0:03 So, you got a Steam Dick. First off,
0:10 >> But if you turned it on and immediately thought,
0:11 thought, >> "Brilliant.
0:13 >> "Brilliant.
0:15 I have absolutely no idea what's going on."
0:16 on."
0:18 >> You're not alone. There's a lot here.
0:21 Buttons, menus, options, settings, decky
0:23 this, lossless scaling that, and about
0:24 10 different opinions online telling you
0:34 That's stressful. But here's the good
0:35 news. It doesn't need to be a science
0:37 project. And by the end of this, it
0:39 should feel a lot less intimidating.
0:49 Perhaps you've had your Steam Deck for a
0:51 while, or you just got one for the
0:52 holidays. And if so, welcome and
0:54 congrats. You've landed in one of the
0:56 best, most welcoming gaming communities
0:58 I've ever been a part of. Also, you're
0:59 stuck with us.
1:00 >> You can't leave now
1:03 >> cuz I find you.
1:04 >> If you've been out of the game for a
1:06 little while, I totally get it. It's
1:08 completely normal to turn this thing on
1:10 and feel a little overwhelmed. So, in
1:11 this video, I'm keeping it super simple
1:13 and I'm going over some helpful
1:15 settings, my favorite optional plugins,
1:16 and then how I'd actually make the Steam
1:18 Deck feel like yours.
1:23 If you're new to the Steam Deck, the
1:24 settings can be a lot at first. Getting
1:26 a feel for them can be a lot like
1:28 walking into an IKEA without a game
1:30 plan. So, this is just a good lay of the
1:32 land. Some plain English explanations,
1:33 and then uh we'll move on to the fun
1:35 stuff. So, the first setting I'd
1:36 recommend changing is the battery charge
1:38 limit. By default, the Steam Deck will
1:40 charge all the way to 100%, which is
1:41 totally fine. But like most devices with
1:43 lithium batteries, sitting at full
1:45 charge all the time can cause long-term
1:47 wear, especially if you play plugged in
1:48 a lot. If your Steam Deck mostly lives
1:50 on a couch, at a desk, or near an
1:52 outlet, which let's be honest, that's
1:53 pretty much most of us, I'd recommend
1:56 capping the battery at around 80 to 85%
1:57 instead. What that does is reduce stress
1:59 on the battery cells and help preserve
2:01 overall battery health over time. It's
2:02 basically like saying, "I'd rather have
2:04 slightly less battery today than a worn
2:06 out battery a year from now."
2:07 >> Now, if you travel a lot or you know
2:08 that you'll want every minute of battery
2:09 life while you're out, then by all
2:12 means, turn this off. Next up is the
2:13 performance overlay. And this thing
2:15 looks a lot scarier than it actually is.
2:16 All the overlay does is show you a few
2:18 live stats while you're playing. Things
2:19 like frame rate, battery draw, and
2:21 system usage. I usually turn it on when
2:22 I'm launching a game and then tweaking
2:24 settings to get everything just right.
2:25 And then once everything looks good, I
2:27 turn it off. If game feels a little
2:29 choppy or battery drain is faster than
2:30 expected, then this gives me a quick
2:33 answer as to why. And here's the key thing.
2:33 thing.
2:36 >> This is a tool, not a lifestyle.
2:37 >> There are those of you out there who
2:39 stare at this more than the game itself.
2:41 And I get it. But it's just there to
2:42 help you make small informed tweaks when
2:44 something feels off. Once you get a feel
2:45 for how your games run, you'll barely
2:47 touch this. And that's kind of the point.
2:53 By default, most games aim for 60 frames
2:55 per second, which is great. But let's be
2:57 honest, with newer games, the Deck just
2:59 has a hard time pulling that off without
3:00 workarounds that I'll talk about later.
3:02 So, setting the screen to 40 Hz lets you
3:04 target 40 frames per second, which
3:06 sounds lower on paper, but actually
3:07 feels surprisingly smooth on the Steam
3:09 Deck. Games feel stable, motion looks
3:11 good, and your battery lasts noticeably
3:13 longer. for indie games, 90 all day. But
3:14 if you're not sure where to start with
3:16 performance, then 40 Hz is an excellent
3:17 middle ground. It's kind of the Steam
3:21 Deck's comfort zone.
3:22 Now, this one sounds scary than it
3:24 actually is, but it's pretty simple. TDP
3:26 stands for thermal design power.
3:31 >> can't hear you.
3:32 >> But really, all it really means is how
3:34 hard the Steam Deck is allowed to work,
3:36 how much power it can use, and how much
3:37 heat it's allowed to generate. Loring
3:39 the TDP just tells the system, "Hey,
3:41 don't go full throttle if you don't need
3:42 to." What I usually do is I keep an eye
3:46 on CPU and GPU usage as I lower TDP.
3:47 Once I see things start to throttle a
3:48 little bit, then I know I found the
3:50 sweet spot. This is especially useful
3:52 for indie games or older titles or
3:53 anything that doesn't need a ton of
3:54 horsepower. You'll often get longer
3:56 battery life, less heat, and no real
3:58 downside. The next one's really easy to
3:59 miss, but it's really handy if you have
4:02 a gaming PC. I don't, but maybe you do.
4:03 In the settings, you can enable game
4:06 file transfers over your local network,
4:07 which lets the Steam Deck pull game
4:08 files directly from your PC instead of
4:09 redownloading everything from the
4:11 internet. It's faster. It saves
4:12 bandwidth and it's especially useful if
4:14 we've already got a big Steam library
4:17 installed somewhere else.
4:18 This one's small, but it ends up being
4:19 something that you'll probably use all
4:21 the time. If you hold the Steam button
4:23 or the three dot button, you'll get a
4:24 bunch of built-in shortcuts. Things like
4:26 quick access to settings, screenshots,
4:28 and zoom and system controls. My
4:30 favorite is holding the three dot button
4:31 and moving the joystick up or down to
4:33 adjust brightness on the fly. It's
4:34 definitely worth poking around for 30
4:36 seconds and just seeing if you can
4:43 A lot of games feel totally fine with
4:44 default controls, but they feel way
4:47 better with community configurations.
4:48 People take the time to map things to
4:50 back buttons, make smart use of the
4:52 trackpads, and dial in gyro in ways you
4:53 might not think to do yourself. It's a
4:54 really easy way to unlock more of what
4:55 the Steam Deck can do without having to
4:57 design a layout from scratch. And that's
4:59 especially true with gyro aiming. In
5:00 first-person shooters, gyro can be a
5:02 genuine game changer. It gives you much
5:04 finer control for small adjustments
5:05 while still using the sticks for
5:06 movement. And the nice thing is that all
5:08 of this is per game and completely
5:09 reversible. So, it's always worth
5:10 checking to see what the community came
5:12 up with, even if you just use it as like
5:17 And before we leave settings, there are
5:18 a couple of customization options that
5:20 don't really affect performance at all.
5:21 Things like keyboard themes, system
5:23 sounds, and startup movies. You can even
5:24 head into the Steam store and use the
5:26 points you've earned from game purchases
5:28 to download more of this stuff. It's
5:29 just an easy way to make the Steam Deck
5:30 feel a little more like yours. But,
5:32 we're going to take it a step further
5:38 Up to this point, everything we've
5:40 talked about is built into the Steam
5:41 Deck. This next part is where it starts
5:43 to feel a little less stock by way of
5:45 plugins. Now, to use any plugins on the
5:46 Steam Deck,
5:47 >> you'll want to go into desktop mode and
5:49 install Deck Loader first.
5:51 >> It's a quick one-time setup, and I've
5:52 linked a super easy way to install this
5:54 in the description below. And once
5:55 you're back in game mode, everything
5:57 lives right inside the quick access
5:58 menu. Once that's in place, plugins feel
6:00 like part of the system. These are the
6:01 ones that genuinely improve my
6:02 day-to-day experience with the Steam
6:03 Deck. There are small quality of life
6:05 upgrades that I think are good starting
6:10 One of the most common questions with
6:12 the Steam Deck is does this game
6:14 actually run well? Valve has implemented
6:16 a solution to that in the form of the
6:17 Steam Deck verification badge. But if
6:18 there's anything I've learned about that
6:20 badge, it's to basically ignore it.
6:22 >> What do you mean? What do you What do
6:24 you mean?
6:25 >> What do you mean?
6:27 >> Proton DB gives all the answers right
6:28 where you need it, inside your Steam
6:30 library. When you open a game, Proton DB
6:32 adds a small compatibility badge that
6:34 shows how well it runs on the deck based
6:36 on real reports from other players,
6:37 ranging anywhere from if it launches,
6:39 whether it needs tweaks to TDP or
6:41 upscaling, whether it works perfectly
6:42 out of the box or has a few controller
6:44 quirks. What I like about this is it
6:46 saves you time and guesswork. Why do the
6:47 research when someone else has already
6:53 Steam Grid DB lets you swap custom
6:55 artwork right from the deck. box art,
6:57 wide banners, icons, they're all
6:59 community made and all designed to
7:00 actually look good on the Steam Deck
7:02 screen. This doesn't change how anything
7:04 runs, but it does change how it feels to
7:06 scroll through your library. Cuz let's
7:07 be honest, sometimes we spend more time
7:09 looking at it and deciding what we're
7:10 going to play rather than actually
7:12 playing anything at all. A few minutes later,
7:17 >> 3:28 a.m.
7:25 >> How long to beat or HLTB adds estimated
7:26 play time right into the Steam
7:28 interface. So, before you start a game,
7:29 you can estimate roughly how much of
7:30 your life you're going to dedicate to
7:32 it. I love this because it helps set
7:34 expectations. Sometimes you want a
7:36 short, focused experience. Other times,
7:37 you're ready to commit to something
7:38 bigger. Instead of guessing or googling
7:40 on your phone, it's right there. It's an
7:42 excellent tool to assist in your backlog
7:48 Storage cleaner is exactly what it
7:49 sounds like. As you install and
7:50 uninstall games, the Steam Deck tends to
7:52 hang on to leftover files, shader
7:55 caches, compatibility data, and stuff
7:56 that you don't really see that slowly
7:58 eats up storage. Storage Cleaner gives
8:00 you a simple way to see what's taking up
8:01 space and safely clear out what you're
8:03 no longer using, and is way easier than
8:05 going to desktop mode and digging in
8:06 folders. It's like spring cleaning for
8:12 Earlier when we were in settings, we
8:13 talked about startup movies that you can
8:14 download with your Steam points.
8:16 Animation Changer is basically that
8:18 idea, just a step further. This plug-in
8:20 opens the door to a much bigger library
8:22 of community-made boot, sleep, and
8:24 resume animations. I tend to bounce back
8:26 and forth between the Dreamcast and PS1
8:28 themed ones, and most recently one
8:29 inspired by Better Call Saul. As a side
8:30 note, I actually just finished watching
8:32 this TV series and I have been talking
8:34 about it a lot over in my weekly
8:35 newsletter where I share what I'm
8:37 playing, watching, thinking, and a bit
8:38 of behind the scenes stuff from these
8:40 videos over on Patreon. If you're into
8:41 that kind of thing, the link is down
8:42 below. But yeah, animation changer. It's
8:44 totally cosmetic. It's totally optional,
8:45 but it's a really fun way to make the
8:47 Steam Deck feel like yours the second it
8:53 Now, CSS loader is where interface
8:55 customization goes a step further. It
8:56 lets you apply community-made themes
8:58 that tweak how the Steam Deck menus
9:00 look. Things like spacing, colors,
9:02 fonts, and layout touches. They're not
9:03 functional changes, but the UI can feel
9:05 cleaner or more your style. A lot of you
9:07 have asked how I customize the way my
9:08 interface looks. CSS loader is it. I
9:10 love how modular it is, and you can even
9:12 save profiles that basically serve as
9:14 like interface loadouts. It's yet
9:15 another reminder that the Steam Deck is
9:18 flexible in ways that most consoles just aren't.
9:23 If you use AirPods or Bluetooth
9:25 headphones, Magic Pods improves how they
9:26 connect and how they show up on the
9:28 Steam Deck. Battery levels, connection
9:29 status, and even turning on and off
9:31 features like noise cancellation and
9:32 transparency mode. If you play with
9:35 headphones a lot, this is an easy win.
9:37 Next is Wine Seller, and this is when a
9:38 game just isn't behaving the way you
9:39 expect. If you're not totally sure what
9:41 Proton is, it's
9:43 can't hear you. The Steam Deck is Linux-
9:45 based, and Proton is what it uses to
9:47 translate Windows games so that they run
9:49 properly. Can we get a translator in here?
9:54 >> Hola.
9:55 >> Now, most of the time Steam handles this
9:56 automatically so you don't have to think
9:58 about it. But sometimes a game just
9:59 works better on a different version of
10:00 Proton. And that's where Wine Seller
10:02 comes in. It lets you install and switch
10:04 Proton versions per game all in one
10:05 place without digging around or jumping
10:07 into desktop mode. For example, recently
10:08 I was having trouble with Rainbow 6
10:10 Vegas getting uh controller inputs to
10:12 recognize. I checked Proton DB, tried
10:14 the Proton version someone recommended,
10:16 and voila, problem solved. You won't
10:17 need this often, but when something
10:24 So, now that we've covered settings and
10:26 plugins, this last part is more about
10:28 mindset. I've talked before about how
10:29 the Steam Deck is few years old at this
10:30 point, so it shouldn't come as a
10:32 surprise that it's not the most powerful
10:33 handheld out there, and I'd wager most
10:36 deck owners are okay with that. For me,
10:38 it works best when you play to its
10:39 strengths versus forcing it to be
10:41 something that it's not. Indies run
10:43 great. Older games run great. And a lot
10:45 of stuff up through the PS4 and Xbox One
10:46 era runs really well without much
10:48 effort. That's the deck's comfort zone.
10:50 When you stay there, everything feels
10:52 easier. The battery life is good. The
10:54 the fans are quieter. It's just less
10:55 stress. But when it comes to newer, more
10:57 demanding games, I change how I play
10:59 instead of fighting the hardware. And
11:00 that's where streaming comes in. I think
11:02 GeForce Now is honestly the easiest
11:04 option. There's a native Steam Deck app
11:05 now, and it lets you access games you
11:06 already own or subscribe to across
11:10 platforms like Xbox, Epic, and GOG. If
11:11 you've got the bandwidth, the latency
11:13 feels basically non-existent, and it's a
11:14 great way to play modern AAA games with
11:16 high frame rates and crisp visuals
11:18 without heat or battery drain. It is
11:19 subscription based, but that's
11:20 essentially what you're paying for.
11:22 Premium GPUs that someone else paid for
11:26 doing the heavy lifting for you.
11:28 Now, for console stuff, PlayStation
11:30 Remote Play and Xbox Game Pass streaming
11:32 both work really well, too. Those take a
11:33 quick desktop mode setup, and I've
11:35 provided some simple guides down below.
11:36 And if you got a gaming PC at home,
11:38 Steam Remote Play is another great
11:40 option as well. Same idea as GeForce,
11:41 just streaming directly from your own
11:43 personal PC.
11:45 Now, there is one more option worth
11:46 mentioning here, and that's lossless
11:48 scaling. You may have seen the phrases
11:50 lossless scaling or frame gen buzzing
11:52 around the handheld communities. To use
11:54 it, you will need to purchase lossless
11:56 scaling from the Steam store. LSFGVK is
11:58 a Deky plugin that taps into that to add
12:00 frame generation in certain games, which
12:01 can help smooth things out when
12:03 performance is right on the edge. There
12:04 are some trade-offs. So, you may notice
12:06 some visual artifacting or some added
12:08 input delay, which I think makes it a
12:10 poor fit for games where reaction time
12:13 really matters. Games like Expedition 33
12:14 or Souls Light games. Sometimes it
12:16 helps, sometimes streaming is the
12:24 And lastly, if you're into retro,
12:26 there's emulation. I won't go too deep
12:27 into that for now, but EmC is the
12:28 easiest way to get started if you're
12:30 curious. Just know it does require your
12:32 own ROM files and in some cases even
12:34 BIOS files, but you can get all those from
12:40 Jokes aside, there are some excellent
12:41 guides right here on YouTube if
12:43 emulation is your jam. At the end of the
12:44 day, I think the Steam Deck is at its
12:46 best when you meet it where it's strong
12:47 and choose the approach that keeps
12:55 So, there you go, buds. My hope is that
12:57 with these tips, the Steam Deck feels a
12:59 little less intimidating and a lot more
13:02 inviting. You don't need to master it,
13:04 you just need to understand it. Because
13:05 once the noise fades and the
13:07 expectations settle, the Steam Deck
13:10 reveals what it's always been good at,
13:11 becoming something that feels easy to
13:14 pick up and eventually
