whirligig_v5.8000 work continues on Steam Deck and now Steam Frame compatibility
Hi everyone
With the upcoming release of the Steam Frame I have been working on getting Whirligig working well on the Steam Deck, and thankfully I've been provided with a Steam Frame so I've also been getting it working with that.
Overview
Both the Steam Deck and Steam Frame run Proton for Windows apps, which has a few considerations that need addressing.
Steam Deck/Steam Frame
Disable DLNA as it crashes Whirligig.
Disable Media Foundation, WinRT and DirectShow in favour of VLC/VideoLAN for best compatibility.
Local folders resolve to their emulator locations.
Steam Deck
Scale of UI in certain menus to make it easier to read on the Steam Deck screen.
Touch screen interaction updated.
Default mouse for touch pads either side of the screen.
Worked on text and image quality on the interface.
Steam Frame
Controllers added.
Wired up the 6 extra buttons.
Added styled controllers that represent the Steam Frame controllers.
Auto-detect controllers on first install, and also an option in the input menu.
I need feedback
I don't actually own a Steam Deck, so I'm borrowing one. The Steam Frame has a lot of similarities with the Steam Deck, so development on both makes a lot of sense. The area I'm not sure about is what you, the users, would want from Whirligig on these devices.
Are there any things in Whirligig that would make a lot of sense on these devices? Having access to your library on a network is very important, and the new additions to the player make that work much better on these devices. But am I missing anything?
Beyond my own ideas, I rely on user feedback to help improve Whirligig for the people who actually use it. Tell me what you want, and I'll do my best to implement it.
And finally
I'm really enjoying developing Whirligig for these Steam devices. I'm actually not allowed to give my opinions on how good the Steam Frame is, so I won't say here that it's really good.
If you have either device, give Whirligig a go. If you don't have Whirligig, I'll be happy to give you a code for the small price of telling me what you think. Just email me at [email protected].
Happy watching everyone
Phil