How to start the service?

[grofie]

I finally got my steam deck send to me today and wanted to build my own game on it.

As the Steam Deck FAQ states, this should not be a problem (https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/steamdeck/faq#1):

Can you use a retail Steam Deck as a dev-kit?

Yes - there's nothing special about the dev-kits, no special hardware or software that makes them easier to develop for. You can use the same tools and testing methods with a retail unit that you can with a dev-kit.

Unfortunately I cannot get it connected. I enabled develop mode on the device and installed the Devkit services. But how do I start the service? Launching the service as a game will end the program immediately. Even after a restart, the service does not seams to be running, at least nothing shows up in the Devkit Management Tool and I cannot connect over IP.

Any ideas on how to start a service on a steam deck?

[p53]

Having the same problem. On the deck In the developer section there is a "pair new host" button. I would assume it starts the DevKit server. However, I don't manage to connect the client to it...

[CodeMonkey]

So you can launch SteamOS Devkit Client on your PC, and connect to the steam deck on the same network...

[grofie]

Seems to just work now after some updates

[p53]

Still doesn't work for me. I start pairing on deck, then try to connect on PC (Linux) with deck's IP and port 32000. Log tells me that service is not running on deck. Anything I am missing?

[Nocturne]

I had the same things going on but got around it tonight. Here's what I did, specifically (and nothing else)
- Factory Reset Steam Deck
- On restart, Log in to Network
- Log into Steam Account on Steam Deck
- Settings -> System -> Check for Updates
- Apply updates
- Settings -> System -> Check for Updates
- No Updates needed
- Settings -> System -> Enable Developer Mode
- Settings -> Developer -> Pair New Host
- _On Dev PC_ : Start the SteamOS DevKit Client
- Connect via IP
- Accept pair request on Steam Deck.

Hope this helps.

[Nocturne]

@p53 the service should be running automatically when in developer mode, what are you seeing in the log?

[p53]

Client log:

Connecting to Deck by IP 192.168.178.70 and port 32000
Unable to connect to devkit on that address. Check the devkit is running: <urlopen error [Errno 111] Connection refused>
socket.connect_ex errno: 111
Port 32000 on host 192.168.178.70 is unreachable.
Port 22 on host 192.168.178.70 is open.

Port 22 is open because I activated ssh but it also has not worked before. Port 32000 is not listening when pairing is started. Is there any way this can be configured on the deck?

[Smaxx]

I'm pretty sure that port should be open once dev mode is enabled.

[Nocturne]

Yeah I could not pair my deck at all until i did the clean reset and start again. Saw exactly the same thing in the log, did the above and g2g.

[p53]

After updating the OS and steam to the latest beta it is working fine now.

[zkarmakun]

Originally posted by p53:

After updating the OS and steam to the latest beta it is working fine now.

Hmmm I managed to start the connection, but the deploy does not want to work, this is what I am getting, some pragmatic python error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\Windows\System32\builds\Seqdqh1D\0\devkit\steamos-devkit-internal\client\devkit_client\gui2\gui2.py", line 924, in draw
File "C:\Python310\lib\concurrent\futures\_base.py", line 451, in result
File "C:\Python310\lib\concurrent\futures\_base.py", line 403, in __get_result
File "C:\Python310\lib\concurrent\futures\thread.py", line 58, in run
File "C:\Windows\System32\builds\Seqdqh1D\0\devkit\steamos-devkit-internal\client\devkit_client\gui2\gui2.py", line 198, in _update_game
File "C:\Windows\System32\builds\Seqdqh1D\0\devkit\steamos-devkit-internal\client\devkit_client\__init__.py", line 1143, in new_or_ensure_game
Exception: start command is empty / missing!

[Smaxx]

Haven't tried it recently, but as a non-devkit dev, you can basically cut down the whole log and only look at the last line:

Exception: start command is empty / missing!

I.e. did you fill out all the fields properly? Or is that while starting?

[zkarmakun]

Originally posted by Smaxx:

Haven't tried it recently, but as a non-dev, you can basically cut down the whole log and only look at the last time:

Exception: start command is empty / missing!

I.e. did you fill out all the fields properly? Or is that while starting?

Yeah it is just at the end, it seems like is uploading all files correctly but that is all. I got a new update for the steam deck just today, but still the same

[Smaxx]

Just tried, works fine for me. Did you fill out "start command" with your executable name (no path)?