Why no graphics settings on Steam Deck?

[Flavor McNubs]

On the PC version of the game, there are a number of graphics settings available to tweak but on Steam Deck there are only 2.

Why are settings being hidden on Steam Deck?

[Glitch]

Where is the setting hidden - I could not find it

[WvwR3AP3RwvW]

Wondering this myself. I've got black bars on the sides of the screen when outputting to a monitor

[DrNewcenstein]

I'm sure it's optimized for the device and its display. When casting to a monitor, the resolution is different, so the black bars maintain the aspect ratio.

Reducing the display settings so the grass disappears so you can find the trash in the yard easily is probably why you can't do it. It should be obvious as to why you can't increase the graphics settings.

[Flavor McNubs]

The specific setting that is missing is "Quality Level" which is pretty critical to balancing performance, quality and battery life.

I can think of no valid reason why this setting is missing on Steam deck.

[DrNewcenstein]

Originally posted by Flavor McNubs:

The specific setting that is missing is "Quality Level" which is pretty critical to balancing performance, quality and battery life.

I can think of no valid reason why this setting is missing on Steam deck.

Because it would reduce the draw distance of the grass, which is what eats up the most resources.

[Flavor McNubs]

Originally posted by DrNewcenstein:

Because it would reduce the draw distance of the grass, which is what eats up the most resources.

Grass Draw Distance is already in the Steamdeck version of the game and the lowest it can go is normal. In the desktop version I have Grass Draw Distance (which can be Normal, Far and Farthest) AND multiple Low to High graphics settings which likely impacts all the other graphics rendered on screen beyond grass.

Based on the options available on the desktop, this is not an issue of Grass Draw Distance being tightly mapped to graphics settings.

EDIT: To be super clear here, the setting that is missing from Steam deck is the "Quality Level" setting which is separate from Grass Draw Distance and can be changed independently on the desktop version.