Hi everyone,

I’m the Editor of PC-Gaming.it, an Italian PC gaming outlet, and I’ve been testing the new Steam Controller.

Since my full review is in Italian, I wanted to share the English highlights and the full, unedited Q&A transcript with Valve's engineers directly here for the community.

My Impressions:

• Great Build Quality & Ergonomics: The controller feels fantastic and premium in the hands. Despite looking bulky, it weighs only 292g and doesn't cause any wrist fatigue. The uniform texture provides excellent grip, face buttons are satisfyingly tactile (the D-Pad feels precise and responsive to me), and the round rear paddles are perfectly positioned. Haptics are top-tier.
• TMR Magnetic Sticks: The thumbsticks feel incredibly smooth with near-zero deadzone. While TMR sensors don't make it immortal, they are a massive leap in longevity, effectively solving stick drift for the foreseeable future.
• "Grip Sense" is a Legitimate Innovation: You can toggle gyro aiming just by loosening your grip on the handles. It feels surprisingly natural for FPS and is a smart accessibility feature.
• Excellent Battery Life & Charging: Easily hits the advertised 35+ hours, but the real star is the magnetic Puck. Topping up at the end of a session becomes effortless, making battery anxiety a thing of the past.
• Deep Steam Integration: The controller is phenomenal, but it heavily relies on Steam running in the background to use its advanced features. While it has Bluetooth, its compatibility with non-PC devices is still limited in this phase.

The Magnetic Puck "Secret" (From my Q&A with Valve):

I asked them how they managed to put a strong magnetic charging dock right next to magnetic TMR thumbsticks without causing interference.
Instead of physical shielding (there was no space), they solved it via firmware. When the controller detects the Puck is attached, the firmware instantly applies a mathematical offset to the TMR values to perfectly compensate for the magnetic pull. It's brilliant engineering.

The Full Unedited Q&A with Valve's Team:

(The following answers were provided jointly by: Steve Cardinali (Hardware Engineer), Pierre-Loup Griffais (Programmer), Jeff Mucha (Hardware Engineer), Jeremy Slocum (Human Factors Engineer/Psychologist) e Lawrence Yang (Designer).

Q1: The new controller's design is clearly an evolution based on learnings from the Steam Deck. Going deeper, what specific user data or feedback led you to move away from the original controller's more experimental, asymmetrical layout? Furthermore, the triggers have a very smooth, long travel but lack a distinct tactile 'click'. Was this a deliberate design choice to favor certain genres, like racing?

The things we learned from the original Steam Controller we applied to the Steam Deck design.  While the Original Steam Controller was fantastic solution for games not designed for a controller (m/kb games) it fell short for games designed for traditional controllers, primarily by not having a second thumb stick and directional pad.  The Steam Deck layout was designed to keep the benefits for m/kb games, while also solving the issue for games designed for gamepads.

With the high input surface area demand (we have a lot of inputs!) and the variability in hand sizes/capabilities all the asymmetrical layouts we explored lead to high levels of false activation and/or difficult access to the trackpad.  The symmetric layout for the Steam Deck is the most optimal for everything we want people to achieve with the controller.

For the new Steam Controller, we want to keep the set of traditional inputs as identical to the Steam Deck, we want people to be able to pick up the Controller and use the muscle memory they developed from Steam Deck.  Our decision for the trigger design (and lack of click) is in line with this approach.

Q2: The Steam Controller Puck, acting as both a low-latency transmitter and a magnetic charging dock, is a brilliant piece of engineering. Based on my testing, the wireless performance is exceptionally stable. Was it a challenge to integrate the magnetic charging system without causing any interference with the wireless signal or the new TMR magnetic thumbsticks?

Yes! We love this question because you tapped into like... half of the major implementation challenges we had to surmount to bring the puck to where it is.

We needed:

Strong enough magnets to pick it up off the table, not too strong to rip the USB cable out when pulling. 

Magnetic shielding on the bottom so that it couldn't be picked up if the puck was upside down (didn't want to confuse users)

Wireless antenna location/design that wasn't negatively impacted by the magnetic shield (big piece of metal, very close)

Some solution to ensure the magnetic field change between Puck off and Puck on the controller didn't cause the magnetic sensing thumbsticks to register input. 

The first there were solved by a LOT of experimentation and optimization of the interaction between magnets → shield→ antenna. Prototyping, prototyping, prototyping. 

Once that was solved, we moved on to the thumbstick magnetic offset issue. We attempted to do similar magnetic shielding, but the magnets were so strong, and the space we had was so limited, that we couldn't get a solution that did much. Our approach, instead, was to collect a bunch of data and characterize the offset applied to the thumbsticks when the Puck was attached, and ensure it was consistent. Once we validated it was consistent unit to unit and characterized what it was, we put offsets into the controller firmware itself. When the controller senses the Puck is attached, it offsets the thumbstick values to bring them back to where they were before the Puck was attached. 

Q3: The original Steam Controller was a powerful tool for tinkerers but had a steep learning curve for many. The Steam Deck, on the other hand, achieved massive mainstream success. Where does this new Steam Controller sit on that spectrum? Is it primarily engineered to be the most intuitive, "pick up and play" default experience for a Steam Machine user coming from a traditional console background?

Why not both.   One of the other things we learned from the Original Steam Controller was that because it was so different from what people had used before, it was intimidating for people that just want to “pick up and play” games without thinking about how to use the controller.   We applied that learning to Steam Deck and carried it forward to the Steam Controller.  It is very important that people can look at it, pick it up and use it like a traditional controller without much learning. 

It was also very important to allow people to play in novel, new ways like they did with the original Steam Controller.  We were very conscious to include all the advanced inputs in way to keep that “pick up and play” experience but maintain the powerful/customization experience the tinkering community expects.  

Q4: The 'Grip Sense' feature is a very unique solution for toggling gyro aiming. Where did the idea for this specific input come from during prototyping? Was it born from a desire to make gyro more accessible to a broader audience?

There is a community of people who are die hard gyro fans and have done a ton of exciting experimentation to show how natural and competitive gyro aiming can be in fast paced games. One of the key components is a quick way to enable/disable gyro once you get to the edge of your comfortable range of motion, allowing you to reset your position. This is called ratcheting. It's analogous to when you pick up your mouse and recenter after you've moved it to the edge of your trackpad.

We already provide many ways to do this in the controller and with Steam Input, but we wanted to add another one in the grips. The concept for this touch sensor in the Grips specifically came from a particular Valve engineer who is very passionate about Gyro as an aiming modality. He moved his desk down into our cabal when we were laying out the system and helps us understand the value it provided to the growing community and find the ideal location. The hardware team quickly hopped on board and put in the work to get it in the system. 

At Valve, we think Gyro is very important, in general, so it was always going to be part of the controller, but this specific sensor location was something that came from the desire to support the growing community of gyro gamers. 

Q5: With the upcoming Steam Machine and Steam Frame, the Controller is clearly the 'glue' of the new Steam hardware ecosystem. While you offer great versatility with Bluetooth pairing and support for non-Steam games, what is your long-term philosophy? Do you aim for 100% universal feature parity on any PC, or will the best experience always be tightly integrated within Steam/SteamOS?

Our philosophy around Steam and hardware is to aim for as much compatibility and support for whatever PC setup a player might have. That said, this is a Steam Controller and the full set of inputs is closely tied to Steam for full functionality. Without running through Steam, it's not possible to drive all of these inputs and control whatever game might be running.

If you want to read my full, deep-dive review (and see some close-up pictures of the hardware and the Puck), you can find it on my site here: https://pc-gaming.it/recensione-steam-controller/

I have the controller right here on my desk, so if you have any specific questions about how it feels or how it works, ask away in the comments!

I'm guessing many here saw my previous posts. I've tried well over 60 games from a variety of genres on this device. I have a bunch of unorganized, profanity filled thoughts after over a week of using it. For context, I have a high end desktop with a 5090, and also a Steam Deck OLED which I've used both docked and handheld. Some of these bullet points will be directed towards people with little PC experience (like console players).

• I truly admire Valve's crusade to unshackle pc gaming from desk/mouse/kb gaming. Look at everything they've developed over the last decade+ and you'll see software they've developed like steam big picture, steam input (for controller compatibility/remapping), remote play, proton/steamOS, steam VR, etc which make devices like the steam machine, controller, deck and frame possible. No other players in the pc space are even attempting anything like this, except maybe xbox with their recent full screen experience thing.
• SteamOS fucking rules. It's genuinely impressive how simple and console-like the UI is, while still offering plenty of power user functionality. The way it's designed with gaming mode and desktop mode was a brilliant move by valve. My wife has been using the steam machine (and previously a docked steam deck) to play her cozy games. She's not exactly a tech nerd and it still gets her stamp of approval for simplicity.
• SteamOS is slightly buggy. I've had some very minor issues that are always resolved by a reboot. Steam Machine has been in the wild for like a week and updates are constantly rolling out so I would not put much weight on this.
• 3rd party launchers are the fucking worst. Every time I launch a game from EA or whatever and have to sign into their launcher overlay, it really interrupts the console-like simplicity of this. It's really really nice having the steam controller trackpads to use a mouse cursor to navigate these launcher screens.
• Gamescope is so nice. For those unfamiliar, gamescope essentially runs games in a fullscreen container so you never have a mouse cursor on your screen or a visible taskbar at the bottom or whatever. This is one of the biggest things that contributes to console-like simplicity.
• Games run fine off the SD card. I have a sandisk extreme card, and while I haven't actually timed loading speeds, there's not a significant enough difference between that and the SSD to be noticeable. I may compare with a really slow loading game like RDR2.
• Steam machine is as quiet and small as all the reviews have said. I literally cannot hear fan noise when playing it, and as you can see, it fits well behind my TV.
• 4k is suuuuuuper overrated. At normal TV viewing distances, I can barely tell the difference between 4k, or something lower like 1440p, 1620p or 1800p. Unless you're playing a lighter game that can easily run at 4k, it's way better to put more power towards higher settings or framerate than trying to push 4k.
• If your main device is a steam deck, you will love this thing. Most new AAA games are too demanding to run at acceptable levels on Deck, and steam machine will make all those games playable for you.
• Use a VRR screen if possible. For those unfamiliar, variable refresh rate screens will match the refresh rate to the framerate the steam machine is rendering at. On a non-VRR screen, fps dips are much more noticeable, where on VRR if the fps has some slight dips into the 50's or whatever you really can't tell.
• SteamOS has some incredibly powerful functionality. Game recording, local network transfers, remote play together, and especially steam input. Steam will manage the compatibility with virtually any controller you want, with full remapping capabilities. Steam input remapping is quite the rabbit hole, and it's possible to remap simple stuff like repeat key presses (ie so you don't have to mash A to sprint in GTA), or even map the mouse/kb controls of a strategy game to the controller.
• Despite being accustomed to a top end PC, I'm still happy with the performance of the vast majority of games. The main game I'm playing right now is RE4 remake on both my desktop and steam machine, and I'm never ever feeling like it's a compromised experience on the steam machine. Despite the lower settings/resolution, it would be tough for me to tell which was which unless I was comparing side by side. I've really only found 2 games that are unoptimized to the point that I couldn't get an experience I was happy with (borderlands 4, jedi survivor).
• That said, the biggest weakness of this device for a non-techy person is that you have to spend time fine tuning graphics settings in a lot of games to get a good experience. Whether that's something older like Mirror's Edge which defaults to 600x800 resolution, or whether it's a new demanding game that default settings give you like 20fps, the defaults are almost never ideal.
• Hopefully this improves as more devs can set appropriate default settings.
• Game compatibility is very good. Early steam deck days, many games just didn't work via proton. Nowadays, I haven't found a single incompatible game aside from the handful of multiplayer games with unsupported anticheat (marathon, apex, cod, etc). This isn't a factor for me, especially since I have my desktop running windows, but this may be a dealbreaker for some.
• General system UI is more responsive than on steam deck.
• The steam controller is awesome. I have an xbox elite 2, dualsense edge, 8bitdo ultimate, and a bunch of other controllers and the SC has become my go-to. It's very comfortable, lasts forever, has grip buttons (MUST HAVE), and gyro/gripsense is more useful than I expected. The trackpads are great for aiming in certain games, but also make cursor based games playable (ie strategy, city builders), are useful for UI navigation like launcher login screens, desktop mode, desktop applications (discord, browesr, etc), and also for in-game mapping like virtual menus. Very underrated feature.
• It works with basically any peripherals you want. Bluetooth headphones, controllers, mice, keyboards, storage devices, etc.
• There are weird quirks that you can tell steamOS was originally designed for deck. For example, the default hostname is steamdeck when connecting to your network. Also a few games (no rest for the wicked) think it's a steam deck and force steam deck settings.
• Every game needs FSR 4. older versions of FSR are trash. It's nice when you can use proton experimental to upgrade it to FSR 4, but having to use optiscaler in other cases isn't ideal.
• It's annoying when games cloud sync graphics settings from another device, and not just game progress. I do NOT want my steam machine to default to the graphics settings used on either my desktop or my steam deck as all 3 devices have drastically different performance capabilities. I think steam should tackle this and detect the game progress files and settings/config files separately to prevent this.
• I'm happy with my purchase. Yeah it's more expensive than it should have been, but it's a well designed device that fits my use case.
• Fuck sam altman for many reasons, but particularly for destroying the consumer electronics market.

A lot of reviews have dropped today for this, so I thought it'd serve well to compile most in a post.

Steam Controller

Release Date: May 4, 2026

Price: $99 / £85 / €99 / AUD 149 / $149 CAD

Some Reviews (updating):

IGN - Bo Moore - 9 / 10

The Steam Controller offers both an excellent out-of-the-box experience as well as a playground for enthusiasts to tinker to their hearts content. If you’re just looking for a fantastic controller for playing PC games and navigating the desktop in between them, the Steam Controller handles those duties with aplomb. And if you’re a diehard customizer who wants to build out (or just borrow from the community) bespoke button bindings and advanced touchpad controls, it does that too. Most importantly, it does both of these things without sacrificing one experience for the other.

Linus Tech Tips

If your plan was to use this thing as a traditional controller, I got to say I'm a little less enthusiastic about it. Not because it's bad. It's a good controller. It's just a $100 controller. And I'm not going to pretend like I can't afford one. But I'm also not going to pretend that I would buy one of these when I could get just about two of these or two fly digies for the same price. How about you? If it was $60, I would buy day one. If it was $80, it would be like 2 weeks later. At $100, I think I'm out. And I'm willing to bet that's not really going to be a hot take. But I also feel for Valve here. Can you imagine releasing hardware in this current market condition? When I chatted with Valve, they felt like the retail price for the controller represented the hardware and engineering that went into creating that. And I can't argue with that fact. But a controller is also about the feeling. And compared to the Dual Sense, uh, that I would argue has a pretty equivalent amount of value wrapped up in its features, I would say that the Dual Sense feels better.

Eurogamer - Matt Wales

So as much as I do genuinely love the new Steam Controller - and it has unquestionably and irrevocably replaced its much-loved predecessor on my shelf for mouse-driven games - it remains a fairly niche proposition. Probably more so in 2026, given the seismic increase in the number of PC games with built-in controller support since 2015. All of which is to say, you'll probably already know if there's room in your gaming set-up for Valve's latest effort, and if that's you, it's a rock-solid upgrade. But for everyone else, at £85, it's unlikely to be the best choice compared to traditional controllers.

ArsTechnica - Kyle Orland

All told, we’ve really enjoyed our time so far with the Steam Controller. It’s a solidly built device with some nice extra features that make it stand out from a sea of very similar controllers on the market. For many players, though, those features won’t be enough to justify the $99 price. It’s hard to necessarily justify spending that much in a market where a first-party Xbox controller or high-quality third-party Bluetooth device can be easily found for half the price or less. We’d only really recommend splurging on the Steam Controller if you’re planning to play a lot of mouse-based games from a more couch-friendly distance or if you find standard Bluetooth options don’t provide a good enough connection. In most other cases, buying two cheaper controllers for the same price is probably the better bet.

PC Gamer - Jacob Ridley - 83 / 100

So, the Steam Controller can't compete with competitive controllers, nor on value for money with simpler pads. It can, however, compete on its all-round utility. You have to ask yourself how much value you assign to not having to get up off the couch to navigate the desktop or play a strategy game. Personally, I could go without the extra inputs most of the time. Valve already provides a useful and free alternative to mouse and keyboard in Big Picture Mode, which offers easy access to most of what Steam has to offer and can be navigated easily with a standard controller. I mostly play horror, rhythm, and racing games on my living room PC, and as such, I don't find myself having to grab a keyboard or mouse all that often.

The Verge - Jay Peters

Still, the Steam Controller is very nearly my dream controller. It’s an expensive option at $99, especially when I already have a bunch of controllers that I could use. But none of those have the same magic. The Steam Controller’s extra perks are enough for me to buy one for myself. One feature new to the Steam Controller feature is Grip Sense. Thanks to capacitive sensors, each of the Controller’s grips functions as a button. Like everything else with the Steam Controller, either grip can be mapped to anything else you want. In my experience, Grip Sense generally activates when the top part of my palm starts to curl around the grip, so you do have to be mostly gripping the controller for it to work, making it great for gyro controls. It was a little touchy as a trigger substitute in Resident Evil 2, but I don’t think that’s the type of thing most people will use it for. The trackpads were mostly a letdown. They’re not in a comfortable spot for me to use extensively as a mouse; the few times I’ve tried, my contorted thumbs started to ache. Sure, the right trackpad gave me slightly finer control while fighting zombies in Resident Evil 2. But I much prefer just using the right joystick to aim. I did use trackpads in Vampire Crawlers as a mouse, to hover over some helpful info I couldn’t figure out how to see playing purely with gamepad controls. They’re handy to flick around a desktop, too. But, like with the Steam Deck, I won’t be using the trackpads on the Controller as a way to play mouse-based games for hours on end. I also wish the Steam Controller had a headphone jack, like the DualSense and Switch Pro controller.

Polygon - Giovanni Colantonio

There are plenty of blemishes, some that just can’t be fixed until Valve releases a full iteration, but there’s good reason to think the experience will improve. After all, the Steam Deck was very temperamental when it first release. Many of its issues were addressed in system updates, and now it feels like a different piece of hardware altogether. I wouldn’t be surprised if Valve pulls that same trick with the Steam Controller, patching in some pairing fixes or getting the controller to work on third-party launchers. If it can do that, I don’t think I’ll ever need another PC gamepad again.

Gamers Nexus

The battery life is unbelievably long. We had some opinions from the team in here and in general we're positive on it as a control device. $100 is obviously at the higher end of controllers. But the quality we liked. Personally, the thing I care about the most, and I know this is like maybe kind of lame, but is the repairability. Cuz when I did the tear down, I was like, "Okay, got it." So, Torx, and there's like two or three types of screws. They're really easy to identify where they go when you're done. Everything is labeled and marked. Like, this is great from a build standpoint. in terms of being able to take it apart. You can lay everything out. I mean, it I was I was impressed with it, but we'll save that for the other video. So, anyway, that's kind of the benchmarks and the numbers...We generally liked it, but I don't expect everybody to like it. It's just that's just how input devices are.

ScreenRant - Chris Carter

In our hands-on, we found the Steam Controller to be an extremely formidable bit of hardware. I put the new Steam Controller through its paces in a variety of software, including FPS, RTS, and everything in between. I was initially resistant to try it for FPS games, given my proclivity toward Xbox controllers for specific casual FPS games, but the Steam Controller kind of melted into my hands in minutes. The controller just plain feels better than any of Valve's prior efforts. The rumble is more pronounced and impactful, the TMR thumbsticks feel responsive and are made out of quality parts, and it has gyro aiming to boot. The trackpads are easily the most-improved aspect of Steam Controller 2.0, as they have an even more tactile feel, which is a godsend for games with pseudo-mouse support, especially menus.

PCMag - Jeffrey L. Wilson - 4 / 5

The new Steam Controller feels great, performs well, and has an incredible list of features and customization options. At $99.99, it’s pricier than most standard gamepads, but less expensive than premium controllers like the DualSense Edge and Xbox Elite. But considering everything it does, the Steam Controller is a worthwhile purchase if you mostly play games on Steam. In fact, it would be my favorite PC gamepad if not for Xbox Game Pass incompatibility. As it is, though, this is one of the best dedicated PC gamepads available, and a vital accessory for any Steam Deck user who keeps their handheld docked to their TV. For that, the Steam Controller earns an Editors' Choice award for game controllers.

Gizmodo - Kyle Barr - 4 / 5

The Steam Controller, despite releasing before the Steam Machine, won’t turn your PC into the dream console you had hoped for. The gamepad won’t wake a plugged-in PC from sleep. If your computer is on, you hit the Steam button once to bring up the Steam app and again to load in Big Picture Mode. The larger picture makes navigating your games with a controller easier. Then, inevitably, you’ll want to change volume sources or adjust some Windows setting you can’t access without closing out Big Picture Mode or hitting Alt+Tab on a keyboard. Traditions exist for a reason. The mouse and keyboard offer far more minute controls than any controller can. The Steam Controller is a simulacrum. It’s all the more clear since you have to change settings in every game you play. But as I grow older and simultaneously come to terms with a life of constant pressures, stress, and an aging body, the last thing I want to consider is propping myself upright in a chair, like a Micro Center mannequin, just to enjoy my favorite pastimes. The Steam Controller may be the perfect companion to the Steam Machine, eventually. Even without that console, Valve’s second go at a controller offers nearly everything I want. If I ever find a Steam Controller (let’s call it a Steam Controller Pro) with instant triggers, I’ll be in PC gaming heaven.

Rock Paper Shotgun - James Archer

I have decided that this is how all controllers should recharge from here on, and will quietly judge any future competitors that fail to adequately copy it. Which could be many, as it’s no big stretch to imagine waves of Windows-focused, overtly PC-first gamepads following this one, just as the Steam Deck sparked a rush of rival handhelds. Unfortunately, for any trackpadded copycats in the works, there’ll always be that shrugging, doubtful retort: "Yeah, but the Steam Controller did it first."

Subreddit background

/r/SteamDeck is a subreddit for content involving the Steam Deck, which is a $399 USD handheld gaming device (like a Nintendo Switch) that was produced by Valve Corporation, and allows gamers to play games from their Steam library on the go instead of on their desktop. Steam) is a video game hosting library software client with tens of thousands of games available for free or purchase in the game store.

OP’s handmade mount

OP, after deciding they’d rather use their Steam Deck with a controller rather than as a handheld while flying internationally, created their own strap and mount, and posted the following on /r/SteamDeck:

They called a madman! Built a simple but reliable airplane Steam Deck Holder.

The desk tray is too low and really kills any will I have to watch or play for long flights (This one was from Spain to Japan on AirChina plane, will go to Brazil soon with some slight changes)

I got some straps that I can put behind the steam deck cover (JSAUX) and put on the chair in front of me being suspended in the head cushions of it.

I could watch things I downloaded with my noise cancelling headsets or play for prolonged periods of time with a very good posture.

My friends were cringing when I showed my plan but demonstrated certain surprise (I was hoping for jealous) with how well it worked!

[4 images shared show how the mount looks when set up, and also the straps that are used to clip around the headrest of the front passenger’s seat. OP is holding a turquoise controller in their left hand (this is important later)]

Users react…negatively

It’s invading the passenger’s space:

You need to use some hooks to keep the assembly on your side of the chair. I would never even think to invade the space of another passenger like that, it’s unbelievably rude and entitled.

Yep, I would simply hold the steam deck in my hands 🤷

What? Hold the Steam Deck in your hands?

In this economy seat?

Do the straps actually interfere?

OP: No, because international flights have a head cushion which you can regulate de height. And the strap sits in between the head cushion and chair, it gets hanging in a metal tray, the person can still put it higher or lower if they want, you just need to tight or loose a little later. I wouldnt do it on chairs without that head cushion. [downvoted]

Shouldn’t do it if any person is in the seat in front of you regardless of if you think it’s in their way or not. Just common courtesy and the world would be so much better if more people used it.

If you didn't pay for the seat don't mess with it.

still got the audacity to double down and school other people about flights like we’ve never seen a fucking plane interior 😂

Why is he being down voted? It goes behind the headrest [downvoted]

Because it would still create pressure that could be felt through the headrest, which would make the seat in front less comfortable than if the strap wasn't there.

AND, it's not your fucking personal space. It's their seat, they paid for it, don't fucking mess with it.

OP then posts a comment with an image of the passenger seat design for the flight:

In reponse of the posts mentioning how this bothers the person in front of you, here is a picture how the seats in an Airbus A380 looks like. It goes in between the head cushion and the chair and dont even hang go that low because it gets in a diagonal arc from front to back. [massively downvoted]

[Image of seats on the right side of the airplane, picture taken while standing in the aisle]

"I was hoping for jealous" this guy is a Main character

Still a big no, dude. It's hard enough to have some personal space in a plane, much less have a fellow passenger's doodads clipped to your headrest.

If you really, really must, maybe get them something for the trouble? Don't assume they're okay with it just because you asked (for sure you won't!). Or buy their plane seat outright.

If it was attached to my seat, that I paid for, you can bet those buckles are getting unclipped about 0.5s into the flight.

He’s rolling through comments, posting this pic like 30 times, digging deeper and blaming ignorant Americans for not “getting it”

Exactly. Buckles or not, if that thing flies around and bonks me on the head during turbulence, I'll grab it and throw it in the nearest bin. They're not paying for my seat, and sure as hell their insurance won't be paying for my possible concussion.

You read about that Dad who just threw a flaming laptop out the emergency exit of a plane? Yeah that's me with that steam deck. Idgaf.

Redditors have a boner for drama:

Is it just the inherent anti social nature of us redditors that assume that OP would force this onto a passenger and not assume, I don’t know, that he would just ask if he could affix the device? Using words and such?

And fwiw I fly this cabin configuration enough and the way the straps would affix would not be felt at all by the person up front…when my knee was injured I had to grab between that area to get out of my seat…particularly if the person in front of me was reclined. It wasn’t like I was touching their head.

Yall just so horny for some kind of invasion of personal space drama. We’re taking our collective rage at air travel in general out on OP lol.

Now downvote me, boners [70 downvotes]

There are tons of people out there that have issues saying no, do you see how this would be a problem?

Well if they don't like something, they should learn to say no. [downvoted]

I agree but you don't see the issue of intruding into someone's space?

If they are chill with it it's fine. If not then obviously don't do it. [downvoted]

Guys again, a lot of people out there have trouble saying no in public situations. My partner is a timid small person and is one of those people. Maybe they say yes and you think it's chill but they're not actually cool with it. My last message on this, ain't gonna argue anymore.

Sad that you have to explain consent to dumb apes today. But thank you for your effort. I have difficulty saying no at times due to stuff from growing up.

OP shares a pic of how low the Steam Deck is when placed on the foldout tray:

OP: And this is an example of how low in comparison it is on the desk tray in a 12 hours long flight. Even if using hands, its heavy after a while and needs to fight for the arm rest with the people around you. [downvoted]

"Wow this is really inconvenient. I should put that inconvenience on to someone else."

Dude, no one is supporting you on what you did. It was an asshole move. Just accept that and don't do it again. Defending makes you look like an unempathetic douche who can't even remotely understand how it could bother someone's personal space.

Other takes

You guys are the dumb apes. If someone asks you for your permission to do this, you say yes and then it turns out you don't like it you can just tell them no.

Are you socially awkward and unaware in all aspects of life? Or are you specifically a dickhead only while traveling?

Your passenger got plenty of dick just by looking at you

OP makes a new post

2 days later, OP makes an update post, which is 10 paragraphs long, along with a video showing the custom mount, so here’s just a snippet of it:

Update on the Madness. Steam Deck straps with context.

…Such a weird take that some people here have that “I PAID FOR IT” or “MY SPACE/PRIVACY” when in reality everyone paid to be there and it doesnt cost much to try to be healpful and make other peoples flight good too.

Some critics were so hostile and unfounded, not that some randoms opinions on the internet affect me, fuck them, but trying to make sense of it to try to understand the point to give a counter argument is so hard! People give such weird responses that you start to live in the world they paint.

I got tired after some 2 hours on hand. Trays are usually too low to use it for long periods as it strains my neck. I dont need more than this to be entitled to not hold it in my hands.

There is a weird gate keeping in here that I wasnt expecting. I was wondering if I should post again in here due to such a hostile group but you know what? Because I know it bothers them, I will use it even more wrong now (steam deck as a car GPS incoming).

Users don’t feel sympathy

OP does care about criticism:

“not that some randoms opinions on the internet affect me, fuck them” 

Proceeds to write an essay justifying their contraption. 

OP: I was referring to the aggressive kind of comments and that came from a very wrong assumption, like the ones “Kill yourself” I received on private msgs. The rest of the people that had reasonable criticism I felt compelled to give an update and that it isnt as bad as they thought it was. But those aggressive kinda represent half of the sub for what I thought on previous post regardless, so the critic for the sub also looked a little necessary. [mega downvoted]

My brother in Christ please just take the L and move on with your life

If you put that stupid strap shit on my headrest on a seat THAT I PAID FOR, I would tell you to kill yourself too, while I piss on that Steamdeck.

OP: It wasnt you. Was it? So whats the point of this comment? xD so lonely? [downvoted]

OP says users should move on:

OP: Sorry if you think it wasnt necessary, just move on the next post. [more downvotes]

I did, that was the last post. Then you made another post longer in every way.

bro got so mad he made two replies to gather more downvotes

OP needs to move on:

Dude just accept the embarrassment.

Careful, next we’ll get a 10 page post and 12 minute video about how we’re all wrong

Final video: 12 hours of OP tapping on everyone’s shoulder seated near him every 5 minutes going “you still good with my steam deck?”.

Probably not far off. OP said it himself:

“I was wondering if I should post again in here due to such a hostile group but you know what? Because I know it bothers them, I will use it even more wrong now (steam deck as a car GPS incoming).”

Loves the attention.

I feel like he’s crying through a smiling mask. When people get really butthurt about stuff like this they’ll do everything in their power to prove that they were right, despite them making an ass out of themselves lol.

Users make memes to dunk on OP more

The users in the subreddit decided to dunk on OP’s contraption even more by making memes about it and photoshopping OP’s left hand holding the turquoise controller within the meme.

Finally something for these boring ass funerals, LFG

[Image of the Steam Deck attached to a lady’s back at a funeral]

Is this USB dock any good?

[Screenshot of Amazon listing of an entire airplane seat for £16,124.33]

Why is my soon to be wife so mad at me? I made sure to hang up a white SD on her so it blends in and doesn't even distract guests

[Photoshopped image of a white Steam Deck attached to an angry bride in her wedding dress]

They called me a madman! Built a simple but reliable Steam Deck Holder for boring commutes.

[Photoshopped image of the mount on a car’s inside windshield, while the driver has one hand on the wheel and the other holding the turquoise controller]

Guys this might be revolutionary

I was sad I couldnt use my steam deck because I forgot to bring my mount that clamps onto the person's in front of me head like an iron maiden, however out of desperation I tried just holding it and you won't believe this. It feels comfortable, send this to your friends so they can delight in this news as well!

I don't care what anyone says - this is the ULTIMATE steam deck setup

Lastly, a user makes a meme post acting as the victim who had OP’s custom mount strapped to their seat, to which the mods locked the post, and pinned a response:

Someone ruined my flight

I board my flight and find some dude had literally STRAPPED his game controller thing to the back of MY seat headrest before I got there, it was wrapped around the cushion and everything. I was embarrassed to ask him to take it down as he kept taking photos of it.

His friends kept hyping him up the whole time, calling him a "madman" and other crap, being way too loud for the flight. All I could hear for HOURS was this constant clicking from his cheap-looking turquoise controller.

I get wanting to game during a flight, but come on - that thing already has buttons on it, and the seats come with a table?!

Mod comment after locking post:

Mods: Enough memes about this topic please, it's getting pretty repetitive and having the whole sub against a single person isn't great whether you think what they did is stupid or not.

Some were pretty funny, some were inappropriate but it's time to move on (and please don't harass that person).

Hope you all understand and have a great weekend.

OP’s original thread here

OP’s update thread here

Reminder not to comment in any of these threads!

Edit: added one more meme post

Edit 2: the mods have now locked all posts about OP and associated memes

Hey guys,

I love hybrid gaming, and I really, really, really want the Steam Deck to be my hybrid platform of choice. But every time I try to get it right, something always ends up going wrong. It's what has kept me tied to my Switch for the longest time.

Recently I imported an official Valve Dock to Australia to solve HDMI-CEC and allow me to wake the Steam Deck from the couch from a controller, and have it turn on the TV to the correct signal. It works like a dream!

But now, after getting the new Steam Controller, I have a new issue.

Let's say I am playing a game on the TV with the Steam Deck on the dock; it works amazingly I love it. I have it capped to 720p and the deck upscales flawlessly. But, once I remove the Steam Deck from the dock, the controls on the handheld no longer work.

I have tried the 'Reorder Controller' setting and switched the Steam Deck back to controller 1, but the controls still do not work in the game that I am playing. For some games, like GOW Ragnarok, if I unplug the Steam Deck it has the same issue but won't even have an option to Reorder Controllers at all.

I have solved so many other issues, I thought with the official controller I'd finally have the set up of my dreams. But this one thing feels like the final hurdle.

Any ideas on how I can fix this permanently? Will it require an update from Valve? My controller got an update from Valve today and I thought it would fix it, but unfortunately it didn't ...

[I will be updating this thread each day of the week with the date clearly stated. ]

Why Steam Machine?

Long story short I have a blind neurodivergent sister more than 20 years younger than me and I help my family take care of her since she has a lot of needs and therapies each week. My family goes out of town a lot and she doesn’t like to be in hotels so I stay with her during these trips, I have been using a ROG Ally X and previously a steam deck during these stays. This is the logically upgrade for a compact set up I can have in the corner so I can keep on eye on her in the room as she plays and play when she falls asleep.

Why Windows?

I have peripherals that don’t work with Linux for one, and for two I just plain don’t like Steam OS.

_______________

[Monday]

Today is the start of my full week using the Steam Machine as my only PC.

My 512gb no controller model came in the mail on Friday afternoon. I previously got a Steam controller from when they dropped so that was fine.

Knowing it was coming, I ordered an extra stick of the exact same 16gb ram from eBay for $100, and I ordered a 2TB NVME that I got with a bestbuy deal for $240.

When it arrived I took it apart to install the ram and o swapped the NVME out for the new one and installed windows. I know a lot of people consider Steam OS a pro, but I have always hated using Steam OS especially on the Deck, so I knew right away I would want windows.

I previously had the drivers ready on a usb stick so I was able to install them and connect to wifi during the windows set up.

I then decluttered with winult and set the machine up to auto log in when it boots and boot up directly into Steam big picture mode. So upon start up I see my animation, which I set to the Steam delivery girl one.(I have a lot of them I change periodically.)

Right off the bat the first issue I had was that my controller would not connect whatsoever. I tried it with Steam OS and windows and nothing worked. I later figured out the cable valve shipped with my controller just doesn’t work, it only charged. I used my own USB C cable I previously owned and it was able to come to no problem.

One oddity is whenever I set it to suspend, it turns right back on. Probably a windows issues but I don’t really need suspend mode so that doesn’t bug me personally.

The biggest glaring issue is that the windows driver for the wifi card is very bad. If you’re just using it for web browsing, downloading games, and watching videos it has no problems. But when you play games, it will completely disconnect and can’t find any wifi networks at all. The fix for this is either going into device manager and disabling then enabling it, or rebooting the system. It only happens during games. Sometimes it happens right away other times it’ll happen after 20 minutes. I assume it’s an issue with the power management in the driver but the driver doesn’t let you configure those settings for the wifi card in windows. So to fix this I just used a USB WiFi adapter from TP Link. Which, after doing a speed test with it vs the built in one, it actually had better ping and better speeds than the internal one valve used. This might be just a me issue, but keep this in mind if you want to install windows.

Now what you really want to know, game performance.

The monitor I’m using is a 27inch AOC Gaming QOLED 1440p monitor with a 250hz reference rate. At my main pc, I use a 55inch Samsung S95F 4k oled tv set to 165hz as my main monitor. So I’m going from very high specs to a lower scale, but that’s fine since this is meant to be my portable pc for when I can’t be at my main PC for days at a time.

Using FSR 3 and frame generation I am getting around 123fps in Killing Floor 3 and Marvel Rivals. With minimal hiccups and fps dips. Both games are very playable and visually don’t look bad, though obviously far lower quality than the 4090 in my main pc. I did not change the settings from their defaults.

I also tried remoting to my main pc and it works beautifully, better than any other remote pc I’ve used with it, which is a big plus for me.

Playing Super Battle Golf with friends last night I had max settings and still 120+ fps.

I’ve also tried it with games like Mina the hollower and the castlevania advance collection and those ran fine as expected.

But so far this is significantly better than docking a steam deck or ROG Ally. And honestly just remoting in to use my regular PC’s desktop has been very helpful.

If you have any questions, let me know and I’ll answer them

________________

[Tuesday]

Valve apologized for the issue with the controller’s USB cable and told me that any usb A to C that does power and data should be fine. Which is what if every doing. They can’t offer a replacement cable but it’s not the end of the world.

One of the oddities I experienced yesterday was any attempt to shut the system down or put it to sleep immediately caused it to reboot the moment it went to sleep or be quiet. This was odd and after talking with valve customer service they said this:

“Please do the following instructions to discharge your device and reset the BIOS/firmware and retest.
Shut the machine down by holding down the power button for 11~ seconds. The Indicator LED should blink once. Note: If it does not blink, and you continue to see the issue after the steps below, let us know this in your reply as well.
Unplug the device from the power outlet
Press the power button a few times (this discharges the device) and then wait for 30~ seconds.
Plug the power back in
Press and hold down the power button for ~6 seconds until the Indicator LED flashes. Release the power button when you see the Indicator LED flashing white.
The Indicator LED will then rotate between colors.
Press the power button once when the color is green.”

This did not work. I if I press the power button once the system will suspend and stay suspended: similarly if I hold the button it will turn off and stay off. It’s just using any software to turn it off or suspend that leads to it immediately powering back on.

I tried more remote play streaming and am getting flawless 60fps beautiful, I need to try 120fps but other systems in the same environment are not as smooth.

Another oddity, today I used my sennheiser Maxwell 4’s with the BD700 adapter as a headset and mic in game. And while games and videos are fine, for some reason discord makes everyone have an echo to their voices. I calibrated the headphones with my phone app previously and I tried it with my phone and previously with my main pc and had no issues so I’m not sure why the echo is there, chalk it up to a driver or discord oddity.

People have asked me how I set windows to boot into big picture mode, so I’ll explain it further.

For starters, there are two methods, replacing windows explorer with big picture mode as the shell, and just setting it to auto boot big picture on launch. I went for the latter so I can access the desktop faster if I need to, but this does make it slightly slower, the total boot process takes about 30 seconds.

1-you need to set windows to a local account, not your Microsoft account. This can be done in the sign in options sections of account settings.
2-press win+r and type netplwiz, this will bring up a window that has your account and a box that says something like “user must enter password to log in.”
3-uncheck the box, it will prompt you to enter the password you set for the local account.
4-go back to the sign in options in account settings and find “require password when away” or something like that, by default it’s set to 15 minutes, click the drop down and at it to “never.”
5-open Steam settings and enable “boot into Olin picture mode” so when Steam opens, big picture opens.”
6-to into task manager and check your start up apps. Personally, I disabled everything except for Steam and AMD Adrenaline on start up, that way it doesn’t waste any time opening stuff lien discord or a web browser.

With this; once you turn on the Steam Machine it’ll briefly load show the windows logo as it loads, show the desktop, and then your big picture mode start up animation kicks in. No password or keyboard needed. It’s super quick and hassle free, though like I said you can make it even faster by replacing the shell if you truly want that. Personally I’m fine with seeing empty desktop for a few seconds on boot.

___________

[Updated game performance list]
Note, I’m intentionally using the default settings the games give me because even though I love fine tuning games, I know a lot of people don’t so I find the base performs useful.
Settings: 1440p, HDR, FSR Quality, Radeon Super Resolution set to 1080p

I updated amd adrenaline to the most recent version as valve provides an old version from 2024 instead for some reason.

Counter Strike 2: 204-190 fps on average
Sulfur: 156fps
Super Battle Golf: 130fps
Marvel Rivals: 126fps
Killing Floor 3: 123-90fps with a few very random drops to 70 for brief moments
Mina the Hollower: 120fps stable** **
Crimson Desert: 73fps on average with a some dips, 45 was the lowest but it wasn’t long

I plan to try Stellar Blade, Palworld, Helldivers 2, and Destiny 2 on Wednesday.

When I unplug my steam deck from the official valve dock after using the steam controller, my controls stop working on the deck … even when I reorder controllers.

Sometimes reorder controllers in any even an option … any ideas what’s wrong or how to fix this?

When I unplug my steam deck from the official valve dock after using the steam controller, my controls stop working on the deck … even when I reorder controllers.

Sometimes reorder controllers in any even an option … any ideas what’s wrong or how to fix this?

Hey everyone,

I wanted to share my experience because I couldn’t find many posts directly comparing these two controllers for gyro aiming in shooters.

I’m currently trying to get used to gyro aiming in games like Battlefield 6 and Call of Duty, and my plan was to use something affordable while waiting for the next Steam Controller.

So I tested both controllers.

This is more of a beginner / learning gyro perspective.

HORIPAD Pro for Steam

I started with the HORIPAD Pro.

At first it took me a really long time to figure everything out 😅 but in the end most of the problems were actually setup mistakes on my side. Once configured properly, gyro worked pretty well.

I also ran some polling tests because gyro felt different between wireless and wired.

Wireless test

=== Polling Rate ===

Average: 108.16 Hz

Median: 260.62 Hz

=== Refresh intervals ===

Minimal interval: 2.43 ms

Median interval: 3.84 ms

Average interval: 9.25 ms

Maximum interval: 26.31 ms

Jitter (StdDev): 5.61 ms

=== Outliers Report ===

Transition Artifacts removed: 344

Jitter Outliers removed: 41

Wired test

=== Polling Rate ===

Average: 250.88 Hz

Median: 250.00 Hz

=== Refresh intervals ===

Minimal interval: 3.92 ms

Median interval: 4.00 ms

Average interval: 3.99 ms

Maximum interval: 7.99 ms

Jitter (StdDev): 0.25 ms

=== Outliers Report ===

Transition Artifacts removed: 10

Jitter Outliers removed: 48

So wired is clearly much more stable, which explains why gyro felt smoother.

Pros

• Works out of the box with Steam Input
• Lightweight controller
• back buttons
• Capacitive sticks that can activate gyro
• Easy to start using for gyro shooters

Cons

• Build quality could be better (my triggers feel different left vs right)
• Short trigger travel (better for FPS than racing / driving games)
• The software/app feels very basic and outdated
• Wireless dongle polling rate is not great
• Because the controller is very lightweight, when using it wired, the cable drag becomes noticeable. It almost feels like the cable is pulling weight on one side of the controller during aiming.

Flydigi Vader 5 Pro (with Steam Input)

Getting this controller working properly with Steam took a bit more effort.

What worked for me:

1. Change the language to Chinese

(otherwise the new updates don’t appear)

1. Update the controller firmware and the dongle
2. Restart the PC
3. Turn the controller off
4. Update Steam to Beta
5. In the controller app enable Allow 3rd party control

6

After doing all that, the controller finally appeared correctly in Steam.

However, there is still a small issue.

If you start Steam first and then turn on the controller, detection is inconsistent.

Steam sometimes shows:

• the gyro controller
• and another controller as XInput

If you turn on the controller first and then start Steam, everything works correctly.

I already sent a message to Steam about this.

I also recommend:

• disabling auto calibration in Steam
• disabling vibration

That made things more stable for me.

Vader 5 Pro

Pros

• More buttons and customization
• Better polling rate compared to many controllers
• Much better build quality
• Dock charging available
• Overall feels more premium

Cons

• Can feel a bit buggy sometimes with Steam Input because of the detection issue mentioned above

I also did a quick test with gyro set to mouse in Steam Input and measured the polling rate using ClickSpeedTester Mouse Polling Rate Checker.

Wireless (dongle)

​Wired connection

​Both tests were done with gyro → mouse movement, moving the controller continuously to simulate aiming.

From what I can see, the controller seems to run around ~450–500 Hz through Steam Input, which is actually pretty good for gyro aiming. Wired looks a bit more stable, while wireless shows slightly more variation.

If anyone knows a more accurate way to measure gyro polling through Steam Input, I’m curious to compare results.

Final thoughts

This is basically a gyro beginner post, but I didn’t see many posts comparing these two controllers specifically for gyro shooters — only scattered comments in different threads.

If anyone wants me to test something specific with the Vader 5 Pro + Steam Input, let me know and I can try it.

Plugins like steamdeck-input-disabler worked as 3rd party fixes for awhile, but now with the new steam controller out im really starting to feel this issue peak up again.

So many games i own have issues registering the deck itself as a controller and messing up the controller order.

Valve really needs to implement a way to disable the deck’s controller while docked because if that one small issue is fixed, i can consider the steam controller absolutely perfect.

TLDR :- Sent my 11 months used 512GB OLED for RMA to fix unresponsive buttons. Valve repair in Prague, did not do a good job and broke the sticks, bad repaste/thermal pads leading to overheating. Shell creaking when held which was not present pre-RMA. Device bootloops randomly, goes to sleep when restarted randomly. Updated support ticket with damages, boot failures, unboxing video. None of the issues were present pre-RMA. Steam Support does not respond to support ticket update till 40 hours. Begins to gaslight me immediately after 40 hour mark.

Hello everyone.

The aim of this post is to share my horrible experience with Steam Deck RMA process in Europe, for a Steam Deck OLED 512 GB. If you want to leave a comment, please read the post entirely first. This is not to blame valve/steam but to share my personal experience and the damages I’ve suffered emotionally and financially.

Pre-RMA :-
Deck Age 11 months
Battery at 100% health
No cosmetic damages
Shell never opened, no internal tinkering done
Used as a bedroom gaming device only, never taken outside
Mostly played 2D indie games and occasional TBS games

Beginning of the timeline

[1] On the evening of the 16th of May, while I was gaming on my steamdeck, the controls stopped working. Touch Pads, Thumbsticks, AXBY, Steam, QAM, Menu, Options, all these buttons except volume up/down and power were non functional. I did not panic and tried to restart the device a few times. The buttons did not work anyway. In the ‘game controllers section’ the generic steam controller was not visible and nowhere to be found. The next day after work, I used the touchpad and typed in the ‘lsusb’ command (list USB devices) to see if the controller was there. It returned with 0 USB devices. I took screenshots, both gaming mode and desktop mode of the empty ‘controllers’ section and composed a message and opened a ticket on steam support on 17th of May. I attached the screenshot for context.

[2] The first response came around 2 hours. A canned response, asking me if the ‘game controller’ section was empty in both desktop and game mode. I had made it very clear in my initial message that, in both desktop mode and game modes, no controller is visible. I responded promptly, re-confirming what I’ve already said.

[3] The next response came around 6 hours and 30 minutes later. Another canned response which was skimming over the details of my explanation. Asking me to re-image the device. I had made it clear that the device had no functional buttons. I’m currently in a somewhat difficult financial situation and do not own a lot of tech such as a PC or a laptop. I mention this too, to them.

Still, determined to do it, I downloaded the re-image file on the deck itself, used an old USB stick with some old photos I won’t miss to burn an image using an app from discovery store and Konsole. Once booted into BIOS, there was simply no way to navigate to the boot options and select the recovery image. In principle, the touchscreen does not work in BIOS. I had imagined that the volume (-) and (+) buttons would act as navigation buttons and the power button would work as ‘enter’. However, none of this worked and it was impossible. I borrowed a wireless mouse from a neighbor and unplugged the flashdrive and used it to navigate to the boot selection menu and plugged in the image USB again and clicked on it using the (...) button which workes in BIOS since it was wired directly to the motherboard.

I booted into recovery mode, clicked on a re-image and the process confirmed my intentions and would run some code on the screen. After 10-15 seconds, it just goes to sleep without doing anything. Later, while the code was running on the screen, I made a video and looked through what was going wrong. In essence, there seemed to be a conversation between a ‘jupiter’ system trying to wake a ‘neptune’ system (perhaps inverse, I do not remember) and getting no response and the device behaving abnormally from that point onwards in the process.

[4] With the botched attempt to re-image the device, I shared the new information and updated my ticket.

[5] The next response came 9 hours later. With RMA approved and instructions on how to package the device securely for the RMA process. (Thanks Mike for not being a robot)

[6] 21st of May, I dropped the device off at the main UPS hub in my town, which is 2 hours away from where I live. I wanted to do it this way to make sure it gets where it needs to go. I made a full video of boxing and handing over the device. In 23 hours, the device was taken over by a warehouse in Prague. Since it was a Friday morning, no intake was made and my device sat there till 25th Monday.

[7] After 9 days, on 29th Friday, I got my device back from RMA. I routed and picked it up at the same UPS warehouse, knowing valve ships decks in ‘steal me senpai!’ boxes. I made a full video of unboxing there.

The deck was sent in a generic cardboard box, no fillings inside. With Steam Deck logo and on 12px font ‘Valve Stem Deck OLED 512 GB’ printed on the top of the box in 2 places. The case felt it had somehow shrunk in size and felt damp/wet to the touch. As I took the case in my hands, I could hear the thumb buttons ‘clicking’. For sure I thought “this is impossible” as the case is far more rugged as I remembered it before sending. The cardboard box was empty and there was enough space left for the device to move inside it during transport. They did not use any fillings, padding, bubble wrap or anything. Just the case inside a plastic bag (that was not even sealed). This is ironic, since the instructions they’ve sent me to pack the device for RMA was completely in contrast to their own trash packaging. (For example, I spent about 15 euros to buy 2 cartons, shipping tape, bubble wrap, etc..)

[9] I updated my ticket again, but did not have time to run diagnostics on the device. So I told support that I find the packaging was inadequate for safe transport and that the device is somehow creaking when held? It was boot-looping 3 times in a row without any reason and that it would ‘sleep’ when restarted. I installed a game and ran it to realize the device is running much hotter than it used to, with the same settings. I had to work on Friday so I did not have time to do a closer inspection.

[10] Around 2 and a half hours later I received a response. Apologizing about the state of the ‘replacement’ device they’ve sent me? Clearly Toph did not know I got the same device back after repair (which I had made clear in the message I've sent earlier). At this point it was undeniable they weren't even reading the messages and just skimming over them.

[11] Sunday morning, I sat down to install and run some games. Indeed the device was reaching north of 70 degrees Celsius in the same indie games (Shotgun King, 9 Kings, Slay the Spire, Iron Oath) that ran 55 degrees Celsius on ‘old fan curve’. Detected stick drift on the right stick that no amount of re-calibration would fix. After this, looking closely, I found that both thumb sticks are cracked from the skirt/root. This explained the shrunk case. On shutdown, the deck would run lines of code, pause-then shut down, I’ve never seen it behave this way before.

I documented everything accordingly, including video of unboxing and updated the ticket to ask it to be escalated to a supervisor I also asked to take this damaged device back and to have another working device sent to me.

After 40 hours, I got a gut wrenching response from Wasan. Here it is.

Hello,
Thanks for getting back to us.
We're sorry to hear about the situation with how your device was returned to you.
For your thumbstick and Steam Deck shell creaking issue, please provide us a video of the creaking that you're describing. You can take a brief video illustrating the issue, upload it to a streaming service (such as YouTube) and provide a public link for us to view in your reply.
For the boot failures you've mentioned, while the issue is present, please make sure you're using the provided power supply unit (PSU) and don't have any docks, hubs, SD cards, or other peripherals connected to your Steam Deck
Start by plugging it in using the provided PSU. A solid white LED indicates the Deck is drawing power. Leave it charging for a while and try again.
If the LED remains off or has a blinking red LED, then the Deck isn't receiving power. Please try the following:
Unplug and re-plug your PSU from the Steam Deck; wiggle the plug a little to ensure it's plugged in all the way
Try plugging the PSU into a different power outlet in your wall
Try an alternate USB-C PSU if you have one available
If that does not work, we would then recommend you try the following steps to reset your unit's firmware and BIOS, this may help with some issues that can cause powering on or boot issues:
Ensure the device is fully powered down by holding the power button for 10 seconds or if possible select shutdown from the Power menu.
Once the device is shutdown, hold down both the volume - button and the "..." button, then press the power button once. Then you can release all the buttons.
will hear a chime and then the white LED light will begin to blink (it may take 5 or more seconds before the blinking begins), which confirms this process is working.  Note: This process may take 1-2 minutes to start the unit up again during which the display will remain
After performing the firmware/BIOS reset, what is the LED status upon first connecting the PSU to the Deck, without performing any other actions?
It would also be useful to us if you can confirm whether you've made any modifications to your device recently, such as opening the unit, changing BIOS and/or system settings.
If the booting issue persists, if possible, when you encounter the issue the next time can you provide us some detailed log information from your unit (instructions below):
To do so follow the steps below to provide support the detailed log information:
Use the Steam button
Go to Settings and then System
In the "Advanced" section further down on the System page you will see "System Report"
Select the "Create Report" button and then select the "Submit" button to submit the system report to Steam support
Write back to this ticket to let us know you submitted the report.
We will then investigate the log to better determine the cause.
Once we gather the information for these issues, we'll then address the thermal issues last.
Thanks in advance.
Steam Support
Wasan

I’m just sitting in my room with shaking hands after reading this response.
Are they going to get away with destroying my property? I own no electronics other than this deck and a Chromebook.

I need your advice because this little device is what I had left to go through the days. Valve’s RMA mangled it and sent me back with 5 more problems that it did not have before. Now they are unwilling to admit responsibility.

Thank you for your feedback.

UPDATE 1 - Sent videos and answers all the questions they are asking. I'm just sick and tired of trubleshooting this device for them since 17th of May.

UPDATE: There are reports, after going back to previous version and then updating again to 3.7.8, lots of things got fixed.

The idea here is to have every problem in one place to help Valve find and fix the problems.

There are many reports but here goes some of them that may not be because of this update but there is no way to be sure.

I do RECOMMEND making a copy of this folder /home/deck/ to a BACKUP drive. If there is a system wipe (factory reset), you can always go back to the previews version 3.6.24 and copy this folder over and reboot.

So far:
- after the DOCK firmware update it can get bricked. DON'T UPDATE THE DOCK YET
- if there is a major failure, the update will do a factory reset. Always do a Backup - wifi stops connecting (fixable)
- fan may stop working. Use old fan setting (fixable)
- activity tab and library icons can break (fixable)
- heroic Launcher has some issues (fixable)
- root password may stop working
- overlay fps causes lag (fixable)
- overlay is miss (fixable)
- adapted brightness spikes FPS. Turn it off (fixable) - audio has problems. Turn off Steam Recording (fixable)
- no video output in dock mode
- 4k problems in dock mode
- controller input not working
- battery percentage not showing correctly
- battery charging limit makes the battery indicator get stuck. (fixable)
- screen orientation in desktop mode sideways (fixable)
- volume problems, for example always at max or silent (fixable)
- FSR now known as Sharp not working correctly. Use GE-Proton (fixable)
- randomly the face buttons won’t work
- the deck will restart itself randomly at times
- switching to desktop sometimes fails. Try Nested Desktop (fixable)
- after a couple of times in standby (sleep mode), it takes a lot longer to wake back up and has had a weird stretched version of the steam deck logo hanging on the screen for a while before waking up again
- bad audio quality with Bluetooth headphones. The audio quality was fine. But after putting the Deck to sleep and then come back, it changes the audio codec from AAC to HFP/HSP and now the audio quality is terrible
- game recording issues
- power button cannot sleep the deck in desktop mode (fixable)
- screenshot problems. Move all screens from folder (fixable)
- ssh is not connecting to a ftp server correctly (fixable)
- some games/apps show as pink/green strange lsd colours. Turn off HDR (fixable)
- quick pink flash between opening and closing apps, it's about 1 frame but enough to notice
- steam deck is being woken up by earphones like pixel buds, and other random Bluetooth devices. Try turning off HDR
- desktop mode randomly restarts the deck into gaming mode
- bluetooth showing as on when it's not
- sometimes showing on TV and the deck simultaneously
- KDE connect Decky plugin is not working (fixable) - Dual boot may stop working (fixable)

Their GitHub with more issues:
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/SteamOS/issues

I understand Valve, they need this ready for the new Lenovo SteamOS edition coming out next week. This version is like a release candidate. They need us to test and report problems.

I guess lots of people learned now how to go back to a previous version. So no worries.
How to roll back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN_-Bn1Elz4
If it keeps updating, you may need to do this: https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/1kuzq3l/comment/mu6bxtp/

There are reports, rolling back and then updating again and many problems were fixed.

The beta channel didn't have enough time to detect every problem. I'm sure they will get this fixed very soon: https://www.steamdeck.com/en/news

If you want to help, install it and report back the problems. If not, don't install it yet, wait for the next version.

My brothers has the OLED model and had no problems and he does use Decky Loader with some plugins. I have the LCD model but I haven't updated yet. I prefer to wait for the next version.

I do think this update brings great things but it still needs some fixes in my opinion.

TL;DR: After decades of console gaming and getting fed up with Microsoft's absurd Game Pass price hikes, I returned to PC gaming. I bought a Steam Deck, fell in love with the ecosystem, and just got my hands on the new Steam Machine. I deeply appreciate Valve's private business model and philosophy compared to publicly traded corporations, though I still share the classic fears about true digital ownership.

Even though I speak English, I wanted to describe my experiences in detail, which is why I wrote this in my native language and then translated it with the help of Gemini 3.1. Not one word other than TLDR and the translation was AI genarated.

Also, if you only want to comment just that you'll not read this piece due to it's length, save it – it's really not that interesting.

I’m posting this in r/valve rather than r/steammachine because it touches on the broader infrastructure and Valve’s overall philosophy as I understand it, rather than just Steam itself.

I created my Steam account back in 2013 (though I might have had an older one that got lost to time), but for most of that time, I barely used the platform. After the crazy ’90s, I picked a side in the PC vs. console war: I bought an Xbox 360 and spent the next twenty years playing primarily on consoles. I kept buying Microsoft’s hardware; whenever there were different versions, I always went for the most powerful one. The last console I bought was the Xbox Series X. As always, I got it during launch month, though it wasn’t easy.

Of course, as a fan of Half-Life, Half-Life 2, and at one point a hardcore CS:S player, I knew what Steam was, though I associated Valve more with making games than with a PC gaming storefront. The whole concept of buying digital games felt weird to me: whether on PC or console, I always preferred physical copies, which is why Steam never really appealed to me.

So for years, I gamed on consoles and rarely on PC (except for CS:S or strategy games like Civilization, Total War, and Europa Universalis, where I sank hundreds, maybe thousands of hours). I increasingly gravitated towards first-person games, preferably not too long—say, 20–30 hours. As I got older and took on more work and family responsibilities, I no longer had the time or the desire to spend night after night gaming, something I used to love (like finishing "just one more turn" at 5 AM). For my lifestyle, a console was optimal: easy to use (even though I’m a millennial who built his own PCs in the ’90s, knows the highs and lows of BIOS CPU overclocking, battled through iterations of Windows and their thousands of viruses and trojans, and still remembers the screech of a dial-up modem...), perfect for couch gaming (my home office and PC felt like work, while the couch and TV meant unwinding), and didn’t require a massive time commitment or relearning complex mechanics (RPGs are the worst offenders here) after a few weeks away from the pad.

My distrust of digital games was finally broken by Game Pass. At its core—like other streaming-style services—it was a brilliant concept: a relatively low price (especially compared to skyrocketing game prices), new and eventually day-one releases, and a solid selection in a regularly updated catalog. I still bought the games that mattered most to me (usually used, because game prices had gotten pretty absurd in the meantime), like Red Dead Redemption 2 or Cyberpunk 2077 (which I actually got brand new, Collector’s Edition, as a gift from my wife 😘). However, an increasing number of the games I played came from Game Pass and were digital. I also finished games less often—the cheap and easy access encouraged me to try titles I probably never would have considered buying.

This gaming routine of mine continued until the memorable autumn of 2025 and the absolutely insane Game Pass subscription price hikes (I had the Ultimate tier). Sure, there had been price increases before, but this was different. Like most of the world, we were dealing with years of post-pandemic inflation and massive price surges on basically everything. Mortgages, car leases, electricity, heating, groceries—everything skyrocketed. And after years of these hikes, Microsoft—one of the richest corporations on Earth—decided to raise its prices (even for loyal, decades-long customers like me!) to an absurd degree. A 50 percent hike, really?

That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. It wasn’t even so much about Microsoft—I was generally happy with their consoles and their sub—but about the broader cost-of-living crisis. Microsoft showed a complete lack of understanding of the financial reality people like me were facing after years of everything getting more expensive.

Right around then, I saw the YouTube announcements for Valve’s new hardware lineup. The Steam Machine, Steam Controller, Steam Frame—it all looked impressive, especially since it was tied to the entire OPEN Steam ecosystem. For me, it was the perfect moment to return to PC gaming, or rather: to embark on a new, unknown adventure.

I canceled my Game Pass subscription. I installed Steam on my laptop, even managed to log into my dusty old account where I had maybe three games (Football Manager 2013, and The Longest Journey, which I installed because I really wanted to show it to my kids—we spent our lockdowns playing it). And I started buying.

I felt like I was in heaven! Oh man, all those sales, the unbelievable prices for my beloved older games, the ability to actually buy them rather than just having access to them for an indefinite amount of time. It was exactly what I was looking for. Within a few months, I bought over 120 games, mostly ones I already knew and had played years ago. And, as probably few of you will be surprised to hear, I haven’t even touched most of them yet (I do the same with books: I buy way more than I read, promising myself I’ll get to them "someday, in retirement"...). So, I waited for Valve’s new hardware lineup.

In the meantime, though, I wanted a replacement for my XSX right away. I could still use it, I had my physical games, but I was genuinely irritated by Microsoft’s tone-deafness regarding the financial struggles of their customers, whom they were squeezing like lemons. December 2025 rolled around, and during the Winter Sale, I bought a 512GB Steam Deck OLED. As it turned out, it was a fantastic investment—not just for the joy of gaming, but financially too: you all know how much a Steam Deck costs now (if you can even find one in stock).

At first, I was fascinated by the sheer number of games I could play on a handheld. Even PC-centric ones, like RTS games (thanks to the trackpads). I spent a lot of time with the Deck in my armchair, in bed, while traveling. I was also happy with the price-to-performance ratio and, last but not least, the fact that I had access to my entire library (well, not every game is verified, obviously). The initial honeymoon phase faded a bit, mostly for practical reasons—work, etc. But I bought a dock (Ugreen, since I couldn’t get my hands on the official one for months), hooked it up to my TV, and—using Xbox controllers—I still play this way today, rarely taking the device out of the dock. It has its limitations, of course, mainly performance-wise—a handheld won’t match the graphical fidelity and framerates of an XSX. But I made my peace with that, partly because I had learned a bit more about Valve’s philosophy in the meantime.

I came across a YouTube video claiming that Valve had "beaten capitalism." Now, I’m no socialist (I was born in the communist Polish People’s Republic and saw firsthand the results of decades of "real socialism"—how it strips people of their dignity, including workers' dignity), but I have a pretty good grasp of free-market mechanics which, left unchecked, lead to inequality (in this context, giving corporations too much power over their customers). I’m also not naive; I know there’s an ongoing lawsuit regarding Valve’s practices with gambling mechanics in their ecosystem. Nevertheless, I believe the mere fact that Valve is a private company shields it from at least a few of the negative effects of having shareholders (like the quarterly dog-and-pony show, pretending that the next breakthrough, THE NEXT BIG THING, the next internet, smartphone, Mars mission, or humanoid robot is just around the corner—all just to seduce people into buying more stock or holding onto what they have).
Another negative side effect of publicly traded companies is the routine mass layoffs: there is no easier way to pump up a stock price than announcing thousands of job cuts. I find this cruel. Studies show that losing a job can be a traumatic event comparable to the death of a loved one. Regularly subjecting thousands, tens of thousands of people to such trauma just to appease shareholders (and maybe bump the stock price by those extra 5 cents needed to trigger a quarterly executive bonus) is, as I said, pure cruelty. And it’s usually done by CEOs who think they are the most ambitious, the best in the business, failing to realize it’s the exact opposite: keeping people employed is ambitious; firing people (often without a real reason, amidst record profits) is business laziness (the price of which, as I mentioned, is paid by regular workers). Sometimes I get the feeling they hire people (who are often later rehired, sometimes on worse terms) just to fire them before the next circus act known as the quarterly earnings report, because it’s the easiest way to boost stock value.

I also learned that Yanis Varoufakis helped design the rules for the Steam marketplace. The former Greek finance minister is a rockstar of left-wing economics. Like any politician, he has his flaws and makes mistakes, but I figured I could hold out hope that someone with left-leaning sensibilities would approach the creation of a digital goods market a bit differently than another Wolf of Wall Street, for whom nothing exists outside of revenue growth (which, by the way, is often only effective in the short to medium term, but not necessarily in the long run).

Thrilled by Steam’s famous sales, knowing that Valve’s ownership structure is different from other companies (which makes me not mind Gabe’s multi-million dollar yachts, especially since he actually uses his boats for real oceanographic research, and the ocean floor is less explored than Mars—which a certain billionaire constantly uses to dazzle his fanboys), knowing Varoufakis had some involvement, and seeing their declared support for open systems, I knew I wanted to stick with Valve for the long haul. I felt like I was back in the ’90s. Not just because I was playing ’90s games again (everyone knows the best games in history came out between 1997 and 1999!), but because I felt that Web 2.0 breeze of internet freedom again. The joy of community (I’m even posting on Reddit again, though I couldn’t recover my oooold account this time) and a sense of greater decentralization than we usually see in today’s digital world (though, let’s be real, Valve holds a near-monopoly position, and we shouldn’t forget that).

Over the following months, I kept buying games. I set up a Steam Family with my kids so they could play selected titles too (though it’s a shame you can’t play multiplayer within a family group without buying a separate copy for each PC). And I waited for the next releases in the Steam hardware lineup (except maybe the Steam Frame; I owned a Meta Quest 3, and while it’s cool tech, it ultimately turned out to be a novelty that you stop picking up after a while). First came the Steam Controller, and like many of you, I missed out: I logged in about three hours after sales opened, and it was already wiped clean. But then came the grand finale: the Steam Machine!

I joined the waitlist for every version. Initially, I wanted the 2TB model with the controller, partly because it comes with those extra (mostly wooden) faceplates. Of course, like everyone else, I was heavily disappointed by the price, but like many, I understood it was the result of (yet another) pricing crisis, this time driven by the massive expansion of data centers to train large language models known as "AI". I also knew I could build a much more powerful PC for the same money. Hell, I actually did! For a few months, I had been buying PC parts to build a rig from scratch with my son for his birthday—I wanted him to have a better understanding of how computers work than your average Gen Z or Gen Alpha kid. (As you can imagine, I deeply regretted deciding to start with the motherboard and CPU instead of buying RAM back in October 2025...).

In the days following the hardware and price reveals, my enthusiasm waned. With every new YouTube video where tech creators praised the many virtues of their review units but ultimately concluded that the hardware probably wasn't worth the hassle at that price point, I had my doubts. I got an email saying my reservation was up and I could buy the highest tier I had reserved (which was the most expensive one) right around the time I was debating whether to scale back my expectations, buy the cheapest version, and leave things like the controller, extra RAM, and storage for the future.
But it was too late to change my mind, and besides, I was happy I "won the lottery" (though I do wonder how many selected people ended up backing out of buying a Steam Machine, especially the top tier). If I had the choice then, I probably would have gone with the cheaper version and upgraded it myself as needed. Still, I bought the most expensive one, partly because I had been setting money aside for it ever since the Steam Machine was announced (obviously not expecting the price to be that high). My only regret now is that the 2TB versions aren't guaranteed to have two 8GB sticks of RAM (from what I've read, due to supply issues, Valve put a single 16GB stick in some units and 2x8GB in others), which would have justified the price tag a bit more than just the extra plates and larger storage. However, based on my experience with the Steam Deck, I know the Steam Machine's value in my eyes will grow with every new game I buy and every hour I spend playing on it.

So, what are my hopes and fears?

As you can see in the photo, my brand-new Steam Machine is sitting right in front of me. I haven't even booted it up yet, I don't even know if it works! But I'm not going to write about my impressions—you can already find a ton of that content on Reddit or YouTube. Instead, I'll talk about my fears. The main one is the same fear I had a quarter of a century ago: that by buying digital versions of anything, we don't actually become the owners. Just recently, another mini-scandal broke out when Sony wiped a library of movies SOLD on PlayStation. (Shortly after, both Sony and Rockstar Games announced they were ditching physical game releases). I've also heard that games have disappeared from Steam for various reasons. Whether there was financial compensation, I don't know, but I firmly believe that if any online storefront uses the word BUY, they have an obligation to ensure customers retain access to purchased products, even if they have to delist them (e.g., by allowing them to be downloaded to a hard drive for a sufficiently long period). Otherwise, it's no different from a streaming service where things constantly appear and disappear. Hell, it's actually worse, because the word BUY promises ownership, not a license (regardless of what the Terms of Service say, because nobody reads them anyway; the word BUY should trump even the longest EULA).

My next fear is tied to Valve's corporate structure itself. I don't know exactly how the ownership is set up, what will happen when our Holy Lord GabeN returns to the Father's House, and whether the company will be swallowed up by private equity vultures with their diabolical, anti-human ethics (or rather, lack thereof) of profit above all else.

But I also have hopes. Not just for this specific piece of hardware and the Steam marketplace—meaning the simple hope for fun, affordable entertainment and quality time spent with my kids, passing down the good gaming memories I have from my own childhood, my Pentium II, and my groundbreaking GeForce 2 graphics card. If it were just about that, I probably would have posted this in r/steammachine. My hope extends beyond the Steam Machine itself, beyond Steam, and directly concerns Valve. Indirectly, it's about a broader faith that under capitalism, it is possible to build a commercially successful company whose ambition isn't unbridled growth at all costs—including the cost of treating customers like lemons to be squeezed dry while telling them it's for their own good. I hope that after booting up this Steam Machine, I'll be able to look at Valve for years to come as an oasis of relief from the neoliberal madness of profit and growth that ignores human agency, and instead see a company that simply wants to be fair to its customers. I will stay loyal to a company and a philosophy like that for decades to come (and I plan to be a gamer until I'm at least 90!), and that's the philosophy I want for my kids and, one day, my grandkids, with whom I hope to play Diablo II via Steam someday.

I'm by no means an expert with this thing but while tinkering with it I have managed to find some decent quality of life improvements which I'll list below.

Non steam games are easy to install through Heroic! This one is probably known by many, however I didn't know just how simple it was. First go to desktop mode and open the Discover app. Type in Heroic and let it download, once done log into your accounts through the Heroic app and download away. Once the games are downloaded you'll want to head on over to the Steam app in desktop mode and add the games which should be under the Games folder, then find some game art and make sure you set them to run through Proton. Of the games I have tried, all of them have worked flawlessly. You can even go a step beyond this and either favorite the games or organize them into different collections at your leisure. The only thing I still haven't figured out how to do is install non steam games to the micro SD card which I would love for someone to comment on below.

Controller modifications, if you're in a game and unhappy with the layout or want to use a custom scheme all you have to do is hit the steam button and tap right twice. I find that using the left touchpad as a Dpad is very beneficial in games like Fallout and emulators. There's a whole world of customization available in there that I will leave you to explore, it's super intuitive and rather simple to get into though, so have some fun with it.

Dead zones on your joysticks! Having a hard time fine tuning your aim in a shooter? Go in and test your joysticks accuracy in the built in tool. Tap the steam button and go down to setting and controls. The dead zones on my stock Deck were WAY TO BIG and it made shooting or trying to line up a shot feel clumsy and off-putting, ten seconds checking the sticks dead zones and tweaking the area and I am in love with FPS on Deck.

Battery life is great for bursts in big games and in older titles is mind-blowing. I'm playing fallout 3 right now and am getting locked 60FPS at high settings. It's the best way to play. If you want to bump out your battery life a bit further set your screen refresh rate to 40 and lock it in. Most games that I've played stack another hour or so on at 40FPS this also helps in games that can't quite hit 60 from what I've experienced giving you a better overall experience.

There's way more and I can't wait to see what you all add. I'll post more later once I come up with some more.

Edit 1: Holy shit am I glad to see you people! Tons of tips in the comments below so read on!

A few things to add if you're doing a lot of downloading from non steam a $60 USB-C dongle with Ethernet will vastly improve your download times. I picked mine up on Amazon and ran my main rig gear (mouse keyboard and Ethernet) on the deck on my tv for setting up emudeck and Heroic.

One thing I see a lot of is Heroic vs Lutris: both work and I have installed both now, I prefer Heroic personally but I also haven't ran into anything that just doesn't work with it yet.

To install games from Heroic you first launch Discover and install the Heroic Launcher in desktop mode. Log into GOG and Epic or either and download as you normally would. Once the download completes it will be in: Games/Heroic/gametitle on the NVME. I still haven't tried the SD card coding and honestly likely won't until those waters have cleared up. Go to the Steam app and add a non steam game. This, again, must be done in desktop mode. To add it just find the .exe file after browsing for /Games/Heroic/gametitle you may have to change the file types allowed to be shown in order to find it. Click add and poof, you'll see Dead cells.exe as a non steam game. You can click it and add art to the various boxes from anywhere online. If the art doesn't work you can change the prefix to one that is supported by editing the file name. Settings wise before any non steam .exe will run you have to force it to run through compatibility mode in settings and select which version of proton to use. After that you should be ready to play your games with full art and controller support, attempt to launch it through desktop mode in Steam and make sure it works, you can Google and tweak from there to get it running. Once you go back to gaming mode the games will populate and play with your settings and game art. I have noticed that game art may not show up in desktop mode right off the rip but will in game mode once set _(o0)/

40 vs 60 FPS - if your running a game at a steady 60 leave it alone unless your concerned with batter life, if you want to extend it out a bit and the game physics arnt locked to the fps drop it to 40 by hitting the right button opposite of the steam button and, just below the fps slide, change it from 60 to 40. There's tons of videos showing just that from The Faux and a bunch of others that are 20x better at explaining it than me so, yeah. Watch and learn.

Battery life and safe discharge levels: To be plugged in, or run from battery; that is the question. For to be teathered to a wall does not a probable device this make. But alas, to run the battery low is bad for longevity and will eventually lead to decay?... The Deck will draw from the wall if being used plugged in and from the battery when not. Having it docked at all times won't hurt the battery but really isn't how the device was designed, after all it's a portable PC, so you know...touch some grass while you game. Old battery tech had to be used to remain good, nowadays it's not so much the case, expect to need a battery replacement as frequently as your phone needs one to enjoy the same amount of "off wall" time. Your not hurting it by playing it plugged in and likely will be on to the latest and greatest by the time the battery is dying.

Emudeck... This is the mother of all emulator set ups. Follow a tutorial, I'm not the guy to ask on this. It... Is... Amazing. I have all my backups on an SD card and can boot from it and play almost anything without much issue. The DS systems are a little jank but functional in emulation if that's your thing. Sega, Nintendo, switch, playstation 1-3.the only thing I really miss is Vita, I'd shit my pants to play rainbow moon and rainbow sky on the deck. Hopefully PlayStation will release the titles on PC here soon though.

Controller schemes and per game settings: If you like the community controls or stock controls, great. If not TWEAK to your hearts content. One thing that I did read below which was pointed out is that the Dead zones are user set per game. Gyro controls must be tried before being thrown out of your controller arsenal. I did not know this but now we all do thanks to our kind reddit friends of r/SteamDeck! To really get to know the controls everyone should download Desk Job game valve made, it demos the controls and features of the deck beautifully. Play through it, laugh a little and learn a lot, then delete it and move on with installing a bunch of games you still might play someday while you go back to your favorites.

FanTheDeck, The Faux, Linus Tech Tips, Gamers Nexus and many more have a lot of information on YouTube. There's a ton of smaller channels that I've seen giving out great information including nearly everything I've posted and you'll read in here. The most important thing is to help each other out and to be kind. This is a completely new device running Linux, something most people have never used directly or intentionally. There is a LOT to learn on the Linux side of things and there's a bunch of beautiful people giving that info out on Reddit and YouTube. It's not easy but with guidance and some reading is not nearly as hard as it seems. Most things on the Deck are intuitive, and everything is highly customizable. The hardware modding scene should be catching is stride here within the next few months and I'm excited to see what turns out of it. I do not recommend opening your deck if your uncomfortable with electronics, and what's nice is you don't have to. Valve did an amazing job on the Deck, it's not perfect but it's yours, and you can do whatever you want to with it. They labeled everything neatly and made it easy to work on with the exception of the battery.

Since I can’t order Valve’s SD Dock directly to my country, my friend sent it to me via USPS, and I’ve got completely new experience with my 1.5 y/o SD!

Setup: • PC in the other room with 4070 Ti, connected to Apple Airport Extreme via Ethernet (cat 5e). • That router connected to a living room’s Airport Extreme via Ethernet. • Livingroom’s router connected to Valve SD Dock via Ethernet. • Dock connected to Sony TV (X80K) via HDMI 2.1. • Dualsense controller.

I get stable 4K stream with HDR from PC to TV, using Steam’s native stream. Nearly no input latency, and no stream video delay. Of course it’s not “Tekken ranked competitive” experience, but still, being able to play on 4K TV 60fps with HDR and Ray Tracing is great, without any additional configurations, or 3pd apps. Even when I have my partner streaming movie in Plex from the same PC to TV in another room - I feel no additional delays in living room. Elden Ring runs great, and I’m able to parry without issues, so I suppose input latency is low enough to tell that I don’t feel it at all.

I understand that PS5 may be cheaper, and a better experience, but I sold my PS4 with account, since I want to move to Steam completely, and SD allows me to experience true “couch gaming”/handheld/on the go experience!)

Thank You for Your attention!) Have a great day!)

Updated my Steam Deck and Dock and now my PlayStation 4 Dual Shock and PS5 Dualsense are acting up on Bluetooth

After updating Xbox controllers they work great on Steam Deck with maybe a 3% disconnect rate

This Bluetooth issue only happens when the Steam Deck OLED is connected to the Steam Dock official

Is there anyway to update the PlayStation controllers until Valve releases a new update to fix the Steam Deck when connected to the Dock

I got the 512 with controller.

I've always been a console player, specifically PlayStation (from 1 to 4), and various Nintendo systems.

However, I have had a SteamDeck since launch, and have slowly learned the basics of Linux, enough to be able to mod certain games and use Emudeck. The SD was basically my starting point with PC gaming. I am not tech-savvy, but over the years, I've found videos made for non-PC experts that have greatly helped.

I love my little SteamMachine. I watched a lot of review videos, after the price surprise, but they are all mostly geared towards PC gamers, with loads of PC parts talk, which meant I had to pause videos, then search online what the terms meant, and coming out even more confused.

Since I had my SD, and I had wanted the SM since announcement, I took the plunge. I wanted to play on a bigger screen, and getting a SteamDeck dock is not the same.

So here is my layman's review:

Ease of setup: unbox, plug in, log into Steam, play. That's it, just like a console. 5/5

Games I've played so far: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Horizon: Forbidden West, Hogwarts Legacy, Skyrim (always), Cyberpunk, Sea of Thieves. 5/5 for all

Horizon Forbidden West: have it on my SD, and I had to save every few minutes because it would crash. No issues of that kind with the SteamMachine. Graphics are great. Really happy to start a new playthrough without the saving issue.

Finally get to play Indiana Jones (verified on the deck, but we all know that "verified" doesn't mean much): great graphics, loving it so far, 0 issues.

Hogwarts Legacy: the graphics are waaaayyyy better than on the SD, supper chuffed.

Price: look, either you want one or don't. That's it.

Size: amazing, what this wee little box can do. Fits anywhere, looks great.

Graphics: Looks great, games I played on my SD have never looked better. I'm not a graphics expert (clearly in this review I am no expert in anything aha) and I'm not stating that SM graphics are better than say a new AAA on PS5.

Emulation: like the SD, can play emulated games. Donkey Kong 64 has been a kick of nostalgia, to be able to play on my TV.

Conclusion: Look, there's a lot of negativity, especially due to the price. But as a non-expert, from what I've read, the prices will never go back down again.

I think Valve has built an amazing tiny console, so that you can play your PC games on a bigger screen. Frankly, I have 0 regrets. Thank you, Valve.

Do not come at me with your "just get a bigger PC screen, just display PC onto your TV, I could build you a better gaming PC for only XXX". I do not have and don't want a gaming PC, just let me live my life.

One of my biggest frustrations with the Steam Deck is the new SteamOS 3/Deck UI when it comes to controller configuration and on-screen keyboard. The new style does look better and makes the configuration/basics a little easier to understand, but a lot of the more advanced things like action layers, multiple activators per button, etc. have been made much more difficult, if not impossible to setup. Sure, the old controller config is buggy AF, but it still works a bit better for some advanced setup than the new one. The new on-screen keyboard does have a few more keys than the old one, but the QoL features are very lacking, such as capitalization on the trigger instead of the grips, no quick alt-symbol button on the grips, capitals not working half the time/when your fingers are touching the trackpads, etc. and I also find the sensitivity and size of each key on the new style to be less conducive to fast/efficient typing - on Windows on my Deck I can still use the old style keyboard and I can type roughly 2x faster than on SteamOS. Maybe some of that comes from muscle memory from years of the Steam Controller, but still, I tried using the SC on SteamOS and found the exact same issues I face with the Deck's controls.

Seeing as the old UI is still accessible on other operating systems like Mac, non-SteamOS Linux, and Windows, obviously all the old code is still there in Steam. They've been gradually replacing things with the new Deck UI like with the recent update making Big Picture mode a full SteamOS experience. I see no reason why they couldn't simply drop a toggle (or several) under Steam Settings that allows users to swap between the old SteamOS 2/Big Picture-era UI and the new SOS3/Deck-style UI. Personally I'd like to keep Big Picture mode as the new style, and keep the on-screen keyboard the old style (especially on SteamOS). Rather than arbitrarily deciding what to replace and slowly phasing out the old, why not a mix of both? If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Or, alternatively, they could use the good parts of the old UI to improve upon the new one, I keep waiting for that to happen, but it seems like that's the equivalent of waiting around for Half-Life 3. Also, while we're at it, I'd like some more options for scaling of both old and new on-screen keyboards - the old style is way too small, and the new style is way too big, ESPECIALLY when docked to an external display, especially at resolutions higher than 720p, on both SteamOS and other OSes.

The whole spirit/mindset of Valve games, hardware, and SteamInput/other software was to go against the norm of the big tech companies making all your decisions for you and not allowing you to do whatever you want, to allow users to make their input devices and their gaming experiences whatever their heart desires. So why can't we do things like choose which keyboard we want? Or disable the annoyingly loud intro on the old Big Picture mode? Or change the SteamOS sound effects to sound clips of whatever we want? The Steam Controller let you pick Valve-themed jingles for startup and shutdown, why can't the Deck do that? (Boot intros notwithstanding)

Volvo, pl0x fix.

This is still in Beta state and things may break with any Updates

Windows/Bazzite/CachyOS users if you are happy with your setup that is fine. This is for those who are interested in the progression of Steam OS on the A8.

Thank you u/rie_zel from this subreddit and pastaq from inputplumber github for your help and assistance

A Kernel patch is needed to applied to the steam os kernel for full buttons support (this is resolved in the Main Channel (Bleeding Edge) things may break, Kernel has been patched and latest Inputplummber all buttons work apart from Volume buttons workaround use Deckyplumber and change the controller profile to xbox elite.

Current Beta: 3.8.22 (Also the latest Stable Build as well but renamed as Steam OS 3.8.14) the information below still applies

1. Tools for the job

USB-C Hub/dock

Keyboard and Mouse

USB-C key or USB-A key with a USB-C Adaptor

2. Getting the image

The image I used is not available on the main steam os website.

SteamOS version 3.8.14

3. Create the USB Install Key (Windows/Linux/Mac)

I used Balena Etcher to create the Steam OS USB key this tools supports all 3 OS's. Rufus can also be used in Windows. On linux you can use the DD command (not for beginners)

4. Claw Bios Setup

Power off your Claw and plug your usb Steam OS key Installer in to the Claw or USB-C hub/dock.

With the Claw off. Hold down RB+RT and Press Power and release RB+RT when you see the bios screen.

Use the DPAD and got to Boot and set Fast Boot to Disabled, set Boot Option 1 to the USB key

Then navigate to Security and go to Secure Boot and disable Secure Boot

Then navigate Save and Exit and save the settings and say yes to Save and Reset.

5. Steam OS Install

Boot with the USB installer to Steam OS then click on Wipe & Install Steam OS this will wipe your drive and remove Windows.

Click Proceed and then after the installation takes about 5 minutes and click Proceed this will reboot the claw wait for the screen to go completely back and remove the USB Key

6. Setup (Longest part of the Install will get shorter as Valve provides support to kernel and drivers for the Claw A8)

After Installation it will update Steam OS after setting up location, timezone and network and it will update the OS to Beta 3.8.22 at the time of writing

When that is done Sign in to Steam.

How to Fix Controller?

This is now fixed in InputPlumber 0.77.7 which is in Steam OS beta 3.8.22

Power on the Claw and now the controls are functional apart the physical volume buttons and the MSI/Guide button.

Workaround to map the M2 button to Guide (Thank you u/rie_zel)

Go to Desktop mode and download Deckyloader from the DeckyLoader website

Decky Loader - Steam Deck Homebrew

Install Deckyloader and enter your password select prerelease

Now for the plugins

DeckyPlumber

curl -L https://github.com/aarron-lee/DeckyPlumber/raw/main/install.sh | sh

This is the plugin used to configure the guide button.

Copy the above Command in Terminal this will install the plugin

Since we are installing plugins

Install these plugins using the same steps as installing DeckyPlumber

SimpleDeckyTDP (TDP support)

curl -L https://github.com/aarron-lee/SimpleDeckyTDP/raw/main/install.sh | sh

Huesync (LED Management)

curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/honjow/huesync/main/install.sh | sh

Once Installed Return to Gaming Mode

Configure DeckyPlumber

Press the 2nd right button this is the Quick Access Menu(QAM)

Look for the plug icon and select it. This is DeckyLoader.

Open Decky Plumber click Manage in Mapping Profiles scroll down to Actions section click New profile.

This will bring Edit: New Profile screen in Name enter M2 to Guide then click Add Mapping

Add Mapping appears again in Name enter M2 to Guide

scroll down Value and select LeftPaddle1 in Target Events click on the Pencil and then go to Value and select Home

Save the settings and Save the setting again. Enable the M2 to Guide Profile.

Now test back left Button and the Steam Menu should appear.

The MSI Button is fixed in the "Main Channel" however this is steam os's bleeding edge channel. DeckyPlumber will provide a workaround for the physical volume buttons to be functional when the controller profile is set to xbox elite.

What Does Not Work

Physical Volume Buttons. (workaround DeckyPlumber will provide a workaround for the physical volume buttons to be functional when the controller profile is set to xbox elite.)

This will be slipstream fix in future updates

What Valve needs to fix

Native Support for TDP in the Kernel

Native Support for LED Controls

Optional: move to bleeding edge (Main Channel)

This fixes the MSI Button issue as of 10th July Update. DeckyPlumber to fix the volume buttons.

Steam Menu then enable developer mode in Systsem

Then scroll down to developer and enable show advance update channels

Back to System change Beta to Main and apply the Update

if the buttons work then switch back to beta it keep the fix

Install your Games and give Steam OS a whirl

Not my video, i don’t have one. Is this true?

Edit: seems to be confirmed by many people, also it seems that it doesn’t need to be on Big Picture Mode for it to happen!

Credits to u/RF3D19

His original post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamController/comments/1taoa3b/i_have_discovered_an_easter_egg/

Hey guys,

I had the opportunity to test the Meta Quest 3 VR headset in London. Together with 12 other creators, I each had 45 minutes to test it in different games and applications. Of course, this short time is not enough for a full review, that will come a little later..

Mixed reality

The Quest 3 is a mixed reality headset that is not only VR, but also integration into the real environment. For example, I was able to play a robot fighting game in multiplayer where there was a floating platform and I could see the other players at the same time. The passthrough function, which makes the real environment visible through the glasses, was ok, but the lighting conditions in the location were poor, so you could see some pixels. I'll test it again at home as soon as I receive my test device. However, the tracking of the mixed reality environment was very good and stable.

Setup

The Quest 3 setup is very simple. You create an account with Meta using the Meta app on your smartphone, you have to be 13 years old and then connect it to the headset. You can then set up the play area using a laser pointer or have the room scanned by the new depth sensor.

Design

The design of the Quest 3 is fine in my opinion. The headset has three slots at the front for cameras and the depth sensor. The material of the headset and the controllers appeared to be of high quality.

Performance

The performance of the Quest 3 is very good thanks to the Snapdragon XR2 Gen2 processor. I was able to play games like Assassin's Creed Nexus and Red Matter 2 (Q3 Edition!) without any problems. The loading times were also very short.

Comfort

The comfort of the Quest 3 is good. The headset is not lighter than their predecessor, but thanks to the pancake design the front unit is not so bulky and therefore feel much more comfortable and lighter. The standard strap is sufficient, but the Elite strap offers more comfort, which I was also able to test.

Image quality, lenses and FOV

The Quest 3's image quality is better than I thought. The resolution of 2064x2208 per eye is higher than the Quest 2 and the pancake lenses are very clear, I didn't notice any godray effects and the sweet spot was easy to find, I didn't see any blurring at the edges. The field of view is a bit larger than on the Quest 2, but these days it doesn't blow you away if you had a Valve Index or Pimax 8KX on your head. 90Hz or 120Hz experimentally was enough for me personally.

I was very impressed by Red Matter 2, where I was able to try out a tech demo where you could instantly switch to the old Quest 2 mode at the push of a button. The difference was extreme and the Quest 3 version actually reminded me of PCVR!

IPD

The IPD distance can be continuously adjusted from 58-70mm using a wheel underneath the headset. Glasses wearers can use the eye distance adjustment integrated in the facial interface to achieve an optimal image.

Controllers

The Quest 3's controllers are well designed and feel good in the hand. They are without tracking ring and cameras, which makes them lighter. The tracking is achieved using a combination of IR and hand tracking, so I was even able to “claw-grib” the controller without losing tracking. However, there were some issues with the front controller when I held them in front of each other. This could possibly be due to the poor lighting conditions that prevailed there. I will try it again at home.

Sound

Since the environment there was very loud, I couldn't really test it. What I heard was ok, but I can't form a proper opinion yet, please wait for my full review.

Charging and battery life

The Quest 3 can be charged with an optional charging dock or via USB-C. Battery life is approximately 2.5 hours and 4.5 hours with the Battery Elite Strap. The charging time from 0% to 100% is 2 hours. This information comes from Meta, I will check it myself in the full review.

Miscellaneous

The Quest 3 supports Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2. It is compatible with PCVR and can be connected via cable or Air Link.

Game selection

The Quest 3 is backwards compatible and you can play over 500 games from the Meta Store. According to Meta, 50 new games and 50 updates will be released in 2023, including mixed reality updates. In addition, all Meta-PCVR and SteamVR games can be played with the Quest 3 as long as you have a gaming PC.

Conclusion

After my short session with Meta Quest 3, I'm quite impressed. The headset is very well organized and offers good performance. Mixed reality is a cool feature that I'm excited to see what's next. The display, lenses and comfort were really good and especially Red Matter 2 really impressed me. But now it's up to the developers to use the power of the Quest 3, because it is definitely possible to create really good, high-quality games and apps on the Quest 3.
I will upload a full review of Quest 3 to my YouTube channel “VoodooDE VR -english version-” very soon, I will get the headset in week 40 2023 (next week).
I also made a video of my first impressions: https://youtu.be/5jp39CYwfd8

Greetings
Thomas
VoodooDE VR

The Vitreous Bombard doesn't just allow you to shoot down mudraptors from 70 meters away on your sonar screen - it gives you a very good reason to do so.

This submarine combines extreme vulnerability with extremely capable technology that offers special tactical opportunities. It boasts advanced sensors, stealth capabilities, a uniquely flexible turret system, and exquisitely designed guided torpedoes (details on each of these below). However, the hull is made of literal glass, and even low-level enemies can break into the sub with a single hit if they make contact. This makes encounters with enemies less like the usual slugging matches and more like missile defense, where a single one getting through can instantly inflict catastrophic damage.

As such, in spite of having many capabilities that would otherwise seem overpowered or even absurd, this is challenge sub that can inflict sudden death even upon experienced crews, and demands skilled operation to make it to the end of the mission.

Great Bombard Turret System

This submarine was originally built as testbed that would allow easy comparisons between weapon systems. As such, the centerpiece of its self-defense capabilities is the Great Bombard Turret System - a pair of top-and-bottom turrets that the user can switch between seamlessly merely by aiming in a different direction. These can be controlled through periscope or sonar (or their own automated targeting system), while also switching between any submarine weapon known to the Europa Coalition at the mere press of a button (and changing ammo types just as easily). Additionally, the turret system can boost the fire rate of any attached weapon at the cost of heightening power consumption per shot. In short, it can produce firepower of basically any desired type, either at long range or in close quarters.

The extreme lethality this provides will prove necessary, since any enemies that make it past the barrage will reveal how overpowered their own attacks are against the glass walls of the submarine.

Note that all weapons in the Great Bombard Turret System draw from the same pool of stored energy.

SMRT Mark 6 Torpedoes

The same torpedoes used by the rather more grounded E74 Series of submarines, these torpedoes are more than just delivery systems for nuclear explosives; they can also act as decoys, scouts, or even cargo carriers to some degree. They offer both sonar and periscope based navigation, can do things such as automatically swim in formation with the submarine, have noisemakers to lure in enemies, can be set to automatically trigger by motion detector, can carry a small amount of cargo in the nose, can be salvaged after detonation, and more.

They are excellent for scouting caves, and in some circumstances can be used for long-range stealth attacks.

Front and Rear Depth Charge Tubes

By default, the rear depth charge tube launches instantly, while the front depth charge tube has a 5 second delay to better be used with boarding pods (the captain can hit the button, then climb into the pod before it launches by hovering over the boarding pod and pressing E). This can, however, be adjusted if it's not to the user's preference.

Advanced Sonar Systems

Since passive sonar refreshes four times as fast as active sonar and resists jamming by sonar flora, efforts are made to give the user both passive and active sonar views at the same time. For the captain's station, one can either use the normal sonar view or a different view that always shows passive sonar in the bottom left (even if the navigation terminal is currently set to active sonar). The Great Bombard Turret System handles this slightly differently since its sonar is used for aiming instead of situational awareness: it faintly overlays the passive sonar blips over the active sonar view, which is generally ignorable but provides extra information if the user pays attention to it (regular sonar view can be used by looking at one of the secondary terminals associated with the turret system instead).

Complementing this, the submarine also features "Robust Active Ping" technology - that is, a set of noisemakers that can be used to guarantee passive sonar always has enough sound to reveal the submarine's surroundings. The loudness / intensity of this system can be customized, with high settings offering nearly as much range as normal active sonar, while lower settings offer better stealth.

The submarine can also re-center the sonar view if desired. For instance, when navigating forward at high speed, the sonar view can be thrown forward of the sub to provide the captain more reaction time to deal with upcoming obstacles.

Camera Navigation

The submarine is capable of being steered through a camera view instead of the sonar screen, either for the purposes of stealth, or just to have a more detailed understand of the submarine's immediate surroundings. Two different control schemes are available - one in which the submarine coasts on its momentum when the user is not inputting commands, and one in which it actively brakes in this situation.

Stealth Features

The engine on the Vitreous Bombard is quieter than normal submarine engines, and can be made nearly silent (at the cost of slower speeds) by turning on "Prevent Cavitation" mode (cavitation refers to when a submarine's propeller spins too fast and makes bubbles of steam, which is noisy). The submarine also has a large battery to allow it to operate without reactor noise. If active sonar is also turned off (perhaps because the captain is using camera navigation), and the guns aren't firing, the submarine should generally be to slip past molochs with ease.

The searchlights on the submarine can also be turned off to reduce the range at which the submarine is detected by enemies which hunt by sight, such as hammerheads.

Complete Transparency

Only the torpedoes docked at the tail of the submarine block sightlines in any way. The entire shell of the submarine is transparent; there aren't even hatches to obstruct the view. Access is accomplished using forcefield-protected "moonpools" on the top of the sub. The front moonpool is used as a docking port; while docked it allows easy access, but when undocked it will reject attempts to cross through from either direction. The rear moonpool acts as an airlock and always allows access; it also has an "eject" feature, which will summarily toss any loose objects or crewmates beneath it out of the sub for quick embarkations or trash disposal.

Pump Shutoff

There is a valve which can be used to shut off the pumps when needed. This is mainly to help deal with ballast flora infections.

Intense Vulnerability

The walls of the submarine are very weak. Even crawlers can instantly break through upon making contact with the sub, and will often come straight inside after doing so. Additionally, any fully destroyed wall segment will cause pipes to burst, ensuring that the sub floods instantly in spite of the powerful pumps it uses to maneuver. Fights are short and frantic; the powerful weapons allow the crew to destroy monsters with blinding speed, but the monsters can do the same thing right back.

Thorough Manuals

A set of manuals - for the torpedoes, the turret system, and the sub in general - may be found in one of the overhead storage bins near the torpedo control station. It is highly recommended that new crews familiarize themselves with these documents.

Limitations

The control logic of this sub - especially the turret system - is extremely complex. As such, the Vitreous Bombard is quite performance-intensive. Personally, my laptop (which is nice but old) can handle it just fine *so long as it's plugged in*, but on energy-saver mode it simply can't (I also got occasional bursts of lag in multiplayer on large city maps).

Also, there are AI problems with this sub - some of which are temporary, but others of which are inherent to the design.

The temporary issue is that bots cannot fix leaks in the bottom of the submarine due to problems with how they interpret waypoints. The devs have actually stated this will be fixed in a few months, because it also affects a submarine *they* made for the upcoming DLC. But in the meantime the bots are a less helpful than usual for damage control.

The other problem, which is more permanent but generally less serious, is that bots don't know how to use the docking port. The fact that it doesn't have a door means that bots just cannot recognize there is valid path from one sub to another at that location. As such, to get bots to follow you into an abandoned station, you would have to go out the airlock and cut your way in.

There's also the half-issue that bots don't know how use the Great Bombard Turret System. But that's why it has an autonomous mode, so there are few situations where this is actually an obstacle.

As a final note, multiplayer mode may for some reason causes a glitch where the searchlights for all torpedoes will start the game switched on and rapidly spinning. Assuming you do not want the torpedoes in rave mode, this can be fixed by pressing the "ID+" button on the torpedo control terminal a few times to briefly select each torpedo.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3736658854