steam deck questions

[Cooke 2,029]

is there no way to use the battle.net and gamepass apps on steam deck? both require windows or macOs  :|  am i just limited to steam games?

[Twinblade★ 3,921]

you have to install windows via a boot usb but apparently it still doesn't work well on the deck.

[Remij 4,679]

It's possible for Battle.net .  There's tutorials out there.  It's might be a bit of a pain in the ass.. but you can try this

 

 

 

 

 

[TLHBO 2,162]

I think you can do xbox cloud but not local downloads.

 

Take this as a blessing in disguise. Battle net is pathetic and xbox is no better.

 

Xbox cloud gaming involes installing Edge, which is basically spyware. If you're ok with that then that would be the way to go.

Edited September 25, 2022 by TLHBO

[Remij 4,679]

1 minute ago, TLHBO said:

I think you can do xbox cloud but not local downloads.

 

Take this as a blessing in disguise. Battle net is pathetic and xbox is no better.

 

Xbox cloud gaming involes installing Edge, which is basically spyware. If you're ok with that then that would be the way to go.

What's wrong with Battle.net?  It works perfectly and does what it needs to.

[TLHBO 2,162]

1 minute ago, Remij said:

What's wrong with Battle.net?  It works perfectly and does what it needs to.

I tried to change my phone number because it had an old number on there which is a safety problem (since thst number is probably recycled and belongs to somebody else now).

 

Battle net DEMANDED goverment issued ID before they would permit me to change it.

 

I terminated my account right then and there. Funnily enough they don't require any ID to let you delete an account

 

Even my fucking bank doesn't demand to see and record government issued ID to change a phone number. Activision/Blizzard can go fuck themselves.

 

On a side note I wish all these publishers would stop insisting on using their own platform if their own platforms are half assed. I'd rather just use Steam. At least Gog is optional.

[Remij 4,679]

4 minutes ago, TLHBO said:

I tried to change my phone number because it had an old number on there which is a safety problem (since thst number is probably recycled and belongs to somebody else now).

 

Battle net DEMANDED goverment issued ID before they would permit me to change it.

 

I terminated my account right then and there. Funnily enough they don't require any ID to let you delete an account

 

Even my fucking bank doesn't demand to see and record government issued ID to change a phone number. Activision/Blizzard can go fuck themselves.

 

On a side note I wish all these publishers would stop insisting on using their own platform if their own platforms are half assed. I'd rather just use Steam. At least Gog is optional.

That's crazy.  I've never had an issue with that, so I've never had to deal with them.

 

So you basically just have an issue with their customer service and not their client.  That's understandable.

 

[Cooke 2,029]

1 hour ago, Twinblade said:

you have to install windows via a boot usb but apparently it still doesn't work well on the deck.

Yuck

[Cooke 2,029]

Ok I'll try bnet. I'd like to be able to play Diablo 2

[TLHBO 2,162]

2 hours ago, Remij said:

That's crazy.  I've never had an issue with that, so I've never had to deal with them.

 

So you basically just have an issue with their customer service and not their client.  That's understandable.

 

I never used their client Thats why the phone number was our of date. IIRC it was vastly inferior to the steam client, which is expected since Valve has made much more effort and itd been around longer  bur it goes back to why force people to use an alternative client if its half assed?

 

Yeah the ID thing is crazy, when I searched online I found a lot of comments by people in the same position who were just as perplexed as I was.

 

Fact is if you're getting a Deck you should really be buying games on Steam from now on. Valve makes so much more effort for Linux gaming than anyone else it's not even close.

 

Second would be Gog since they sell Linux native games, dont force a windows client on you, and due to no client it jntegrated well with Heroic and Lutris and Minigalaxy.

 

Theres itch.io thats meant to be good too but I've never tried it.

 

Epic, Ubisoft, EA, battle net etc aren't worth bothering with. EGS actually integrates really well with Heroic and Ubisoft connect is easy to run but still you're using workarounds essentially.

 

I get Cooke is asking how to play games he already owns and thats fair enough this is just more of a heads up for anyone seriously considering a  Steam Deck - Buy games on Steam above all other platforms it will make things much easier.

[sugarhigh 519]

Diablo 2 works well for me. I installed Battlenet with Bottles, and then added it as a non-steam game. After that Diablo 2 runs perfectly.

[sugarhigh 519]

🙃

Edited September 26, 2022 by sugarhigh

[Cooke 2,029]

5 hours ago, sugarhigh said:

Diablo 2 works well for me. I installed Battlenet with Bottles, and then added it as a non-steam game. After that Diablo 2 runs perfectly.

What is bottles? 

[Twinblade★ 3,921]

18 hours ago, TLHBO said:

I never used their client Thats why the phone number was our of date. IIRC it was vastly inferior to the steam client, which is expected since Valve has made much more effort and itd been around longer  bur it goes back to why force people to use an alternative client if its half assed?

 

Yeah the ID thing is crazy, when I searched online I found a lot of comments by people in the same position who were just as perplexed as I was.

 

Fact is if you're getting a Deck you should really be buying games on Steam from now on. Valve makes so much more effort for Linux gaming than anyone else it's not even close.

 

Second would be Gog since they sell Linux native games, dont force a windows client on you, and due to no client it jntegrated well with Heroic and Lutris and Minigalaxy.

 

Theres itch.io thats meant to be good too but I've never tried it.

 

Epic, Ubisoft, EA, battle net etc aren't worth bothering with. EGS actually integrates really well with Heroic and Ubisoft connect is easy to run but still you're using workarounds essentially.

 

I get Cooke is asking how to play games he already owns and thats fair enough this is just more of a heads up for anyone seriously considering a  Steam Deck - Buy games on Steam above all other platforms it will make things much easier.

 

If I bought a deck I would absolutely want to play games from other clients on it. I play games all the time on EGS in particular because I can often get a better deal there than I can on steam. Being locked into Steam would make that thing way less appealing.

[sugarhigh 519]

1 hour ago, Cooke said:

What is bottles? 

It's a tool for running Windows apps with their own compatibility settings isolated from the rest of the system. But it looks like you can install Battlenet with just Steam:

 

 

[TLHBO 2,162]

37 minutes ago, Twinblade said:

 

If I bought a deck I would absolutely want to play games from other clients on it. I play games all the time on EGS in particular because I can often get a better deal there than I can on steam. Being locked into Steam would make that thing way less appealing.

Then don't get a Steamdeck, you don't seem interested in one anyway and that's ok its just not for you.

 

You're not Locked into Steam fwiw, the problem is that other stores force you to use their client, and their client only supports Windows. So you need to workaround to run the client and then the games.

 

It's quite easy as Heroic launcher is excellent and very easy to use. Theres no problem with me playing existing EGS games I own on Linux - but my point is if someone was seriously considering a Steamdeck it makes no point to buy games on storefronts that not only don't support your OS but don't even carry versions of games made for your OS even if it's a multiplat release. Heroic is well designed and makes it simple but it's still a third party that has done all the work, not Epic.

 

Thats why I take the free games from Epic but I will continue to buy from Valve who actually supports the OS.

 

But the better Steamdeck performs and Linux marketshare grows, Epic could turn around and put out a client and official support and that would be problem solved. This is an Epic problem not a Valve problem. Press F for Mac owners because while they sometimes have more offficial support I hear it can be a bitch to get multiplats to run on mac os.

 

Again its just a heads up. I bought most of my games on Steam, followed by Gog and that has absolutely reaped benefits switching from Windows to Linux as it made the transition simple.  Epic is easy to use via Heroic, and Uplay and Rockstar were surprisingly simple to get working too, really it has only been Origin for me that was a bitch but I barely had any games on there so it's no big loss. But absolutely by far Steam is the best client and its officially supported so there's no risk of breakage.

 

You can always install windows on Steamdeck if you want but by all accounts it sucks. Thats not a Steamdeck problem nor even a Microsoft problem, its that Windows 10 was never designed to have a Steamdeck interface. In the sameway I wouldnt want to install windows on a steamdeck, I wouldnt want to force a client like Origin on there or the official Epic client. Its better to use things designed for your device.

[TLHBO 2,162]

@CookeIt must be possible because Blizzard just put out an update to fix it.

 

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2022/09/blizzard-may-not-support-steam-deck-linux-but-they-still-fix-issues-for-it/

 

I've never tried to install it so can't help you but as Sugarhigj said try Bottles or then Lutris.