Playing on the Steam Deck

ever wanted to destroy noobs on a McDonalds Wifi? then this guide is for you, it includes the necessary software and controller configs to get your game running on the Gabe Gear, can also help you get the game running on a linux desktop if you are getting synch errors in multiplayer

Getting started

first of all you will need to select a proton version for the game, while CoH 2 has a functional linux version, its practically worthless for multiplayer, since it will only pair you with other linux users, good luck with that

in my experience any version of proton from proton 8 and after will suffice to run the game, remember you need to leave some extra free space in your hard drive for compatibility files and shaders, these will download after you boot up the game for the first time

Synch Error Fix

after you've downloaded the game and setup the proton version you will face the next roadblock, multiplayer is literally unplayable, within the first 5 minutes of a match you will invariably receive a Synch Error message and you will be disconnected from the match

to fix this you will need to do the following:

0 - You may want to disable cloud-sync for CoH2 on steam as it can cause issues.

1 - Download vc_redist.x64.exe at ✅https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=48145 from the microsoft website. Note that another link, namely ❌https://aka.ms/vs/16/release/vc_redist.x64.exe DOES NOT WORK, as it is missing the required DLL

2 - make separate directory to extract vc_redist.x64.exe to. E.g. mkdir /tmp/vcredist && cp /PATH/TO/DOWNLOAD/vc_redist.x64.exe /tmp/vcredist/vc_redist.x64.exe.

3 - cd to the download directory and extract vc_redist.x64.exe using cabextract to the directory you chose as such: cabextract vc_redist.x64.exe -d /tmp/vcredist. If this did not result in ucrtbase.dll being extracted, use cabextract again to extract a10 specifically.

4 - Copy or move ONLY ucrtbase.dll to ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/231430/pfx/drive_c/windows/system32/ (cp /tmp/vcredist/ucrtbase.dll ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/231430/pfx/drive_c/windows/system32/) . May require sudo privileges.

you can keep a copy of the extracted ucrtbase.dll in case you have to reinstall the game, once extracted you can reuse as many times as you like

also you if you want you can just manually copy and paste the ucrtbase.dll to the CoH 2 compat file directory, you dont need to use the "cp" command, thats optional

if you want more in depth instructions, check this guide:

https://gist.github.com/jrbergen/0ce746676c4fbcc2becd6054d1bba2ed

Controller Config

right now you could just plug in a USB hub, a mouse and keyboard and go to town, but if you want a truly portable experience, check my controller config for the Steam Deck, all you need to do is disable classic hotkeys ingame



and open this link on your Steam Deck, the config will be set automatically

steam://controllerconfig/231430/3551829464

its a bit complex but it truly gives you quick access to all important functions ingame, ive even won a couple of online matches using it

The Basics:

RIGHT TOUCHPAD is your mouse, you control the cursor with it, RIGHT TRIGGER works as you left mouse click and LEFT TRIGGER as your right mouse click, you can also PRESS the RIGHT TOUCHPAD to activate attack move mode, and if you hold L1 while you PRESS the RIGHT TOUCHPAD, you activate attack ground mode, pressing the LEFT TRIGGER while holding L1 gives your selected units a stop order

the LEFT TOUCHPAD is a virtual menu that works as a number pad, in order to make this config work you have to rely on control groups, use the LEFT TOUCHPAD virtual menu + R4, mapped to Ctrl, to set control groups, then quickly select them using the same virtual menu without R4



on top of having numbers from 0 to 9 on this LEFT TOUCHPAD virtual menu, it also includes the options to select all units on screen or select all units on the map, good at the start of the match to quickly select your engineers

L4 is mapped to Shift to add or remove units from a selection

SELECT shows you the tactical map

START opens the menu and cancels your current selection

Camera Control:

you can pan the camera by either moving the cursor to the edges of the screen or by moving the LEFT STICK, L3 will zoom the camera back to your HQ

if you hold X while moving the LEFT STICK you can rotate the camera, alternatively, you can press and hold L5 and move the cursor to rotate the camera, holding down X while using the DPAD allows you to zoom in and out the camera

finally pressing the left stick while holding down the X button resets the zoom level and rotation of the camera, you can also press L5 while holding down the X button to reset the camera

Unit Selection:

the left touchpad number pad virtual menu alongside R4 (Ctrl) and L4 (Shift) are used to select groups of units, additionally, holding down L1 and using the left touchpad gives you a virtual menu to select infantry units, engineering units or vehicle units, both active and idle



(i had to use a radial menu instead of a touch menu because steam input freaks out otherwise)

once you have a group of units selected, used LEFT and RIGHT on the DPAD to quickly cycle through the units selected, you can press UP on the DPAD to center your view on the unit(s) currently selected and you press DOWN on the DPAD to cancel your selection

The Hotkey Grid:

if you hold X while using the Left Touchpad you get a virtual menu with all the grid hotkeys for you to use



Ideally you shouldnt rely on this, because is a slow way to access your hotkeys, instead ive created the following row system

The Row System:

this is the hotkey menu of a Sherman tank, ill use it as an example of how to access all the different hotkeys quickly using Y, B, A and directional swipes on the left touchpad





if you wanted to disembark the tank crew which is the ability with the hotkey F, you would need to swipe LEFT with the LEFT TOUCHPAD while holding down B

if you wanted to deploy a smoke screen, which is the ability with the hotkey Z, you would need to swipe UP with the LEFT TOUCHPAD while holding down A

if you wanted to upgrade the tank with a 50 cal machine gun, which is assigned to the hotkey T, you would need to PRESS the LEFT TOUCHPAD while holding down Y

to help you remember the combinations, keep in mind that the swipes are organized clockwise, UP, RIGHT, DOWN and LEFT swipes, correspond to the abilities 1, 2, 3 and 4 of a given row

and to determine which row you have selected, remember, the first row, the uppermost row, corresponds to Y, the uppermost face button on the Steam Deck, the third row, the lowest row, corresponds to A, the lowest face button on the Steam Deck, and the second row, the middle one, corresponds to B, one of the buttons located in the middle between Y and A

and to select an upgrade for your unit, you just PRESS the LEFT TOUCHPAD while holding down the face button corresponding to the row in which the upgrade is located

the advantage of this system is that is fast and is universal for every unit and building in the game

Common actions:

there are some common universal actions i mapped individually so they can be accessed even outside the Row System, the most important is Retreat and Vehicle Reverse, this is mapped to R1, so its always available and can be activated in a hurry, another common action is attack move, in order to activate the attack move cursor you simply press the RIGHT TOUCHPAD, if you want to attack ground, press L1 + RIGHT TOUCHPAD PRESS, to stop the current action, press L1 + L2, finally to set a ping, double press the X button, your cursor will change to the ping cursor

Buildings:

to access each of the buildings you use the right stick, you push the stick up, down, left and right or press the stick to access each building, this is quicker than a virtual menu in my experience

RIGHT STICK UP: Access HQ (F1)
RIGHT STICK RIGHT: (F2)
RIGHT STICK DOWN: (F3)
RIGHT STICK LEFT: (F4)
RIGHT STICK PRESS: (F5)

just like the directional swipes, the stick inputs are organized clockwise, UP, RIGHT, DOWN, LEFT and R3 correspond to the buildings F1, F2, F3, F4 and F5

Commander Abilities:

the game itself has no hotkey for commander abilities but i managed to set something up, the following virtual menu should allow you to quickly access up to six commander abilities, this menu is mapped to the RIGHT STICK while holding down L1



i had to use letters since the steam input virtual menu icons dont have numbers

A few extra actions:

here's some more stuff in case you didnt have enough

pressing L1 + X toggles Gyro Mode (couldn't find a better mapping, sorry) allowing you to use the steam deck's gyroscope to control the cursor, the gyro control is suppressed while you TOUCH the RIGHT TOUCHPAD, so it doesnt interfere with your normal control, to toggle gyro off just press L1 + X again

if you press START and hold it down for a bit, the player list will be shown

if you press L1 + SELECT you activate the group chat

if you press L1 + long press SELECT you activate the all chat

pressing R5 will move the camera to the last event reported on screen

Demostration Replays

heres the evidence ive won games using this config, granted, ive always sucked at CoH 1 and 2, so if the gameplay seems subpar, keep in might, the config might not be the cause

https://www.coh2.org/replay/111902/steam-deck-game-1
https://www.coh2.org/replay/111903/steam-deck-game-2
https://www.coh2.org/replay/111904/steam-deck-game-3

Recommendations

Battery Life:

using the non-OLED Steam Deck model i get around 3.5 hours of gameplay

this game is VERY finicky when it comes to performance adjustments via the "..." menu, i dont recommend capping the framerate via this menu, since sometimes after doing do, upon restarting the game, the framerate would be super low, like sub 20 FPS both in menus and ingame, same with adjusting TDP Limit and GPU Clock, it might result in your FPS tanking hard upon startup, tough changing these setting while already ingame seems to work, Half Rate Shading makes some text completely illegible, so i dont recommend using it

if you want to extend battery life, your best bet is probably setting all the graphics to low and reducing the resolution

Controls:

if you want to use my controller config, i suggest playing a couple of games against the AI first, or maybe some campaign missions to get the hang of it, i think its a good, viable config, but it takes a bit to rewire your brain and use it properly

rarely some of the virtual menus might get stuck, if that happens, try pressing the "mode shift" button related to that virtual menu, for instance, the commander ability virtual menu is enabled by holding L1 and moving the right stick, if that menu gets stuck, just press L1 again, this rarely happens, but it can happen, keep that in mind

Alternative Controls:

so i made a few variants of my controller config, just minor tweaks:

- 1280x720 version:

this tweaked a few of the inputs to work in a 1280x720 resolution, in case you want to squeeze a few more minutes of battery life by playing at a lower widescreen res

steam://controllerconfig/231430/3552964049

- virtual menus for building:

this makes it so the right stick uses a virtual menu to select buildings instead of directional inputs



i think its slower but if you want slightly more straightforward controls, here it is

steam://controllerconfig/231430/3552418850

- virtual menus for building + 1280x720 version:

just the building virtual menu variant for a 1280x720 res

steam://controllerconfig/231430/3552988822