Here’s what’s in the latest Steam Deck OS 3.4 update on December 21st, 2022.
Steam Deck OS 3.4 Changelog
Rebased SteamOS on a newer snapshot of Arch Linux
- This update pulls in the latest performance, security and stability fixes for the underlying packages that are the foundation for SteamOS
- Most notably, this includes recent changes to KDE Plasma, Steam Deck’s Desktop Mode. Full notes on these updates can be found on KDE’s website here, here, and here. Here are a few of the highlights:
- New Overview view to see all open windows and virtual desktops
- Updates to KRunner, the built in assistant for searching and running tasks
- New touchscreen gestures
- New themes and wallpapers
- Updates to widgets
General
- Fixed issues with sleep affecting a small number of titles, where specific games would be frozen or exhibit glitchy behavior after waking up
- Fixed a performance issue that could cause 100ms hitches during gameplay if adaptive backlight was enabled
- Fixed a graphics driver crash when interacting with the map in DEATH STRANDING DIRECTOR’S CUT
- Fixed issue with opening file managers if the gamescope session has been restarted
- Fixed GPU clock settings sometimes not sticking if set manually (thanks to user xperia64 for the amdgpu kernel patch backport)
- Fixed an issue with fan controller excessive sensor polling causing sporadic fan behavior and higher SSD temps on some NVME drives
- New firmware for Docking Station
- Fixes an issue where HDMI 2.0 displays are not detected during wake or boot up
Performance profiles
- New option to allow Screen Tearing: at the cost of sometimes displaying partial frames, allows for lower average latency when VSync is disabled and the frame limiter is off,
- Changed performance HUD level 2 to use a horizontal layout. It fits in the letterbox space for games running in a 16:9 aspect ratio.
Storage
- Re-enabled TRIM for the internal drive as well as supported external storage devices, improving write performance
- This includes a workaround ensuring that TRIM operations are safe for SD cards that advertise discard support but do not support it
- Steam will periodically TRIM storage devices as needed
- New button in Settings → System → Advanced to run trim immediately
- Added an eject option for removable drives in Settings → Storage
- This unmounts the removable drive, it does not physically eject it
- External drives formatted as ext4 are now automatically mounted and available for use in Steam
Input
- Disabled kernel DualShock 4 and DualSense trackpad → mouse emulation when Steam is running
- Changed timing of virtual keypresses to improve game compatibility with on-screen keyboard
- Fixes input issues with apps such as Street Fighter V, EA app
- Fixed Steam Input’s action set switching based on cursor visibility in Game mode
- Re-enabled the built-in hid-steam kernel gamepad driver when Steam is not running in desktop mode, and added rumble support to it
- Added support for the 8BitDo Ultimate Wireless controller dongle
- Fixed a USB crash when using certain controllers such as the Hori Fighting Stick
Audio
- Fixed a case where the default audio device would display “echo-cancel-sink” and audio controls would cease to work correctly
- Fixed a case where some applications would output audio to the wrong device
- Fixed an audio driver bug that could lead to on-board audio crackling in some situations
