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A little bit off topic, but in case anyone wants to try out the new Steam Deck UI on their desktop you can do it without installing Steam OS, just follow these
by philo23 4y ago
A little bit off topic, but in case anyone wants to try out the new Steam Deck UI on their desktop you can do it without installing Steam OS, just follow these steps:
1) Quit Steam
2) Find the "package" directory inside of the main Steam install directory (typically C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam on Windows, ~/.steam/steam on Linux)
3) Inside there create a file called "beta" (no extension), with the following content: steampal_stable_9a24a2bf68596b860cb6710d9ea307a76c29a04d
4) Reopen Steam with the -gamepadui argument
Fair warning: it's a little bit janky when it's not running on Steam Deck hardware. At least it was when I tried it out, but it'll give you a pretty decent idea what it's like. Also to undo it just delete that file and relaunch Steam without the extra argument.
- bsedlm 4y agohow do you know this? how does one figure this kind of thing out?
- bluepizza 4y agoCompare the Steam directories and files from a non-Steam Deck Linux install to a Steam Deck one.
- philo23 4y agoI wish I could take credit, but back while I was waiting for my preorder I really wanted to try out the new UI and found the instructions originally here on reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/t57l4t/how_to_get_the_steam_deck_ui_on_windowsany_linux/ https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/t57l4t/how_to_ge... but if I had to guess how it was found, someone probably just checked that file on a steam deck or from it's recovery image image. That file normally contains the name of the client beta you're currently opted into in Steam's settings (normally only "publicbeta" is the only public option) so it's probably the first place someone checked.
- pwdisswordfish9 4y ago> C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam on Windows, ~/.steam/steam on Linux FYI you can stop worrying about special casing Windows and just use bog standard slash as separator when discussing path names virtually anywhere where they come up.
- jjnoakes 4y agoExcept those are completely different paths on the two systems (even if the path separator was the same).
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- Shared404 4y agoAnd it's ok to use the default seperator for whichever OS you're using. It's gonna be a different path anyways when you're talking about windows, may as well use the right syntax.
- pwdisswordfish9 4y agoThis thinking of backslash as being "the right syntax" for Windows paths is pretty much the reason why the earlier comment was posted.
- jjnoakes 4y agoI don't follow. Add far as I know, backslash is the "right" path separator on Windows - it works everywhere, is the documented canonical path separator, and has the fewest compatibility issues with programs. And even if it was on equal footing with forward slash on Windows (which it isn't), bringing it up as an alternative just seemed off-topic.
- xxs 4y agopoint is - it has been possible to use the forward slash in windows for over 20y... except in some UIs that insist that it has to be backslash.
- jjnoakes 4y agoPoint is, why bring up the non-default alternative path separator that doesn't work universally in Windows when the original comment was correct as is?
- seba_dos1 4y agoIt's janky not because it's not running on Deck hardware, but because it's not running as system session with Gamescope as compositor, meaning that what you get is simply non-integrated new HTML UI for Steam.