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Reverse Engineering the Stream Deck+
- educasean 2y agoI was confused at first because I misread the title as referring to Valve's Steam Deck, which is a portable gaming PC
- dend 2y agoYeah, the naming for these devices is not very obvious to quite a few readers. This blog post is about the control box.
- lhamil64 2y agoI also misread that. And when the Steam Deck first came out I remember constantly misreading it as Stream Deck. Interesting how that changed.
- sdenton4 2y agoSame! I continued to be confused even on seeing the picture of the device and thinking, 'wtf, is there some steam deck console device I've never heard of?'
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- cladopa 2y agome too.
- itsananderson 2y agoGoogle also finds these names confusing. Whenever I try to search for something Stream Deck related, Google returns results for the Steam Deck. It's quite annoying.
- taskforcegemini 2y agothat one is on google though
- ryao 2y agoAm I the only one who wondered what desktop environment was providing the window decorations before realizing it was some variant of Microsoft Windows?
- dend 2y agoThat would be stock Windows 10!
- ryao 2y agoI stopped using Windows in the Windows 7 era, so I am not used to seeing it.
- a1o 2y agoIt looks like it's rounded so I think it is Windows 11, but surprisingly it is using the photoviewer from the Vista era. I didn't knew it was apparently still included in newer windows, I switched to nomacs as the image viewer in my Win11 because I disliked the new image viewer - it's usually slow, and it has weird controls for a desktop system.
- DCH3416 2y agoYeah animated mouse wheel zoom will do it. And as a bonus "Photos" takes a lot longer to load. And what's this? "Edit an image using AI". Yeah, the pop ups. Unfortunately you have to patch in photo viewer in order to use it out of box.
- dend 2y agoI switched to the classic photo viewer because I am not a fan of the new one. You can switch with a bit of registry "hacking": reg add "HKCR\Applications\photoviewer.dll" /f reg add "HKCR\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell" /f reg add "HKCR\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\open" /f /v MuiVerb /t REG_SZ /d "@photoviewer.dll,-3043" reg add "HKCR\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\open\command" /f /ve /t REG_EXPAND_SZ /d "%SystemRoot%\System32\rundll32.exe \"%ProgramFiles%\Windows Photo Viewer\PhotoViewer.dll\", ImageView_Fullscreen %1" reg add "HKCR\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\open\DropTarget" /f /v Clsid /t REG_SZ /d "{FFE2A43C-56B9-4bf5-9A79-CC6D4285608A}" reg add "HKCR\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\print" /f reg add "HKCR\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\print\command" /f /ve /t REG_EXPAND_SZ /d "%SystemRoot%\System32\rundll32.exe \"%ProgramFiles%\Windows Photo Viewer\PhotoViewer.dll\", ImageView_Fullscreen %1" reg add "HKCR\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\print\DropTarget" /f /v Clsid /t REG_SZ /d "{FFE2A43C-56B9-4bf5-9A79-CC6D4285608A}" For HEIC photos, you might still want to use the new viewer.
- anthonyeden 2y agoThis is an interesting article. It’s worth mentioning open source software exists for the StreamDeck. Companion is very popular in the AV production industry. https://github.com/bitfocus/companion https://github.com/bitfocus/companion
- dend 2y agoIndeed, I am not the first, and I am sure not the last, to dig through Stream Deck internals. This article was mostly written to satisfy my own curiosity.
- eichin 2y agoHmm, https://github.com/abcminiuser/python-elgato-streamdeck/ https://github.com/abcminiuser/python-elgato-streamdeck/ already supports the Plus (that's the library behind https://github.com/timothycrosley/streamdeck-ui https://github.com/timothycrosley/streamdeck-ui ) I wonder if there's a missed opportunity for collaboration here (I didn't see any names in common at a quick glance, though I didn't dig that far.)
- dend 2y agoThey do, and indeed there are libraries that are already accomplishing what I am doing! This project is mostly there to satisfy my own curiosity, as well as build a robust .NET wrapper (not Python). Love the work that python-elgato-streamdeck does, for sure.
- atmanactive 2y ago>> ...but the software has gotten worse - it now goes as far as to requiring users for an account to download extensions. That's when I got off that train. As alternatives, I am now evaluating Macro Deck and OpenDeck. I owe my gratitude to people like you who made it possible. Kudos and thanks!
- dend 2y agoYeah, I am undertaking this primarily to break free of the artificial constraints - the hardware is top-notch, but the ever-increasing push to make every piece of software connect to an account when it's not needed is absurd. Appreciate the shout-out!
- moon82 2y agointeresting, thanks for sharing!
- ofrzeta 2y agoIt's interesting. Recently I thought about building a DIY stream deck but LCD keycaps are so expensive that it almost makes sense to buy a steamdeck for scavenging the parts :)
- dend 2y agoI don't know about the latest Stream Deck models, but for previous models (at least the ones I have) you might be surprised that behind the scenes is just one display! See the teardown (album not mine): https://imgur.com/gallery/elgato-stream-deck-what-is-inside-XyKiL https://imgur.com/gallery/elgato-stream-deck-what-is-inside-... The buttons are entirely virtual and the onboard controller ensures they are properly positioned, so you don't have to have each button carry it's own screen.
- ofrzeta 2y agoHeh, that's super interesting. Thanks for the info and the pointer.
- illwrks 2y agoI remember the Nintendo 2DS did the same thing, it was one screen with a partition and touch overlay.The game was rendered to both sides of it, it was a clever cost saving exercise. https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Nintendo+2DS+Screen+Replacement/35845#s80985 https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Nintendo+2DS+Screen+Replacement...
- juhanakristian 2y agoHaven’t read the article yet but I love the “Little Mole” gif you used.
- dend 2y agoKrtek is an underrated classic!
- xyproto 2y agoValve should rename "Steam Deck" to "Steam Machine" to avoid confusion with "Stream decks".
- victorbjorklund 2y agoVery true. I own both yet even I'm confused all the time.
- joshstrange 2y agoI literally googled “Steam Deck Plus” because I read it wrong and immediately wanted to know about whatever new Steam Deck Valve was selling.
- wtetzner 2y agoI think they called it Steam Deck to avoid confusion with their previous Steam Machines.
- jasonjmcghee 2y agoI have to believe Valve has sold more units / has more brand recognition
- ParetoOptimal 2y agoPersonally I've never heard of Stream Deck and can't stop seeing "Steam Deck". Also subjective, but Steam Machine sounds corny.
- qingcharles 2y agoAbsolutely fantastic write-up. Thank you for taking the time and energy to do that. I also have the Elgato pedal -- is that just some regular HID device do you know?
- dend 2y agoThank you for the shout-out, really appreciate it. Your assumption is correct - it's regular HID device!