Playing Hytale on the Steam Deck takes some classic PC spannering, but the effort is rewarded

No Steam version, nary controller support, nary problem

Right up until its aboriginal entree release, Hytale’s chances of Steam Deck-enabled portability were anyone’s guess. Even the blocky sandbox’s developers Hypixel seemed unsure, announcing a SteamOS-friendly autochthonal Linux mentation (good!) but forgoing an existent Steam merchandise (less good!) and informing Deck owners of Hytale’s absent controller enactment (definitely not good!).

However, arsenic chap cube enthusiast Minecraft would know, the Steam Deck doesn’t ever fto thing similar an evident deficiency of basal functionality support it down. The instrumentality itself provides each the tools you request to get Hytale up, running, and playable, and portion the process is hardly a one-click install, the effect of your toils is simply a crippled that Valve’s handheld PC tin happily support going for hours.

Optimised settings are down below, but first, let’s tally done the setup process (guide-ified successful much item here). After descending into the Steam Deck’s Desktop Mode, tract of galore an installation bodge job, you’ll request to drawback the Linux Flatpak from Hytale’s website and unwrap it here. After adding the Hytale Launcher to Steam arsenic a non-Steam crippled and signing successful (do this from Desktop Mode, it doesn’t enactment successful Gaming Mode), you should beryllium capable get it moving – earlier instantly hitting the partition of omitted controller support.

Luckily, Steam users bash what Hypixel don’t. Hit the Steam button, caput into Controller settings, and swap the default fastener layout for cshjp’s Hytale configuration successful the Community layouts section. This remaps the Deck’s inputs to amended replicate the keyboard and rodent controls that Hytale does recognise, and though you’ll inactive spot keybind prompts connected in-game actions, it doesn’t instrumentality agelong to mentally construe F cardinal glyphs into X fastener presses.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun

This config besides lets you navigate menus and the inventory surface with a mousey cursor by thumbing the close trackpad, portion the R2 and L2 triggers service arsenic left-click and right-click respectively. Perfect for heading into the Video settings paper and making immoderate tweaks, astir urgently to alteration Fullscreen mode truthful Hytale tin afloat capable retired the Steam Deck’s 1280x800 display.

That’s a batch of preamble, to beryllium sure, though it’s preferable to Hytale not moving connected the Steam Deck astatine each – and is obscurity adjacent the level of faff that Minecraft needs to scope the aforesaid point. Besides, erstwhile the tinkering is complete, determination are nary much nasty surprises waiting successful ambush. Multiplayer, for example, works fine, Hytale’s manual server-joining strategy evidently having nary anti-cheat issues with SteamOS. It’s besides comparatively casual connected artillery life, draining my archetypal LCD exemplary from afloat to bare successful 2h 47m. It could astir apt bash longer, too, if you’re truly judicious astir your powerfulness settings; I near everything connected default but for keeping surface brightness and talker measurement astatine 50%.

Hytale besides runs good capable connected the Steam Deck’s tiny, progressively aged APU. On the automatically selected Medium prime preset, 60fps was the norm, though determination were rather harsh dips erstwhile loading into a satellite oregon venturing deeper into its square-built wilds. I fishy it’s not large astatine handling the loading process for caller terrain chunks. These drops tin beryllium smoothed out, though, by lowering the presumption region (more connected this below).

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun

There are 2 drawbacks of a much superior kind, the astir communal downer being the utterly miniscule substance size for point descriptions and tooltips. Not the worst happening connected a deskop monitor, but connected a 7-inch handheld, amended acceptable the Steam + L1 buttons for the magnifying tool. Know besides that astatine slightest connected this standalone launcher – the eventual Steam mentation whitethorn beryllium antithetic – determination are nary unreality oregon account-linked saves, truthful if you mean to play Hytale connected some a Steam Deck and your main desktop, your singleplayer worlds volition beryllium chiseled to each.

That’s unfortunate, and does lend to a feeling that Hytale’s Steam Deck viability is owed to the flexibility of the system, arsenic opposed to Hytale itself. It’s a bully advert, successful particular, for SteamOS’ built-in sharing of customized controller schemes. Still, the deficiency of unreality saves isn’t thing that’s breached oregon a bug – they simply weren’t implemented, careless of the hardware. Everything present that should work, can work, provided immoderate elbow grease is enactment into mounting everything up.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun

Hytale: Steam Deck settings guide

Hytale’s lone show blemishes worthy addressing are those occasional FPS troughs erstwhile navigating into freshly-loaded representation chunks. My investigating frankincense acold suggests that wholly eliminating these isn’t truly possible, and much zealous attempts astatine doing truthful tin effect successful Hytale looking unnecessarily disfigured oregon blurry.

These recommended settings truthful thin towards the higher extremity of the prime spectrum, with the objection of presumption distance, which was easy the astir effectual astatine reducing some the severity and regularity of framerate dips. I ended up mounting it to 288 blocks: higher than the Low preset, little than Medium, but maintaining overmuch of Low’s velocity vantage arsenic good arsenic landing person to Medium connected ocular quality.

In short, effort these:

• Fullscreen: On
• Graphics preset: Custom
• View distance: 288
• Render scale: 100
• World details: High
• Anti-aliasing: Low (FXAA)
• Shadow quality: High
• Particle quality: High
• Shading quality: High
• Bloom: High
• Sun shafts: On
• Foliage fading: On
• Depth buffer precision: On

On my LCD Deck, which is efficaciously capped astatine showing 60fps owed to its 60Hz screen, I inactive got that maximum framerate astir of the clip with these settings; acknowledgment to the presumption region reduction, they tally a small much smoothly than the Medium preset does as-is, adjacent with astir of the different idiosyncratic settings bumped up to High. On a Steam Deck OLED, with its quicker 90Hz display, I besides saw framerates typically betwixt 80-90fps. Behold, the powerfulness of being conscionable somewhat shortsighted.

I ideate I’ll request to instrumentality to Hytale investigating successful the future, perchance arsenic it gains stableness improvements passim its aboriginal entree development, oregon it gains a due Steam version. Ideally, both. For now, though, the Steam Deck is much of a viable destination for the aboriginal entree physique than you mightiness deliberation – adjacent if you request to resistance it determination yourself.