DroidDeck not working: common problems and fixes

Most DroidDeck problems come from four places: an Android background-process limit, the GPU, storage, and games that simply do not run yet. Work through the sections below in order.

Steam closes immediately after pressing Play

This is the most common problem, and it usually has nothing to do with Steam. Starting with Android 12, Android limits how many child processes an app may keep alive and kills the rest. Steam and Proton need many processes, so Android quietly kills them and Steam disappears without an error.

1. Android 14 and newer: open Developer options and turn on Disable child process restrictions, then start Steam again.
2. Android 12 and 13: that option may not exist. Launch Steam from DroidDeck; on first launch it shows a Fix it for me button that automates the change. Follow it through.
3. If Developer options are hidden, go to Settings › About phone and tap Build number seven times.

If Steam starts closing again after a system update, check this setting first.

"Unsupported GPU", black screen, or nothing renders

DroidDeck needs an Adreno GPU: 730 or newer, or any 8xx. On Mali, Xclipse (Exynos), PowerVR or Adreno 710 it will not run games, and no setting changes that. Use the DroidDeck device checker to see what your chip has. Samsung owners in particular should confirm whether their Galaxy is the Snapdragon or the Exynos version.

If your GPU is supported, open the GPU drivers tab in Setup (added in 0.3.0). It detects your chip and keeps a matched pair of runtime and display drivers installed; reinstalling them there is a good first step after an app update.

DirectX 12 games crash on Adreno 6xx

Adreno 6xx devices (Snapdragon 845 to 888, including many cheaper handhelds) are experimental. The README says DirectX 11 games use DXVK 2 and may run, while DirectX 12 games can still crash. There is no fix on the user side yet; pick DirectX 11 games, or launch options that select DX11 where a game offers one.

A game will not start or runs badly

The project is open about this: compatibility and performance vary by device, and hardware validation is limited. Things worth trying:

• Change the Proton version for that game in its Steam properties, under compatibility.
• Try the Wine sync options (esync, fsync, ntsync) added in 0.3.1.
• Lower the resolution and use the image scaling filters (0.3.1) instead of rendering at native resolution.
• Turn on the performance overlay (0.3.0) to see whether you are limited by the GPU, the CPU or heat.
• Games with kernel-level anti-cheat generally do not work under Proton; there is nothing to fix there.

Not enough storage

The runtime needs about 3 GB and the desktop with emulators about 1.1 GB more, before any games. If installs fail midway, free up space or, since 0.3.2, add a Steam library on an SD card from Steam's storage settings.

Downloads stop when the screen turns off

Update to 0.3.2 or newer: downloads now continue while the device sleeps. Battery optimisation settings from some phone makers can still interfere, so exempt DroidDeck from them if downloads keep stalling.

The desktop feels slow

That is expected. The README notes that desktop compositing uses software rendering. The desktop is meant for apps and emulators, while games run through Steam's Big Picture mode.

Reporting a bug

If none of this helps, use Share logs (in Setup or the session drawer). It packs the newest session, plus store and tool logs, into one scrubbed zip. Post it in the #bug-reports forum on the DroidDeck Discord with your device, Android version and DroidDeck version. Code-level issues can also go to the GitHub issue tracker. Before reporting, make sure you installed the APK from GitHub; builds from other sites cannot be supported. See the install guide to start fresh.

Troubleshooting questions