At least three reasons to update Steam Deck immediately, plus one if you have the Dock
In the September preview we had already glimpsed the novelty coming to Steam Deck, and now the big update for SteamOS has finally been released in the stable channel, version number 3.5.5.
Among the many new features, support for the VRR (variable refresh rate) e HDR, if connecting the console with a compatible external screen, performance improvements for Starfield and VRR support also for the Docks.
Let’s start with the news for Steam Deck. Support for the VRR ensures a smooth gaming experience, allowing TVs to adapt to the refresh rate and eliminating any visual artifacts like it screen tearing (i.e. merging two or more frames when the TV’s refresh rate is lower than the console’s frame rate). This feature can be enabled in the display settings, but only if you use a USB-C cable compatible.
Valve also added the HDR supportwhich can be enabled in the display settings, but of course only if supported by the external display.
Still regarding the screen, the default setting now emulates the sRGB color space (which offers warmer and more vibrant colors), and it is now possible change the colorsboth with regards to liveliness that the temperature. Before applying these settings you can see them in preview in a test image or directly on the game.
Color adjustment for Steam Deck. Source: Valve
Other news concerns new ones voltage offset settings for the BIOS, which should allow you to undervolt, but especially fans of Starfield they will be happy to know that they have been updated i drivers of the integrated graphics card, with performance improvements for the very popular game (although for those who have tried it it is still not enough).
We also said of the update for the Dockwhich receives support for the VRR if connected to external monitors, while other noteworthy innovations are one awakening speed slightly improved, the ability to customize the MangoHud menu overlay which shows system performance (you will have to create a configuration file) and underlying changes ArchLinux.
Among these, the recent innovations of KDE Plasma and desktop mode.
Here you will find all the information and below the complete changelog, while to update the console you must press the Steam buttonto select Settings and then System. Click here Check for updates and then up Apply.
- Display
- The default color rendering for the Steam Deck LCD has been adjusted to emulate the sRGB color gamut, resulting in a slightly warmer and more vibrant color appearance.
- Added settings -> Adjust display colors, to tune the color vibrancy and color temperature of the display. Settings can be tuned with a preview of a test image (above) or with your running game.
- Native: The color appearance of the native display (the color rendering for Steam Deck before this update).
- sRGB: Emulate sRGB primaries, in a smooth way that doesn’t introduce gradient clipping.
- Enhanced: Emulate a wider gamut display appearance, resulting in increased apparent vibrancy. May involve gradient clipping.
- HDR can now be enabled in display settings if supported by the external display.
- Added HDR analysis to advanced display settings.
- VRR can now be enabled in Display Settings if supported by your USB-C adapter.
- Reworked Quick-Access scaling settings to separate scaling from filtering. Added Stretch and Zoom scaling as new options to handle different aspect ratios.
- Fixed a long-standing issue where the display’s internal backlight would always remain on.
- Fixed touchscreen orientation while external display is connected.
- Compositing is now avoided in additional scenarios, reducing latency and stuttering in situations with multiple on-screen overlaps.
- Improved latency in certain situations where the application renders slower than the display refresh rate.
- General
- Added support for Steam Deck OLED.
- Fixed an issue where some workloads would have severe CPU performance issues unless SMT was manually disabled.
- External storage devices are now automatically mounted when connected to Steam Deck. To format or manage storage devices use the new device management interface in Settings->Storage.
- Updated graphics drivers, with many performance and feature improvements. Improved performance for Starfield. Fixed viewmodel corruption in Amnesia: The Bunker and launch failures for Immortals of Aveum and Kaiju-A-GoGo.
- Improved Bluetooth connection stability, especially with multiple controllers
- Slightly improved speed of returning to sleep
- Implemented switching between controller bindings and mouse/keyboard desktop bindings by long-pressing Options in the Linux hid-steam driver, to match Steam’s default desktop configuration.
- Improved fade transitions between applications.
- The contents of the performance overlay can now be customized by creating a configuration file ~/.config/MangoHud/presets.conf.
- Fixed a bug where some games could appear stretched if their window size did not match their swapchain size (e.g. Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 4)
- Fixed Disgaea PC having to be touched before input would work
- Fixed physical dimensions reported to games, fixing some issues with incorrect aspect ratio sometimes being detected (e.g. Return)
- Worked around an issue where Allow Tearing could cause severe stuttering if the Performance Overlay or other overlays appeared on the screen. Tearing is now impossible in such situations and the Performance Overlay should be disabled for best results.
- Fixed an issue where keyboard input is not detected in Overwatch 2
- Controller Firmware: Fixed an issue where some thumbstick touch sensors would periodically lose contact
- Firmware 118
- Added voltage compensation settings.
- Firmware 121 for Steam Deck Dock
- Added VRR support.
- Improved reliability when switching display modes via on-screen menus
- Fixed issues with 6bpc color modes, improving high resolution/refresh mode support
- Improved detection of HDMI cable hot-plug events
- Updated Arch Linux base
- This update brings new performance, security, and stability fixes to the underlying packages that are the foundation of SteamOS
- Notably, this includes recent changes to KDE Plasma, the desktop mode of Steam Deck. Full notes on these updates can be found on the KDE website here. Here are some of the highlights:
- New window tiling system
- Updated Discover (app store / software manager) with a new homepage and improved search
- Discover can now perform system updates from the desktop
- Updated desktop widgets
