How to run Dark Souls 3 at 30FPS on Steam Deck (2025 WORKING FIX)

Want to run the game at 1920x1080p while docked or have a more battery efficient experience? Read this guide!

MANGOHUD now broken, but here's how to fix it.

So, as of a recent Steam deck update, they broke the way MANGOHUD functions. All we have to do is install a previous version of MANGOHUD. I found a reddit thread that will explain how to do this here.


If the konsole wants you to set a password that you haven't set yet, open the konsole and type in passwd then type in your password, hit enter and a new sudo password will be set!

A tip for using konsole to install a program, is right click in the MANGOHUD folder that you downloaded with the .sh install file, and open konsole in that file destination. It will save you a lot of headache when trying to run a powershell.

First off, why run this game at 30fps at all?

I'll tell you why. Since this game is locked at 60, running this game at a frame rate that's anywhere at or below 30 through normal means is a nightmare. There is serious input lag, and the game runs slower. Locking this game to a consistent 30 through a launch command with little or no input lag is a smart move on a lower spec device, such as the Steam Deck.

Can't I just use the built in frame limiter in the quick access menu?

While yes, you could you that, I find playing the game that way is unbearable. In a game like Dark Souls 3, frame data is everything. Playing with input lag and a slower running game will most likely get you killed. With this command, it'll be identical to playing the game on console when it first released. Stable 30, no input lag.

Launch option code for smooth 30 FPS.

Go into Dark Souls 3's game properties, then go to launch options. In the launch options, copy/paste or type this code:

MANGOHUD=1 MANGOHUD_CONFIG=fps_limit=30,no_display,fps_limit_method=early,vsync=2,full %command%

Note: I added the "no_display" part to the launch command in order to turn off the overlay. If you leave out "no_display", there will be a gigantic overlay on the left side of the screen with system info. If you want that for any reason, just omit the "no_display".

Take note, that the "30" in that command is the FPS limit. You can change it to whatever you desire. You can change the frame rate anytime you start the game by editing this number. This code should even work with multiple games on Steam Deck.


Thank you for reading, and I hope this helps in getting a consistent frame rate on Steam Deck!

Side note: Make sure your GPU clock isn't manually set super low in game mode, I went through a bunch of troubleshooting only to find out that my GPU clock was causing the trouble. Cheers!

[OneWhoCravesSouls]

@暗黒物質 No problem! Not enough people know about this considering hardly anyone wants to play a game at 30. I like playing at 30 for battery life and temps. Also to upscale the resolution when docked too! Very nice.

[暗黒物質]

Thank you. Temperature just dropped below 65 from 85°C and the battery life went up

[Dylan]

at last: bloodborne on pc

[OneWhoCravesSouls]

@Boyan

You *can* get used to the input lag, but it’s really best you don’t. I wouldn’t want anyone else playing with that input lag, that’s why I made the guide. Load times on an SD card are fine, but none of this is relevant to the guide. If you want more info on how the game runs, just go to protondb.

[Anri]

@OneWhoCravesSouls can you get used to the input lag with the frame limiter? And do you have the game installed on a sd card/eMMc or a ssd and how are the loading times. Since im planning to get the 64 gb model and pop a 1tb ssd

[OneWhoCravesSouls]

@Boyan

I don’t have anything to test input lag, but when I tried to use the quick access menu frame limiter, I’d say the input lag is around 0.5 sec/ 500ms. That’s more of a guess though. If you use the code, there shouldn’t be any input lag. I was able to complete the game docked at 30FPS and all my movement felt fluid. Screen tearing with and without the code, I saw no difference.

[Anri]

How bad is the input lag, like MS wise? Is there a difference when enabling tearing? Thx for the guide