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Steam Deck12 Reports
Crashes in some area that contains multiple floor like in the prison. No matter what is the proton version. It seems like this problem caused by the game itself.
Back buttons set to dpad left, dpad up, dpad right and Enter key, trackpads set to mouse cursor + mouse click
40Hz refresh rate and framerate cap, half rate shading
On some occasions (e.g. Vaal gems), in-game windows will not fit the screen and become partially unreadable
Occasional missing textures in maps
Runs fine out of the box, though I recommend a 40 or even 30 fps cap for the optimal experience. Super juiced maps may see severe frame rate drops regardless of the setting, and do keep in mind that the battery won't last super long as this is a demanding game.
Controller support is the same from the console versions of the game, i.e. it works phenomenally well and allows accessing practically every function of the game, except for (afaik) chat, which I mapped manually to one of the back buttons, but will summon the Deck's virtual keyboard correctly once the window is there.
Game appeared to suffer from connection issues over wifi randomly causing stutters/rubberbanding. Confirmed with wired PC this was not a server iddue
Controller UI for PoE isn't the best and the graphics on steam deck are quite lacking, but otherwise the game ran quite well at a consistent frame rate in T10 Maps
Lock to 30 FPS.
All items and skills info are too small.
Alot off FPS dips to 10-15FPS on endgame maps.
Silently quit with default proton, with proton 7.0-6 show error "unsupported backbuffer image count" and crashes.
- I've changed the right trackpad to "absolute mouse".
- Changed back buttons to:
- L4 => ESC
- R4 => left mouse
- R5 => right mouse
Changed Steam Deck to 60 Hz and unlimited FPS. Disable V-Sync and limit to 30 FPS ingame. Set graphic settings as low as possible. Enabled dynamic resolution with 30 fps as target.
After logging in for the first time, textures are missing for a few seconds. After this waiting period, the game runs smoothly most of the time. Due to the activated "dynamic resolution", some large artifacts can be seen, especially in end-game content. This depends on how many enemies and/or effects are currently on the screen. For my gameplay, it is better to see artifacts for a short period of time than to not be able to move due to FPS drops. Theoretically, the FPS in "not high endgame content" varies between 60 and 45 FPS. Since I set it to 30 FPS, I achieve those as well. With the exception of the situations mentioned above, there it can also happen that for some time the FPS drop to 20 or even 10 FPS. Under these circumstances, even my PC (RTX 3060 and i5 12400) no longer reaches a smooth 60 FPS.
This is an online game. If there were "problems", this game would be unplayable. On the other hand. If you are experiencing some "fps drops" without those fps drops showing up in the diagnostic overlay, try changing the network mode to "predictive". This option can be found in the in-game settings. This problem has nothing to do with the Steam-Deck, but with a slow network connection.
I would like to say something about the tinkering. In general, it is possible to play Path of Exile without tinkering. I tested it during the last League Start (Crucible). But. After reaching the Endgame, I would highly recommend adjusting the default settings.
Working perfectly
Stable 60fps, everything works fine. thinking about using the back buttons for potions but haven't done it yet.
On the Steam Deck the experience is (beside performance) identical to the console version but with the PC marketplace
Added buttons to potions on back pedals
Maxed the Refresh rate & FPS to 50 and lowered all settings to lowest (you wont see any difference) as this prevents a hot deck
On logging in on existing characters you see some missing textures which take some time to reload (like 5-10 seconds lag spike on login)
On some graphic heavy areas (especially act 6) you see some dips to 40-45
Steam achievements don't unlock when playing with controller input. You can switch to keyboard on character select and log in as that character, after that press H on your keyboard (Steam button + X) to unlock the previous achievements to Steam as well
I set the back paddle buttons to the d-pad directions. This made it easier to access the map and use flasks without taking my thumb off of the left stick. Then I remapped the d-pad to buttons that are slightly inconvenient such as start, select, and left stick click.
PoE doesn't support mixing gamepad and keyboard/mouse inputs. However there are a few things you can still access with mouse. I set the right trackpad to mouse and the trackpad click to left mouse click to make some menu navigation easier like switching stash tabs.
I set an fps limit of 50 to get slightly more battery time.
Performance is impacted as expected when there is a lot of stuff on the screen. Otherwise the game runs very well with a few settings turned down and an fps limit of 50. I set the SteamOS fps limit to uncapped, changed the refresh rate to 50, turned off vsync, and used the in game fps limit option. SteamOS fps limit uses triple buffered vsync which adds some input lag. Usually it doesn't bother me, but I play hardcore in PoE. I didn't notice any screen tearing with vsync off.
No problems whatsoever with online connectivity.
PoE's controller layout takes a little bit to get used to, but it works well for the most part. A couple annoying aspects are the A button priority and only 12 slots for skills. The A button is used for both a skill and picking up loot. It can be hard to tell which one the game prioritizes at times. The 12 skill slots are usually enough except for aura heavy builds or minion builds. Inventory managment is a real pain with controllers. Use the right stick to jump to each corner in your inventory and stash tabs. The right stick can also be used to highlight loot to pick up, but it is pretty finicky.
I didn't time my battery life, but it was at least 3 hours with my settings, maybe close to 4 hours.
Haven't enjoyed PoE in the past despite friends trying to pull me into it. Playing on Steamdeck (or likely with controller in general) made the game feel a lot more accessible and fun! Some mouse required on Steamdeck for menus and some portions of menus and such still need mouse (hence the modified right touch pad), so some work left to do by the game, but playable and fun (for a newer player to the game).
For a hardcore push or loot run of course deck is not great. But for leveling or grinding easier dungeons for gear, awesome!
Set Right Trackpad to Mouse
Turned a few medium settings down to low, and a few high settings to medium.
Crashed within ~5 minutes first few times I launched. After a few times seems to be fine now.
Did not actively play with others, but was able to see others in towns without issue
Worth the download and try. Run a class that has less aim-dependent abilities i.e. a turret ranger and it's great for relaxing around the house running dungeons.
