DroidDeck/docs/settings-layout.md

Settings layout

DroidDeck configuration now lives in a searchable Settings hub. Updates remains a separate launcher tab. The hub links to the existing managers and uses the existing preference stores and callbacks; there is no preference migration.

Where controls moved

Previous location	New home	Reason
Setup → Launcher	General	Appearance and Android Home behavior are launcher settings.
Steam/Desktop settings → Display and HDR	Display & graphics	Resolution, frame limits, scaling and real HDR output belong together. Resolution, HDR and frame limit keep their mode-specific scope; aspect ratio and scaling remain shared.
Setup → Session → Frame generation	Display & graphics	Frame generation is a graphics choice rather than a startup behavior. Existing import and availability checks remain.
Session menu → Effects and texture filtering	Display & graphics, with the session controls retained	Saved defaults are discoverable before a session starts. The session menu still applies its live effects using the same controls. Simulated HDR is labeled separately from HDR10 output.
Setup → Controller; Steam/Desktop settings → Touch controls	Controls & input	Controller appearance, mapping, rumble, touch behavior, Steam controller identity and Back action order have one configuration home.
Steam settings → Audio	Audio & microphone	Game audio and Steam-menu audio have different backends; naming the target prevents a toggle from appearing to affect both.
Steam settings → Storage and Added games; Setup tools → ROMs and Files	Library & storage	An additional Steam library differs from importing an existing game directory. Folder and executable selectors remain available alongside artwork controls.
Steam/Desktop settings → Session, Startup, Client, Network, Decky and Desktop renderer; Setup → Offline	Sessions	These options determine how sessions start, suspend and integrate with Android. Steam-only controls remain Steam-only.
Launcher rail → Components; Setup tools → Protons and Performance; Steam settings → Game settings	Compatibility & performance	GPU drivers, Proton builds, component swaps and execution tuning are related troubleshooting tools. Specialist pages keep their own operations and progress indicators.
Setup → Overview and logs; Steam settings → Storage diagnostics	Support & diagnostics	Runtime readiness, child-process repair, logging and storage diagnostics are actionable troubleshooting controls.
Launcher rail → Updates	Updates, unchanged	Releases, test builds, update channels and build information remain directly accessible. Support links to this tab.

Advanced FEX, synchronization, environment, effects, texture and storage diagnostic controls stay in expandable groups. Searching can open these groups automatically; users can still collapse them.

Control and workflow inventory against main

This inventory compares the six pre-hub screens on main with the category content and specialist pages. It includes controls that appear only for a supported device, Steam mode, an installed runtime, or an active session.

Previous source	Controls and workflows in the old screen	Current home and retained workflow
FrontEndSetup.kt	Launcher theme; Android home-app enablement and conditional default-home picker; launcher fullscreen and animation; Flathub visibility; controller layout/mapping controls; Back-button action order; offline-account toggle; frame-generation mode and Lossless Scaling import; session-log enable/share/clear; Files and ROM-folder tools; Proton and Performance shortcuts; system checks for GPU support, runtime readiness/update/removal, phantom-process limit and sign-in.	General keeps launcher appearance/home/store controls; Controls keeps controller settings and Back order; Sessions keeps offline mode; Display & graphics keeps frame generation/import; Library & storage keeps Files and ROM folders; Compatibility & performance opens Components, Proton and Performance managers; Support & diagnostics keeps GPU/runtime/process-limit checks, developer-options and wireless-ADB recovery, account status and log controls. The Updates action links to the existing Updates tab. The process-limit repair/detail buttons, runtime progress and enabled/disabled states remain conditional.
ModeSettingsDialog.kt	Per-mode resolution presets plus custom width/height entry, aspect ratio, FPS cap, scaler and sharpness, HDR10, GPU-driver shortcut, touch mode, Steam on-screen-controller mode and controller identity, Back order, suspend policy, automatic PiP and PiP shortcut, Steam startup, Decky check/install/update/uninstall/enable/plugin-ZIP workflows, Steam Deck mode and branch, MangoHud, Wi-Fi discovery with permission explanation/system-settings route, imported game folders and forget action, artwork, per-folder executable selection/import, game-storage location/import, storage diagnostics, FEX, synchronization backend, per-game environment, fill/16:9 and Desktop renderer.	Display & graphics owns resolution/custom dialog, ratio, FPS, scaling/sharpness, HDR10, fill/16:9 and MangoHud; Steam/Desktop selection still scopes mode-specific values while ratio/scaler defaults remain shared. Controls owns touch and Steam controller identity, with Back order alongside controller setup. Audio & microphone owns direct game audio, separately labeled Steam-menu audio and microphone. Library & storage owns game imports/executable choices/artwork and second-library selection/folder import; storage diagnostics is under Support. Sessions owns suspend, PiP auto-entry, startup, Decky management, Steam Deck mode/branch, Wi-Fi discovery and Desktop renderer. Compatibility & performance owns the GPU-driver shortcut plus FEX, sync backend and game environment in an expandable group. Steam-only, Desktop-only, permission-dependent and Decky/runtime/session-running gates remain in place.
ComponentsPage.kt	GPU-driver tabs and Android/Linux driver management; release refresh, download/import, selection/removal and bundled Android-driver restore; Proton/component selectors; per-Proton FEX, DXVK and VKD3D original/package status; next-game queued swaps and cancellation; catalog refresh/download; WCP import; restore-original and delete confirmations; in-use/game-running status and About dialog.	Compatibility & performance opens the existing Components manager. GPU search opens its GPU view directly. The manager retains its tabs, progress, confirmation dialogs, queued-operation state, per-Proton view and driver import/restore actions.
ProtonPage.kt	Available Proton build list; install, remove and cancel-queued operations; runtime-not-ready explanation; install/remove/session-running availability gates and progress.	Compatibility & performance → Proton versions opens the same manager; runtime requirements, queue cancellation and operation gates remain there.
PerformanceDialog.kt	Client CPU-core override and client-core selection; game-core selection; GL threading, Zink, GL-error handling and Gamescope real-time priority; GPU-clock pinning; Turnip system-memory behavior; Xalia; esync fallback, fsync-first and fast sync; proot seccomp and dependent fast path; guest-hostname validation/edit; phantom-process warning.	Compatibility & performance → Performance opens the existing specialist page. Core multi-selects, conditional controls, hostname validation and warning remain on that page. FEX and the game synchronization selector are also discoverable directly in the expandable Compatibility group; their specialist workflows remain intact.
SessionOverlay.kt	Live HUD/fill/scaling/sharpness/frame-generation controls; effects preset, CAS/strength, fake HDR, debanding/strength, brightness, contrast, gamma, saturation, FXAA, toon, CRT and NTSC; texture anisotropy and LOD bias; live component selection/queued-swap cancellation; touch/OSC and virtual-controller rumble/Steam/QAM/keyboard buttons; Back order; physical/Android keyboard launch; second-screen mode/display; Android app launch; suspend policy, ratio, FEX/game environment, log sharing, PiP entry/auto-entry, background and stop-session confirmation; Steam-menu and QAM shortcuts.	SessionOverlay retains live HUD, launch-image controls, menus, component swaps, device routing, app launch and session actions. Display & graphics now also edits saved screen-effects and texture-filtering defaults. Those preference-backed values are used at session/game launch; the drawer continues applying screen effects live and keeps texture choices in its own controls. Look presets that select a scaler update the shared scaler state. Keyboard display, second-screen routing, QAM/Steam actions, app/session actions and stop confirmation remain exclusive to the live drawer; only the virtual-controller keyboard-button preference is in Controls.

Loss found: none in this source-to-destination inventory. The old Setup tool cards and Updates entry have become category/search destinations, while the Components, Proton and Performance operations remain in their specialist screens. Session-only actions remain in the drawer rather than becoming persistent settings.

Navigation and scope

• Back returns from a specialist manager to its category, then to the hub or the contextual Steam/Desktop/game page that opened settings. Selecting another rail item closes the settings history.
• Category and hub scroll state is retained when a manager opens over them. Search targets have stable IDs and request focus on the corresponding actionable control.
• Steam/Desktop selectors expose existing mode-specific defaults. Shared values do not become separate preferences when the selected mode changes.
• GPU shortcuts open the GPU view directly. Automatic/manual driver selection, effective selections, imports, downloads, deletion and bundled restore are retained.
• Default Proton changes Steam's synchronized default through ProtonDefault. Editing components for selects the build whose components are displayed and does not change the default. Proton installations remain a separate manager; per-game Proton overrides remain in Steam's Properties → Compatibility.
• Keyboard display, second-screen routing, Steam menu/QAM actions, session restart and stop stay exclusively in the session menu. Controller settings can still configure the presence of a keyboard button without opening the live keyboard.
• Runtime prerequisites, active-session restrictions, Android permissions, confirmations, downloads, queued operations and legacy synchronization switches retain their existing behavior.

Feedback behind the changes

These are qualitative reports, some from earlier builds, rather than a claim that every reported runtime issue remains in the current version:

• Driver navigation exposed confusion about being sent to Components and changing its view with RB. The driver shortcut now chooses the GPU view directly.
• Proton selection highlighted several selection concepts. Separate default, installation and editing controls make each operation explicit while retaining Steam synchronization.
• Audio targets motivated separating game audio from Steam-menu audio labels.
• Storage paths motivated putting library paths beside game imports and file access.

Verification boundaries

Navigation history and catalog routing have JVM tests, alongside the existing preference and workflow regression tests. The complete APK build uses DROIDDECK_BUILD_VARIANT=debug tools/build_local.sh to include native assets.

Device acceptance still requires checking controller focus and Back restoration, search scrolling, narrow layouts, permission dialogs and the session-menu boundary on an Android handheld. No Android device was connected during this implementation; successful compilation and unit tests do not establish on-device rendering or input.