guide Visual Novels on Steam Deck

[Saetron]

The Steam Deck is a handheld console based on SteamOS from Valve.
As the system does not run on Windows not every game will work directly out of the box, for that reason I try to aggregate as much information as possible in this thread

Games get added after I played them for a time to look out for issues and fixes.

Please also add your experience with VNs on Steam Deck in the comments so I can add them to the list  

I recommend using an external keyboard when setting up Lutris, Protontricks and Proton GE. The on screen keyboard can be opened with "STEAM" + "X" and closed again with "B".

NEW GUIDE AVAILABLE UNDER VisualNovelWiki

Website also has specific instructions for games like Dead End Aegis, Full Metal Daemon Muramasa and more.

Steam Launch Options

Some games require you to set custom launch options in Steam, if required the launch options will be listed with the game.

How to set custom launch options

Spoiler

• Select the game
• Click the gear
• Click Properties
• Enter the launch options under launch options

Protontricks

Protontricks is a software which lets you easily install adult patches and additional required software, you can check out the project on GitHub here.

Installation Guide

Spoiler

• Press the Steam Button
• Select On/Off
• Switch to Desktop
• Open "Discover"
• Search "Protontricks"
• Select "Install"

Using Protontricks

Spoiler

• Press the Steam Button
• Select On/Off
• Switch to Desktop
• Start "Protontricks"
• Select the game you want to use Protontricks with
• Just click next on the window which will appear afterwards
• Now you can install additional Windows DLLs, fonts and more for your game

Proton Versions: Click

Proton comes in different versions, normally you'll be okay with using the default version,
sometimes you can encounter issues though which can be fixed with Proton GE, Proton Experimental or an older version of Proton.

Proton GE: Click

Proton GE is a community fork of Proton which adds additional support for mediaplayback, you can check out the project GitHub here.

Installation Guide

Spoiler

• Press the Steam Button
• Select On/Off
• Switch to Desktop
• Open "Discover"
• Search "ProtonUp-Qt"
• Select "Install"
• Start "ProtonUp-Qt"
• Under Install for select Steam
• Click "Add version", select Proton GE and the newest version
• Click "Install"
• Wait & close "ProtonUp-Qt"
• ProtonGE is now installed, you can click on "Return to Gaming Mode" on your desktop

To use Proton GE for a game, you select the game in your liibrary and click on the gear and select properties.
Then select compatibility and tick the box by for a specific compatibilitytool, in the drop down select Proton GE. It'll be called "GE-ProtonX-XX".

How to install Lutris: Click

How to setup Wine prefixes: Click

How to enable Japanese Locales: Click

How to get custom artworks to Steam (for Steam games and non steam games): Click

Controller Layout for most Visual Novels

• A, L1, R1, L4, R4 & R2 -> Left mouseclick
• B, Start -> Escape
• X & L2 -> Right mouseclick
• Sticks & Tackpads -> Mouse with clicking down being left mouseclick

Battery Saving Settings

The Steam Deck is a portable system and runs on a battery, because of that I changed some options on my device in order to extend the playtime.
You can use the "..." button to open the quick access menu and change the settings under the battery icon.
All the settings can be made either per game or global for the full system.

For my Steam Deck I usally limit the refresh rate of the pannel to 40hz & limit the FPS to 40, 20 or 10 depending on how motion heavy the VN is
A TDP limit of 5-8w should be enough for most VNs too, but you can adjust this to your needs.
For some older games (and RPG Maker ones) you can enable FSR to get a sharper image.

Additional Tips

When possible chose windows mode instead of fullscreen for the best performance. Gamemode will make those games fullscreen anyways.
Only chose fullscreen for RPG Maker games or other which show content outside of the visible screen.

Some more tips thanks to barjed on Reddit:

• All Unity based VNs should work without Problem (excl. Video).
• If a game crashes due to a video, a possible fix is the deletion of the video in the game files
• You can also prepear the games on Windows and use Warpinator to push the game on Deck. Videoguide

Addtional Resources

• ProtonDB
• Sekai Project's Compatibility List (thanks to hubb2001 on Reddit)
• WineHQ
• Lutris
• Steam Deck Reddit
• Linux Gaming Reddit
• Discord Server for help with Lutris and Proton

Edited November 9, 2022 by Saetron
Removed Guide as newer version is available

[Saetron]

- reserved -

Edited November 9, 2022 by Saetron

[Saetron]

- reserved -

Edited November 9, 2022 by Saetron

[Zero Mr. Zoll VN.Info]

What about VNs that you bought directly from Steam in terms of settings and such? 

[Saetron]

1 hour ago, Zero Mr. Zoll VN.Info said:

What about VNs that you bought directly from Steam in terms of settings and such? 

If you mean ingame settings, you can change them to your liking, Settings you need in order to launch and use the game are done with the Launch Options, Proton GE and Protontricks.

[Zero Mr. Zoll VN.Info]

1 hour ago, Saetron said:

If you mean ingame settings, you can change them to your liking, Settings you need in order to launch and use the game are done with the Launch Options, Proton GE and Protontricks.

No. What I meant is how it behaves with VNs that you install directly from the Steam Store. At least I understand the list as if it's VNs outside of Steam. If I'm already addressing the point games outside of steam, how do you install them? For example, you have a VN of Jast the install exe. How does it work to install this file? Is it possible to bridge this with the option Add a foreign game to Steam? 

[Saetron]

38 minutes ago, Zero Mr. Zoll VN.Info said:

No. What I meant is how it behaves with VNs that you install directly from the Steam Store. At least I understand the list as if it's VNs outside of Steam. If I'm already addressing the point games outside of steam, how do you install them? For example, you have a VN of Jast the install exe. How does it work to install this file? Is it possible to bridge this with the option Add a foreign game to Steam? 

In the main post there is a section called "Visual Novels from JAST, MangaGamer and other third party stores via Lutris", if we now just ignore that I havent written the part yet its in there  And yes you can add the games as non steam games to the launcher. Itll be all explained once I finished that guide. As its a bit more work, itll take some time.

[Saetron]

Found new fixes together with another person, which fixes the text spacing issue in the System NNN engine as well as the mpeg1 splitter issue of KamiYaba.

(and no more blog spam, hope that it will still say searchable on Google etc when I do it this way)

Edited September 5, 2022 by Saetron

[NowItsAngeTime]

Tested some visual novels on Steam Deck natively if you want to try adding to a Verified list

 

 

[Saetron]

HimeYoku: A Sacrifice of Lust and Grace which just released today by Shiravrune does work on Steam Deck (excl. audio in opening) with Proton GE and the adult patch from Johren!

 

Edit: Doukyuusei: Bangin' Summer got fixed!! Its now fully playable on Steam Deck including Opening!

Edited September 9, 2022 by Saetron

[lukimana]

To date i've played Dal Segno, Wagamama High Spec, Kinkoi, Subahibi, Beat Blades Haruka and Grisaia Phantom Trigger Vol.1 on the deck. Basically just putting them on the deck and adding them to Steam and voilá. I barely had to create any mappings, since you can play most VNs with just the left mouse button and some mouse tracking. With an extra wireless mouse it's incredible comfy aswell~

[404fox]

I've played Primal Hearts and Hello Lady on the deck so far.
I haven't gotten far into them, but Sugar Style, Study Steady seem to work.

ToHeart2 has issues, but I haven't tried any fixes yet.

It would be better to have a VN compatibility site similar to protondb to track this kind of thing though, since most VNs are not on steam and it'd be a bit silly to try and list compatibility with the thousands of VNs in a plain spreadsheet or forum post.

Unless this has changed, you also need to set a launch parameter for JP locale:

LANG=ja_JP.UTF-8 %command%

 

[Saetron]

On 9/13/2022 at 4:51 AM, 404fox said:

I've played Primal Hearts and Hello Lady on the deck so far.
I haven't gotten far into them, but Sugar Style, Study Steady seem to work.

ToHeart2 has issues, but I haven't tried any fixes yet.

It would be better to have a VN compatibility site similar to protondb to track this kind of thing though, since most VNs are not on steam and it'd be a bit silly to try and list compatibility with the thousands of VNs in a plain spreadsheet or forum post.

Unless this has changed, you also need to set a launch parameter for JP locale:

LANG=ja_JP.UTF-8 %command%

 

Yeah it would be nice to have a website, but im not really good in webdesign , the launch parameter needs to be set only for a select few VNs today btw. If its needed its added above to the the VN in the list (example Dead End Aegis). If you know someone who can build a platform like ProtonDB with user submissions, i will gladly add all my findings to it

[lukimana]

Now a hard question for our boy @Saetronhere. Maybe you know an answer.

I've been playing Kara no Shojo on the Steam Deck, added to steam as Non-Steam Game using the latest stable Proton Version 7.XX something. Now I want to grab my saves to keep playing at my normal PC, but the savedata folder is empty. I've also searched through the steam folder on the deck ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/[steam game number]/pfx/  but there is no folder with the ID of the game.

Any idea on how to get the savegame?

[sarkasmus]

1 hour ago, lukimana said:

Now a hard question for our boy @Saetronhere. Maybe you know an answer.

I've been playing Kara no Shojo on the Steam Deck, added to steam as Non-Steam Game using the latest stable Proton Version 7.XX something. Now I want to grab my saves to keep playing at my normal PC, but the savedata folder is empty. I've also searched through the steam folder on the deck ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/[steam game number]/pfx/  but there is no folder with the ID of the game.

Any idea on how to get the savegame?

I don't own a Steam Deck yet so i can only guess, but it might be saved in the drive_c folder in the proton version you're using.

The game wants to save to a certain path which obviously doesn't exist on linux so wine and proton have a set of the most common wondows folders where it's directed to. Those seem to be created per game for steam-games but for third party games it might be saved in there.

For the latest official Proton it was here for me: /.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Proton 7.0/dist/share/default_pfx/drive_c/      (Manjaro Linux)

[Sally A. Toone]

No. I was referring to how it functions when you install video games straight from the Steam Store. At least I think I understand the list when it says "VNs not on Steam." If I'm already addressing the subject, how do you install games that are not Steam-based? You could have a VN of the install exe for Jast, for instance. How does installing this file work? Is there a way to bridge this using the Add a Foreign Game to Steam option?

[Saetron]

Together with the VN Wik & Support Discord we (mostly moogul) worked on a new way to give you the best possible guides for playing Visual Novels on Steam Deck and Linux! Because of that I'm happy to introduce you all to the VisualNovelWiki, a site dedicated to guides and tips for your favorite VNs. It's open to be edited by everyone (and will stay way more up to date then this post because of that)
I wish you all happy gaming on your Decks!

If you have questions regarding a specific game don't hesitate to ask in the VN Wiki & Support Discord, there is quite some talented folk in there, which helped me quite a lot!

[tenny jhon]

Dal Segno, Wagamama High Spec, Kinkoi, Subahibi, Beat Blades Haruka, and Grisaia Phantom Trigger Vol. 1 have all been played so far on the deck. Basically, all you have to do is add them to Steam and place them on the deck. Since the majority of video games can be played with just the left mouse button and some mouse tracking, I hardly had to build any mappings.

[teniie3]

Visual novels, which are interactive storytelling games, are expected to be popular on the upcoming Steam Deck handheld gaming device. The device's touchscreen and portability make it a perfect platform for playing these types of games, which often feature lengthy narratives and branching storylines. Many popular visual novels are already available on Steam, with more expected to be added in the future.

[Freestyle80]

Do people really like playing it on the steamdeck? I find a windows tablet like the Microsoft Surface much better, infact I've been playing exlusively on that since 2015ish

Afaik I only had issues with one or two games not reacting to the touchscreen, I forgot the name but one of those games was that love triangle game by that company who was evading taxes (weird description but all I remember ) 

[Tokimime]

It all really depends on the person, everybody is gonna have a different preferred way to experience stuff

[ciel_yuri]

On 4/8/2023 at 9:28 AM, Freestyle80 said:

Do people really like playing it on the steamdeck? I find a windows tablet like the Microsoft Surface much better, infact I've been playing exlusively on that since 2015ish

Afaik I only had issues with one or two games not reacting to the touchscreen, I forgot the name but one of those games was that love triangle game by that company who was evading taxes (weird description but all I remember ) 

I use to use my tablet or phone a lot, but I prefer handhelds over tablets, because of the grips, physical buttons, and some of the other included software options and stuff like that.
That said Steam Deck is bigger and heavier than I prefer. I'll probably get something smaller like an AyaNeo Air Lite for VNs when the price goes down. (So many are being made these days that once they age and can't play the popular new games that most people are interested in, then I'd be surprised if I can't find some great deals watching ebay and stuff like that.)

[gagantous]

Hi! Does anyone had tried to play Harenocchi kitto on steamdeck ? I have set the locale to jp and it still return popups error said that "connecfilter" Function is not working 

Thanks in advance! 

https://vndb.org/v14886 

EDIT: nevermind i need to install this code and such

https://www.visualnovelwiki.org/en/linux/special-codec

Edited September 2, 2023 by gagantous
added image