Emulation on the Steam Deck

[Harrison]

I only buy Sandisk or Samsung SD cards.

[Demon Cleaner]

I only buy Sandisk or Samsung SD cards.

Wow

[Harrison]

Just a bit paranoid about reliability. I know cards to store games on a handheld are not really precious or valuable data as such. I suppose it comes from using SD card for photography for years and Sandisk being the only really reliable brand.

[J T]

Are there online resources for getting the instruction manuals? Can the launcer/frontend (or whatever it;s called now) pull these up?

One thing I've come to appreciate recently with giving some older games a blast (through Nintendo Switch Online) is how much older games really did rely on the manual for things like controls, and also backstory or character descriptions.

[Harrison]

You can build up support files for a games such as boxart, screenshots and video clips. Front-ends such as Emulation Station have the ability to pull these assets from the internet automatically as you import games and build your library. And it has the option to pull PDFs of manuals too. But afaik you can't currently open the pdfs directly in ES. You have to view them on your PC. Would be great to have such support for all the retro handhelds.

But I haven't tested this on the Steam Deck yet because with it having a full Linux OS I can open PDFs. I will have to test this and let you know. If it isn't possible I'm going to contact the EmuDeck developer to ask.

[J T]

Screenshots and boxarts are neat to make it look cool, but manuals would be really useful. Seems like it would be a winning feature.

How do you find the placement of the +pad and the ABXYU buttons on the Steam Deck? I've never held one but from the picture it seems like they are quite near to the 'edge'.

[Harrison]

That was a big concern when Valve originally unveiled it to the press. But when you actually hold and use the controls they fit perfectly and are really comfortably placed. No issues with them being near to the edge. The rear sculpted shape similar to a playstation controller makes it easy to hold too.