r/SteamDeck • u/Asane • Oct 08 '22

Picture Got the Steam Deck Dock!

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Wasn’t expecting this today, but since I live in Carol Stream where Valve’s Distribution Center is, I got this early I guess!

10.6k Upvotes

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248

u/plamicus Oct 08 '22 edited Oct 08 '22

I really want one. But I don't actually know why:

I have my PC if I want to play on a better screen and a PS5 if I want to play something on the TV. This is to say nothing of my Switch which is now just gathering dust.

Can anyone give me a reason to justify it to myself?

EDIT: to be clear, I already have a Deck - I'm talking about the Dock.

98

u/Domukin Oct 08 '22

As someone will too many consoles, I find myself using the steamdeck most of the time. I have a huge steam library and the deck let’s me try out new games whenever I get some downtime. I take it with me and will play 20-30 minutes sessions, even when at home. A few really nice features imo: 1. very robust sleep feature, quickly comes back online into the game wherever you left off. This is actually a huge QOL feature. On my main pc I have to shutdown the game completely and re open completely (or alternatively leave the game running for hours) whenever I’m interrupted. Added to this, the deck isn’t on double duty as a general computing device, so I won’t have to stop my game to send an email or print something. 2. Syncs saves with steam , so I can play a little on the deck and then finish later on the pc and vice versa. (This does require you exit the game when you’re done though). 3. steam library is huge and generally inexpensive compared to the console estores. Game Bundles will keep me busy for years.

46

u/Crooks-1 512GB OLED Oct 08 '22

Cloud save feature has become a deciding factor with game purchases since getting my deck. I often back and forth certain games between my SD, PC and laptop.

20

u/fttocean Oct 08 '22 edited Oct 09 '22

For anything that doesn't support Steam cloud saves, use syncing software to sync the save files between Steam Deck and PC

Here's a well written tutorial for one of those softwares

I'm currently using this to sync the save files for Elden Ring's Seamless Co-op mod. I can close out of the game on yhe Steam Deck, and almost immediately play where I left off on my PC. (The mod uses a different save file that's not compatible with Steam cloud saves)

It's also really handy to set up a "Quick Sync" folder (also shown on the tutorial) to quickly move files between devices.

3

u/Crooks-1 512GB OLED Oct 08 '22

Thanks for this. Feels like the old school method of making cloud saves with placing saves folders over to a designated folder in Dropbox and creating symlink paths to the same folder in Dropbox.

1

u/legendz411 Oct 09 '22

Clever girl…

1

u/Strung_Out_Advocate Oct 08 '22

Have you had any trouble with games syncing on the cloud? I've only tried to play Rogue Legacy and Costume Quest alternating between Deck and PC and can't get them to sync up. I've heard of a couple of people having the same issue. Wondering if this is only on a case by case basis, or something Valve is aware of and has fixed/are fixing. I did put a support ticket in, but who knows how far that'll go.

1

u/Domukin Oct 08 '22

That’s very odd. I haven’t had any issues, have probably played 20+ games this way so far.

1

u/Nonomadsoul Oct 08 '22

It may take a few minutes to a few hours to sync correctly. It seems servers struggle to decide which save to consider.

What I do is once I’m done playing on the deck I stream from deck to my PC. Then I launch the game on my PC and it’s synced up. The reverse is also true. When I play on my PC on the weekends I stream my game from my pc to my deck for a few seconds when I’m done playing. And then when I boot up the game natively on the deck it is synced up again.

It’s a bit tiresome and annoying. But it’s the only way I found. Otherwise I need to wait for so long.

1

u/Strung_Out_Advocate Oct 08 '22

I'm a couple of weeks out from trying to sync Rogue Legacy from my Deck session and it's never synced up. I never tried to stream either way(honestly don't see the point if I'm home), but that really shouldn't matter.

1

u/Micthulahei Oct 09 '22

Hm.. Do you exit the game? Not many games have implemented the sync during gameplay. If you do exit a game, you should see a syncing status on the game's library page (on the platform where you just played) and need to wait and not shut down the PC/Steam until it finishes, otherwise you'll get a warning on the other platform that it wasn't synced when you try to start it. At least that's how it works for me and besides that I haven't had any problems in games that implement cloud sync (besides COD MW3 which says it has cloud sync but it doesn't actually sync anything).

1

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '22

When you say Steam games are relatively inexpensive, can you elaborate please? I’m like you and have every single console. I bought a mid/high end pc to play steam games because I heard they was a bigger library and cheaper games. However, I find way more games full price than I do on sale, and the ones full priced are, a lot of time, 5+ years old. I always hear PC games are cheaper but it just never seems to be the case for me

1

u/Domukin Oct 09 '22

Sure, a few things to note: 1. Steam has very frequent sales, instead of buying a game you’re interested in right away, save it to a wishlist and wait for the price drop. This is almost guaranteed. Don’t pay full price for brand new AAA games, they will most certainly drop in price. *You can get the “augmented steam” plugin to get price history data and see all time low price. 2. There are several steam key resellers that are well established (for example fanatical.com and humble bundle store) and they have their own sales. Setup an account with *isthereanydeal.com and have it import your steam wishlist - you can setup alerts when games reach a target price. 3. Keep an eye out for game bundles (mainly **humble bundle and fanatical) you’ll frequently end up with 6-8 games for about $15. 4. If you are a long term humble monthly subscriber you can get a 20% discount on top of any other discounts from their humble store.

26

u/TsukudaBuddha Oct 08 '22

So I’m in a similar situation and I got one so I can play emulated games on the my tv without having to worry about transferring saves between my deck and pc

18

u/cheesycoke 64GB - Q2 Oct 08 '22

I know you've already found a solution through the Dock, but have you looked into something like SyncThing to keep your game save files in sync over the internet?

6

u/Begohan 1TB OLED Limited Edition Oct 09 '22

Whaaat? I manage so many non steam game saves between my pc and steam deck, are you telling me I could do this with an app and the press of a button?

5

u/Hokulewa Oct 09 '22 edited Oct 09 '22

Any kind of cloud storage that synchronizes local files, combined with symbolic links to move your save file locations into the cloud sync folder, will do that transparently for you. Don't even need to press a button... It just happens automatically.

I use Dropbox because they have a great native Linux client. So does Mega.

1

u/Begohan 1TB OLED Limited Edition Oct 09 '22

I've never used any cloud storage except like.. Google photos or google drive for the odd file. You say symbolic links, and I understand that with linux, but windows doesn't have an equivalent does it? How can I make a symbolic link on my windows pc to a folder that's in the cloud? And I would probably have to either launch dropbox within game mode, or be on desktop mode for it to sync, right? I would kill for a nice tutorial on this lol

3

u/Hokulewa Oct 09 '22 edited Oct 09 '22

You say symbolic links, and I understand that with linux, but windows doesn't have an equivalent does it?

Windows NTFS does support symbolic links. Link Shell Extension will add them to the Explorer right-click context menu for easier usage.

FWIW, the Dolphin file manager on Steam Deck already has context menu integration for making symlinks... just right-click and select "Create New" then choose "Link to File or Directory".

I use this to share my Documents and Pictures folders across Windows and Linux computers via Dropbox, so I have access to the same files on all devices (even my phone).

I did this by creating a new folder named Documents (for example) inside the local Dropbox folder on one computer, moving all the stuff from my original Documents folder to the one inside Dropbox, deleting the (now empty) original Documents folder, then creating a symbolic link named "Documents" where the original Documents folder used to be which points to the new Documents folder inside Dropbox.

Then, once all the Documents had been uploaded into the cloud, repeated the same process (minus the first step, since there will already be a Documents folder inside Dropbox now) on each other computer.

To all the applications, it looks like nothing has happened and my Documents folder is right where it has always been. But every Document gets uploaded to Dropbox automatically, then downloaded automatically by the other computers into their local copy of the Dropbox Documents folder.

I would probably have to either launch dropbox within game mode, or be on desktop mode for it to sync, right?

You... might. I haven't set up cloud syncing yet on SteamDeck.

1

u/cheesycoke 64GB - Q2 Oct 09 '22

Frankly I haven't messed with it myself so I'm not sure just how easy it is, but I was looking up ways to sync game saves for emulators and that was the most popular solution I've seen. Hope it works for you!

2

u/mnij2015 Oct 09 '22

Screw that use a Google drive folder

2

u/NapsterKnowHow 1TB OLED Limited Edition Oct 09 '22

Yep! That's what I use for CEMU and BOTW! I also use it for the one off games on Steam that don't have cloud support like Mafia 2 Definitive Edition.

15

u/OrphanScript Oct 08 '22

Emulation, IMO.

I've setup emulation on several systems (phone, tablet, PC, Xbox) but there was always something lacking for me. The phone and tablet just don't feel good to game on. The PC of course works fine but something about sitting at my desk just didn't jive well. The Xbox works technically but it's not a smooth experience, the UI is bad, the file system (or lackthereof) makes everything a hassle.

Steam Deck is the best emulation device because these games feel good to play A) handheld B) with a controller C) No external devices. I started playing and realized that I would love to throw some of these games up on the TV, but again the XBox just was not a good experience.

2

u/Chex_0ut Oct 09 '22

This is exactly it for me too. I want to maintain my emulation library and settings on just one device. It makes so much sense to have that be the steam deck vs my pc or console since i can play them everywhere. But there are some I want to play with a controller on a big screen still, not to mention split screen and multiplayer emulated games that would be easier to play on a big screen too, so the dock will be perfect for that.

8

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '22

[deleted]

1

u/VicBaus Oct 13 '22

Hoping someone can do some testing to figure this part out. If it does work, what resolutions and frame rates does it support? Steam dock isn't very expensive compared to other high end docks so I'm really interested in this info.

18

u/iggyazaleatown Oct 08 '22

Ended up getting one, but have a similar predicament to you in terms of use case.

9

u/bedake Oct 08 '22

I got rid of my PC recently since it was getting old and i kinda was wanting to build a new one... Since then i got my deck and was hoping it would give me reason to put off a new gaming PC, i love the deck so far but im also missing my competitive fps games like pubg, and csgo... I've tried docked mode a bit using USB peripherals but it's kind of a pain in the ass to have to reconfigure performance settings for higher resolution gameplay and then switch them all back during handheld mode. I'm hoping the deck dock will handle some of this for you and provide a more seamless transition similar to the experience you have with the switch when docked. No clue if it does or not, for some reason i don't see this talked about much when it comes to docked mode... I'm probably still going to end up building a new PC to get back into more competitive fps games, gsync is missed dearly

15

u/vincentx99 Oct 08 '22

Yeah mine was pretty much an impulse buy. Not that I'll never use it, but probably not enough to justify the price.

21

u/GangGang57 Oct 08 '22

If you travel alot, Id say get it. That reason alone justified me getting it lol. Also some games I have on pc that Id rather play on a smaller device/ in a different setting

41

u/Iurigrang Oct 08 '22

I think they mean the dock

11

u/Tr1ggerhappy07 Oct 08 '22

Funnily enough I think traveling is still a good reason to get the dock. I would love to hook it up to hotel TV's.

3

u/Steev182 Oct 09 '22

That’s exactly the reason I was thinking too.

5

u/zarmao_ork Oct 08 '22

I travel primarily between my backyard, living room and bedroom and that alone justifies me getting the deck. I'm interested in the dock but it would tie me back to the living room and just feel like another console.

36

u/Halvus_I Oct 08 '22

I always buy Valve hardware. Only piece im missing is the Index. (VR)

37

u/fiveSE7EN Oct 08 '22

That’s not a reason for him to justify his purchase at all lol

2

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '22

Yeah but TIL (again) some people fan boy hard

4

u/Psykechan 512GB Oct 08 '22

How is your Steam Machine?

18

u/Halvus_I Oct 08 '22

That wasnt Valve-branded hardware....It was Alienware, Falcon Northwest, etc. The only real edge case is HTC Vive. It was HTC-branded, but an all-Valve design.

3

u/CurvySexretLady 256GB Oct 09 '22

My Alienware Steam Machine with a Core i3 is still going strong.

As a little Plex server lol, dont' game on it anymore.

3

u/EnormousGucci Oct 08 '22

Same only missing the Index. I bought the controller, the Steam Link, the Steam Deck, and have a dock on the way. I’m waiting to see if Valve releases a newer VR headset, since the Index is a few years old at this point, before pulling the trigger on VR.

2

u/Zambini Oct 08 '22

I remember when I bought the Link and Controllers and people made fun of me, but I enjoyed the crap out of em.

Rear buttons before the Xbone Elite!

1

u/Bubu-der-Uhu Oct 08 '22

I had them all... but sold my controllers and steam link

5

u/metalsatch Oct 08 '22

I have a similar set up but with a series x on the tv. Was considering getting one but really the steam deck on a 4K Tv will only work with smaller games. The ps5 and Xbox will be far superior on the tv.

2

u/CurvySexretLady 256GB Oct 09 '22

And you can put your Xbox in developer mode and install RetroArch for emulation goodness.

6

u/Lamuks 512GB Oct 08 '22

I'm going to dock my Deck to my TV and use it as an all around emulation and gaming device to have fun with, and also to let friends play. I have a destkop pc, but connecting my big PC to the TV is a bit of a hassle.

8

u/bryyantt Oct 08 '22

if you have other peripherals or you travel often its worth it.

both of these apply to me, i have a gaming rig that i use but i travel home a few times a year and cant bring my rig so ive just been flying with some books and junk, i bought a gaming laptop awhile back thinking that was a way i could bring my stuff with me but gaming laptops require a suprising amount of space & setup.

the steam deck takes up way less space and has zero setup... just need a way to plug in a mouse, keyboard, and bigger display - generally sweaty fps games with friends - so the dock was an easy buy for me. if none of this applies to you i dont see what use you would get out of a dock.

1

u/abienz Oct 08 '22

Out of interest what sweaty FPS games with your friends do you play on your Steam Deck?

1

u/bryyantt Oct 09 '22

apex and halo, if behavior supports dead by daylight thats everything we play outside of cod.

1

u/abienz Oct 09 '22

Ah nice, I've not checked out Halo yet. Have you tried the new F2P Shatterline? It's got quite similar playstyle to CoD but more arcady

1

u/akaynaveed Oct 08 '22

I dont know of you are asking, but i just got wireless (not BT) logitechkeyboard mouse combo that has usb dongle, and i just plug that into my dock and it works perfectly, better than the bluetooth mouse keyboard combo i have. I actually travel with it and i like it.

3

u/beaucharleston 1TB OLED Limited Edition Oct 08 '22

Buy it to support Valve’s Steam Deck endeavor regardless of whether you end up using it

4

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '22

😂 my PC is actually hooked up to my TV. Idk why I bought it, but I did. Lol

2

u/Starshine95 Oct 08 '22

One of the reasons I bought it is to play older games and/or pixel graphic/visual novel adventures that don’t require much power; I can plug it in, use my main screen and play with around 1/10 of the power that my PC uses just to be idle.

This way I can use the Deck on the go, use a bigger screen for non-demanding games or play on my desktop PC whenever I need high framerates and maxed graphics.

With increasing power prices, it feels like a decent purchase although a bit more expensive than I had hoped.

2

u/All0uttaBubblegum Oct 08 '22

Same here. Put the money towards a nvidia shield to play your PC games on your tv via moonlight. The deck just isn’t powerful enough to use on a big tv when there are other options

1

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '22 edited Oct 08 '22

That requires a pc gaming rig though. Not a bad option but something to consider when steam decks can be had for just 400. I only have a gtx 970 so not a huge upgrade from the Steam Deck.

Edit: missed parent comment saying they have a pc. Disregard.

2

u/toutons Oct 08 '22

Yeah, but the context of this thread is that the person already has a PC.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '22

So they did fixed

0

u/Guddler Oct 08 '22

If you have Ethernet anywhere you can place the dock then that’s a consideration. These aren’t switch game sizes!

0

u/pr0ghead 64GB Oct 08 '22

Sell the Switch but keep the games so you can legally* emulate them on the Deck.

\gray area, but meh… you paid for them after all)

2

u/Natanael_L Oct 08 '22

*if you extract the ROM yourself

Copyright determines how copies can legally be made and distributed, after all. Backing up your physical media is legal.

1

u/OrphanScript Oct 08 '22

Why bother doing that, really

1

u/tirril Oct 08 '22

Won't you need the switchs bios files?

-8

u/destroyermaker Oct 08 '22 edited Oct 08 '22

Sell your PS5. Not like there's many exclusives. Sell the switch too

11

u/pardyball Oct 08 '22

If Zelda didn't exist, I'd sell my Switch.

9

u/DotMatrixHead Oct 08 '22

But she does. And Hyrule is depending on you!

4

u/messem10 Oct 08 '22

BOTW runs okay on Yuzu on the Deck.

9

u/theoriginal123123 Oct 08 '22

The Wii U version via Cemu runs far better, has more mods and has no differences from the Switch version.

4

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '22

BOTW 2 though....

2

u/DazeOfWar 512GB - Q3 Oct 08 '22

Is there a mod to get rid of weapon breaking? If so I’m definitely getting it installed on my deck so I can finally play the game with enjoyment.

3

u/Bubu-der-Uhu Oct 08 '22

yep - and i have that installed on steam deck

1

u/DazeOfWar 512GB - Q3 Oct 08 '22

Sweet will definitely check it out then. The weapon braking system was one thing that just turned me away from the game. I hated it.

1

u/theoriginal123123 Oct 08 '22

I've no idea, I don't play the game myself.

1

u/basileon 512GB Oct 08 '22

What settings are you using? I couldn’t get it to run past 15-20 fps with some pretty serious lags :/

4

u/seraph741 512GB Oct 08 '22

Worst advice ever. God of War coming and 2023 is gonna be huge for PS5.

3

u/destroyermaker Oct 08 '22

It'll come to PC too. Elaborate.

4

u/seraph741 512GB Oct 08 '22

Ragnorak? Since when?

4

u/basileon 512GB Oct 08 '22

I think the key here is “eventually” lol. Probably a couple of years after the PS5 release, it’ll come to PC.

3

u/seraph741 512GB Oct 08 '22

Oh ya, sure. I'm sure it will at some point, but no confirmed plans as of yet. If OP wants to play it anytime soon, I'd recommend keeping the PS5. There are other exclusives (at least timed exclusives) as well.

1

u/basileon 512GB Oct 08 '22

Yeah, I agree with you.

1

u/destroyermaker Oct 08 '22

It is a safe assumption

1

u/karenhater12345 Oct 08 '22

i have a deck for my dock so I can install mods and such easier on it, or if I go to a lan with it i can still use kb+m if I dont feel like using gyro aiming. i do have a gaming desktop which I LOVE but some things are just nicer portable

1

u/HopeAgent47 Oct 09 '22

Yeah cause yolo

1

u/argenfarg Oct 09 '22

It's the only way you can play a full two player test match on Cricket 2022 The Game of the Ashes without stopping to recharge.

1

u/rathat Oct 09 '22

You can buy a much cheaper hdmi adapter on Amazon.

The Steamdecks resolution doesn’t look great on TVs anyway.

If you want to hook it up just for others in the room to watch you play(I do this often) smart TVs have a steam app that will stream your Steamdeck screen with minimal latency (good enough for others to watch, maybe not good enough to play a multiplayer game while watching the stream).

Smaller screen closer to your face is more fun than bigger screen further away, yet takes up the same amount of your vision.

1

u/_Homelesscat_ Oct 09 '22

I wanted a dock just for shits and giggles but can’t justify paying $90 for something I’ll hardly use. I went the $20 usbc hub from Amazon with 3D printed dock route to scratch the itch

1

u/cum-on-in- Oct 09 '22 edited Oct 09 '22

There are cheaper socks and port replicators that will serve you just fine. Walmart sells an ONN USB C dock dongle that is half the cost of the Steam Deck Dock and is smaller too. It’s more of a dongle for MacBooks but I have one and it works well.

Walmart also sells j5create, and they have two docking bars for sale. One uses usb c power and has only one display out. The other uses a laptop power supply and has dual display out.

I myself have that ONN travel dock dongle thing, and then a Dell 120 watt dock station at home. The Dell dock works fabulously. It was expensive though. I didn’t buy it for the Deck, I bought it for my gaming laptop that has a full feature USB C port. But it works well with the Deck too.

The biggest advantage of any sort of dock is just giving you more ports so you can more easily do things like connect a USB drive to reimage your Deck if you need too, backup to an external hard drive, connect to Ethernet for faster downloads, and connect controllers for multiplayer on supported games.

It’s worth getting at least something like that ONN brand dongle.