Steam Deck’s in-built FPS counter is ruining my life
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I have had a steam cover for about a month. As a device that costs about the same as an OLED switch, it’s absolutely amazing, sometimes quite magical in a way that only proper high-end tech can be. I love being able to play most PC games from the comfort of anywhere in my home, even if the battery wears out a bit on the more demanding titles, and my decision to save on SD card storage size practically bites my ass. every day.
What I don’t like is the time I spend tweaking the menus in an attempt to improve the little number I have in the top left corner of the screen. The FPS counter on the Steam Deck is taking over my gaming life. I hate myself for letting those evil digits into my house, but apparently there’s no going back now.
Let me paint a picture of why Steam Deck allowing me to display stats about a game is a problem for someone like me. Go into my time machine as we avoid the Morlocks and end up in the mid-90s. As a kid, I was pretty obsessed with PCs. First of all, I wanted one. This was achieved through a great sacrifice of my parents. With a PC in the house (connected to a slow and noisy Dot Matrix printer, FYI, watch a YouTube video about one if you’re not in the know), the world of PC gaming opened up to me.
A few years later I was shopping, reading, and “bookmarking” the likes of Computer Shopper and PC Plus for the latest hardware news and deals. These phone book-sized magazines (about equal to a large squishmallow in modern money) were half buying guides, half advertisements, and I loved both sides equally. I read about the new processors, graphics cards, sound cards, etc. one month, and then I calculated how much I would have to spend to buy them the following month. Granted, my purchasing power was somehow even worse than it is now in Tory Britain, but with some careful buying and selling I was able to get pretty big at building and upgrading PCs.
Once you’re in that world, you’re obviously interested in tweaking and benchmarking as well, which is where my love of PC gaming started to unravel. As I got older, my free time dwindled, so any tweaking was eating up all of my actual gaming time. Soldering a processor to achieve a better overclock was essentially up there with being Iron Man or something. These tasks gave way to just playing games on consoles, where I just didn’t (couldn’t) care about those things.
Fast forward to now. I have the Steam Deck. I knew what I was getting into when I bought one, but it’s amazing how quickly I’ve fallen back into the hobby-ruining habits that forced me away from the PC platform many years ago. Here’s a tip: don’t turn on the performance overlay on the Steam Deck.
At its basic level, you just get a frame rate counter in the corner of the screen. Harmless enough you can naively think to yourself. I was there just a few weeks ago, enjoying the number. Don’t believe your own lies. Turn it on and you will start down the road to misery. Switch through the more advanced performance display options and your eyes won’t be able to move from the stats: a car accident catches your eye as you drive by and inevitably collides with the car ahead. Only that’s not a car, it’s your own happiness.
“You bought yourself a PC” I can hear people yelling, and yes you are right. I did. I just thought everything would be more consumer friendly, not a level or two above a Raspberry Pi. That’s clearly something I’ve said to get a reaction (the Deck is at least three notches above the Pi in terms of ease of use), but if you’re coming to the Deck from a background in console gaming, be prepared.
You could get on with things and accept whatever comes your way. Download, play, done. To hell with frame rates, power consumption and battery life… but it’s hard to do this. A graphical menu option change here, a refresh rate limit setting there, a power consumption setting to extend battery life by the same amount of time you used to make the settings. All to get that damn number in the corner to do nothing. Just to sit there, not moving at all.
Steam Deck is a scary device. Some games just don’t work, some claim they work but work poorly, and yet some work so well you won’t believe your eyes. My first month with him has been quite a journey. Not for a second do I regret buying a Steam Deck. However, I regret the time I spend playing and not playing, and the fact that I know I can never stop.
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