DroidDeck/docs/releases/0.1.6.md

DroidDeck 0.1.6 (pre-release)

SteamDeck is now DroidDeck. A clean install now sets itself up on the first sign-in: the Linux runtime on the loading screen, then Proton Experimental (ARM64) offered straight after you sign in, with the client restarting itself once it lands. Plus full-page driver selection with downloads, controller navigation throughout, session pause modes, Deck mode, a second-screen mode and Android home-app integration.

⚠️ A new app, not an update. DroidDeck has a new app ID (com.droiddeck.launcher), so it installs beside SteamDeck 0.1.5 rather than over it: the Linux runtime is downloaded again, you sign in to Steam again and settings start fresh. Logs are now in Download/DroidDeck/ and the switch files are droiddeck-env, droiddeck-osc and so on - the old steamdeck-* names are no longer read. Remove SteamDeck when you are done with it.

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The name

The app, its ID, its code and everything it writes are DroidDeck; the repository is The412Banner/DroidDeck. Valve's own Steam Deck names stay as they are (the client's -steamdeck flag, the steamdeck_publicbeta branch, "Steam Deck mode"). Installed and signed in on an AYN Pocket FIT: logs, session report and package all say DroidDeck.

First run sets itself up

• Play and Desktop work on a fresh install. The loading screen downloads, checks and unpacks the Linux runtime (then the desktop package, for Desktop) and starts the session; a failure ends on the loading screen with the reason.
• Proton Experimental (ARM64) right after the first sign-in. A signed-out client used to drop the install request, so the dialog only appeared after a manual restart. The session now watches for the sign-in, asks again, and once the depot has landed restarts the client once by itself, so the compatibility-tool list and defaults are current before you install a game (ported from Bannerlator). Clean install on the FIT: signed in → dialog → 474 MB installed → client restarted on its own within seconds.
• The loading screen no longer claims Steam keeps running in the background (see below).

Drivers, as full pages

Steam session › Runtime driver / Display driver open a full page instead of a drop-down: installed drivers (tap to use, tagged bundled / downloaded / imported), downloads from the latest releases of Banners-Turnip and WinNative (Android and Linux builds, each variant from the newest release that carries it), a refresh button that is the only thing that goes online, and a trash can on every driver - bundled ones too, with Restore built-in drivers. Deleting the driver in use falls back to Auto / Runtime default. Downloads, selection and delete used on the FIT.

Controller navigation

Every settings control shows a focus outline; the driver pages open on the driver in use, up reaches refresh, right reaches a driver's trash can, and Back returns one level to where you left. The session settings open with their first control focused. The in-session drawer now opens on its STEAM button and takes the controller while it is open (d-pad and stick move, A selects, B closes) instead of the game receiving it. Play and credits are outlined too. On the FIT.

Sessions in the background (Kurt)

Background behaviour: Auto / Manual / Never. Auto pauses the session when the app leaves the screen and resumes it when you come back; Manual pauses and waits for Resume; Never keeps it running. Audio recovers across a pause. A session Android killed no longer leaves the next start on the update spinner or a blank Gamepad UI (its leftovers are cleared at start). The cleanup on the FIT.

Steam Deck mode

-steamdeck with SteamOS helper stubs (no restart loop, no "Update Error", no dock-firmware row), the steamdeck_publicbeta channel by default, the battery in the Quick Access Menu, NIS in the QAM's scaling filters, and the QAM's performance overlay drawn by mangoapp (MangoHud), bundled in the app. The QAM and battery on the FIT; ⚠️ NIS and the overlay not yet tried.

More

• Your own games from any number of folders appear in the client's library as non-Steam games under the ARM64 Proton, with store art looked up by name.
• Audio: the client is back on 0.1.5's classic sink by default (DirectAudio is a choice); games keep DirectAudio; the microphone is on. Setup › Session logs › Share latest logs.
• Display: Exactly this panel shape for 4:3 and 3:2 handhelds, and a custom resolution per mode.
• Second screen (Kurt): keyboard + trackpad controls or a Linux terminal on a secondary display.
• Android home app (Kurt): DroidDeck can be picked as the Home app; Home returns to the running session and installed Android apps can be launched from the front end and the drawer.
• Steam and QAM touch buttons (Kurt) for the on-screen controls, and in the drawer header.
• Launcher panels (Kurt): Steam, Desktop and Setup are consistent tabs; desktop apps install and uninstall from their own pages; compatibility tools are managed in place.
• The app's own gamescope build (ARM64 client fixes, realtime queues, a gamepad cursor) and its own audio sinks ship inside the APK; the hosted runtime is unchanged.

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Carried over - still open

• On some Android 16 phones Firefox's tabs crash (shared-memory seals; MOZ_SHM_NO_SEALS=1 in Download/droiddeck-env is the workaround being tried) and the RPCS3 AppImage cannot unpack.
• NIS and the Deck-mode performance overlay are untested. VAC-protected games report insecure; Linux-only Steam games will not start.

Credits

• Kurt Himebauch (xXJSONDeruloXx) - background modes and audio recovery, second-screen controls, Android home app, launcher panels, Steam/QAM touch buttons, the copy clean-ups.
• maxjivi05 (Max) - the gamescope runtime this is built on, from WinNative.
• The412Banner - the app, the compositor, the runtime plumbing and the Steam session.
• Banners-Turnip and WinNative driver builds (downloaded on request from their releases).
• MangoHud (flightlessmango, MIT) - the mangoapp the overlay uses, Valve's aarch64 build, bundled with fmt, spdlog, glfw and libtracefs/libtraceevent.

GPL-3.0. Not affiliated with Valve - Steam, Proton and Steam Deck are Valve's. The Steam client and Proton are fetched from Valve's own servers on your device and are not redistributed here; the bundled mangoapp is MangoHud (MIT) as Valve builds it for aarch64.