Linux Air Combat / Discussion / LAC and Steam Deck: First Alpha testing of LAC on Steam Deck

I just got one of the new "Steam Deck" gaming consoles manufactured by Valve Corporation (the "Steam" people). It runs on Arch Linux and has plenty of power to run Linux Air Combat.

The first thing I needed to learn was how to put the Steam Deck into its "Console" mode, for general-purpose access to Arch Linux. That's done by pressing the "STEAM" button, scrolling down to click on "POWER", and then scrolling down to click on "Switch to Desktop". An Arch Linux desktop pops up within 15 seconds or so.

Then I needed a web browser and I saw an icon for Mozilla Firefox, which I pressed. Instead of starting Firefox as I had expected, it started a graphical repository manager named "Discover" that intended to install Firefox from a "Flatpack", but in my case it didn't work. I got an error message indicating a failure to find a "path" to the flatpack, and asking me to check my network settings. I had to reconfigure the "Settings" within "Discover" to fix a misconfigured path to the Flatpak repository. After I set it to "dl.flathub.org" I was able to get and use Mozilla Firefox as I had hoped.

Using Firefox, I downloaded the current LAC AppImage from sourceforge.net just as I would for any other desktop LINUX distro. I am using "Lac889-x86_64.AppImage", published in October 2022 for my initial testing.

I ran it from a command shell according to the prominent recommendations from our "LAC Distributed in universal, binary AppImage format" forum. It started right up with the expected sounds, network connection, and simple graphics.

After playing around with it for a few minutes I found I like to run it at 720P resolution but NOT in full screen. Framerate is good: It's easy to lock it in at smooth 60 FPS.

I am still working out the best control mappings. My initial attempt is documented in our "Flight Control Hardware (Joysticks etc.)" forum here:

https://sourceforge.net/p/linuxaircombat/discussion/flightcontrolhardware/thread/d0d2cb6e51/

The results still need improvement. I'll update that thread with better versions of the LacControls.txt file for Steam Deck as I make progress.

I've already identified four basic categories of challenges as follows:

1 of 4- KEYBOARD: It is VERY cumbersome to display and use the Steam Deck's virtual keyboard in their "Console" mode. In flight, the keyboard is completely inaccessible. Accordingly, pilots need to have joystick axes or buttons mapped to cover every fundamental need in flight. I've mapped all of the buttons that LINUX sees, but I ran out of available buttons before I could enable easy access to everything pilots are going to want. I think I will need to write a Deck-specific version of LAC to compensate for my current inability to access the following five important functions:

a: "ESC" (so you can get to LAC's menus)
b: "Vocalize"
c: IFF
d: Switch Mumble to TeamCast Channel
e: Switch Mumble to MissionCast Channel

There may be other functions that pilots absolutely need but that are not yet accessible... (For example, Look Down and Zoom Field of View In/Out.) I'm still playing around with this.

2 of 4- MISSION STARTUP CRASHES: LAC starts up and processes its menus nicely, but about 70% of the time it crashes within one or two seconds after entering an online mission. I don't know why it works nicely about 30% of the time but crashes about 70% of the time.

3 of 4- THROTTLE: The spring-loaded throttle lever logic that I've used with other game console controllers doesn't seem to work the same way on the Steam Deck. See the last two paragraphs of FAQ #53 for a discussion of the way I EXPECTED it to work. Here's our FAQ so you can see what I mean from FAQ #53:

https://askmisterwizard.com/2019/LinuxAirCombat/LacFaq.htm

4 of 4- COMMS: Without access to the keyboard, LAC players cannot send any messages on the text-based Morse Code Radio. I don't know if Mumble is even available for the Steam Deck, and this may leave Deck players unable to communicate with the LAC community unless they install Mumble on their phone, tablet, or some other handy computer. If some version of Mumble is available for the Steam Deck, players will need to use "Voice Activation" instead of "Push to Talk". This may be impractical in noisy environments.

I don't want to sound negative.... I like the results, and it's already fun to fly LAC in this nice, portable piece of hardware, but throttle control is cumbersome and buggy, and with no "ESC" key and no "Vocalize" function, it's just not as fun or as effective as it should be.

Stay tuned.... I'm workin' on it! I think ALL of these problems are manageable, but I will need a little time to overcome them. I'll use this forum to keep everybody updated.

Last edit: bbosen 2023-01-11

First Alpha testing of LAC on Steam Deck

Combat Flight Simulator for LINUX. WW2. Network and VOIP. Open-source.

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First Alpha testing of LAC on Steam Deck

First Alpha testing of LAC on Steam Deck

Combat Flight Simulator for LINUX. WW2. Network and VOIP. Open-source.

Forums

Help

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First Alpha testing of LAC on Steam Deck