A place to discuss and support all things Steam Deck.
Replacement for r/steamdeck_linux.
As Lemmy doesn't have flairs yet, you can use these prefixes to indicate what type of post you have made, eg:
[Flair] My post title
The following is a list of suggested flairs:
[Discussion] - General discussion.
[Help] - A request for help or support.
[News] - News about the deck.
[PSA] - Sharing important information.
[Game] - News / info about a game on the deck.
[Update] - An update to a previous post.
[Meta] - Discussion about this community.
Some more Steam Deck specific flairs:
[Boot Screen] - Custom boot screens/videos.
[Selling] - If you are selling your deck.
These are not enforced, but they are encouraged.
Rules:
These controllers were all working on SteamOS before as far as I know, so I'm interested to see what this changes. My understanding is that previously their controllers just show up as generic xbox controllers, and now they will be properly recognized. We'll see if this has any other benefits like custom bindings for back buttons and things like that.
On the deck I use them all the time. For FPS games I frequently bind them to be ABXY, lets you jump/reload/etc without having to take your thumb off of the joystick. Absolutely mandatory for games like Doom Eternal and Deep Rock in my opinion.
In games with heavy dpad use for cycling abilities/items (like Elden Ring) I usually use them for that. Being able to cycle spells or potions while running is very necessary sometimes. You can also use them in combination with mode shift settings, things like while I hold R4 down it will temporarily turn my ABXY into a second DPAD.
You can use them for steamOS features, stuff like opening keyboard or toggling zoom for games with small text.
A lot of people dislike clicking thumbsticks, so it's common for people to use them for that. L4 to toggle sprint instead of L3 is very popular for example. Also nice for when L3/R3 do something you don't want to trigger accidentally during combat (Ys 8 and 9 toggle a minimap overlay with L3, which is very distracting during combat. So I've disabled L3 on the thumbstick and instead have L4 open the minimap overlay).
In any PC game with more inputs it can be great for common button presses that didn't make the cut onto the standard controller. Things like map/journal shortcuts, quick save, etc. Setting left trackpad to a touch menu is also great for this.
Overall they're pretty great, I don't use them in every game, but there are a lot of games I refuse to play on a standard controller without them.
Maybe I need to limber up mentally, jeez! I'm so set in my ways that when I try to imagine any of this, my eyes start to glaze over. Like I'm scooping what you're pooping but I'm startled at how much my mind is resisting.