soulsource @ soulsource @discuss.tchncs.de

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2 yr. ago

Some cool SD verified games nobody mentioned yet:

• Hades
• Cult of the Lamb
• Potion Craft (really great gamepad support)
• Against the Storm (though the controls take a while to get used to)
• Griftlands
• Terraformers

It's basically what the Steam Deck does, and for a gaming device it makes a lot of sense. The vast majority of games will probably be installed to the user's home folder anyhow...

It might be that some games require additional libraries that don't come with the immutable base OS, but you can always install them in a custom folder (like, the game's install dir), or just install Steam and use the Steam Runtime for everything.

And, as you said, a lot of open source tools and games (DosBox for instance) are available as Flatpaks too.

After finishing my second playthrough of Loren the Amazon Princess, I've now started Tales of Aravorn: An Elven Marriage. And I must say, it is pretty good. From what I can tell up to now, I like Elven Marriage more than Loren, so it's a bit sad, that it didn't sell that well...

Apart from that I'm playing way too much Against the Storm. It's a pretty fun city builder rogue-like. Basically Settlers, but only the fun parts, with a bit of random challenges sprinkled in.

I also tried to play Albion (the DOS game) again, but I died in my second battle and hadn't saved from the beginning... 90s games were something different, when it comes to difficulty. I will definitely start over again soon, this time actually saving frequently.

There are some amazing fan projects though:

• While it isn't a remake, OpenMW improves upon the original game's graphics - it does not change textures or models though, just rendering features.
• Skywind is a remake though - it uses the engine of Skyrim to recreate Morrowind.
• Skyblivion is the same idea, but with Oblivion.

What I do is usually:

• Install the game on my desktop PC.
• Copy the files over to the Steam Deck via sftp
• Use Desktop Mode to add it as a non-Steam game to the Steam Library
• If it's a Windows game, force Proton in the game's properties in Steam
• Use SteamGridDB (and sgdboop) to set a nice image for it.

War ja auch nicht ernst gemeint. Ich bin bei diversen Chats im Freundeskreis eigentlich immer der einzige, der auf Hochdeutsch antwortet 😉.

A geh, is doch iagendwie liab, oda?

Übahaupt, jetzt wo si Hochdeutsch imma mea duachsetzt, und vü junge Leit übahaupt nimma richtig östareichisch¹ redn leanan, missn ma doch schaun, dass unsa Sproch net oafoch ausstiabt, oda?

Mia hom a a longe Tradition, wonns um Mundoatdichtung geht. Da Dichta von da obaöstareichischn Hymne zum Beispü, da Stelzhamer Franz, hot gonz vü in Mundoat gschribn.

Und weis ma grod eifoit: Es gibt a a eigene Wikipedia in unsam Dialekt: https://bar.wikipedia.org/ Oba do dua i ma söm schwah, dass i des vasteh. De is scho in da äagstn von de oagn Mundoatn gschribm.

(So, jetzt woas i net, wöcha Sproch i im Dropdown do untn auswöhn soid... Wei wirklich Deitsch is des jo net...)

[¹] I am fully aware that the dialect I'm writing in is not called "Austrian". The two big dialects spoken in Austria are "Alemannic" and "Bavarian", and the one I'm writing is the Bavarian dialect. I'm only using the word "östareichisch" here, because that's what I expect most people to use in spoken conversation.

Apart from Subnautica, which only is tedious regarding food/drink in the very beginning, I enjoyed Unreal World a lot. It is turn based, so there isn't any real-time time constraint imposed by in-game hunger/thirst. It also tries to feel realistic in a lot of aspects, including the amount of food/water your character needs. While at game start you of course need to focus on immediate survival (though, that depends a bit on the scenario you play), that focus shifts rather quickly to preparing for the winter, as in stocking up supplies (think: smoking/curing meat/fish, gathering fire wood,...), and building a shelter that you can heat, so you don't freeze when it gets cold outside. Since the game is set in fantasy iron age Finland, you probably also want to build a sauna 😉.

I'm positively surprised that this works.

That will make installing old games so much easier on my Steam Deck. Thanks!

How does that work if you haven't installed the game already? Also, what about copy protection?

Yes, the list of countries that are allowed to participate is on the website.

Australia is not on the list, for instance, but most of Europe is.

From the official rules:

Once you provide the required information and submit the form you will receive one (1) entry into the Sweepstakes. After you submit the form you will have the opportunity to earn up to three (3) additional entries. [snip]

a) Create a Steam account. [snip]

Okay, that's doable, I guess most people have one already

b) Click the ‘follow’ button to follow @summergamefest on X. [snip]

Suuuuure. Who in their right mind would willingly go on X?

c) Click the ‘follow’ button to follow @thegameawards on X. [snip]

Again X? How much did Elon pay them?

To give a bit more detail here: In Desktop Mode, you can access the normal PC interface of Steam. There's a Menu Entry in the "Games" Menu that's titled "Add Non-Steam Game to Library".

This is what you need. It opens a list of applications that are in the menu (to be precise: for which a desktop file exists in the appropriate folder), but you can just click the "Browse" button. After clicking that button, change the file type filter to list all files, and find the game's executable. If it's a Windows game (or a really old Linux game) you'll need to go to the game's properties in Steam and force a specific compatibility tool. For Windows games usually a recent version of Proton, for really old Linux games the "Steam Linux Runtime".

That's it.

In order to copy the games' files to the Steam Deck, I usually install the game on the desktop first, and then just copy the installed files over via sftp. I've written a long and boring explanation on how to enable sftp on the Steam Deck here.

I spent a whole evening trying to get the app to update my controller in a VM. The controller itself was working fine in the VM, but the update app just refused to recognize it...

In the end I used my PC at work, which has Windows installed...

I'm talking about sftp access. The sshd is disabled by default, and the deck user doesn't have a password set either. If you want to push your ROM files over to the deck over network, you need some way to tell systemd to start sshd - the usual one being sudo systemctl start sshd.

I feel like I have to link my blog post (yet again):

Dosbox with MIDI on the Steam Deck

You also need to transfer the ROM files, what either means using a USB drive, takig out the SD Card, or using some form of network file transfer. The Steam Deck comes with sshd preinstalled, so gaining sftp access is just a matter of enabling it, but most guides to do so just mention how to do it on the command line... And for some weird reason Windows users seem to be afraid of terminal windows... (I just had to google if there even are graphical frontends for systemd.... The answer is of course yes.)

They do mention emulators, and I honestly don't know which ones are available on Steam - and you still need to copy the ROM files somewhere...

As a Linux user I find that rather easy to do, even on Steam Deck with immutable root FS, but I can understand how a Windows user might get frustrated by it.

Especially after adding the game to the Steam Library and launching it either through Proton (if it's a Windows game) or enabling the Steam Runtime (if it's an ancient Linux game).

Familiarity.

If an alternative isn't 100% identical to a tool one is used to, one automatically has reservations, and the slightest inconvenience immediately turns into a blocking issue. On the other hand, one is typically inclined to ignore problems with tools one is used to.

There isn't much one can do about this, other than trying to keep an open mind, and being aware of that bias.