Steam Deck Pirates' Cove
- Steam Deck Pirates' Cove
- Info About Steam Deck
- Apps you should already have installed:
- Guides for installing games
- Guides for Proton/Wine
- Guides for emulators and roms
- Cracks/DLC/Updates
- Common questions/Things you will encounter
- Common Problems
- Other subreddits/groups
- Useful Links
Info About Steam Deck
Game Mode
Game Mode is essentially an overlay running Big Picture Mode, allowing you to access the Quck Access Menu and the Steam Menu and control everything in one easy to use interface. This is the preferred method to play games as it allows you to set hardware limits, change settings on the fly, enable a fps counter, and many other things on the fly. This is what the Deck boots into by default.
Desktop Mode
Desktop Mode is what Game Mode is installed over. It is the real computer behind everything. Built on Arch Linux with KDE Desktop Environment. It can be accessed through Game Mode by opening the Steam Menu and clicking Power>Switch to Desktop
Wine
Wine (originally an acronym for "Wine Is Not an Emulator") is a compatibility layer capable of running Windows applications on several POSIX-compliant operating systems, such as Linux, macOS, & BSD. Instead of simulating internal Windows logic like a virtual machine or emulator, Wine translates Windows API calls into POSIX calls on-the-fly, eliminating the performance and memory penalties of other methods and allowing you to cleanly integrate Windows applications into your desktop.
from WineHQ
To simplify: Wine Maks Linux run Windows apps
Proton
Proton is a compatibility layer for Windows games to run on Linux-based operating systems. Proton is developed by Valve in cooperation with developers from CodeWeavers. It is a collection of software and libraries combined with a patched version of Wine to improve performance and compatibility with Windows games. Proton is designed for integration into the Steam client as "Steam Play". It is officially distributed through the client, although third-party forks can be manually installed. Proton incorporates several libraries that improve 3D performance. These include Direct3D-to-Vulkan translation layers, namely DXVK for Direct3D 9, 10 and 11, and VKD3D-Proton for Direct3D 12.
from Wikipedia
There are two different Proton iterations right now:
Steam's Official Proton
This is what comes baked into the system more or less. These are selectable by going into the game Properties and clicking the Compatibility tab. From there you'll click the checkbox next to "Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool. Here you will be able to select any Proton available through steam as well as any others you have installed. Sometimes different games work with different Proton versions. More often than not Proton Experimental is the most up to date and has the best compatibility rate. All games are different, some may not have working sound unless you go to an old version. Mess with this first if you have issues running games.
GE-Proton
GE Proton (or Glorious Eggroll Proton) is an open source variant of Steams Proton that is user developed and maintained. It usually has faster support for games and also includes additional features and fixes, some which Steam can't include for licensing reasons. It's usually installed through ProtonUpQt, and can be selected the same as any other Proton version once installed, in the compatibility section of any game's properties.
Prefixes
A (Wine/Proton) prefix is what makes Proton able to run a Windows app on Linux "natively". Inside of any prefix you'll usually find a series of folders and files, one being drive_c. The reason for all of this is the folder structure and other dependencies and files emulates a Windows environment. Essentially a prefix pretends to be a Windows hard drive, pretends Windows is installed on it, and translates Linux commands/operations into Windows specific versions. This combined with Wine/Proton are the most major components of playing a Windows game on a Linux device.
Launchers
Launchers are apps built for Linux that allow you to play games from other Launcher based game companies. Heroic, Bottles, and Lutris are the mainly discussed ones. These add a few more things some games may need to run efficiently or properly at all. While these are a preferred method for ease of use, keep in mind this is another layer between your game and SteamOS so at times troubleshooting it may be a little more difficult. These also usually come with Wine configuration, login support for launchers, the option to add shortcuts to Steam, and a whole slew of other features allowing you to do less tinkering and kind of just get going.
Decky Plugins
Apps you should already have installed:
Items in Italics are available on the Discover Store
| Name/Link | Description |
|---|---|
| ProtonUpQt | This allows you to install unofficial Proton versions for Steam, Lutris, and other specialty situations. Highly recommended whether you're sailing the seas or not. |
| Flatseal | Use this app to give extra permission to Flatpak apps. Flatpak is the method of installation used when you download apps in Discover. Most often in this scenario you would use this to allow an app to see all of the filesystem (if your other drives or folders aren't showing in an app like Lutris, this is how you would make it available). |
| ProtonTricks | Similar to WineTricks, this allows you to manipulate the prefixes for your individual Windows based games. You can install dependencies, set the prefix up to use DLL files (for mods), set the Windows versions compatibility, install game updates or other exe files, and so much more. This is like the control panel in Windows for each individual games prefix. This is also where you can find the compatdata folder number for any non steam games you have installed (if you installed through steam). The folder number will be in parentheses next to whatever the entry is titled in steam. |
| Bottles/Lutris/Heroic Launcher | These are the launchers that are mentioned in the previous section. Bottles, Lutris, and Heroic have varied access to the stupid launchers all AAA publishers insist on using. Thing of these as mega launcher that allows you to organize and work with a multitude of launcher-based games without having to jump from launcher to launcher. These can all be found on the discover store. |
| EmuDeck/RetroDeck | If it isn't obvious from the name, these are the most commonly recommended methods of playing emulators and retro games. The advantages of these methods rather than setting up every emulator individually are: better folder structure, custom settings tailored to the Deck itself, a frontend that brings everything into view easily, and a bunch of other included tools that make getting on the road to emulation a lot easier. There is a larger section about emulation below. |
| Warpinator | Warpinator is a recommended file transfer service for your local network. This application works with all OS options. It will need to be running on both your Steam Deck and the device you are transferring files from/to. For Windows there are two options, Winpinator and Warpinator. I have personally had more luck with the actual Warpinator. Sometimes if there are connection issues it is best to manually set the network device in settings. This is the fastest and easiest to set up method for transferring files. |
| JDownloader | A download manager that I myself swear by. It can handle multi part links, fill captchas for you, store account info for sites you have a login with, and it usually finds the highest speed it can. Any type of DL link works here for the most part. It is recommend downloading one or two files at a time through settings so you can maximize speed. |
| qBittorrent | For downloading torrents. |
| AnyDesk/RustDesk | These are Remote Desktop applications. Use this to access your desktop mode from another PC or Device that can install these apps. This is great in the absence of a keyboard and mouse, you can also send files to yourself (albeit small ones). This is really useful also if you don't wanna keep switching between monitor inputs while docked, etc. If you want real ease of use be sure to set up unattended access with a password for the remote app so you don't have to use the Deck to accept every session. |
| PeaZip | Application for handling compressed files. This includes .rar, .7z, .zip, etc. This is especially useful for multipart zip files (repacks/large games) as Dolphin seems to have issues with them. Open PeaZip, click Open, find where your multipart compressed files are, and select one. It should open all of the data inside the window, then click extract and make sure you extract to a place you can find easily! |
Do not use BitTorrent or uTorrent as they have been known to be shady in the past.
Guides for installing games
Installing games through Steam
There are a few different ways to get cracked games on your system. They all for the most part end in the same results. Some games require one method over another. Part of piracy is experimenting and finding what works best. If you find a better method for a specific game let us know in the subreddit!
Part 1: Running the setup.exe
- Method 1: Using Steam Compatibility Tool
- Switch your Steam Deck to desktop mode (in the Power settings menu).
- Locate the downloaded game and the setup.exe file.
- Right-click on setup.exe and click “Add to Steam”. You’ll see a small Steam icon next to your cursor to confirm this step was done correctly.
- Open Steam, go to your Library, and click on setup.exe.
- Locate the cog icon on the right side of the screen and click it.
- Go to the Compatibility section and check the box that says “Force the use of a specific compatibility tool.”
- Select Proton Experimental.
- Open Dolphin File Explorer and go to the Z drive, then navigate to /home > /deck. In this path, create a new folder called Games.
- Go back to Steam, click on setup.exe, and press Play.
- Method 2: Using Wine
- Right-click setup.exe and select Wine.
- Limit the installer to 2GB of RAM.
- Install to your preferred location for games.
- Continued from either method:
- Wait for the installation to complete.
- Once done, check off all the radio boxes in the installer and close it.
FG repacks default to the D drive, and DoDi repacks default to the C drive.
Part 2: Installation
Be patient. Sometimes, it can take a while for the installer to appear.
- Once it does, select your preferred language (e.g., English) and click Next.
-
Follow the installer steps. Make sure to:
- Set the installation path to the Games folder in the Z drive (or your microSD card if installing there).
- Untick any options for additional installations (like DirectX and Visual C++).
-
Start the installation.
- Optional step: Limit the installer to 2GB of RAM for installation stability.
- Don’t worry if the installation is slow, especially for repacks. This is normal and can take hours depending on game size and compression.
Part 3: Running the Game
- Method 1: Using Steam Compatibility Tool
- Once the installation is complete, go back to Steam and remove setup.exe (right-click > Manage > Remove non-Steam game).
- Go to the installation folder, find the game.exe file, right-click on it, and add it to Steam.
- Open Steam, find game.exe, and go to the Compatibility section. Repeat steps 5-7 from Part 1 (set the compatibility to Proton Experimental).
- Launch the game by pressing Play.
- Run the game in Desktop mode to make sure it works correctly.
- Exit the game. You can rename it in Steam to whatever you prefer (otherwise, it’ll show as game.exe in gaming mode).
- Switch back to Gaming mode and enjoy your game!
- If it shows an error or doesn’t run: Either the Proton version is incorrect (try different ones) or there’s a missing dependency. If it's the latter, refer to a dependencies guide (Dependencies Guide).
- Method 2: Using Wine
- Once the installation is complete, go to the installation folder and locate the game’s .exe file (e.g., game.exe).
- Right-click on the game.exe, select “Add to Steam” to add it as a non-Steam game.
- Open Steam, find game.exe, and go to the Compatibility section.
- Set the compatibility to Proton Experimental.
- Launch the game by pressing Play.
- If it shows an error or doesn’t run: Refer to the dependencies guide for help (Dependencies Guide).
- Run the game in Desktop mode to verify it works correctly.
- Once verified, you can rename it in Steam to whatever you prefer, and then switch back to Gaming mode to play.
Additional Notes
- Some downloads may come in .rar files. Extract these using an app like PeaZip before proceeding to Step 2.
- Proton Experimental should usually work, but if it doesn’t, try the latest Proton version or Proton-GE.
- You may need to enable hidden files for this step.
- To install on a microSD card, create a folder named Games on the SD card root. Then, add the following to setup.exe’s launch options:
STEAM_COMPAT_MOUNTS="/run/media/mmcblk0p1/Games/" %command% - Avoid installing to the C drive to prevent issues later on.
- Some games may have a different .exe file for launching. Use Dolphin File Explorer to search for other .exe files in the game folder.
- Some games require specific Proton versions. Search Reddit for recommendations, and use ProtonUp-QT to download other Proton versions if needed.
- This guide should help you install and configure non-Steam games on your Steam Deck. Enjoy gaming!
Installing games through Lutris
!!!
It's not necessary to install a game using Lutris as described here. But for some (cracked) games it works better or as described below is necessary insofar as you need a different runner for e. g. the installation of FitGirl repacks. So if you have an already installed game, skip steps 6 to 12.
- Obtain your desired game from a respected source.
- Install Lutris and open it.
- Click on to top left "+"-button to add a game.
- Enter the name of the game and select the Runner "Wine".
- Change to the tab "Game options".
- Click on the top right button "Browse.." to select the game's executable.
- Browse to the directory of your downloaded game and select the installer's *.exe.
- Click "Save", you'll see your game's installation has been added to Lutris.
- Double-click on it or use the bottom-left button "Play".
- The installation should start, follow the on-screen instructions.
- After the installation is done, right-click the game in Lutris and click "Configure".
- Go to "Game options" and click the top right button "Browse..".
- Browse to the directory in which you've installed the game.
- Select the game's executable and click the bottom right "Save".
- Double-click the game in Lutris to start it or use the bottom left button "Play".
If a game doesn't work or has poor performance, click "Configure" on the game and tick the bottom left box "Show advanced options". Now you can edit the game's options, change the runner, etc.
from r/LinuxCrackSupport
Installing Games through other launchers:
- While we highly recommend using Lutris, there may be situations where you have to use another launcher. This section has links to guides that will help with them.
Transferring Installed Games from PC
~ There are a multitude of ways to transfer your files from any device you have over to your Deck.
We won't mention USB drives here because it is easy to do and also the longest time out of any of the options seeing as how you have to transfer twice.
SSH (Network File Sharing)
Setting up SSHD
- This will explain how to set a user password and enable the SSH Daemon Service on your Deck.
- Push the STEAM button on the deck
- Go to Power
- Select Switch to Desktop
- From Desktop Mode, Click the Application Launcher (Steam Deck Icon, bottom left)
- Go to All Applications > Konsole
- Run the following command
passwd - Enter a secure password (You will be prompted for this anytime you connect to the Deck remotely via SSH)
- Run the following command
sudo systemctl enable sshd - Now run the following command to verify that SSHD is enabled
sudo systemctl status sshd - In the output look for
enabled;on theLoaded:line - Look for
runningon theActive:line - If all steps were followed SSH should be enabled, if not ASK AN ADULT
from GitHub
Adding your deck storage as a drive on your PC or Mac
Windows (10/11)
Warpinator (Still Network, Needs an App)
FTP (Slower Network Sharing, Needs an App)
MTP (USB Sharing)
Guides for Proton/Wine
This guide will be using ProtonTricks
Finding Non Steam Game Proton Folder
Installing Dependencies
Adding DLLs to Proton
Guides for emulators and roms
Emudeck
RetroDeck
Individual emulators
Switch Emulation
BIOS and other files
Steam Rom Manager
PC Ports
Cracks/DLC/Updates
Common questions/Things you will encounter
Compressed files (.rar,.zip,.7z,etc.)
Install Locations
Common Problems
No licenses
If this shows it means your crack isn't working. You can use Mr. Goldberg