Try New Technology

Every so often my son will come get me because he is now in “survival mode” in Minecraft (Java Edition) and he doesn’t like that. I can never remember how to fix this, so below is the very quick and simple answer:

F3 + F4

That will allow you to select from the 4 different kinds of game modes (Survival, Creative, Adventure, and Spectator)

I was able to get The Thaumaturge October 2023 Steam Next Fest working pretty quickly, even though it was throwing “Microsoft Visual C++ runtime” errors at launch on Manjaro KDE Linux.

• Install The Thaumaturge Demo from Steam
• Install protontricks
• Install ProntonUp-Qt
• Launch Protontricks: “Select the default wineprefix” and click OK
• Select “Install a Windows DLL or component” and click OK
• Selected and install “vcrun2022”
• Then you will also want to select and install “mspatcha”
• Close Protontricks
• Launch ProtonUp-Qt: Install for “Steam” and then click “Add version” to installed “GE-Proton8-16”
• Close ProtonUp-Qt
• Within Steam, Rick-click on “The Thaumaturge Demo” and select “Properties…”
• Click on Compatibility > check “Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool” and then select “GE-Proton8-16” from the list
• Close the Properties window”
• Play The Thaumaturge Demo

NOTE: Some of the tutorial video that come up will display fine, but then when they repeats it has an issue; this doesn’t impact game play.

While working to setup the Steam Deck as a device to game stream (via Steam Remote Play) from my desktop to the living room TV I couldn’t get the Xbox One (wireless) or Steam Controllers to pair to the Steam Deck. Lots of searching online finally pointed to the fact that both of them needed to have their firmware updated before they would pair correctly. Below are details and solutions:

Xbox One Controller:

• Issue: After you selected the controller on the Steam Deck for it to pair, the Steam Deck would show it was paired while the controller still blinked like it was waiting to pair.
• Fix: Update the firmware via the Xbox Accessories App (Microsoft/Window Store). Once you open the app and plugin the controller it will ask to update.
• URL: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1675200/discussions/1/3186865169882157042/

Steam Controller:

• Issue: It would never show up on the Steam Deck even when put into pairing mode.
• Fix: Update the firmware via the Steam. Open Steam then go to Settings > Controller > General Controller Settings, if the controller is plugged in it will show up near the bottom and you can click on it which will then sow a “Bluetooth FW” button to do the update.
• URL: https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/1796-5FC3-88B3-C85F#how

Posting this here since when I search for “Minecraft save location” online I tend to get told the file is at another location, which is incorrect. Below is the location to the saves on my machine:

~/.var/app/com.mojang.Minecraft/.minecraft/saves/

Grim Dawn (w/ all DL)C, I was seeing some screen tearing in the upper 1/8 of the screen and the background seemed to stutter even though FPS was solid. The following changes were needed on my setup to resolve this. Posting here and on ProtonDB – Game Details for Grim Dawn in hopes this helps someone else.

Changed desktop from 60Ghz to 120Hz (monitor can do 144Hz)
Edit the games options.txt file at “~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/219990/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/Documents/My Games/Grim Dawn/Settings/“:

UPnPEnable = false
forceSingleProcessorMode = false
maxResourceThreads = 8

NOTE: maxResourceThreads should be equal to the number of cores (not threads) the CPU has; default is 1.

Steam Properties >
Launch Options: Play Grim Dawn (x64)
Advanced: RADV_PERFTEST=aco gamemoderun %command%

Compatibility > Force to Using GE-Proton7-55

NOTE: Many have reported random black screen issues unless using “RADV_PERFTEST=aco”

In game I have everything cranked up to max and all options in video turned on (including VSYNC) and Refresh set to 120Hz also.