Can you play this on Steam Deck?

Well it's not going to be as clean or simple as that post implies.

You're going to need to do a few things, and you'll have a few options on how to run PSO or any other non-steam game for that matter.

You'll be able to run Desktop Mode on SteamOS which will allow you to install these games, but you'll likely have to jump through some (relatively easy) hoops. Alternatively, you'll also be able to dual boot Windows on the Steam deck, which will obviously also let you install the game like you would on any Windows computer. There's a lot of pros and cons there though.

Anyways, the simple answer to the question is yes you can, but the details largely depend on how comfortable you are with using computers and how much effort you'd be willing to put into setting it up.
 
Kevdo said:
Well it's not going to be as clean or simple as that post implies.

You're going to need to do a few things, and you'll have a few options on how to run PSO or any other non-steam game for that matter.

You'll be able to run Desktop Mode on SteamOS which will allow you to install these games, but you'll likely have to jump through some (relatively easy) hoops. Alternatively, you'll also be able to dual boot Windows on the Steam deck, which will obviously also let you install the game like you would on any Windows computer. There's a lot of pros and cons there though.

Anyways, the simple answer to the question is yes you can, but the details largely depend on how comfortable you are with using computers and how much effort you'd be willing to put into setting it up.
Click to expand...
I’m usually not that good with this sort of thing, but it’s amazing what kind of hoops I can suddenly jump thru in order to play this game.
 
Yes, will work. My Steam Deck is arriving in Q2; if your Steam Deck ETA is later, I can test this for you.

The SteamOS 3.0 distro is also available for you to download, if you want to test it out in advance.
 
I think my friend tested ephinea on his linux machine, so this is not straightforward STEAM DECK compatibility thing but proton is surprisingly nice with some older titles, and seems to handle old 3D effects better in case of (same) friend trying out Final Fantasy XI also in his linux install+steam+proton. On deck, installation might be slight trouble but can be easier if you copy the files over from installation folder on your main PC or something.
At least on windows, steam input seems to work and there is little reason to believe it wouldn't on steam deck. I can ask my friend for details. All I know is he runs Gentoo but generally this should be applicable to most Linux+Steam situations. Proton with very few examples has been surprisingly OK with older 3D titles that use DX8 etc.
 
I am playing psobb on linux now (pc not a steam deck). proton plays it perfectly. I actually added it to my steam library in linux and launched it with proton without a single hitch. I have had some issues with the controller. Controller works fine, but I can't remap anything via steam configs. I am guessing there are ways to get the controller mapping working, I just have not figured it out yet.
 
natiels said:
I am playing psobb on linux now (pc not a steam deck). proton plays it perfectly. I actually added it to my steam library in linux and launched it with proton without a single hitch. I have had some issues with the controller. Controller works fine, but I can't remap anything via steam configs. I am guessing there are ways to get the controller mapping working, I just have not figured it out yet.
Click to expand...

As PSOBB is a non-Steam title, we'll need to rely on third-party controller support. For Linux and Windows-alike, I'll recommend the open-source program Anti-Micro X due to its user friendly GUI. The Steam Deck might be finicky with resolutions due to its aspect ratio being 16:10, especially full-screen, so most likely only windowed mode will work out of the box. Though, I've tried PSOBB using WINE on my Macbook Pro- while it does work, textures look garbled. Hopefully I'll get mine soon in April and I'll continue to update this thread with testing and workarounds ;)
 
Hello friends. Good news! Someone beat me to the punch. PSOBB does run as expected, and with great battery life.
https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/u77vb4

In case the link does not preview, here's the image from the post.
bkMsuEB.jpg


And here's the guide for installing it!
https://www.reddit.com/r/PSO/comments/tzj7a0
or https://docs.google.com/document/d/1I4AibIhq5M85wByePQ3wg8bK5s6DsOl9KQRjRkW-Oas/edit

NB: As expected, one of the steps does require you to set a custom resolution in order to not break the game upon loading.
 
I've been playing this on Steam Deck all weekend, and it runs very well. Weirdly, you the character create screen is black and unuseable, so you have to create a character on a different device and come back to the Steam Deck. Otherwise, I'm having a blast playing this game portably and online. I was a Gamecube player back in the day, and only ever played splitscreen multiplayer, so once I get a couple levels and feel comfortable, I might look for a party (am a Purplenum Ramar). Also, er, hello everyone! First post lol
 
Kazin said:
I've been playing this on Steam Deck all weekend, and it runs very well. Weirdly, you the character create screen is black and unuseable, so you have to create a character on a different device and come back to the Steam Deck. Otherwise, I'm having a blast playing this game portably and online. I was a Gamecube player back in the day, and only ever played splitscreen multiplayer, so once I get a couple levels and feel comfortable, I might look for a party (am a Purplenum Ramar). Also, er, hello everyone! First post lol
Click to expand...
Welcome! I'm just new here myself as well. I'm happy to hear the game is playable on the deck, was really curious about that. Being able to play the game online on a handheld was like a dream back in the day. Whenever my deck arrives I'll be trying it out for sure, sounds like it takes some work to get going, but great once it is. Thanks for the heads up on the character creation screen!
 
For anyone that is having issues running the game after the latest launcher patch, I have found the simplest solution to this issue after several hours of messing around with it today.

I won't go into crazy detail here just because there are many guides online already, but the one I used is located here. I followed the steps in order below:

1. Searched and installed Lutris in the Steam Deck Discover app in desktop mode.
2. Ran a command in the Konsole terminal (after installing Lutris, but before running it) that resolves some kind of error with it running on Steam Deck. Details on this in the guide I linked above.
3. Installed the game as normal using Lutris.
4. Once the game is installed in Lutris, you should see it under the "Runners" section on the left. Highlight PSO and you will see a wine icon on the bottom of the app with an arrow pointing up. Click the up arrow and select "Winetricks".
5. A new window will open up, select the default option which should be "Select the default wineprefix" and click OK.
6. This will open another new window where you will select the first option which should be "Install a Windows DLL or component" and click OK.
7. You will see a long list of different components which you can install, but here we will search for "dotnet462", when you find it, check it and install it.
8. Wait for the installation of this component to finish and confirm once the window is done with the install.
9. You should be back at the Lutris main screen where you can now click "Play" to launch PSO and the loader should now load properly.
10. Don't forget to fix the resolution under settings and configure the options as you'd like before launching the game. The window will close immediately if the resolution of the game does not fit within the Steam Deck resolution of 1280x800. I am running the game in fullscreen mode myself.

I will update this post with info on how to add it to the Game Mode interface once I figure that out, as well as how to install the LUA addons if I find that is somehow possible lol.
 
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Kevdo said:
For anyone that is having issues running the game after the latest launcher patch, I have found the simplest solution to this issue after several hours of messing around with it today.

I won't go into crazy detail here just because there are many guides online already, but the one I used is located here. I followed the steps in order below:

1. Searched and installed Lutris in the Steam Deck Discover app in desktop mode.
2. Ran a command in the Konsole terminal (after installing Lutris, but before running it) that resolves some kind of error with it running on Steam Deck. Details on this in the guide I linked above.
3. Installed the game as normal using Lutris.
4. Once the game is installed in Lutris, you should see it under the "Runners" section on the left. Highlight PSO and you will see a wine icon on the bottom of the app with an arrow pointing up. Click the up arrow and select "Winetricks".
5. A new window will open up, select the default option which should be "Select the default wineprefix" and click OK.
6. This will open another new window where you will select the first option which should be "Install a Windows DLL or component" and click OK.
7. You will see a long list of different components which you can install, but here we will search for "dotnet462", when you find it, check it and install it.
8. Wait for the installation of this component to finish and confirm once the window is done with the install.
9. You should be back at the Lutris main screen where you can now click "Play" to launch PSO and the loader should now load properly.
10. Don't forget to fix the resolution under settings and configure the options as you'd like before launching the game. The window will close immediately if the resolution of the game does not fit within the Steam Deck resolution of 1280x800. I am running the game in fullscreen mode myself.

I will update this post with info on how to add it to the Game Mode interface once I figure that out, as well as how to install the LUA addons if I find that is somehow possible lol.
Click to expand...
To add this to steam and take advantage of the controller mapping do the following:

1. Close steam(if you don't do this, this option won't do anything while steam is open)
2. Right click(shoulder button) on the game in lutris and select Create Steam Shortcut
3. Go to lutris preferences and check the Minimize client while game is launched
4. Restart Steam or switch to Game Mode

You should see it in your games list!

Hope this helps
 
Great tip @Ethroden
By the way, if you don't see the option to create a Steam shortcut for a game in Lutris, try adding Lutris itself to Steam as a non-steam game. That should give you the option in Lutris to create the Steam shortcuts for games. You can remove Lutris from Steam afterwards if you don't want to keep it on the non-steam game list.

People can also download great cover art for the Steam shortcuts at https://www.steamgriddb.com/

Awesome site for custom cover/banner art!
 
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