Windows on Deck - 22H2 Audio Driver

[baldsealion]

Note that this is not a personal support issue with Windows, this is a driver incompatibility with the Operating System.

This is a post simply to make Valve aware that this problem exists.

Users discovered that the Valve-provided audio drivers do not work for Windows Insider Preview build of 22H2. Now the full release 22H2 is available and users are upgrading and still experiencing the same issue.

References:

https://www.reddit.com/r/WindowsOnDeck/comments/xjkexm/windows_11_22h2_released/

https://www.reddit.com/r/WindowsOnDeck/comments/wqxcax/has_anyone_installed_windows_11_22h2_how_does_it/


As a side note, the Valve-provided video drivers also have no capability of hardware encode/decode, which means streaming at this time within the Windows operating system on the deck is not working properly.

[Boblin the Goblin]

It's because Windows is not officially supported.

[THE DEATH]

They just don't care about windows. Same is from Win game devs for linux support.

[baldsealion]

Originally posted by KittenGrindr:

It's because Windows is not officially supported.

Fully aware of that.

However, Valve provided drivers for Windows, so hopefully they at least see this and consider upgrading drivers down the road.

[baldsealion]

Originally posted by THE DEATH:

They just don't care about windows. Same is from Win game devs for linux support.

If they didn't care they wouldn't have provided drivers in the first place, or put dual boot as a roadmap item. So, they must care a little.

[Balderick]

Have you tried finding hardware ID and go to audio chipset manufacturers website to download the required drivers?

If Steam Deck really is a PC you do not need to rely on Valve for drivers, imo. Unless of course Valve designed the chip and wrote the firmware for it too.

[baldsealion]

Originally posted by Balderick:

Have you tried finding hardware ID and go to audio chipset manufacturers website to download the required drivers?

If Steam Deck really is a PC you do not need to rely on Valve for drivers, imo. Unless of course Valve designed the chip and wrote the firmware for it too.

I haven't done that for this particular issue regarding the audio drivers. I agree, the vendors should provide the support, generally speaking. That being said, Valve has the existing drivers directly on their website and hosted there as well.

I will say that I have tried this for the video drivers. The video drivers are completely custom(and only obtainable from Valve's link) and AMD has blocked/not provided further updates for the video(not just in regards to not having a direct "Zen2 APU" driver, but rather they have specifically excluded from their installation modules), which also is tied to the audio drivers as well.

I have pretty extensively tested with the custom Amernime AMD drivers and discussed with their development team that it is just not possible for them to provide a custom driver for the Valve Zen2 APU because of AMD blocking/removing the content.

So technically, if vendor support and Valve support ceases to exist entirely, someone would have to reverse engineer the existing drivers and essentially rebuild the drivers, which is just not feasible without AMD's support in one way or another.

[Balderick]

Now that is interesting. Sounds more like a console than a PC to me lol

It is what it is,

thanks for sharing that info. Am sure updated drivers for win 11 will be incoming.

[Billy Big Balls]

Bump - this needs fixing ASAP. Will be returning my Steam Deck in the 14 day period if not.

[Balderick]

Windows 10 audio still works, so that is plan B before pulling the plug. Valve should have made it much clearer that all the software running on Steam Deck and in Steam runtime for adding Deck device support is really beta if not alpha software to consumers at point of sale before they purchase.


Helping Valve to make Deck, SteamOS and Steam better is very time consuming but a little patience and spending some time in sharing constructive criticism or feedback or bug reports can prove to be very rewarding.


Making ultimatums does not help you, Valve or other Deck users, but understand the frustration and pain you feel.

You are very fortunate to be in possession of a Steam Deck. Knowing all the software relating to Steam Deck is very high on Valve developers agenda is a good thing too. It will get better.

[Billy Big Balls]

Originally posted by Balderick:

Windows 10 audio still works, so that is plan B before pulling the plug. Valve should have made it much clearer that all the software running on Steam Deck and in Steam runtime for adding Deck device support is really beta if not alpha software to consumers at point of sale before they purchase.


Helping Valve to make Deck, SteamOS and Steam better is very time consuming but a little patience and spending some time in sharing constructive criticism or feedback or bug reports can prove to be very rewarding.


Making ultimatums does not help you, Valve or other Deck users, but understand the frustration and pain you feel.

You are very fortunate to be in possession of a Steam Deck. Knowing all the software relating to Steam Deck is very high on Valve developers agenda is a good thing too. It will get better.

I'm fortunate? I had to pay £349 for it lol they should be thanking me

[baldsealion]

Originally posted by Eden:

Bump - this needs fixing ASAP. Will be returning my Steam Deck in the 14 day period if not.

Ultimately that is your choice. There are workarounds for now, until Valve provides new drivers.

As already discussed, Windows is not Valve's top priority. That being said, they have provided 3 upgraded drivers for the video for Windows since launch of the Steamdeck, so they probably will continue to provide them. We just have to be patient and help them be aware of the problem.

[Billy Big Balls]

Originally posted by reject:

Originally posted by Eden:

Bump - this needs fixing ASAP. Will be returning my Steam Deck in the 14 day period if not.

Ultimately that is your choice. There are workarounds for now, until Valve provides new drivers.

As already discussed, Windows is not Valve's top priority. That being said, they have provided 3 upgraded drivers for the video for Windows since launch of the Steamdeck, so they probably will continue to provide them. We just have to be patient and help them be aware of the problem.

Switching back to Windows 10 isn't a "workaround", nor is downgrading to 21H2

[PureBusiness]

The Steam Deck audio drivers are published by a company called Free Software Foundation. - The drivers are open source. Reverse engineering them shouldn't be too difficult but your best bet is contacting the authors of the drivers via email.

Yal Lutwak <[e-mail]>
Jakob Nelson <[e-mail]>

you can see this information for yourself in the INF for the audio drivers.

Valve most likely won't bother providing future drivers for their niche propriety device. AFAIK Steam Deck is the only "computer" in the world that runs this particular APU. So Valve would either have to pay for AMD / NovusLabs to develop supported drivers for 22H2 or get the community to reverse engineer the drivers. Same for the GPU except they'd be paying AMD.

[baldsealion]

Originally posted by PureBusiness:

The Steam Deck audio drivers are published by a company called Free Software Foundation. - The drivers are open source. Reverse engineering them shouldn't be too difficult but your best bet is contacting the authors of the drivers via email.

Yal Lutwak <[e-mail]>
Jakob Nelson <[e-mail]>

you can see this information for yourself in the INF for the audio drivers.

Valve most likely won't bother providing future drivers for their niche propriety device. AFAIK Steam Deck is the only "computer" in the world that runs this particular APU. So Valve would either have to pay for AMD / NovusLabs to develop supported drivers for 22H2 or get the community to reverse engineer the drivers. Same for the GPU except they'd be paying AMD.

Thanks for the info. They have already provided updates in the past, so I would believe they will for the future. I believe it will just be a matter of time. The post was simply to let Valve know, but I'm pretty sure at this point they already do.

[ka]

Originally posted by Eden:

Bump - this needs fixing ASAP. Will be returning my Steam Deck in the 14 day period if not.

Please sell it on Ebay, you make a bit of money, make someone very happy, and don't clog Valve's logistics.