Add an Return to Gaming mode option in the switch off menu.

[Cesar Sampedro]

Right now we have this shortcut at the desktop "Return to gaming mode" but will be great to add the same option in the proper Switch off menu in desktop mode, so I can select this one pressing the power button at the Deck.

[jrepin]

If you check the Command option on Application tab of the desktop shortcut it shows "qdbus org.kde.Shutdown /Shutdown org.kde.Shutdown.logout". So it looks like if you choose the Logout option from the switch-off menu it should do the same as the desktop shortcut.

[the shape is wedge-like]

In general, restarting from the desktop will tell SteamOS to do its full cycle, and will start in gaming mode. You might have noticed the switch to desktop is rather fast in contrast to returning to gaming mode. I don't know all the details, but booting the Deck means starting the entire OS from nothing, so that's the kernel, systemd, and the other services needed by the OS, before reaching the Gamescope microcompositor and the Deck UI. For its part, that's all very lightweight compared to the desktop mode. My presumption is that, whether you restart to "return" to gaming mode, the Deck is restarting to clear the entirely of KDE, Xorg and any other services from desktop mode, to allow gaming mode to have its maximum performance.

[GwynBleidD (GbdLin)]

As jrepin said, selecting the "Log out" does just that - puts you back in gaming mode.

Originally posted by WedgeStratos:

In general, restarting from the desktop will tell SteamOS to do its full cycle, and will start in gaming mode. You might have noticed the switch to desktop is rather fast in contrast to returning to gaming mode. I don't know all the details, but booting the Deck means starting the entire OS from nothing, so that's the kernel, systemd, and the other services needed by the OS, before reaching the Gamescope microcompositor and the Deck UI. For its part, that's all very lightweight compared to the desktop mode. My presumption is that, whether you restart to "return" to gaming mode, the Deck is restarting to clear the entirely of KDE, Xorg and any other services from desktop mode, to allow gaming mode to have its maximum performance.

It's not really a full cycle. Steam UI does some things in the background every time it starts, For example it checks if there are any pending updates to be applied. Same goes for the desktop steam client - it finishes launching way after KDE is fully loaded, even though it starts loading pretty much at the same time. When you see the Steam Deck logo after switching back to game mode, Gamescope is already loaded and this splash screen comes directly from the Deck UI. This is not the bootloader/OS splash screen.

[stebobibo]

I agree, this would be a super helpful feature.

[WarnerCK]

It's just a UI thing. The log off option is exactly the "return to game mode" option - that's exactly what the desktop shortcut does. If Valve amended the KDE shutdown/log off dialogue for their SteamOS distribution, that would make that clearer to non-technical users.