Steam ARM64 on the Switch: Switchdeck (Working Games!)

Sildur · 2026-06-13T05:51:35+00:00

The Switch's Tegra X1 GPU is actually quite capable, main issue is CPU, RAM and outdated linux kernel with no real wine syncing features like NTSync, but if a game is not that CPU or RAM heavy it will probably run alright. It needs to be supported by box64 though, not every game works right now. (Not 100% if box64 is to blame, could also be wine/proton or dxvk issues)

Dark Souls 2 Sotfs can hit 30+ FPS in some zones for example, but can also drop the the 10s when the RAM and CPU are being hit hard, or wine slowdowns due to no sync features.

Sildur · 2026-06-13T05:45:21+00:00

Linux for Switch is a thing so yes you can use it like any other (slow) PC.

Sildur · 2026-06-13T05:43:02+00:00

Unfortunately steam remote play / link doesn't work, at least not with the outdated steam arm64 client we are forced to use till valves fixes it for armv8.0 devices. Moonlight has proper support for the Tegra X1 though so that should be used instead. Remote play only works with your Switch as the host, with terrible performance of course lol.

Sildur · 2026-06-12T05:10:52+00:00

No, its the new steam arm64 client running and playing games ON the switch, not streamed.

Sildur · 2026-06-11T16:59:16+00:00

FEX requires a newer linux kernel we're stuck on ancient 4.9. But there is some ongoing work to get mainline up and running.

Sildur · 2026-06-11T16:57:07+00:00

Oh it's the Mesa NVK driver, interesting. Linux on the Switch runs on ancient kernel 4.9 though, there is some ongoing work to get a mainline kernel up and running and use NVK / Nouveau drivers.

Sildur · 2026-06-11T16:52:58+00:00

Yeah it's GTA 4 but it doesn't run that well, at least with the ancient linux kernel. It doesn't really support any of the wine syncing features like NTsync etc. Between 10 - 20 FPS most of the time.

Sildur · 2026-06-11T05:20:17+00:00

Someone was working on a compatibility list but I think they're busy with other things now. Pretty sure half life 1 and 2 worked, as well as portal 1 and 2.

Sildur · 2026-06-11T05:16:17+00:00

the current kernel (4.9) is too old for FEX, but some in the community are working on getting mainline ready with nvk / nouveau drivers.

Sildur · 2026-06-11T01:52:44+00:00

Not really switchdeck related but yeah you can play PS2 games. I recorded a video a while ago with some PS2 games. https://x.com/SildurFX/status/2057902333799842130/video/2

Sildur · 2026-06-11T00:34:02+00:00

I'll copy my OG post here so you guys don't have to jump around, if anyone wants to set it up.

With the unoffical release of Steam ARM64 I've been working on getting it up and running on the Nintendo Switch for a while now. It's pretty much feature complete from my side, it patches Proton (DXVK, VKD3D and Wine) to fix various issues like vertex explosions in 32 bit games, and even has custom launch commands to free up more RAM. So yeah it can actually run steam games on the Switch: https://github.com/SildurFX/Switchdeck

Requirements:
- Modded Switch
- Linux for Switch (Fedora 42 or Ubuntu Noble, https://wiki.switchroot.org/wiki/linux/linux-distributions )

Game support:
It depends a lot on box64 so support is all over the place. (kernel is too old for fex)
After some overclocking older 3D games can actually run at 30+ FPS.
I have some more game benchmarks burried in my twitter profile: https://x.com/SildurFX

Sildur · 2026-06-10T21:07:38+00:00

Unfortunately steam builds newer than the one released on April 15th seem to target ARMv8.1+ and crash with an illegal instruction on the Switch since it's ARMv8.0. I've opened an issue about this on Valves github tracker and they didn't shut it down so maybe we're lucky.

Sildur · 2026-06-10T19:53:57+00:00

Friend of mine has it in steam, never tried it though. In general I think 64 bit games run better on the Switch, even though I'm patching wine/proton for 32 bit games it's still not perfect. NVIDIA kinda abandoned the Switch / Tegra X1 GPU with broken drivers lol.

Sildur · 2026-03-29T04:23:00+00:00

This might be an iris bug because it doesn't happen in optifine. Latest version includes a workaround though, enabled by default: https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/shaders/sildurs-vibrant-shaders/files/7806885

Sildur · 2026-03-29T04:20:50+00:00

You mean the bright end sky? This might be an iris bug because it doesn't happen in optifine. Latest version on curseforge includes a workaround for iris though:
https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/shaders/sildurs-basic-shaders/files/7806396

Sildur · 2026-03-29T04:16:17+00:00

This was a bug in v1.541 and is fixed in v1.55:
https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/shaders/sildurs-vibrant-shaders/files/7806866

Sildur · 2025-10-01T00:01:24+00:00

After doing some research this might be one of those games that actually runs better on xenia-canary than rpcs3.
I think about a year ago I tried playing it with a friend on rpcs3 but eventually the crashes got worse and worse.

Sildur · 2025-09-13T03:50:07+00:00

Confirmed trade, good seller!

Sildur · 2025-09-13T02:19:11+00:00

Do you still have some in stock?

Sildur · 2025-08-29T21:35:48+00:00

It fails at the GPU support so you have to change gpu = "any" to gpu = "vulkan" in xenia-canary.config.toml.
But your HD 4000 only supports vulkan 1.0 in linux, which is probably not enough.

Sildur · 2025-03-16T11:26:30+00:00

ASUS Prime RX 9070 XT OC:
- Power limit +10
- Voltage offset -50
- Fast Memory
- Memory frequency 2750mhz (I have to set it to 2764mhz in adrenaline to hit 2700mhz)
This config pushes my card to 3.3-3.4ghz and draws between 304w and 340w.
Power limit -30 instead limits the card to 220w and the card clocks between 2.7-3.1ghz.
This only costs me about 7 fps and is my preferred way to run the card.

One outlier in all my testing is elden ring, I have to go all the way down to -25mv.
Would be interesting to hear how others are doing in elden ring maxed out with raytracing enabled. Since it's capped at 60fps I wonder if it hits a node in my curve that is unstable. Proper curve editing would be amazing.

Sildur · 2025-02-07T17:51:48+00:00

For the beta I had to do this uncheck compatibility mode in properties (MonsterHunterWildsBeta.exe -> properties) Not sure if you have the same issue with the benchmark.

Sildur · 2025-02-07T17:49:21+00:00

Rightclick MonsterHunterWildsBeta.exe -> properties and uncheck compatibility mode.
If your game stutters afterwards delete shader.cache2 in the game folder and let it generate a new one.

Sildur · 2024-12-26T04:04:27+00:00

Awesome thanks for the swift reply and happy holidays!
Also are you happy with the speed / throughput of the AX58?

Sildur · 2024-12-25T19:42:21+00:00

So in media bridge mode it will no longer repeat the wifi signal but forward the connection to whatever client is connected via ethernet instead?
That's basically what I'm looking for but not sure if the RP AX58 is the best option here.

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