How to Record Steam Deck Game Play Directly From the Steam Deck?

[ZombieKidzRule!]

So, I am hoping someone here has figured this out or can perhaps point me to a good tutorial or video on how to do this.

I have searched and everything that I have found isn't directly relevant for what I want to do.

First, let me explain how this works on the OneXPlayer Mini AMD handheld that I have been using for a few months now. The OneXPlayer uses Windows. It takes a bit of experimenting, but essentially, it works like this:

1. Open OBS (downloaded from their site).
2. Set to Display Capture.
3. Start recording while in the Desktop.
4. Click on the Steam Icon (Steam is already running in the background and I am on my Library page).
5. Launch the Steam game and play.
6. Exit the Steam game when ready.
7. Press a single button and drop back to the desktop (takes less than a second and Steam is still open and running in the background so you can toggle back and forth rapidly between Steam and the desktop).
8. Go back to OBS and stop recording.
9. Video of the Steam game play is available for viewing.
10. The OBS recording captures from when you start the recording in OBS until you stop it.

Now that I have my Steam Deck, I tried doing something similar, but it didn't work.

I downloaded the OBS app through the Linux "store" or whatever you want to call it. I'm not trying to run OBS through Steam because I couldn't figure out how to do that, even on the OneXPlayer.

I managed to start the OBS recording, but when I try to go back to Steam to play a game, it shuts OBS down.

Also, it takes quite a bit of time to switch from the Linux desktop back to Steam on the Steam Deck. I have never used Linux before.

So I am trying to find a way where I can easily record a video of Steam Deck game play without using another computer, another monitor, anything external, etc.

I just want to be able to start a recording, play a game, and stop the recording...all on the Steam Deck. So I can do it from anywhere. Like I can with the OneXPlayer.

Nothing I have found so far seems to show how to do this.

Can anyone provide any help?

Thanks in advance!

[Reverse Module]

OBS is native to Linux, all App Store apps are. It won't work on Gaming Mode cause of the compositor being used by gaming mode. Should be fine on Desktop mode though. You can just launch any game on the Desktop.

[ZombieKidzRule!]

Ah, thanks for that suggestion! I was thinking I had to go back to the gaming mode, but now that you say that, I don't know why I was thinking that.

I will try both running Steam outside of gaming mode and also just launching the game from the desktop and see what happens.

Thanks for the quick response!

[Reverse Module]

No worries, if you need any more help let me know. :)

[zenstrata]

Here is a video that goes over the details for using the Steam Deck as a streaming pc a through OBS Studio (in this video he is hooking up a console to his steam deck and using the steam deck to stream gameplay from the console.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivZiohqNnp0

This one seems pretty useful too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKp6_3rK_c4
I hope that helps!

[ZombieKidzRule!]

Thanks for these responses!

I still can’t figure out how to get OBS to record my game play.

Unlike on the Windows version on my laptop and OneXPlayer, the Linux version doesn’t seem to have an option for game or display. I can get OBS to record my desktop, but when I start the game, OBS continues to record the desktop instead of the game window.

I will keep messing around with it.

If anyone has any other suggestions, please share.

Thanks!

[Reverse Module]

It should have a Screen Capture. Game Capture is installable but it won't work well oin the Deck for the moment. I recommend Screen Capture until/if they update to Wayland on the Desktop.

[ZombieKidzRule!]

Originally posted by QushAes:

It should have a Screen Capture. Game Capture is installable but it won't work well oin the Deck for the moment. I recommend Screen Capture until/if they update to Wayland on the Desktop.

Thank you so much for your help! There are two Screen Capture options and one seems to work and one doesn’t.

But I got it to work! I made a video of how to do it and posted it on my YouTube channel in the hope that it helps someone else who is searching for an option.

Thanks again!

I think this is a link to the video that I made and posted to hopefully help anyone else trying to do this.

https://youtu.be/HnaT9f-blWI

[ZombieKidzRule!]

Well, with more experimentation, this isn't really a good, consistent solution. I have played 3 games now in Gaming Mode and the experience is definitely different from launching the game from the desktop.

Further, just tested a game that seemed to play fine when in Gaming Mode, but when I launched the game from the desktop, the screen wasn't centered. That made it so I couldn't actually start the game from the initial menu because I couldn't see the options. I had to hard reboot the Steam Deck to get out of the game.

I haven't had any luck with recording game play on the Steam Deck using an external camera linked to my laptop either. The Steam Deck screen is too blurry to really see.

Maybe the previous mentioned solution will work for some games, but I have been trying all weekend to record videos of three games and I can't get a recording of any of them when using OBS and launching the game from the desktop.

Hopefully, maybe Valve will come up with a native solution for recording game play from Gaming Mode on the Steam Deck.

Something that doesn't require buying additional hardware.

[amazingbetagamer]

Thanks zombiekidzrule! I was gonna hold off buying a elegato external capture card and try this method. Steam deck is a game changer for sure. Valve did a great job with the open source Linux os.

[ZombieKidzRule!]

If you find something that works and isn't too complicated or expensive, please let me know. I occasionally look for solutions. One thing I might do is test a game in gaming mode and if it works, then try to record a video from desktop mode, assuming it plays the same and I don't need the Magnifier.

But that isn't optimal either.

[Bingo Wisnewski]

Treaslin screen capture box, $70ish on Amazon. Haven’t tried it yet, includes 32 gig Thumb drive to record to. I have a Black Magic Design Hyperdeck Shuttle that would work but records raw footage to an SSD so mega OVERKILL