How to use Nvidia GeForce Now on Steam Deck - Guide and Performance Review

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SpecterV Gaming (PC, Next Gen, Steam Deck)

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Published on February 19, 2023 5:09:19 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0YpurV6IO8

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Lost Ark (2019)

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NVIDIA GeForce NOW - Play unsupported games and use the highest graphics settings with ray tracing on Steam Deck

Full article: https://greatondeck.net/nvidia-geforce-now-on-steam-deck/

Thanks to Nvidia’s kindness, I was given the opportunity to test the most advanced technology for cloud gaming, GeForce Now. Of course, the first thing I tested was its performance on Steam Deck.

Unfortunately, there is no official app yet, and the unofficial versions are not very good. They have problems with image scaling and do not support hardware video acceleration, so performance is very poor. Fortunately, we can take advantage of cloud gaming from a web browser very easily. While we don’t have as many configuration options as with the native application available for Windows, the user experience and the quality of gameplay are still at an extremely high level. If you’ve checked out Xbox Game Pass Cloud, then the installation process is completely similar.

How to install Nvidia GeForce Now on Steam Deck
Go to Desktop mode. In Discover, search for and install Google Chrome. In Steam, click on “Add a non-Steam Game” and look for Google Chrome in the list. Add it and then rename it to “GeForce Now.”

Now, all we have to do is replace the launch options to:

run --branch=stable --arch=x86_64 --command=/app/bin/chrome --file-forwarding com.google.Chrome @@u @@ --window-size=1024,640 --force-device-scale-factor=1.25 --device-scale-factor=1.25 --kiosk "https://play.geforcenow.com"

and paste the command into the Konsole, which will make the controller properly recognized in games:

flatpak --user override --filesystem=/run/udev:ro com.google.Chrome

From the list of Steam games, launch GeForce Now. The browser should fire up in full screen. For convenience, I recommend preparing a synchronization of launchers on the PC earlier, so that you can just log in on the Deck.

If you have a good router and a solid Internet connection, I recommend increasing the bitrate to 25-30Mbit, which will give you even better picture quality than the default settings.

The last important point is to add individual games to your Steam library. This will allow you to use individual control profiles, and launching will be faster. Again, add Google Chrome as a non-Steam game and rename it to the game of your choice.

Now, the somewhat laborious part: launch the browser directly from the desktop. Go to play.geforcenow.com and search for the game you are interested in. Copy the link generated in the browser bar and paste it into a new tab – it should automatically shorten. The shortened link must be copied quickly because after a while it returns to its original form.

At this point, you need to edit the game launch parameter similarly to GeForce Now, but this time change the ending from “play.geforcenow.com” to the shortened link that was just copied.

run --branch=stable --arch=x86_64 --command=/app/bin/chrome --file-forwarding com.google.Chrome @@u @@ --window-size=1024,640 --force-device-scale-factor=1.25 --device-scale-factor=1.25 --kiosk "shortened link"

Unfortunately, I haven’t found a more convenient way to add games, but I’m glad it’s possible at all.

Ggo to Gaming Mode. Two new apps should appear in the library under the Non-Steam category. I recommend setting their covers with the SteamGrid plugin, making them look nicer in the games list.

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