2y ago

why cant Steam Deck detect display resolution?

Every PC I've ever used automatically detects and adjusts resolution to the display you connect to it. Even Nintendo Switch will detect when it's docked and automatically adjust the display resolution. But on Steam Deck you literally have to adjust the display resolution for every game, every time you switch displays.

Since getting the SD I have shoved my PC into another room to displace the heat (until I get a mini-split) and I just stream from it to the Deck, whether docked at my desk or on the couch or on the big screen. But this really complicates that process unnecessarily.

This has also not been fixed in Nobara or Chimera.

What's the limitation there?

39 comments

The limitation isn't there, it's deliberate. If you look when you connect to a monitor, the resolutions you can select for a game are resolutions detected by the Deck to be supported by the monitor. The Deck deliberately doesn't go for the highest supported resolution by Default, I imagine this is because the Deck's hardware is optimized for lower-resolution play, which is why it usually just stops at 1280x720p cuz the deck itself is 1280x800p which is pretty close.
- That's dumb. What if I'm playing a 2D game like Hollow Knight? It can easily run this game at 4k/60. Or what if I'm streaming from the desktop? Or cloud gaming?
  They could at least have it as an option...
  E: If anyone wants to actually answer the question instead of downvoting and disappearing, I'd be grateful.
  
  This actually is an option!
  I've used it to play games from the Deck at native 1080p on my TV.
  I'm not at my Steam Deck right now, but I remember it's in the settings. I think if you go to the game's settings, look for something like "native" display. You have to go into the settings for each game you want at a larger resolution on an external monitor in game mode and select "native".
  I don't remember if it needs to first be enabled on the system settings in the display area. (I think it does the right thing for system settings by default in most cases.)
  IIRC, desktop mode also automatically supports the native resolution, but game mode is nice and console-like. Desktop mode might be a bit clunkier than what you'd want for couch gaming. Setting the option in game mode for the game is likely your best option.
  
  Because if it defaults to the highest level on some games it might lock up the hardware, whereas if you start low you can bump it up until you find the optimal setting
  
  I mean, what's the point in rendering a game in 4K if the display is only 1080p? It seems like it would mostly be a waste of computing resources.
  
  Shoot Steam Support a email
Some games will also save the resolution when it generates the default graphical settings and then save that and reuse that. So if you then plug in an external display, the game doesn't even look for that. It loads the last settings which would be 720p.
Also the Deck runs games under gamescope which has its own upscaling. So it probably sets the virtual screen to be the deck's native resolution regardless of what's plugged in, and hope FSR is good enough and minimize the need to also have to switch other graphical settings for the game to run properly at higher resolution.
Not sure why it would do that for streamed games though. How's the game on the PC even aware of the resolution of the Deck?
Consoles don't do that, they have a set resolution and try to use that even if the monitor supports higher res, the reason is that a console has a limited hardware and knows its limitations, that way they can ensure the best user experience. The Steam Deck works primarily as a console, but without the usual closed off limitations so you can change the resolution if you know that the specific game you're trying to play will support it, but as a general the deck plays it safe and uses the same resolution it would use for the integrated screen.
Also you need to think on the cluster fuck it would be if you're playing the game in 4k then unplug your deck and now you have a 4k game downscaled to fit a 1280x800 screen.
- Games go real funky on Linux when it comes to running two monitors, in my experience.
  Never been my experience...
  In my experience, games decide to store the resolution in their own config files
  Based on what?
  The Deck should set the default game resolution to "native"
  It doesn't. The default is always 800p.
  You should be able to change the external monitor resolution in Settings -> Display -> External Display Scaling
  This setting no longer exists.
  
  just because YOU have never had problems doesn't mean they don't exist most games do store there res and other user settings s in their own config file just cause it normally follows monitor resolution doesn't mean it's not stored and I've had many problems with games opening on the wrong display or just flat up refusing to display one one screen and unless it's changed in the past few days I just used the external display scaling were you docked?
  
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Yes this is annoying. I like to play games docked, and in order to get them working correctly I have to manually tell Steam to use 1080p resolution for every game. This then gives you more options within the game settings (rather than maxing out at 1200x800) whilst docked. But in most cases I have to then change the in-game setting each time I go from docked to portable.
It does feel like docking is an afterthought with the Steam Deck. I was expecting something more akin to the Switch which has a flawless docking experience. I hope SteamOS improves on this in future.
Looking at some older videos, it looks like this is how it used to work but they actually removed the option at some point 🤦
Do you mean in games or in the steam os itself? If steam os has the right resolution you can set the per game resolution option to native.

39 comments