I got an Xbox ally and wanted to play helldivers 2 on the go. On windows helldivers 2 was miserable. 35 fps with stutters on 720P steam deck settings. I decided to give steamos a try and it's amazing! It feels so smooth! This is with steam deck settings at 900P! Re4 couldn't run at 30fps even on its lowest. Steamos is awesome. Thank you gaben for giving us such an amazing gift

This guide assumes you already know how to install SteamOS on your ROG Ally/AllyX and you're here because you're wondering what to do AFTER initial setup.

(In this guide, you can expect better audio, visuals, higher performance, and controller bug fixes.)

=-- SECTION 1: The Easy Stuff --=

The following steps do not require you to enter Desktop Mode or install anything extra.

1) Microphone fix. Adjust your default mic volume to ~20%.

• NOTE: SteamOS (as well as Bazzite and CachyOS) over-amplify the microphone by A LOT, resulting in loud crackling and screeching sounds. Basically, ~20% volume is the "real" 100% volume.

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2) Display colors. Adjust Color Vibrance and Color Temperature by 1 "notch" to the right of the default settings to get a better white-balance and color accuracy suited for the Ally screen.

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3) Battery limit. Set battery charging limit to between 80% to 88%. Dealer's choice.

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4) Performance. Via right side-bar menu (lightning bolt symbol)

• Disable Frame Limit: OFF
• Frame Limit: 46
  • Recommendation only, remember you can change FPS caps on per-game profiles too)
  • Most people can't tell the difference between 46 and 60. If you're not "most people" feel free to change it.
  • Balances battery life with performance, often with better frame pacing to eliminate stutter.
• Enable VRR: ON
• Allow Tearing: ON (OK since VRR is on)
• TDP Limit: OFF (This will be controlled by a plugin later)

=-- SECTION 2: The Desktop Mode stuff --=

Everything in this section will be done in Desktop Mode.

1) Install Decky Loader (follow the instructions)

2) Install the Decky Loader plugin SimpleDeckyTDP

3) Install the Decky Loader plugin DeckyPlumber

4) Via the Discover software center (comes pre-installed with SteamOS), install JamesDSP and ProtonUp-Qt

5) Open ProtonUp-Qt and install the final version of GE-Proton 10, which should be 10-34

• You might never use it, but this is a handy compatibility layer to have in case you have an unsupported game that doesn't play nicely with newer versions of Proton.

Then, also install the latest version of GE-Proton (at the time of writing, is 11-9)

=-- SECTION 3: The Less-Easy Stuff --=

Go back to Gaming Mode.

1) Get the following Decky Plugins from the Decky store.

• DeckSP
• Docky
• CSS Loader

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2) Way better audio. Open the DeckSP plugin...

• Page 1/9
  • Enable in desktop mode: ON ... Disable profile notifications: ON (preference)
• Page 2/9
  • Bypass All: OFF ... Post Gain: -6 ... Threshold: -1 ... Release: 60
• Page 3/9 (EQ)
  • Enable: ON
  • (This EQ profile is a combination of settings from this reddit post and my own post from a while ago. DeckSP doesn't let us get as granular as some suggested settings, but the below settings are about as close as possible.)
  • (The overall intention is to get the speakers sounding about on-par with the Windows 11 Dolby audio drivers from ASUS.)
  • 25Hz: -10 ... 40Hz: 2.5 ... 63Hz: 1.9 ... 100Hz: 1.5 ... 160Hz: -3.4 ... 250Hz: 5.9 ... 400Hz: 8.1
  • 630Hz: -6.2 ... 1000Hz: 8.1 ... 1600Hz: -1.5 ... 2500Hz: 3.5 ... 4000Hz: 5 ... 6300Hz: 5.1
  • 10000Hz: 5.1 ... 16000Hz: 2.7
• Page 4/9 (Compander)
  • Enable: ON ... Time Constant: 0.22 ... Granularity: Medium
  • 95Hz: -0.04 ... 200Hz: 0.12 ... 400Hz: 0.12 ... 800Hz: 0.08
  • 1600Hz: -0.05 ... 3400Hz: -0.05 ... 7500Hz: -0.05
• Page 5/9 (Stereo Wideness)
  • Enable: ON ... Widen Level: 50 ... Crossfeed: ON ... Mode: Surround 2
• Page 7/9 (Dynamic Boost) 
  • Enable: ON ... Max Gain: 3
• Page 9/9 (DDC)
  • Enable: ON ... DDC Source: Apple: EarPods (iP5) (An approximate profile due to the Ally's small speakers)

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3) Enable your backpaddle buttons (M1 and M2).

• Go to DeckyLoader plugin DeckyPlumber > Controller Mode > choose Xbox Elite
  • This makes the system think you're using an Xbox Elite controller, which also has backpaddle buttons. This effectively makes SteamOS "see" your Ally backpaddle buttons.

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4) Fix backpaddle intermittent issues.

• Go to DeckyLoader plugin Docky > Triggers > Resume from sleep: ON ... Startup: ON

• Settings (cog wheel icon) > Actions > New action > Task Type > Run Command > Command (shell)

  • Name it something like "Restart InputPlumber Service"... then, in the command section, Type in systemctl restart inputplumber.service
  • Scroll down and select Add Task ... Scroll up and select Save

• Go to Modes tab > New Mode > Name it something like "Restart InputPlumber" > in Actions run in this mode, select the "Restart InputPlumber Service" task you created in the previous step > Scroll up and select Save

• Go to Triggers tab > Resume & startup section > On wake from sleep and On startup, select your "Restart InputPlumber" mode... Scroll up, select Save

  • Now whenever your system wakes from sleep or boots, the InputPlumber service will restart, ensuring that your backpaddle buttons won't get "lost" and stop working.
  • NOTE: Your controls will not work for approximately 2-3 seconds when this script is triggered, but since it only triggers during boot or wake, not a huge deal.

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5) Improve your performance.

Go to DeckyLoader plugin SimpleDeckyTDP

• Enable per-game AC Power TDP profiles: ON
• Temporary Max TDP Profile: 3 seconds
• Max TDP: 32 (make sure to plug into AC and set that to 32 as well)
• Minimum TDP: 7 (BIOS doesn't allow for lower than 7 anyway)
• TDP (Watts): 18*(non-AC), 25 (AC)
• Enable CPU Boost: OFF (negligible performance boost with drastically reduced battery life... NOT worth it!)
• GPU Mode: Balance

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6) Make your controls menu and button icons look like the ROG Ally.

• Go to *DeckyLoader plugin CSS Loader and install Handheld Controller Glyphs
• Go back to the CSS Loader main menu > Find Handheld Controller Glyphs, enable it, select the dropdown and choose ASUS ROG Ally. If prompted to install something extra, say yes.

That's it! No fancy ending statement. GL, HF!

P.S. This post is long-ish with formatting and bullet-points, attempting to edit this post may result in weird text duplication (happened last time) so if there are typos, sorry, not touching it.

Following AMD’s announcement of FSR Upscaling 4.1 support for Z2 Extreme handhelds, I tested the new amdxcffx64.dll from the official Adrenalin 26.10.1 package on my Legion Go 2 running SteamOS.

I’ve tested it in The Witcher 3, and I’m attaching photos of my results.

The patch automatically installs the locally supplied DLL into each game’s Wine prefix when needed, avoiding manual replacement for every game.

Installation

Prepared specifically for Proton-CachyOS 11.0-20261014-slr.

1. Close the game and switch to Desktop Mode.
2. Back up your existing protonfixes/upscalers.py.
3. Open your selected Proton-CachyOS installation folder, usually under:\~/.local/share/Steam/compatibilitytools.d/
4. Unzip [proton-cachyos-local-fsr4.zip](http://proton-cachyos-local-fsr4.zip) directly inside the Proton-CachyOS folder containing proton, files, and protonfixes. Allow merging folders and replacing files. Don’t create an extra enclosing folder.
5. Use this Steam launch option:FSR4_UPGRADE=1 %command%

That’s the one-time setup. The patched launcher handles the DLL installation for each game afterward.

The new DLL’s driver-library version is 2.4.0.4370, compared with 2.3.0.2913 in the previous download. These numbers are distinct from the in-game FSR version.

This remains experimental. My gameplay testing covers The Witcher 3; it doesn’t establish which internal model was selected or confirm a performance improvement. Proton updates may overwrite the customization.

Patch/details: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UdVj9gQtriNdBl7CxjI95Rx3UeK9RrIh/view?usp=drive_link](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UdVj9gQtriNdBl7CxjI95Rx3UeK9RrIh/view?usp=drive_link))

Has anyone else tested this on a Z2 Extreme handheld? Please share your game, TDP, resolution, and upscaling settings.

EDIT / UPDATE: We found that my earlier Witcher 3 test was using the regular FSR 4 INT8 mode the overlay showed FSR4-i8.

The newer AMD DLL also contains a smaller “Lite” model designed for handhelds, but simply replacing the DLL didn’t make my setup select it.

We’ve now prepared an experimental patch that tells it to choose Lite automatically. Installation is the same: extract proton-cachyos-auto-lite.zip into your Proton-CachyOS folder, merge/replace the files, and keep FSR4_UPGRADE=1 %command%.

cachyos patched: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o5RGZ0cQL7NO53si-COmVyclvk7gb7qe/view?usp=drive_link

To confirm Lite is active, the watermark should show FSR4L-i8.

I've been considering getting away from the Sony ecosystem due to some frustrations with how they handle certain things. SteamOS on my Steam Deck has really been an incredible experience. As far as I know, you can now run SteamOS natively on PCs with AMD GPUs and I've considered building a PC to replace my PS5. I have some questions about the experience of using it.

-Is it generally a pretty seamless, console like experience? I don't want to deal with too much tinkering when playing.

-Does resolution/UI scaling work well?

-How is the native controller support? Does it just work using bluetooth or do i have to go through many loopholes (had some bad experiences with controller support on Windows). Planning to use the Steam Controller or DualSense depending on the game.

-Does sleep/wake work like on the Steam deck?

-Slightly unrelated, but what resolution would you recommend using for a 4k tv? Does 1440p even look good or do i have to upscale with FSR?

Thanks!

It shows my TV as a LG TV SSCR2 72". It's actually a LG 55UN80006LA which is a 55" model. Is there a way to fix it? The scaling seems correct but I'm a pedant about such things.

I have multiple drives in my PC that I want to keep. So how do I choose what drive it wipes and installs in

I'm using the steam machine exclusively in desktop mode. I was previously on Windows 11 and used OneDrive. I would like to have a fully compatible cloud drive with SteamOS.
I tried kDrive but it simply doesn't work, and the support has been unresponsive.

Thanks

if i have 2 monitors and i enter gaming mode on my main monitor, will my secondary monitor still be on desktop mode? or will it not show a display? just wondering because i know pretty much nothing about steamos

I've been browsing Discover and looking for apps that improve the SteamOS experience. Anyone have any recommendations?

I tested SteamOS beta branch on a Dell 7320 with an Intel i5 1145g7, it was already preinstalled on a ssd.

It booted fine but the UI seems very laggy and games run like a slideshow.

On desktop mode i tested vkmark and it seemed to run fine.

Tested Unigine Superposition and it is also runs like a slideshow on the 1080p preset, didnt bother to wait for the result.

Tested the same Unigine Superposition on a Fedora 44 Live ISO and it ran at around 20 fps, final score of 2212 points.

Any ideas if I could install other drivers or change some config? Anyone tested a similar setup?

So everyone is talking about the new software "Xodus Nexus" that enables Linux based operating systems to run Gamepass and owned Xbox play anywhere titles NATIVELY!!

But no one's really diving deep or explaining it.

Xodus Nexus is an awesome piece of software, in it's early stages, with a little bit more time this will be a massive game changer.

I tried the new app for Xbox Game Pass on SteamOS and it works really well! Made this short guide on how to install it. Should be great for the Steam Deck or Steam Machine.

Solved Edit: turning on advanced setting under display and turning on display native color temperature fixed this.

Hi everyone. Recently I dug out an old beelink mini PC (Ryzen 7 5800H APU) I had laying around and loaded up steamos. It's been working fantastic except for this one minorly annoying visual issue. For some reason, rather I'm in game or not, the whole system will tint slightly warmer when I use a mouse and slightly cooler when I use a controller.

It doesn't matter if I use the controller shortcut (steam button + trackpad) or if the game is already set up for dual imput (like terraria). It's not the biggest issue in the world but I would love to get it fixed if somebody had some information for me. One of these days I'm going to get really into playing a game that I want dual input for and it's going to get frustrating watching it flicker back and forth.

My machine is on its way! Something I was wondering though, is it possible to install a boot manager for an immutable distribution to help with dual boot? I would specifically like to use Limine but I cant find very useful info on this online.

Marvel tokon has to be played on windows so I intend of setting up windows right away.

I would like to stay on steamOS to keep all of the ease of use built into the device, but if I can't use a boot manager to make swapping easier or dual boot at all with it then I'll likely try installing cachy with limine

Hi everyone,

I'm having a persistent firmware/update issue with my Valve Steam Machine (Fremont), and I'm hoping someone here has experienced something similar or knows a workaround.

Every time I try to update SteamOS through the official updater, the system restarts, briefly displays the Steam logo, and then goes to a completely black screen with no video signal.

The power LED remains on or pulses, but nothing else happens. Interestingly, a single short press of the power button is enough to shut down the machine. When I turn it back on, SteamOS boots normally, but the update hasn't been applied.

This happens repeatedly, even after switching update channels.

Firmware information:

• Device: Valve Steam Machine (Fremont)
• OS: SteamOS 3.8
• Current BIOS: F7F0106 (firmware version 262)
• Available BIOS: F7F0108 (firmware version 264)
• Firmware updater: fwupd 2.0.18
• Update method: UEFI Capsule-on-Disk

What I've already tried:

• Updating through the official SteamOS interface
• Switching between SteamOS update channels
• Running firmware update commands through fwupdmgr
• Checking UEFI firmware versions and update status
• Inspecting EFI variables, ESP partitions and firmware logs
• Following troubleshooting instructions provided by Steam Support
• Checking whether direct SPI flashing might be possible

fwupd sometimes reports that the firmware update is completed, but the actual firmware version remains 262.

The UEFI firmware status reports no obvious failure (last_attempt_status = 0), yet the new firmware is never installed. I've also checked the hardware for possible alternative flashing methods, but I haven't found a confirmed safe way to update the BIOS directly.

I've already spent quite a lot of time troubleshooting this and contacted Steam Support, but unfortunately the problem remains unresolved. The machine itself works perfectly fine on the currently installed SteamOS version. The issue only occurs when attempting updates.

I'd really appreciate any suggestions, especially from other Fremont owners who have successfully updated their BIOS from 262 to 264.

Thanks in advance!