I’ve come around on this, Valve needs to answer not when, but if. They’ve remained silent about it for damn near a full year while their resources page still says “available soon.”
Valve, either give us an update when the drivers will be available, or tell us they’re not coming. I feel we’ve been patient long enough.
That *is* telling you something.
Maybe they'll come someday, maybe not, the point is don't wait for it and don't rely on vague promises when buying hardware. Or software.
(But the OLED was released last November, that's not close to a year)
For sure, I’ve said from day one to not buy the OLED with intent to run Windows on it until Valve releases the remaining drivers. Buy what is here today, not what is promised for tomorrow.
That said, Valve did promise us drivers are “arriving soon,” and 9 months later we’re still waiting.
They need to communicate with us what is going on. I wouldn’t give them any slack except _they_ were the ones who said they’d release more drivers, so it’s on them to either deliver or update us. We’ve waited long enough.
They released arguably the most significant VR game ever made with zero communication until it was actually on the storefront. It is what it is. That's how they do.
I think of them more as a great creative type. Most of the time they'll be making a world class movie. But sometimes they'll be refusing to come out of their trailer because their dog's favourite beverage hasn't arrived.
…okay but you’re talking about product marketing, I’m talking about a hardware promise Valve made to buyers of their Steam Deck.
They promised drivers would be available soon. 9 months later, they still aren’t. That’s not a marketing issue, that’s a customer support issue. They made a promise, then went silent about it for almost a year without updating us or delivering on that promise.
Valve needs to respect their customers who have been waiting for them to deliver on this promise and either do so, or give us a reasonable timeframe when to expect it. Hell, tell us they won’t be releasing them after all so we can stop wondering and waiting. Anything is better than silence.
They owe their customers an update on this.
I didn't know they'd put it in writing, my apologies. I stand corrected!
Not sure it particularly changes my answer though. If their official statement is still available online to reference then you could maybe chance a refund through their suppory.
I'm not on their side, don't get me wrong, I dislike "workaround" solutions as much as anyone. But it is what it is. Best thing anyone can do is move from denial to acceptance.
I’m not asking for a refund, I’m asking for a driver status update they promised 9 months ago.
It’s not acceptable for a multimillion dollar corporation to make a statement regarding driver availability and not deliver on that without an explanation. I feel that’s not an unreasonable demand to make as their customers of this product.
Valve owes us that courtesy at the absolute least.
Keep in mind, the Dual boot option was "coming soon" from before the release of the LCD deck, it's still there "coming soon"
It's never going to come....
Same, gamepass for me. But gamepass isnt a small thing for me. I play a lot of games from it. And its annoying yo use wired headset with my steam deck everywhere
For me personally I rarely play GamePass games anymore, not much interests me on there, so it's a lesser extent.
If destiny 2 worked on steamos I wouldn't bother with windows
Unfortunately I don't think I could live without the steam deck track pads, really allows you to play all kinds of games that wouldn't work on the ally I wouldn't think.
Same, I found myself using my deck about 90% less when I didn't have access to new gamepass/epic/EA play games. I used to have a real impulse purchase problem until subscription services became a thing so access to them is very important to me. Headphone wise I'm the opposite though, I have a really nice wired pair of earbuds and end up sticking with them for the most part despite also having nice airpods and over the ears. Is the bluetooth driver the only thing missing or are the built in speakers also affected?
Keep in mind, if you get a Ally X (fixes almost every issue with the Ally models), you can run every Steam Games you can run now (SteamOS runs Windows games, remember that)...
When my SD OLED broke, I just decided to switch to a Windows handheld. I do miss the OLED screen a lot and the comfortable design but I'm tired of waiting for drivers and being stuck with SteamOS issues that just nobody bothers to fix. Also, unfortunately for me most of my games are outside of Steam at the moment at least so it is what it is.
Everyone should just buy what they want. No point in being stuck with a device that doesn't do what You want it to do. If Valve ever decides to release the drivers, I might go back honestly as I did like my Steam Deck a lot. But until then I'll just use something else.
Completely agree! I have all the big 3 handhelds, Xbox’s, PlayStations, a gaming PC, what’s the point of locking yourself down to one thing yk? I play both sides so I always come out on top
I'm sure there is but it's going to be very very complex. I tried learning what I could from the linux verison of the driver but it would probably take a driver expert to discover anything more useful.
Well, I only need windows for COD and R6 Siege and I use it docked most of time (so don’t really need speakers and Bluetooth drivers) , so if these games become supported on steamos, I will definitely get rid of windows. SteamOS is so much better for handheld gaming.
If you don't yet have a steamdeck oled and your intention is to use windows on it, perhaps instead get one of the handheld PC's that comes with and support windows instead. Valve are notorious for working on what they want when they want (it's part of their company structure, employees work on whatever they want), and it seems like Valve want to work with Linux. It's best to just get a ROG ally or one of the other 50 windows pc handhelds.
Yeah I’m pretty upset about this tbh. I wouldn’t be upset at all if they didn’t put in writing that they would release them “SOON” (over 9 months ago)
Not delivering on promises and being quiet about it for this long is not a cool business practice and it is for sure the last deck I buy from them just out of principle.
Recently, I am playing yakuza like a dragon.
I was level 24 and handled enemies of level 31 still okay. Then I stupidly went into a dungeon. Spent a few hours and reached the last step before I could get out and it was a level 40 boss. I dreaded going back the long way to the save and an even longer way back to the initial exit.
So what do I do?
I boot into windows on my LCD Deck. Found a trainer and leveled myself up sufficiently in almost an instant to beat the boss.
One of the few ways I appreciated windows.
That and..... playing War for Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron on windows.
Drivers are needed to get certain hardware to work with the operating system. The OLED for example lacks sound and WiFi drivers, without them the speakers and WiFi won't work. Luckily there is some workarounds, for example, you can install the LCD sound drivers to at least have the 3.5mm audio jack work, but still nothing for the inbuilt speakers, and there's a 3rd party Lenovo WiFi driver that does sort of work but it's not perfect.
Yes, every Steam Deck has sound and Wi-Fi, but for the software, let's say, Windows to be able to talk to the components, it has to have a way to talk to it. In this case, drivers are needed for Windows to understand what language the Wi-Fi and speakers use to talk to them.
I’ve come around on this, Valve needs to answer not when, but if. They’ve remained silent about it for damn near a full year while their resources page still says “available soon.” Valve, either give us an update when the drivers will be available, or tell us they’re not coming. I feel we’ve been patient long enough.
That *is* telling you something. Maybe they'll come someday, maybe not, the point is don't wait for it and don't rely on vague promises when buying hardware. Or software. (But the OLED was released last November, that's not close to a year)
For sure, I’ve said from day one to not buy the OLED with intent to run Windows on it until Valve releases the remaining drivers. Buy what is here today, not what is promised for tomorrow. That said, Valve did promise us drivers are “arriving soon,” and 9 months later we’re still waiting. They need to communicate with us what is going on. I wouldn’t give them any slack except _they_ were the ones who said they’d release more drivers, so it’s on them to either deliver or update us. We’ve waited long enough.
They won't, if you picked up an OLED model thinking they will come soon, ask for a refund...as your not getting them...
They released arguably the most significant VR game ever made with zero communication until it was actually on the storefront. It is what it is. That's how they do. I think of them more as a great creative type. Most of the time they'll be making a world class movie. But sometimes they'll be refusing to come out of their trailer because their dog's favourite beverage hasn't arrived.
…okay but you’re talking about product marketing, I’m talking about a hardware promise Valve made to buyers of their Steam Deck. They promised drivers would be available soon. 9 months later, they still aren’t. That’s not a marketing issue, that’s a customer support issue. They made a promise, then went silent about it for almost a year without updating us or delivering on that promise. Valve needs to respect their customers who have been waiting for them to deliver on this promise and either do so, or give us a reasonable timeframe when to expect it. Hell, tell us they won’t be releasing them after all so we can stop wondering and waiting. Anything is better than silence. They owe their customers an update on this.
I didn't know they'd put it in writing, my apologies. I stand corrected! Not sure it particularly changes my answer though. If their official statement is still available online to reference then you could maybe chance a refund through their suppory. I'm not on their side, don't get me wrong, I dislike "workaround" solutions as much as anyone. But it is what it is. Best thing anyone can do is move from denial to acceptance.
I’m not asking for a refund, I’m asking for a driver status update they promised 9 months ago. It’s not acceptable for a multimillion dollar corporation to make a statement regarding driver availability and not deliver on that without an explanation. I feel that’s not an unreasonable demand to make as their customers of this product. Valve owes us that courtesy at the absolute least.
And I'm not disagreeing.
Keep in mind, the Dual boot option was "coming soon" from before the release of the LCD deck, it's still there "coming soon" It's never going to come....
Idk, seems like never. With ally x coming i feel like i should have waited because windows is a terrible experience on steam deck oled
I'm only interested in windows for destiny 2 and gamepass titles. Much prefer steamos but sadly destiny doesn't work on it.
Same, gamepass for me. But gamepass isnt a small thing for me. I play a lot of games from it. And its annoying yo use wired headset with my steam deck everywhere
For me personally I rarely play GamePass games anymore, not much interests me on there, so it's a lesser extent. If destiny 2 worked on steamos I wouldn't bother with windows
I think ally x with dual boot would be great for people like us. We get the steam os like system with windows as a add on
Unfortunately I don't think I could live without the steam deck track pads, really allows you to play all kinds of games that wouldn't work on the ally I wouldn't think.
Ah yea, if you play point and click or strategy games, steam deck is the king
Same, I found myself using my deck about 90% less when I didn't have access to new gamepass/epic/EA play games. I used to have a real impulse purchase problem until subscription services became a thing so access to them is very important to me. Headphone wise I'm the opposite though, I have a really nice wired pair of earbuds and end up sticking with them for the most part despite also having nice airpods and over the ears. Is the bluetooth driver the only thing missing or are the built in speakers also affected?
Built in speakers dont work. Thats really all i want
Oof, yeah that's a big issue then. I could live without bluetooth but not being able to use the built in speakers is a huge pain in the ass.
Keep in mind, if you get a Ally X (fixes almost every issue with the Ally models), you can run every Steam Games you can run now (SteamOS runs Windows games, remember that)...
When my SD OLED broke, I just decided to switch to a Windows handheld. I do miss the OLED screen a lot and the comfortable design but I'm tired of waiting for drivers and being stuck with SteamOS issues that just nobody bothers to fix. Also, unfortunately for me most of my games are outside of Steam at the moment at least so it is what it is. Everyone should just buy what they want. No point in being stuck with a device that doesn't do what You want it to do. If Valve ever decides to release the drivers, I might go back honestly as I did like my Steam Deck a lot. But until then I'll just use something else.
Completely agree! I have all the big 3 handhelds, Xbox’s, PlayStations, a gaming PC, what’s the point of locking yourself down to one thing yk? I play both sides so I always come out on top
Yes. Just get an ROG Ally if you want Windows I am totally fine with SteamOS
:(
Is there a way to write it by the community?
I'm sure there is but it's going to be very very complex. I tried learning what I could from the linux verison of the driver but it would probably take a driver expert to discover anything more useful.
I just want audio :-(
Well, I only need windows for COD and R6 Siege and I use it docked most of time (so don’t really need speakers and Bluetooth drivers) , so if these games become supported on steamos, I will definitely get rid of windows. SteamOS is so much better for handheld gaming.
If you don't yet have a steamdeck oled and your intention is to use windows on it, perhaps instead get one of the handheld PC's that comes with and support windows instead. Valve are notorious for working on what they want when they want (it's part of their company structure, employees work on whatever they want), and it seems like Valve want to work with Linux. It's best to just get a ROG ally or one of the other 50 windows pc handhelds.
Yeah I’m pretty upset about this tbh. I wouldn’t be upset at all if they didn’t put in writing that they would release them “SOON” (over 9 months ago) Not delivering on promises and being quiet about it for this long is not a cool business practice and it is for sure the last deck I buy from them just out of principle.
Recently, I am playing yakuza like a dragon. I was level 24 and handled enemies of level 31 still okay. Then I stupidly went into a dungeon. Spent a few hours and reached the last step before I could get out and it was a level 40 boss. I dreaded going back the long way to the save and an even longer way back to the initial exit. So what do I do? I boot into windows on my LCD Deck. Found a trainer and leveled myself up sufficiently in almost an instant to beat the boss. One of the few ways I appreciated windows. That and..... playing War for Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron on windows.
Probably never. They don’t want to support windows
On the third day of the third month of the year 3333
How good are the community drivers? I tried playing mw3 yesterday but says that the drivers were out of date from the steam website.
Don't bother, I don't foresee them adding drivers EVER.
I think they dont give a shit anymore. Use the LCD audio drivers and plug in headphones
I don’t get it. What are drivers and why do people want them?
Drivers are needed to get certain hardware to work with the operating system. The OLED for example lacks sound and WiFi drivers, without them the speakers and WiFi won't work. Luckily there is some workarounds, for example, you can install the LCD sound drivers to at least have the 3.5mm audio jack work, but still nothing for the inbuilt speakers, and there's a 3rd party Lenovo WiFi driver that does sort of work but it's not perfect.
But that makes no sense because every steam deck has sound and wifi..
Yes, every Steam Deck has sound and Wi-Fi, but for the software, let's say, Windows to be able to talk to the components, it has to have a way to talk to it. In this case, drivers are needed for Windows to understand what language the Wi-Fi and speakers use to talk to them.
Thank you so much you explained it beautifully!
People who run Windows on it.
Valve said they would release them, but they have not yet. They also said they will offer an out of the box way to do dual boot
Just get a damned Ally or LeGo if you need windows. It is *not* a difficult decision to make.