Steam Deck Support

[Bobby]

Now that the steam deck is out, it would be nice to see some support for this device (stuff like being able to bind the extra buttons on the back, etc.)

[Graf Zahl]

Find us someone who has such a thing and wants to develop for it. Until then it's on hold.

[Bobby]

Got it. Thanks for the response.

[Rachael]

The biggest roadblock here is controller support. Everything works perfect on Steam Deck except that. It uses some Gentoo Linux variant (afaik) and GZDoom on Linux does support controllers as far as I remember - just - not very well. Still though - Steam (and I assume SteamDeck too) supports controller-key mapping and that is something that will work well with GZDoom.

[wildweasel]

You can sort of coax Linux GZDoom into working on Steam Deck, but it does take some roundabout approaches, and I have not yet figured out how to get it to load external WAD files. The steps I took are as follows:

1. From Desktop Mode, install GZDoom from the Discover app. (This installs it as a Flatpak - I've yet to figure out any other way.) DO NOT RUN IT YET, or it may be difficult to escape from it!
2. Open Steam from the Desktop and add GZDoom as a Non-Steam Game.
3. You'll probably want an external keyboard for this: put your IWAD files somewhere, then add that location to the gzdoom.ini file. As a Flatpak, you'll find that in, if I recall correctly, /home/deck/.var/app/org.ZDoom.GZDoom/.config. You could place the IWADs in the usual Linux locations, but the Flatpak needs special permissions to access them, and I don't know how to grant them.
4. From Gaming Mode, you should be able to configure the GZDoom app from the Steam library, in order to select one of the community-made controller configs for it. This is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT, as even if you enable Controller support, GZDoom does not directly recognize the Deck controls as a controller. Fortunately, this is as easy as picking the top-rated community config for it.

If all you wanted to do was run a single IWAD, this will get you into a game and enable you to play it. A Linux-expert friend of mine was trying to figure out how to get a copy of ZDL to recognize a Flatpak GZDoom and not making much headway, though, so I think if we want more functionality than just "runs doom2.wad," we might have to figure out how to install GZDoom as a normal friggin' program first.

Another huge caveat is that the Steam Deck on-screen keyboard app will not render over GZDoom, so if you didn't follow my advice and set it up with a controller config first, you will need to be able to type blindly using only the haptic feedback to "feel" where the keyboard keys are. Typing "quit" in the console took me 5 minutes to do the first time and I do not recommend it. If you wanna get risky with it, get either a Bluetooth keyboard or a USB-C OTG adapter.

[Bobby]

How would I load multiple mods?

[wildweasel]

How would I load multiple mods?

If you can figure that out, you'll probably be the first ever. I have not made any headway on it myself.

[emile_b]

I should be getting one soon-ish (Q2 early reservation) I was thinking of making a touchscreen compatible launcher for the mods and properly integrating the controls including gyro, trackpads and on screen keyboard. The left trackpad could be used as a weapon and inventory quick selection wheel.

Any ideas what technology to use for the launcher? I was thinking to use QT (https://www.qt.io/) as it's got good cross compatibility between Linux and Windows, but still undecided.

I'll post something if I ever start it and you can test it or contribute if anyone wants.

[Rachael]

If you can use a keyboard on it and if you know how to use a terminal you should be able to switch to a terminal screen by using the ctrl-alt-f# keys (f1 to f6 usually). in most distros the ctrl-alt-f7 is the first X screen.

With the terminal you should be able to wget your wads to a folder somewhere.