steam deck: let us mute individual games using the per-game profile

[Predatortoast707]

so i have a game where the sound is bugged and sometimes gives me actual hearing damage when it suddenly blares in my face. it would be great to have the ability to mute individual games so i can listen to something else (like the soundtrack for said game) while not muting the device entirely. (also there is no way to mute it ingame)

[Mahjik]

If the game doesn't support it, I'm not sure Valve can do much.

[deaddoof]

Originally posted by Mahjik:

If the game doesn't support it, I'm not sure Valve can do much.

Valve can expose pipewire controls. Pipewire can mute entire games. Pipewire cannot separate in game sounds such as sound effects, takling etc.

Many games sell their sound tracks on the side.

Op can mute the entire game and play the sound track separately.

Like I said, the OP feature request is quite lacking in details. What game has this issue etc?

[Predatortoast707]

Originally posted by deaddoof:

Originally posted by Mahjik:

If the game doesn't support it, I'm not sure Valve can do much.

Valve can expose pipewire controls. Pipewire can mute entire games. Pipewire cannot separate in game sounds such as sound effects, takling etc.

Many games sell their sound tracks on the side.

Op can mute the entire game and play the sound track separately.

Like I said, the OP feature request is quite lacking in details. What game has this issue etc?

workers and resources: soviet republic. the game has an option to mute the game but it is bugged on linux and causes it to blare unexpectedly in my face from seemingly random triggers. i'm just asking for a sound tab where we can control individually how much sound comes out, a bit like windows.

[deaddoof]

Originally posted by predatortoast707:

Originally posted by deaddoof:

Valve can expose pipewire controls. Pipewire can mute entire games. Pipewire cannot separate in game sounds such as sound effects, takling etc.

Many games sell their sound tracks on the side.

Op can mute the entire game and play the sound track separately.

Like I said, the OP feature request is quite lacking in details. What game has this issue etc?

workers and resources: soviet republic. the game has an option to mute the game but it is bugged on linux and causes it to blare unexpectedly in my face from seemingly random triggers. i'm just asking for a sound tab where we can control individually how much sound comes out, a bit like windows.

You just want a slider for the whole application.
The functionality is pretty much standard on Linux these days.

https://flathub.org/apps/org.pulseaudio.pavucontrol

This works for pulseaudio but I do not know whether Valve install the proper packages for Steam Deck.

Pipewire also has the ability too. It just not exposed in Steam OS. The worst case scenario is to figure out through command line.

I do not know how to workaround it because per application controls is standard in almost every Linux desktop too. I never had to do the less straight forward way. Steam OS game mode is pretty much the odd one out.

[Mahjik]

Try running it from Desktop Mode. Pull up the sound settings and you should be able to mute just the game. You won't have that control in Game Mode.

[Predatortoast707]

Originally posted by Mahjik:

Try running it from Desktop Mode. Pull up the sound settings and you should be able to mute just the game. You won't have that control in Game Mode.

is there like a "windows" key that brings up the interface in fullscreen game mode?

[deaddoof]

Originally posted by Mahjik:

Try running it from Desktop Mode. Pull up the sound settings and you should be able to mute just the game. You won't have that control in Game Mode.

The problem is that game mode is technically a different DE. Changes may not carry over. The GUI will need to be open in game mode.

[Mahjik]

Originally posted by predatortoast707:

Originally posted by Mahjik:

Try running it from Desktop Mode. Pull up the sound settings and you should be able to mute just the game. You won't have that control in Game Mode.

is there like a "windows" key that brings up the interface in fullscreen game mode?

I did a quick test on this.

If the game is running fullscreen, use ALT-TAB to go to "Steam". It will bring Steam to the front but you'll have the Task Bar at the bottom. Right Click on the Sound Icon just like you would in Windows and open up the properties. You'll see a section called "Playback Streams".

In the "Playback Streams", your game will be there but it might not be named your game name. It will be named the thing that is playing the sound. For example, if the game uses FMOD or it's sound processing, the stream will be named "FMOD-something". You can move the sound from 100 down to 0.

[Mahjik]

Originally posted by deaddoof:

Originally posted by Mahjik:

Try running it from Desktop Mode. Pull up the sound settings and you should be able to mute just the game. You won't have that control in Game Mode.

The problem is that game mode is technically a different DE. Changes may not carry over. The GUI will need to be open in game mode.

You aren't providing anything that I don't know.

[deaddoof]

Originally posted by Mahjik:

Originally posted by deaddoof:

The problem is that game mode is technically a different DE. Changes may not carry over. The GUI will need to be open in game mode.

You aren't providing anything that I don't know.

Not you. It's for the OP.

[Hellraiser]

If you have Decky installed, there is a volume mixer plugin that can do this.

[Predatortoast707]

i know but i really wish it was official

[Hellraiser]

Yeah, it really should be.

But hey, we were only recently saying that about game recording, and now it is official.
I don't see any reason this can't become so in the future.