Steam Deck OLED issues

[xarph]

I've noticed this problem on my Steam Deck OLED: when starting the game, it runs at 45fps regardless of what the screen refresh is set to (I have it default to 60). This introduces a few frames of input lag and makes tetris hard to play.

A workaround is to go into the quick access menu, change the refresh to any value, then set the refresh back to 60. Everything then works fine, but it must be done on every launch.

I suspect this is because proton on the steam deck oled presents the monitor as 90hz regardless of what the refresh actually is, so the vsync in tetris forever gets confused when its frames get held at 60 and it cuts it in half to 45.

Interestingly this is the first gold master title that seems to have this problem.

Hopefully some video settings can be added so we can set vsync on or off and let gamescope and proton handle it.

[xarph]

Since this was posted and held for moderation, the patch that came out today possibly fixed it.

[DanAmrich_DE]

Thanks for this report -- will surface to the team and see if they have any ideas.

[xarph]

Sadly I can report the issue does continue with the latest patch. I think a toggle to turn off vsync may help based on other titles that have exhibited this problem.

[DanAmrich_DE]

Originally posted by xarph:

Sadly I can report the issue does continue with the latest patch. I think a toggle to turn off vsync may help based on other titles that have exhibited this problem.

We think today's update may have addressed this issue. Could you give it a test and report back? It's appreciated!

[xarph]

Short version: it's much better; the input lag is gone if you leave the deck at default settings.

Long version: if you launch the game with default deck oled settings (90hz) it now renders at 60fps instead of 45. This isn't strictly ideal because now every third frame is duplicated, but you have to be a weirdo like me to notice, and most importantly the input lag is gone.
If you have the deck default to 60hz like I do for battery life and "old games just work better" reasons like me, it does unfortunately still start up at 45fps and stay there until you change the refresh rate to something other than 60 and then set it back to 60. Alternately you can disable the frame rate limiter altogether in quick settings and you get the "60-in-90" presentation outlined above.
I don't know how much of this is on DE's side vs Valve's side, but I'm happy with the situation now since it no longer drops inputs.