https://www.pcgamesn.com/counter-strike-2/awful-on-steam-deck
Frame rate and optimization issues currently leave CS2 anything but playable on Steam Deck, but it appears that Valve is working quickly to fix things.
Maybe, maybe not. But I think people expect a game made by Valve to run on gaming hardware made by Valve, even if it's only for casual playing.
Well it runs - just not as fast as you want. I personally would never want to play those competitive shooters that need pixel perfect aim on a handheld console… but that’s just me.
I think people expect a game made by Valve to run on gaming hardware made by Valve, even if it’s only for casual playing.
Yes. Why else did CSGO get controller and gyro support? While Valve did not promise anything in that regard, there was the expectation that CS2 would basically be fully optimized for Deck. Maybe it will still happen. The "final" release is nothing but an open beta.
To add to this, the expectation is because they basically killed off CSGO for CS2 as an upgrade, so it should have the same and more functionalities.
Yes you can still turn on CSGO from settings but it's worthless without servers.
Sure but they haven't cared about the state of their games in ages. Iike I'm all for pushing to get them to fix it and all, but think it's weird that people are surprised. Especially when the vast majority of their focus has been on steam for the last forever
No, a 3ds to switch is a pretty apt comparison about a modern pc to a steam deck actually.
There is absolutely no reason why anyone would assume this should be optimized for a mobile device. You would be limiting its potential in PC, if they can’t provide the same experience across all devices, they aren’t going to. It’s a competitor shooter for one thing….
Where am I comparing apples to oranges…? I’m using different approaches to show that not everygame a company designs is going to be playable on all devices, it’s NEVER, been that way. So why would it suddenly change just for this one case…?
How is that the same? This is a PC game running on a device meant to run PC games. Apples to apples
I'm glad you're making it apparent that you don't know what you're talking about. Sure you can't compare it to a two thousand dollar PC with top of the line hardware, but it's plenty capable, affordable and you can take it anywhere. They're fucking awesome and have made PC gaming accessible to lots of people
Yes it’s an awesome device and that’s not what was being discussed…
News flash, companies design games for different systems all the time, why should this one game be any different…?
You literally just said it's a severely limited device, which it definitely isn't. You've just done a complete 180 with your argument.
I play Destiny 2 on my Asus ROG Ally almost daily, and have played lots of PVE and Gambit, but hate Crucible. It's really powerful, so I think it's possible to play competitive games on a handheld if you're comfortable with using a controller. Of course, you can plug it into a monitor and use the XG Mobile to get a decent graphics card. So yeah, I think a handheld can hold up to a gaming PC if you temper your expectations. You're not going to be playing at 4k, 120 fps, but instead 720p 50-60 fps. Good enough for casual play all the time.
It has competitive modes, but I don't know how well it would do at tournament play. I'm not a big fan of PVP, but I'm pretty sure the Ally is powerful enough to play most of those games if you lower the graphics to get a nice FPS. I just cited Destiny because it's what I've been playing lately.
You’d have to be a masochist to actually play this on steam deck or with any controller.
Unless they have some sort of “steam deck only” matchmaking, but even then it’s just not made for controller.
It's not a standard xbox controller. There's a gyro with several ways to handle it, including flick, which does take a little time to get used to, but works really well as a mouse substitution for such an environment. Some people are just that good with a thumbstick as well and can easily enjoy casual gamemodes.
Steam Deck is a capable beast, even for a game like Counter-Strike.
I’d say in this instance there’s a massive difference between CS and OW tbh.
I can believe that you could do well and enjoy OW on controller vs M+K, as the game gives you a lot of tools that reduce the need for good aim.
In CS, I just can’t see how you’d work around that though. To each their own, but I don’t see how CS could ever be enjoyable on controller vs K+M.
The same was said about the steam controller, but in the end it was still shit compared to a mouse. It's just not feasible in a game as competitive as csgo.
It's not for everyone, but calling it shit just because it doesn't work easily for your liking is
a bit much since it's still usable to some. I beat plethora of shooters on gyro and it wasn't that much harder than playing on mouse once I got used to it.
Controllers in general are also extremely accessible, and expandable for those that might struggle using a tradtional mouse and keyboard.
CS:GO is dead, though, and neither of the popular and beloved entries to the series was ever solely focused on the competitive scene - the community and the casual fun also matter in the world of Counter-Strike, and that's one of its parts that can be enjoyed on a controller just fine. Of course I don't expect to be able to perform just as well or better than the M+K players when playing on a controller, regardless of its gyro capabilities, especially in the competitive modes. Counter-Strike is just much more than just a competitive game.
At its core, CS is a competitive shooter. Having casual maps and modes is fun but the game should not cater to this play mode. If valve tries to make it casual friendly they will disappoint the competitive players and will not be able to compete with other casual shooters.
Basically I don't want then to cater too much to the casual scene
Valve caters more to the casual scene than most companies do by allowing custom servers and an in game custom server browser.
How much more casual can it get?
CSGO was made entirely for the purpose of being a console game, no body played it on console so they abandoned it
You are perfectly capable of setting on the couch at any time. The computer does not stop this. You are actively making the decision to not sit on a couch, as an adult you're allowed to do this.
You can use a keyboard and mouse with the steam deck. Probably not super common but definitely doable.
Gyro is a nice improvement on joystick gaming, but it sure as hell isn't even remotely close to mouse aim
My friend plays basically the same on gyro and on mouse, he's 3-4 ranks below global elite. Why do you think gyro is so much worse?
Yeah I don't believe that at all
Small adjustments from rotating a controller will never be nearly as precise as moving a mouse.
Fast flicking wide turns is going to be far too slow even at the fastest joystick speed, which would screw up aiming in other ways as well
Strafing would be very limited even if you somehow overcame all those issues and were magically a human robot. Your controller can only rotate so much to track the player over a distance.
Joystick movement is simply never as precise as mouse, including with gyro that has a separate slow speed to try and be accurate as possible. Which doing that then means you can't strafe or quick turn.
Mouse can do it all with significantly less effort, and with a much higher skill ceiling. Which that is what matters if you're in competitive play. If you're not trying to be competitive, then fuck it, use whatever is fun.
Of course, I don't doubt that. But someone with say 500 hours in csgo playing with keyboard mouse will absolutely destroy someone with 500 hours playing with sticks/gyro. But honestly I can't think of a single streamer or pro that doesn't use keyboard mouse
The shaders should be compiled in advance, did the author skip the shader compilation when launching?
I'm not sure if it's every game but I don't recall ever seeing my deck compile shaders, I thought it just downloaded them
I believe you're correct, because they know the exact hardware they don't need to be compiled for each device unlike how PCs come on every version imaginable.
I have definitely seen my deck compile shaders, however I assume it downloads them if they are available. If you launch a game that uses proton for the first time while offline, you should see it compile.
You can disable that feature, and some people do because they get tired of the constant downloads and shaders taking up space for games they haven't even played yet.
CS2 just doesn't precompile shaders. The game just shits itself running on AMD because of that.
The shader cache itself is also broken and gets reset by the game on every restart.
I'm running a 6700XT and weirdly enough it pre-compiled in Linux but not in Windows.
It's really stuttery for a while in Windows, with low GPU usage and erratic frequency, until it normalizes.
I'm getting none of that in Linux, smooth from the start in-game. Only getting some weird fps fluctuation in the start menu.
CS2 compiles shaders on my desktop. It does so every time it updates. Also, why would this make the game worse on AMD? Afaik RADV supports VK_EXT_graphics_pipeline_library, just like Nvidia. Shader compilation performance should be similar between them.
Well there's a reason it's not a verified game. Valve is rightfully not targeting the steam deck for it because the gameplay experience wouldn't be good. If you want to still play it that's on you but I don't blame them for not supporting it. It shows that they are serious about cs this time, imo
I like to play all my games on the deck and just dock it for shooters. If they were serious about cs this time they'd optimize it. A lot of people including me still have PC's less powerful than the deck. Plus a competitive game needs to be optimized well enough to run smoothly.
That's not the target usecase for the deck or for cs2. It's cool that it's possible and really showcases how flexible and capable the deck is, but valve has no obligation to support or optimize for it.
Cs2 is quite optimized for a typical Windows gaming PC, aka the target platform. I get well over 300fps on my midrange build. Valve is putting a lot of extra work into proton configurations to get Windows games working well out of the box on the deck, it's perfectly fine that they haven't done that specific work for the deck yet, if at all.
I'm sorry to say but you're an outlier. Most people with decks aren't typically docking them, and even less are docking them as a desktop replacement. For me it's a portable with the flexibility of easy couch coop but I never want to have to use a mouse and keyboard on it.
Controlling scope of supported systems to ones that are most commonly used is the smartest thing they could do. There's a reason cs2 isn't supporting consoles this time around and it's telegraphing great things for the game this time. They aren't making the same mistakes they had to correct with cs:go on launch.
CS2 was rushed as fuck, they totally could have optimized it further. Also,
Most people with decks aren’t typically docking them
Where did you get this data?
Fucking embarrassing for Valve, what the fuck is going on over there? This is like Nintendo launching a Mario game that doesn't boot.
On a dockable PC, with full peripheral support. I travel for work, and could get set up where I go to play decent comp games. Now I can't. It's not common for me to have the time, but I know it's not that unique of a situation.
I peaked LE and stayed around MGE for reference.
I tried CS2 on my Deck after the update. I only tried against bots on Italy but found that given the hardware, it ran surprisingly OK. 40 FPS with default settings. Obviously the controls are not so great. I've read somewhere later that resetting Steam Input for this game to defaults is required but didn't know that at the time.
Btw I played with the Deck on a stand and my left hand on the controller part while my right hand held a Bluetooth mouse.
Is that... comfortable? That sounds like a really awkward way to play. Any reason you didn't do all in on the controller or keyboard+mouse?
Is that… comfortable? That sounds like a really awkward way to play.
It was kinda OK. It actually had the benefit of analog movement as compared to WASD. Biggest downside was the small screen.
Any reason you didn’t do all in on the controller or keyboard+mouse?
The game did not seem to work with controller only and forced me to use the trackpads and I cannot play FPS games with just a controller anyway. As for why no keyboard, the answer is simple: I was too lazy to get up and get my BT keyboard and my USB C dock (all my Deck accessories are stored in a dedicated bag).
I try finding out what the 2 is even about, and im seeing stuff like...improved smoke grenades, and ability to refund weapons?
What happened to the number 2 man, that used to be a big deal.
It's a new engine, which is more than enough to warrant a new title imo. CS has been practically the same game many years and has been incredibly successful all that time. The community does not want major gameplay changes, just minor improvements. CS as a series is not like COD or Battlefield.
CS2 has much more advanced and consistent smokes, vastly improved graphics, more advanced netcode, competitive improvments alongside a new competitive mode similar to FaceIT, and loads of quality of life improvements. I think this is more than enough to be considered a sequel.
I’m pretty happy personally that the community server browser no longer looks like it was made in 1996. The new one actually works on my ultrawide monitor, so I can find servers on my own now. In CSGO, I had to have a friend find a server for us and then I’d just join him.
Yep i'm also a big fan of the new browser. Although, I do wish it opened in the overlay instead of a completely separate window.
The difference between csgo and cs2 is similar to cs 1.6 to cs source. Its a major change of engine with brings in other changes with it.
Why is it called CS2, though, instead of CS4? I mean, it's the fourth game in the series, isn't it?
because source wasn't a sequel to them, just an engine port. Why counterstrike 2 is called 2, imo, just because Source 2
Being a new game in a series doesn't necessarily mean that its the next numbered game, especially to valve. Technically speaking, the other counterstrike project (Condition Zero, single player content) is also a thing.
Hence "to them", not to people. They did make changes. But that doesnt stop what they think. Your opinion doesnt change what they think.
They should have called it CS: Source 2, then. The game hasn't changed enough to be considered a sequel. They made the same amount of improvements to this one as they always have in the last. Doesn't make sense to call it a full-blown sequel.
They probably figured that if Blizzard could get away with calling it Overwatch 2, despite being the same game, they probably could too.
Is anyone else having issues with the game not allowing you to use any input except the left stick
I can't imagine trying to play CS on the sticks, and apparently Valve's QA team couldn't either.
Can agree to this, I've tried to play but it plays at like 30fps and the controls are all messed up all the menu based stuff is gone it's actually awful.
It runs surprisingly well hooked up to a monitor using keyboard and mouse. It's not beautiful or high FPS z but it's playable. Only issue I am facing is that I don't see fog or fire unless I am standing inside. I can just see through it.
The only way people should play is MY way! Get out of here computer-with-attached-controls users, you're worthless and not welcome!
Childish reaction
Someone trying to play a competitive game on a handheld trying to talk shit, lol
It's a COMPETITIVE GAME
I'm worthless for saying it's stupid for running a game on sib optimal hardware and then being mad it doesn't run well .
Anything can be suboptimal hardware, the Steam Deck is no different from any other computer and does not even have to be a handheld.
And I do not play or own a Steam Deck or alike, if that concerns you. Accept other peoples hardware and ways to play, it's a whole lot easier than whatever you're doing.
You're right anything can be sub optimal hardware, but don't run something on sub optimal hardware and complain it doesn't work
Worthless? Is that really a way to talk to another human being for saying people shouldn't expect a handheld to run a competitive FPS?
Can it not output the display to, say, a TV?
The thing could be a budget gaming PC for some people. Most people are not going to be competing super hard; they just want to play the game and have fun. Who else would be taking up the bronze and silver brackets?
Steam Deck is not limited to handheld, you can hook it up to a desk setup with USB -C. Also, I used to play CSGO handheld. I'm in the low silvers even on PC and it doesn't make a big difference to me skill wise. You can be really precise with trackpad + gyroscope.
You might have enough time to aim with a trackpad in silver, thats definetly not the case in higher ranks.
I just want to play on my skill level, and not 5 ranks below.
It doesnt have anything to do with me tryharding, it just isnt fun when its the hardware that loses the game and not me.
Dang it's a good thing people don't play games for fun otherwise you might actually have a point, doofus
Not according to literally every test ever done on it. It always falls behind far enough to not be viable competitively
Ive owned a steam controller for several years and regularly use gyro aim in many games that aren't competitive.
But again, it's still behind a traditional mouse as far as accuracy. There are tons of videos on this, even aim training software has data about this.
If you bought a compatible game that suddenly updates to be unusable on your platform, I think that's a big issue...
What if they wanna play custom hide and seek maps? Doesn't have to be just competitive matches.
Per your edit:
Anyone else remember when "competitive shooter" also implied it could be run on a fucking potato with decent speeds? Or that competitive games aren't still meant to be played for fun by the vast majority of people who are gonna be playing?
It's not targeted exclusively towards professionals, is it?