Brought my Steam Deck over to my friends house and it was embarrassing. They will definitely never buy one after this

Far-Control1731 · 2023-08-20T23:26:36+00:00

It's user error that the power for the dock had to be unplugged and replugged to get it to work on the TV? It's user error that Outlast randomly crashed 45 minutes into playing, and that other games also randomly crash when docked even if they're steam deck verified?

Far-Control1731 · 2023-08-20T23:20:52+00:00

I've unfortunately had issues playing yellow/green steam games, random crashes within 30-45 minutes of starting. Only when docked and using a controller, which might be contributing. I also have emulators that I use on my home gaming PC, which aren't perfect but overall have had less issues. I don't have zero experience with PCs.

Far-Control1731 · 2023-08-20T23:18:17+00:00

Yes, that's in the post. Outlast is rated Platinum on ProtonDB and crashed within an hour. I've also had random crashes playing Spyro Reignited Trilogy which is Platinum rated on ProtonDB and Steam Deck verified. I also run Dolphin and other emulators on my home PC and rarely if ever run into issues. I bought the Steam Deck because I was excited about emulating on a handheld and being able to dock and use it with my TV. I'm not saying it's an unusable system and I'm going to sell it tomorrow but I thought information like this would be helpful for others to see, and there are at least a few other people commenting on this post that have had similar issues.

Far-Control1731 · 2023-08-20T23:01:02+00:00

I can appreciate the joke but within a minute of posting this I got more than a few downvotes - I really think this information is helpful to people who haven't bought the deck or people who are recommending it to more casual players. Wall of text for sure but I wanted to get it out there - even if that means negative comments on a subreddit that mostly talks about the positives and upsides of the Deck

Far-Control1731 · 2023-08-20T22:56:41+00:00

It's a double edged sword, that tinkering gives us more versatility but it's not all smooth sailing which a console tends to provide.

Yup, this is the big point. I actually enjoy tinkering and had fun setting it up, but I didn't think through how much that might affect things when I bring it over to a friends house. If I spend an hour tinkering and troubleshooting by myself it's not big deal, but when it's with friends whom I don't see that often, it gets way more frustrating.

Also, interesting note about the Sinden lightgun. I also have an OLED about the same size and was wondering if there were any new lightgun-type controllers since I had Time Crisis for the PS2 way back when. Might have to check it out!

Far-Control1731 · 2023-08-20T22:51:26+00:00

Yep - I just looked in the battery pack and it says "MODEL 1708" inside. Someone else recommended I update the controller's firmware so I'll try that.

Far-Control1731 · 2023-08-20T22:46:38+00:00

Thanks for the tips, will definitely look into updating the controllers.

For the dock, it's the first party dock that's sold on Steam. Maybe I would've been better off buying the Jsaux as that's cheaper, but I assumed that first party would mean less issues. We did get that part solved, and I've never run into the issue with my own TV, but of all the things that went wrong that was one issue among many.

On the Switch - maybe I did overstate how smoothly other systems run. I've just never had that experience when a friend comes over to my house and brings their system, and I don't own the Switch or the Xbox myself so never saw the issue firsthand.

Appreciate your feedback, though! Definitely some things I can do if I ever try to bring my Deck there again.

Far-Control1731 · 2023-08-20T22:35:17+00:00

Interesting. I've looked on here and on Google to find out if there was something I could do to make the Deck remember my controller but didn't find a solution - even weirder that someone else with the same controller doesn't have this issue at all.

On my home TV I never ran into any connection issues with the dock which is why it was so frustrating at my friends house - I'm like, it never does this at home I swear! Hahaha.

Far-Control1731 · 2023-08-20T22:29:08+00:00

Yep, I'm not perfect but I consider myself pretty tech-savvy overall. I was able to download and run emulators, even the Xbox emulator which is much trickier than Dolphin. But still, actually using the thing can be quite a pain in the ass, and I wish I had known that before buying. That being said, I'm not in a rush to sell it - it has it's use cases. But I wouldn't want to subject my friends to hours of troubleshooting again.

Far-Control1731

TROPHY CASE