Valve"s Steam Deck has been received quite well, for the most part, since its launch. The portable gaming machine is already versatile, and Valve keeps updating it with new features regularly. The latest update to the PC includes a bunch of new capabilities, with the most notable one being the ability to set custom performance profiles for each game.
Prior to this update, you could set custom settings for performance in each game but a major deal-breaker was that those settings weren"t saved. You were essentially forced to memorize configurations and then re-apply them each time you launched a game, which is a very cumbersome process.
After today"s update, you will be able to configure performance profiles on a game-by-game basis and the Steam Deck will remember those settings. You will still have the option of reverting back to the system defaults at any time.
That"s not all the update includes, though. You can check out the full changelog below:
General
- When connected to an external display, Steam Deck interface is now scaled to virtual 1280x800 resolution (more work on this feature and functionality is underway)
- Added Steam hardware survey functionality for Steam Deck
- Fixed issue with multiple new Steam Inventory items notifications appearing
- Fixed issue with users showing up as Favorites when they are no longer friends
- Fixed issues with various dialogs laying out incorrectly when the on-screen keyboard is visible
- Fixed on-screen keyboard and magnifier interstitials not taking input on first launch of some games
Per-game performance profiles
- Players can now set game-specific performance settings. This feature is accessed in Quick Access Menu > Performance > Advanced View
- By default games will use the system performance settings
- If per game settings are toggled on, a profile for the currently running title is created. Any edits will be saved and automatically applied when the game is launched
- You can always toggle this off to go back to system default settings, or reset to system default settings at any time
Online / Offline
- Improved performance when switching from offline to online modes
- Improved availability of home screen sections when switching from offline to online modes
- Fixed friends continuing to show as online when Steam is disconnected or switches to offline mode
Keyboards
- Added the Bulgarian Phonetic Traditional and Phonetic keyboard layouts
- Corrected the interaction between CapsLock and Shift
- The keyboard shows AltGr symbol hints when AltGr is not active
- The keyboard only shows AltGr symbols when AltGr is active
- Non-ASCII characters work in desktop mode
- Fixed the doubled "Г" key on the Russian keyboard
- Removed the "ґ" key from the Ukrainian keyboard
Controllers
- Removed rumble & haptics toggles from the Quick Access menu. These can be accessed in the Settings > Controller Settings page.
- Moved Re-order Controllers button to the Other section in the Quick Access menu
- Remote Play
- Added a "Stop Streaming" option to the Power menu when hosting a Remote Play session
- Updated Recently Played games list to include streamed games
The update has been quite positively received, you can join in on the discussion on the Steam Deck forums here.