Steam Deck Tools

This repository contains my own personal set of tools to help running Windows on Steam Deck.

This software is provided on best-effort basis and can break your SteamDeck. To learn more go to Risks.

If you found it useful buy me Ko-fi.

1. Steam Deck Fan Control

This is a very early and highly experimental fan controller for Windows build based on linux/jupiter-fan-control.py available on SteamOS.

1.1. Usage

You can download latest precompiled build from Releases tab. Currently the application requires administrative privileges in order to read various temperature sensors.

It provides 3 modes of operation:

1. Default - use EC to control fan (as done today)
2. SteamOS - use reimplemented jupiter-fan-control.py (as in SteamOS when Fan Control is enabled)
3. Max - blow at full speed.

1.2. How it works?

See Risks.

1.3. Limitations

As of Today (Nov, 2022) the GPU temperature is missing on Windows. Which makes it a little incomplete. However, it should be expected that GPU temperature is "kind of similar" to CPU due to GPU being in the same silicon. But! The device might overheat and break due to this missing temperature. So, use at your own risk.

1.4. Supported devices

The application tries it best to not harm device (just in case). So, it validates bios version. Those are currently supported:

• F7A0107 (PD ver: 0xB030)
• F7A0110 (PD ver: 0xB030)

2. Performance Overlay

This is a very simple application that requires Rivatuner Statistics Server Download) and provides asthetics of SteamOS Performance Overlay.

Uninstall MSI Afterburner and any other OSD software.

It currently registers two global hotkeys:

• Shift+F11 - enable performance overlay
• Alt+Shift+F11 - cycle to next performance overlay (and enable it)

There are 5 modes of presentation:

2.1. FPS

2.2. FPS with Battery

2.3. Minimal

2.4. Detail

2.5. Full

3. Power Control

This is a very simple application that requires Rivatuner Statistics Server Download and provides an easily accessible controls.

Uninstall MSI Afterburner and any other OSD software.

There are currently configurable settings:

• Volume
• Brightness
• Refresh Rate
• Resolution (requires enabling EnableExperimentalFeatures in appconfig)
• FPS Limit (requires: RTSS > Setup > Enable Framelimit)
• TDP
• SMT (Each core of AMD has 2 threads, this allows to enable/disable second threads)
• OSD / OSDMode (requires PerformanceOverlay running)
• Fan (requires FanControl running)

3.1. Use it

It will only work in OSD mode when rendering graphics. The notification setting is always available.

• SteamDeck Controller: press and hold Quick Access (3 dots), and then DPad Left, Rigth, Up, Down.
• Keyboard: Ctrl+Win+Numpad2 (Down), Ctrl+Win+Numpad4 (Left), Ctrl+Win+Numpad6 (Right), Ctrl+Win+Numpad8 (Up)

Additional shortcuts:

• Control Volume: use Volume Up and Down
• Control Brightness: press and hold Quick Access (3 dots), and then Volume Up and Down
• Press 3 dots + L4 + R4 + L5 + R5 to reset (TDP, Refresh Rate, FPS limit) to default

3.2. SWICD configuration

• Set 3 dots to NONE in button mapping

  

4. Steam Controller

This is highly experimental "opinionated" implementation of Steam Controller that is meant to replace SWICD and Glossi. This is hard piece and it is rather unsupported (by me), so if it works it works.

It offers 3 main modes of operation:

• Desktop
• X360 emulation (optionally with Rumble) - activated automatically when entering Playnite Fullscreen
• Steam - active automatically when running Steam Gamepad UI, Steam Big Screen UI or running Steam Game

You can easily switch between Desktop and X360 by holding Options button (3 horizontal lines, on top of the right joystick). When profile is switched you will hear a beep.

It is strongly advised that you uninstall (unless you know what are you doing):

1. SWICD
2. Glossi
3. HidHide

Requirements:

1. Ensure that you have SWICD, Glossi and HidHide disabled, stopped or uninstalled!
2. Ensure that HidHide is disabled, or ensure that Steam Controller.exe can see Neptune Valve Controller.
3. Install latest version of https://github.com/ViGEm/ViGEmBus/releases.

4.1. Possible setups

The are various ways how Steam Controller can work with Steam. If you do not use Steam this is simple, just run it and enjoy. Since when there's no Steam, there's no problem at all.

4.1.1. Most compatible - Use X360 Controller with Steam

This pretty much work always. It hides the Valve Software Steam Controller from Steam.

It is out of box experience. In this mode you would use either Desktop or X360 controls, and all Steam games would use X360.

The Back Panel buttons can be assigned to some user-defined keys.

4.1.2. Works, but sometimes finicky - Use Steam Input with Steam

It is required to configure Steam as described in Configure Steam.

This is setup that allows you to enable Steam Input and use community provided profiles on Steam. However, this requires special configuration and in some cases is finicky.

The SteamController.exe automatically detects Steam running game and disable itself for the duration of game play switch to specially currated Steam profile (non selectable, and hidden).

The are two primary ways how to use it. The best experience is achieved when STEAM IS NOT RUNNING IN BACKGROUND. Use Playnite Fullscreen to start game on the Steam and close it after session (there's an option in Playnite settings). Keep Steam closed otherwise at all times.

Alternative if Steam is running in background it should be pretty stable when configured desktop mode buttons. There will be sometimes finicky behavior when using STEAM button shortcuts. However, this is mostly stable otherwise.

Getting controllers support is hard especially with Steam not making it easy to disable it. I'm doing this to solve my usage pattern. So, I might have limited will to fix all quirks of handling Steam running in background alongside Steam Controller. This will never be supported mode of operation.

4.1.3. If you know what you do - Ignore Steam

This makes Steam Controller to disable Steam detection. Now, you would have to do everything you were doing before: like HidHide, additional controllers, etc.

It is not needed to configure Steam as described in Configure Steam.

In this mode you would use either Desktop or X360 controls, and all Steam games would use X360. When running in this mode you would have to switch between Desktop and X360 mode with Options button or with PowerControl.

Of course you will have access to all described shortcuts.

4.2. Mappings

Button	Desktop	X360 (with Rumble)	Steam	Steam With Shortcuts
X360 Controller	Not connected	Connected	Not connected	Not connected
Options (hold for 1s)	Switch to next profile	Switch to next profile	Switch to next profile	Switch to next profile
Options (hold for 3s)	Toggle desktop mode	Toggle desktop mode
STEAM + 3 dots	CTRL + SHIFT + ESCAPE	CTRL + SHIFT + ESCAPE	CTRL + SHIFT + ESCAPE	CTRL + SHIFT + ESCAPE
STEAM + Menu	WIN + TAB	WIN + TAB	WIN + TAB	WIN + TAB
STEAM + Options	F11	F11	F11	F11
STEAM + A	RETURN	RETURN		RETURN
STEAM + B (hold for 1s)	ALT + F4	ALT + F4		ALT + F4
STEAM + B (hold for 3s)	Kill active process	Kill active process		Kill active process
STEAM + X	Toggle Keyboard	Toggle Keyboard		Toggle Keyboard
STEAM + L1	Toggle Magnify	Toggle Magnify		Toggle Magnify
STEAM + R1	Screenshot	Screenshot		Screenshot
STEAM + Left Joystick Up	Increase Brightness	Increase Brightness		Increase Brightness
STEAM + Left Joystick Down	Decrease Brightness	Decrease Brightness		Decrease Brightness
STEAM + DPad Right	RETURN	RETURN		RETURN
STEAM + DPad Down	TAB	TAB		TAB
STEAM + DPad Left	ESCAPE	ESCAPE		ESCAPE
STEAM + DPad Up	CTRL + ALT + U	CTRL + ALT + U		CTRL + ALT + U
STEAM + Left Pad	Mouse Scroll	Mouse Scroll		Mouse Scroll
STEAM + Left Joystick	Mouse Scroll	Mouse Scroll		Mouse Scroll
STEAM + Right Joystick	Mouse Trackpad	Mouse Trackpad		Mouse Trackpad
STEAM + Right Pad	Mouse Move	Mouse Move		Mouse Move
STEAM + L2	Mouse Right Click	Mouse Right Click		Mouse Right Click
STEAM + R2	Mouse Left Click	Mouse Left Click		Mouse Left Click
STEAM + Left Pad Press	Mouse Right Click	Mouse Right Click		Mouse Right Click
STEAM + Right Pad Press	Mouse Left Click	Mouse Left Click		Mouse Left Click
Left Pad	Mouse Scroll
Left Joystick	Mouse Scroll
Right Joystick	Mouse Trackpad
Right Pad	Mouse Move
DPad Arrows	Keyboard Arrows
A	RETURN
B	BACKSPACE

4.3. Configure Steam

If Steam is running in background it is essential to remove Desktop mode configuration to make SteamController.exe the one mapping those.

4.3.1. Disable Desktop mode in Steam Gamepad UI (preferred)

1. Run steam.exe with -gamepadui.
2. Click Steam button, go to Settings > Controller.
3. Scroll down to find Desktop Layout, click Edit and Edit Layout.
4. Go to Action Sets > Add Action Set.
5. In Add Action Set type Empty and Continue.
6. Now click on Default, Remove Set and Confirm.
7. You can now exit with B (Back).

4.3.2. Disable Desktop mode in Steam Desktop (slightly buggy on Steam Deck)

1. Run Steam.
2. Go to Steam > Settings > Controller > Desktop Configuration.
3. Click Add Action Set.
4. In new window type Empty and click OK.
5. At top select Default.
6. Now click Menu button (the button on top of left joystick with two squares) on Steam Deck (or Manage Action Set button).
7. In a new window click DELETE.
8. Now click B or DONE.

4.4. Fullscreen Scaling Hotkey (Steam + Up Pad Press)

Many games in Windows will crash when attempting to start in fullscreen. To have a fullscreen experience on the Steam Deck, you can use this keybind in any fullscreen scaling application to provide a shortcut capable of toggling the scaling.

Example of Scaling software: https://store.steampowered.com/app/993090/Lossless_Scaling/

To configure the hotkey in Lossless Scaling:

1. Launch Lossless Scaling
2. Open "Settings"
3. Select the "Scale hotkey"
4. Press "STEAM + DPad Up"
5. Verify that the hotkey was set to "CTRL + ALT + U"
6. Close the settings dialog

5. Risks

This software is provided on best-effort basis and can break your SteamDeck. It does a direct manipulation of kernel memory to control usage the EC (Embedded Controller) and setting desired fan RPM via VLV0100

The Tools are written trying to check if you are truly using SteamDeck and compatible system. The applications try it's best to start only on validated configurations to avoid breaking your system.

It was build based on knowledge gained in Steam Deck kernel patch and DSDT presented by bios. The memory addresses used are hardcoded and can be changed any moment by the Bios update.

Fortunately quite amount of people are using it with a success and no problems observed. However, you should be aware of the consequences.

5.1. Risk of CPU and GPU frequency change

The APU manipulation of CPU and GPU frequency uses a ported implementation from Linux kernel. It is more unstable than Fan Control (since the Fan Control is controller managing EC on Windows). The change of the CPU and GPU frequency switch might sometimes crash system. The AMD Display Driver periodically requests GPU metrics and in some rare circumstances the change request might lock the GPU driver. If something like this happens it is advised to power shutdown the device. Disconnect from charging, and hold power button for a few seconds. Power device normally afterwards. This is rather unlikely to break the device if done right after when such event occurs.

6. Anti-Cheat and Antivirus software

Since this project uses direct manipulation of kernel memory via inpoutx64.dll it might trigger Antivirus and Anti-Cheat software.

If you use at least version 0.5.x you can disable kernel drivers usage that should avoid trippping Anti-Cheat detection. Set FAN to Default and disable OSD Kernel Drivers. Of course you will miss some metrics due to that.

7. Development

It should be enough to run scripts/build.bat to see binaries in build-release/.

You might also run scripts/test_debug.bat which will build and run built version.

Author

Kamil Trzciński, 2022

License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC-BY-NC).

Free for personal use. Contact me in other cases (ayufan@ayufan.eu).