new-kernel-graphics-driver-and-initial-steam-machine-support/

SteamOS 3.8 has been released to the public with tons of changes, including a new kernel and graphics driver, game fixes, VRR support improvements, and initial Steam Machine support.

General

• Updated Arch system base
• Initial support for upcoming Steam Machine hardware
• Added support for waking from sleep via connected Steam Controller
• Substantially improved speed of future OS updates on high-speed connections
• Improved support for screen casting in Game Mode (e.g. OBS/Discord)
• Fixed dropdown menus not appearing in some games
• Fixed excessive trackpad sensitivity on certain early Steam Deck LCD models
• Improved support for games that attempt to open PDF files in external viewers
• Fixed an issue where video output could become frozen while using Remote Play
• Fixed a possible session crash when using Game Recording with certain "Maximum video height" settings
• Fixed an issue affecting certain titles (such as "SpongeBob SquarePants: Titans of the Tide") where the game window could have an incorrect position
• Fixed closing certain titles (such as "STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor™" and Starfield) resulting in a session crash
• Improved support for certain USB racing wheels and USB devices that boot in a non-standard mode
  • Frequently these are devices that appear as USB storage devices with a driver installer, and must be switched to their normal mode by the OS
• Steam Deck controller firmware updates now display update progress on the splash screen
• Fixes issue on specific Steam Deck revisions where firmware updates could render the left controller inoperative for that session
• Numerous stability and security updates

Display / Performance

• Updated graphics driver with performance and stability fixes
• Added preliminary support for HDMI VRR for devices with native HDMI output
• Fixed an issue where "Allow Tearing" wouldn't have the intended effect in certain configurations
• Improved VRR frame pacing
• Fixed FSR badge remaining off in the performance overlay, even if it was actually active
• Fixed a case where per-app performance settings would intermittently fail to apply when launching a game
• Added missing graphics features needed for titles such as "Crimson Desert"
• Fixed an issue on certain TCL TVs where the display may remain blank using the Steam Deck Dock when VRR is enabled (requires a Dock firmware update)

Bluetooth / WiFi

• Fixed a case where WiFi performance could become degraded until the device was put to sleep or manually reconnected
• Re-re-enable Bluetooth Wake for Steam Deck LCD
  • Fix for more spurious wake issues that were present in earlier attempts

Audio

• Detect HDMI channel count and expose surround configuration if available
• Add a setting to allow using Bluetooth headset mics (Bluetooth playback quality will be worse while capture is active)
• Restore internal audio device on reboot if set to "Off" in desktop mode
• Increase suspend timeout for HDMI devices so initial audio isn't cut off after a few seconds of inactivity
• Fixed a bug with switching input devices when a wired headset is plugged in
• Fixed an issue where audio underruns could be experienced after sleep/resume
• Fixed a bug on Steam Deck OLED where rebooting would occasionally cause a loss of speaker output until rebooted again
• Fixed a case where FPS limits would fail to apply when downscaling games from a higher resolution

Accessibility

• Added an option to force mono audio output

Desktop Mode

• KDE Plasma updated to version 6.4.3 from 6.2.5, and now uses wayland by default
  • Fixes several cases of reduced performance in Desktop Mode compared to Game Mode
  • Improved support for rotated displays
  • Better scale factor out of the box on TVs
  • Adds support for external HDR displays
  • Adds support for VRR displays
  • Adds support per-display scale factor
  • For more information, see Plasma release announcements
    • https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/6/6.3.0/
    • https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/6/6.4.0/
• Keyboard layout and language are now obeying Game Mode settings
• Improved windowing behavior for games running in Proton
• Fixed a bug in Desktop Mode causing previously open applications to not be remembered when using the 'Return to Gaming Mode' shortcut to logout
• Fixes for experimental nested desktop mode
• Fixed Desktop Mode night color settings inappropriately remaining active when switching back to Game Mode

System Firmware

• Includes Steam Deck LCD BIOS v133
  • Security updates
  • Added "Memory Power Down" setup option
  • Preliminary support for hibernation
• Includes Steam Deck OLED BIOS v114
  • Security updates
  • Charging LED now changes color when charge limit is reached, rather than only at 100%

Non-Deck

• Improved compatibility with recent Intel and AMD platforms
• Greatly improved video memory management on discrete GPU platforms
• Fixed a compatibility issue with the SteamOS chainloader that could cause a boot failure on some desktop systems with recent UEFI firmware
• Power button short and long presses now supported across a wide variety of devices
• Improved controller support for OneXPlayer F1 series, GPD Win 5, GPD Win Mini, Anbernic Win600, OrangePi NEO, and Lenovo Legion Go
• Added controller support for OneXPlayer X1 series and Lenovo Legion Go 2
• Added system and controller firmware update support for the Lenovo Legion Go 2
• Added preliminary charge limiting support for Legion Go, Legion Go S, and Legion Go 2 - currently only accessible in Desktop Mode
• Added controller RGB LED color settings for the Lenovo Legion Go 2
• Added controller, TDP control, and speaker audio support for the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally series
• Reduced handheld controller input latency from 5-8ms to 100-500us
• Night mode, color vibrance, and color temperature sliders in Steam now work on Z2E and later AMD APUs
• Seamless boot fixes for Z2E and later AMD APUs
• Automatically handle internally rotated display for some third-party handhelds
• Improved motion control support for handhelds with BMI260 IMUs
• SD card reliability improvements for some third-party handhelds, including ASUS ROG Xbox Ally, Legion Go 1, Legion Go S, Legion Go 2, and MSI Claw
• Fixed washed out colors for Zotac and OneXPlayer handhelds with OLED
• Fixed some GPU hangs on Phoenix APU devices (Tales of Arise, Octopath Traveler II)
• Fixed ASUS ROG Ally power consumption from fingerprint reader while shut down
• Fixed trackpad losing functionality after sleep/resume on the Legion Go
• Fixed spurious wake-ups when using a Logitech Bolt receiver
• Add controller support for MSI Claw devices (A1M, 7 AI+ A2VM, 8 AI+ A2VM, A8 BZ2EM)
• Add controller support for OneXPlayer APEX and X1 series.
• Improved gyro response for devices that use AccelGyro3D (Legion Go 1, Claw A1M)
• Fixed a system crash on international Asus ROG Xbox Ally models
• Fix Bluetooth not working on some Intel handhelds
• Add initial firmware for upcoming Intel handhelds

Developer

• Desktop Mode now uses Wayland by default
  • X11 support may still be selected via Steam developer settings, or via `steamosctl`
• Updated Linux kernel to 6.16
• Steam now uses steamos-manager to query available desktop sessions and trigger desktop session switching
• Added support for setting the desktop password in developer settings
• Initial support for running as a Virtual Machine guest (virtio guest drivers)
• Added support for third-party devices to trigger the SteamOS boot menu via EFI variable
• Added `custom-update` verb to `atomupd-manager` for easier testing of specific builds
• System reports now include more audio debug information
• Initial support for LAVD CPU scheduler via `steamosctl set-cpu-scheduler lavd`

https://steamdeckhq.com/game-reviews/the-adventures-of-elliot-the-millennium-tales/

Ahead of its release, we got to review The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales, and we can confirm it's awesome to play on the Steam Deck. We do recommend changing some settings around to get a good mix of smooth framerate and great visual quality, but it's going to be wonderful to play on the go no matter what.

https://steamdeckhq.com/the-steam-frame-will-have-an-enthusiast-kit/

New FCC documents have revealed that the upcoming Steam Frame will have an optional enthusiast kit, which will include a hot-swappable battery pack!

https://steamdeckhq.com/news/new-steam-machine-benchmarks-were-posted/

New benchmarks for the Steam Machine showed up on Geekbench, which show some tests for the CPU of the upcoming console-like PC. This could be a signifier that the Steam Machine is in reviewers' hands, which means a release could be imminent.

https://steamdeckhq.com/meccha-chameleon-better-on-steam-deck-expected/

I was a little worried that this hide and seek game would be difficult to enjoy on the go because of the painting, but with a community controller configuration, it was actually much better than I expected.