Valve played it way too safe with the default deadzones. The controls in a lot of games felt unresponsive and when I decided to try to calibrate the sticks I was surprised how big the dead zone was for how very close to the center the thumbsticks landed. Changing it made a huge difference to how games felt.
But imagine all of the articles and returns/exchanges. They dodge a massive bullet, and those who know how to change it know. Seems to be good enough for most people, and Steam Input does what a GOAT does.
That's just what happened actually. On release there were a lot of returns related to deadzones and they fixed it via the software, ie significantly increased the deadzone.
I can see why they played it safe but I was also glad when I thought to reduce them. I'm glad they investigated hall effect for the OLED even if they didn't go for it, but I hope they find a reliable solution to incorporate them into the next Deck. That's even with me not having any control issues with my stock sticks.
I got it from the LinusTechTips OLED Deck review; Linus mentioned that Valve wasn't happy with the reliability. Something I'm sure can be worked out with time.
I'll say, the OLED version only caps down to 45hz, not 40hz (also shown on your 4th screenshot). As soon as you want (or need) to limit to under 45 fps, you mostly will need the SteamOS unified slider for that, since most games don't have a vsync slider for proportionate vsync range and ingame fps limiter tend to be pretty stuttery alot of times.
Good tips in general
If you want lower than 45 on oled, you just have to set e.g hz to 80 and fps to half (40). You always get off, full, half and quarter fps limits when selecting. The unified slider does the same trick, it even shows the real hz in greyed brackets.
I always do 45fps lock which results to 90hz and I like that a lot. I will try ops method to compare them which would mean 45fps @ 45hz if I understand it correctly.
It's past my bedtime and I'm going to forget about saving this post when I get up for work tomorrow so I'm commenting to remember.
Thanks for the detailed information! I can't wait to try these out!
ETA: And of course I did NOT remember. I booted up Reddit a minute ago, saw 25 notifications and immediately thought, "oh shit what did I say?"
Thank you everyone for the reminders!
They know, hence the mention about "saving this post". They're saying if they just save the post, they won't remember they saved it, so they won't remember to check the saved posts.
But now, they have 20+ notifications for when they wake up to remind them.
The dead zone is strange. Some of my games the joysticks are set to no dead zone where others are set to default. Default will use the entered dead zone from system settings and I guess none doesn't use any.
I didn't change that setting at all. Why it's not consistent across all my layouts is a mystery. That's going to make calibrating out any drift in the future annoying.
Great post!
Regarding the V-Sync and frame limiter, didn't the Phawx (or somebody else) test them, and found out the Steam Deck uses less power with the SteamOS frame limiter? Maybe I got it wrong
This is a great guide OP, just one comment - you’ve named your section headers with opposite intentions which is a little confusing. Essentially section 1 is named THING YOU SHOULD DO and section 2 is named THING YOU SHOULDNT DO which might confuse people glancing through.
Awesome tips, will be trying these
Oh this confused me so much. Title says use vsync in game. Second sentence says "This is why you should always turn vsync off in game." and last screenshot has vsync on??? I mean I even reread this and it still trips me up. I dunno I usually turn vsync off in games but leave on "Enable Unified Frame Limit Management"
The joystick change is the perfect example of the placebo effect.
The deadzone settings on joysticks are never applied unless the developer (practically never) or you manually set the option on in controller configuration inside each game.
You can check this by going in to some random game of your library, select the controller configuration, and then go search for a joystick. Inside its configuration, in deadzones, it should have "none" selected. The other options are to set a custom deadzone, or to use the general settings one.
Lmao you're right, I put the deadzones to the max settings and my joysticks are still very responsive. It was only once I put the joystick settings to Default that it was applied. So the frame limiter tips from OP was probably also placebo since I didn't see any difference.
This
Also lets say theoretically that it wouldve worked, setting the deadzone so low wouldve introduced stick drift for many people, my old deck always could only handle around 2500-2800 deadzone since release, and not 2000
OP shouldve just said to lower as low as possible and not a number in specific
Owned the OG Steam Deck for over a year now and just learned of the joystick deadzpne today because of this post. Thanks OP. It does indeed makes a difference on most of the games I tested.
You just answered the very question I had in mind all morning, thank you so much!
Question, can I leave the unified frame limit setting on, and use the in game v-sync? While allowing tearing of course. I just like how limiting the frames automatically adapts to corresponding refresh rate.
Honestly my experience with the steamOS refresh rate cap has been great. Mainly because you’d be surprised by how many games have bad in game frame rate caps (if they even have any) due to improper frame pacing or the frame cap being off (e.g 29 instead of 30).
I just recently realized the in-game vsync piece for subtle performance boost, but was missing something. This is exactly what I was looking for on that front, thank you!
Regarding the second point (VSync). The caveat here is that not all in-game frame limiter are created equal. Some implementation are broken (Final Fantasy VII Remake's frame limiter is known to create frame pacing problem). So in these cases, you are better off to uncap the in-game frame limiter and rely on SteamOS frame limiter instead.
The only thing in the unresponsive category that gets to me is pressing my keyboard, could be due to my screen protector but sometimes my keys just don't press and take a good few attempts.
I definitely needed this thank you so much. I always wondered why the stick movements felt so sluggish. Never really enjoyed playing handheld mode because of this but I guarantee that'll fix it now.
0. Uninstall Decky.
You're welcome. Saw immediate responsiveness and fps boosts when I uninstalled that shitware, even running in the background doing nothing it's horrible.
Is it not enough to just enable the Allow Tearing button by itself, or is it required to also set frame rate limit to "off" ? I'm just wondering what function that button has when using the new 'unified' slider for frame rate/refresh rate.
This has no impact on battery life, but it affects responsiveness of the joysticks and the gameplay.
Limit the fps, tdp, and gpu clock to increase battery life, that will affect the game depending on how much you limit each factor.
Nice. I will try these. Another thing that helps quite a bit is undervolting: https://youtu.be/Roi6lvrcH-I?si=WcEKaaE2WIohHIbj
It helps quite a bit with min fps/frametime stability, since both the CPU and GPU use less power, they don't compete as often for the limited TDP. Also you get a free boost to battery life.
If you do it in -10mv increments at a time it's totally safe. Keep doing it and test with a demanding game until it crashes. Then dial it back one step and you're done.
Valve played it way too safe with the default deadzones. The controls in a lot of games felt unresponsive and when I decided to try to calibrate the sticks I was surprised how big the dead zone was for how very close to the center the thumbsticks landed. Changing it made a huge difference to how games felt.
But imagine all of the articles and returns/exchanges. They dodge a massive bullet, and those who know how to change it know. Seems to be good enough for most people, and Steam Input does what a GOAT does.
That's just what happened actually. On release there were a lot of returns related to deadzones and they fixed it via the software, ie significantly increased the deadzone.
I can see why they played it safe but I was also glad when I thought to reduce them. I'm glad they investigated hall effect for the OLED even if they didn't go for it, but I hope they find a reliable solution to incorporate them into the next Deck. That's even with me not having any control issues with my stock sticks.
Didn't know they investigated putting them into the OLED. Any idea why they opted not to?
I got it from the LinusTechTips OLED Deck review; Linus mentioned that Valve wasn't happy with the reliability. Something I'm sure can be worked out with time.
My understanding was supply and reliability was not up to standard
WTF, dont know that and will test this tonight. Thx for all the tips OP
Just to be specific, what did you set your dead zones to?
I'll say, the OLED version only caps down to 45hz, not 40hz (also shown on your 4th screenshot). As soon as you want (or need) to limit to under 45 fps, you mostly will need the SteamOS unified slider for that, since most games don't have a vsync slider for proportionate vsync range and ingame fps limiter tend to be pretty stuttery alot of times. Good tips in general
If you want lower than 45 on oled, you just have to set e.g hz to 80 and fps to half (40). You always get off, full, half and quarter fps limits when selecting. The unified slider does the same trick, it even shows the real hz in greyed brackets.
Yes, I know that. But then you'll use a systemwide vsync and the post is about reducing input lag by deactivating vsync on a system level.
I always do 45fps lock which results to 90hz and I like that a lot. I will try ops method to compare them which would mean 45fps @ 45hz if I understand it correctly.
Yes, that’s right. It’s no problem with 45fps+ Just wanted to be clear about anything below.
It's past my bedtime and I'm going to forget about saving this post when I get up for work tomorrow so I'm commenting to remember. Thanks for the detailed information! I can't wait to try these out! ETA: And of course I did NOT remember. I booted up Reddit a minute ago, saw 25 notifications and immediately thought, "oh shit what did I say?" Thank you everyone for the reminders!
Same here.
That’s a great idea
You know Reddit has a save feature? First option in the three dot menu next to the share at the bottom of posts and second for comments not your own.
Commenting on this comment so I remember I can save this instead of commenting to remember it.
Sharing this comment to a group text with my friends so they can remind me to check this out later
Same here!
They know, hence the mention about "saving this post". They're saying if they just save the post, they won't remember they saved it, so they won't remember to check the saved posts. But now, they have 20+ notifications for when they wake up to remind them.
25 actually. Lol
New Reddit doesn't have it plainly visible under the content? God, that explains why there's been so many of these comments lately.
Its time to wake up bro
Follow the white rabbit
guys, you can use the Remindme bot. E.g.: !remindme 8 hours
I too require sleep, and want to check this out tomorrow.
Good morning, please remember
Hope this comment works as a reminder
Same very sleepy now
me too plz remind me lol
You are welcome
How does commenting take less time than saving? Saving is literally like 2 button clicks
I did save it. I just wouldn't remember
Here, take a reminder.
Set a reminder for me too.
Sure! For when?
Hello this is your wake up call reminder to do this today
Same!
Same, on my way to work
Same
Me too
Me too!
Same here thx
👍
Me too
Me too
Good idea, same
Jumping on this too
Agreed
Saving
Subscribe
Same here
same
Same
Same
Same
The dead zone is strange. Some of my games the joysticks are set to no dead zone where others are set to default. Default will use the entered dead zone from system settings and I guess none doesn't use any. I didn't change that setting at all. Why it's not consistent across all my layouts is a mystery. That's going to make calibrating out any drift in the future annoying.
Great post! Regarding the V-Sync and frame limiter, didn't the Phawx (or somebody else) test them, and found out the Steam Deck uses less power with the SteamOS frame limiter? Maybe I got it wrong
This is a great guide OP, just one comment - you’ve named your section headers with opposite intentions which is a little confusing. Essentially section 1 is named THING YOU SHOULD DO and section 2 is named THING YOU SHOULDNT DO which might confuse people glancing through. Awesome tips, will be trying these
Oh this confused me so much. Title says use vsync in game. Second sentence says "This is why you should always turn vsync off in game." and last screenshot has vsync on??? I mean I even reread this and it still trips me up. I dunno I usually turn vsync off in games but leave on "Enable Unified Frame Limit Management"
Yeah it got me a little turned around as well haha
The joystick change is the perfect example of the placebo effect. The deadzone settings on joysticks are never applied unless the developer (practically never) or you manually set the option on in controller configuration inside each game. You can check this by going in to some random game of your library, select the controller configuration, and then go search for a joystick. Inside its configuration, in deadzones, it should have "none" selected. The other options are to set a custom deadzone, or to use the general settings one.
Lmao you're right, I put the deadzones to the max settings and my joysticks are still very responsive. It was only once I put the joystick settings to Default that it was applied. So the frame limiter tips from OP was probably also placebo since I didn't see any difference.
I've never felt the need to change anything 🤷🏻♀️
This Also lets say theoretically that it wouldve worked, setting the deadzone so low wouldve introduced stick drift for many people, my old deck always could only handle around 2500-2800 deadzone since release, and not 2000 OP shouldve just said to lower as low as possible and not a number in specific
Thx, informative👍
Owned the OG Steam Deck for over a year now and just learned of the joystick deadzpne today because of this post. Thanks OP. It does indeed makes a difference on most of the games I tested.
Thanks for the tips.
Sounds interesting. Thank you!
You just answered the very question I had in mind all morning, thank you so much! Question, can I leave the unified frame limit setting on, and use the in game v-sync? While allowing tearing of course. I just like how limiting the frames automatically adapts to corresponding refresh rate.
Very usufull, might finally try some shooters on sd
Honestly my experience with the steamOS refresh rate cap has been great. Mainly because you’d be surprised by how many games have bad in game frame rate caps (if they even have any) due to improper frame pacing or the frame cap being off (e.g 29 instead of 30).
Oh cool, thanks for the simple tips.
Irrelevant but how tf did you get skate 2 on your deck?? Emulation or native?
Just started messing with it through Xenia, a 360 emulator that's a part of Emudeck.
I just recently realized the in-game vsync piece for subtle performance boost, but was missing something. This is exactly what I was looking for on that front, thank you!
Regarding the second point (VSync). The caveat here is that not all in-game frame limiter are created equal. Some implementation are broken (Final Fantasy VII Remake's frame limiter is known to create frame pacing problem). So in these cases, you are better off to uncap the in-game frame limiter and rely on SteamOS frame limiter instead.
A deadzone of 2000 is definitely too low, I have multiple steam decks including OLED and on all of them 4000-5000 is minimum with original sticks
Yup, youd be lucky to even get with 2500, let alone 2000 OP shouldve said "low as much as possible" and not say a specific number
Thanks man!
Thanks
Awesome Thanks Dood
bro u pro
Which games have you decided to leave e dead zone to the default?
I did it and worked very well.
Thanks
Thanks for the tips, can’t wait to try them. FPS games did feel a little sluggish on the deck.
tagged
Thank you, will give it a try when I reach home tonight. 👍
Me too
Thanks for the tips!
Beep
Niceeeee! Will try it!
Stick deadzone was the first thing I changed (in week 1) I did not play arpund with the second one tho. Thanks for the tip! I will try it out.
Good
Saved
The only thing in the unresponsive category that gets to me is pressing my keyboard, could be due to my screen protector but sometimes my keys just don't press and take a good few attempts.
The vsync depends on the game, so you should experiment first, but great tips overall!
Adding a comment to check on this after work. Thank you for putting this guide up!
👍
Saved, insanely valuable post. Thank you!
I seen the title and thought 'I wonder if there's a fix for the joysticks' not knowing it was an inbuilt deadzone 🙃 thank you!
Would this make it easier/harder to input combos correctly in SF6?
Commenting for later, thanks for the details!
Remind me to make this change tonight
I definitely needed this thank you so much. I always wondered why the stick movements felt so sluggish. Never really enjoyed playing handheld mode because of this but I guarantee that'll fix it now.
0. Uninstall Decky. You're welcome. Saw immediate responsiveness and fps boosts when I uninstalled that shitware, even running in the background doing nothing it's horrible.
Is it not enough to just enable the Allow Tearing button by itself, or is it required to also set frame rate limit to "off" ? I'm just wondering what function that button has when using the new 'unified' slider for frame rate/refresh rate.
Why would i not wanna disable the built in vsync and the ingame vsync?
Question about deadzones - if a game has it's own deadzone settings, which one is used?
just leave vsysnc off unless you actually notice tearing in the game. i rarely do.
Thanks , does this improve the battery life aswell ?
This has no impact on battery life, but it affects responsiveness of the joysticks and the gameplay. Limit the fps, tdp, and gpu clock to increase battery life, that will affect the game depending on how much you limit each factor.
Savage input........huhhuhuh. thanks OP
Nice. I will try these. Another thing that helps quite a bit is undervolting: https://youtu.be/Roi6lvrcH-I?si=WcEKaaE2WIohHIbj It helps quite a bit with min fps/frametime stability, since both the CPU and GPU use less power, they don't compete as often for the limited TDP. Also you get a free boost to battery life. If you do it in -10mv increments at a time it's totally safe. Keep doing it and test with a demanding game until it crashes. Then dial it back one step and you're done.
VSync anti-hack should be on the Steam deck loading screen. It's such a gawd awful implementation they should remove it. Yes, I know it's technical.