At least on launch the game runs… from okay to bad on the Steam Deck, with some areas and dibs that can go as low as 18-24 fps, sometimes not allowing you to dodge or attack.
Well, I have created a mod, specifically aimed at the Steam Deck to boost both it’s visuals and FPS so that doesn’t happen, and you can play at a comfortable 45fps in combat and 48-55fps on maps, and 30 on overworld (where usually is ~20).
I’ll show how to get it downloaded and installed on your steam deck to have a great time on your game!
What does it do?
Tweaked, a ton of “behind the curtain” values, related to how UE5 handles garbage, shaders, processing, multithreading and long etc..
All of these tweaks, all of them, are tailored specifically for Steam Os on Proton, using Vulkan, on directX12 and with the CPU and hardware present on the Steam Deck
You will get the best possible visuals with very high framerate.
Installation
https://www.nexusmods.com/clairobscurexpedition33/mods/25?tab=files
1 – Extract and overwrite the two files inside the zip on your AppData/Local/Sandfall/Saved/Config/Windows/
- Copy
/home/deck/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/1903340/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/Local/Sandfall/Saved/Config/Windows/
- Open any folder, and on where it says the route, paste it and press enter (or navigate from folder to folder, starting at “home”)
- You’ll see inside a single file named “GameUserSettings.ini”, delete it.
- Copy into that folder the two files GameUserSettings.ini and Engine.ini that’s inside your downloaded .zip file
2 – Make both files “Read Only”, there are three ways to do so, pick one
- The easiest way is to right click on the folder that contains the files, in this case “Windows” and set it to “Can Only View Content”
- Another way is to right click on each file, go to properties, then permissions, and set them to “Can only view”.
- Or alternatively, and I recommend this one: Right click on the folder, “Open terminal here” then enter this two commands:
- chmod 444 Engine.ini
- chmod 444 GameUserSettings.ini
3 – On steam, right click if in desktop mode or wheel if in gaming mode,
- then on general tab, on “Launch Options” put this command:
- SteamDeck=0 RADV_PERFTEST=aco,gpl %command%
- Done! Ready to play!
OPTIONAL, BUT VERY VERY RECOMMENDED NEW XESS VERSION
Use the latest version of XESS, it is incredibly fast and easy to do!
1- Just download the latest version here:
- https://github.com/intel/xess/releases
2- then open the zip file, the bin folder inside.
3- Open this folder (steam deck, for windows users open the game folder and same path):
- /home/deck/Desktop/common/Expedition 33/Engine/Plugins/Marketplace/XeSS/Binaries/ThirdParty/Win64/
4- And replace the 4 files inside, by the 4 files with the same name of the /bin folder of the zip you downloaded (I recommend saving them elsewhere)
FAQ
I strongly recommend using XESS. If you installed the update, all settings, including “Ultra Performance” and “Performance” still look very nice, don’t shy from them.
As for the other settings, suit yourself, I play on all on low and disabled. I touched every single setting to look good already, can make it look better for at fps cost (shadows might be worth setting to medium or high).
You don’t really need antialiasing, and it’s very resource heavy.
To uninstall, just delete the two files.
This mod is not compatible with other optimization mods.
IF THE GAME IS TOO DARK FOR YOU:
- – On the menu settings, you can adjust brightness and gamma. If you want to further increase it:
- – On the file Engine.ini, line 370 r.TonemapperGamma=1 <- for more brightness make this lower. 0.9-0.8