It literally is just install a flatpak, then configure the control scheme in the emu, maybe tweak some settings, add it to your steam library, map the steam controls to the emu controls in game mode.
EmuDeck/RetroDeck automate most of this or you can just find the individual emus in the Discover software center.
… They might actually perform better if you compiled the entire thing from source on your Deck, which is possible to do, but is significantly more of a hassle, gotta set up a root pw, turn off read only mode, hope you can actually find all the sources for the dependencies, know how to tune/tweak the compile parameters to optimally use the Deck’s hardware…
Ive gotten Ryujinx working via flatpak… but uh… lets just say I’d have to delve into OCing/PowerToolsing my Deck to get it to actually run many Switch/WiiU games at a playable framerate.
It works, its stable software wise… but the Deck isn’t quite powerful enough.
… Also, it could be that most modern emus are designed to map consoles onto traditional PC architecture, and ironically the Deck uses an APU which is closer to many consoles, so it doesn’t actually perform as well as it could with better support.
So, I have literally never used a 3ds emulator before, ever.
EmuDeck set up Azahar in a few minutes, a few minutes more for me to find an OoT rom, a few minutes more to dl it…
…a few minutes more to figure out that the EmuDeck parser thing either isn’t working at finding 3ds files … or I am a moron and you just install the .cia (what a file extension name) into the Emu, in Desktop mode.
Add the Azahar emulator itself into steam library via EmuDeck which launches Steam Rom Manager…
Back out into game mode, launch Azahar, launch OoT, and yep, it works, also wow I forgot the 3ds has two screens, Azahar’s default render screen sectioning for this is weird, but it works!
Turn on performance overlay, looks like I’m getting a solid 60 fps, rendering the main game screen at double the DS’s native resolution.
Start a new save file, go through the intro sequence, run around in my treehouse room a bit…
All works, save for a few instances of the audio playing… a bit too fast, or too slow, for maybe a split second, in a few parts of the Navi flying really fast intro sequence.
… So… seems to work just fine, basically?
Probably I could tinker with Azahar’s settings a bit to see if I can iron out the mild audio quirks, but I’d say thats pretty good for a total elapsed time of about 30 minutes, and me having literally zero experience with 3ds emus, much less on a Deck.
EmuDeck handled making up the control scheme layout in Game Mode, which worked fine in game, automatically, I just had to deal with some mild awkwardness of double clicking on OoT with the trackpad to launch it.
It might be worth noting that I was running Azahar through Vulkan… which … I think is currently listed as an ‘experimental’ level of support by Azahar’s website.
It recommends OpenGL for better support and stability.
I ran around more in Kokiri Village, no more audio spikes. I think its just due to how certain cutscenes quick load scene transitions.
Also, I completely didn’t expect this to just work, but it does:
The secondary screen, that’s touch sensitive on a 3ds?
Well the Deck’s screen is touch sensitive as well.
Worked just fine to navigate through the map and item menus and what not, just poking the Deck’s screen itself.
I’m just referring to possibly outdated package repos which may not have kept up with the forks and all the drama, but I could be easily wrong with outdated info. I haven’t touched my steam deck in a couple months :p
Sidebar in my community has links for the surviving Switch emu forks, but I haven’t tried installing them on Linux/Deck yet.
Assume it’s going to be far more manual than a Flatpak or whatever for the time being :S
It literally is just install a flatpak, then configure the control scheme in the emu, maybe tweak some settings, add it to your steam library, map the steam controls to the emu controls in game mode.
EmuDeck/RetroDeck automate most of this or you can just find the individual emus in the Discover software center.
… They might actually perform better if you compiled the entire thing from source on your Deck, which is possible to do, but is significantly more of a hassle, gotta set up a root pw, turn off read only mode, hope you can actually find all the sources for the dependencies, know how to tune/tweak the compile parameters to optimally use the Deck’s hardware…
Ive gotten Ryujinx working via flatpak… but uh… lets just say I’d have to delve into OCing/PowerToolsing my Deck to get it to actually run many Switch/WiiU games at a playable framerate.
It works, its stable software wise… but the Deck isn’t quite powerful enough.
… Also, it could be that most modern emus are designed to map consoles onto traditional PC architecture, and ironically the Deck uses an APU which is closer to many consoles, so it doesn’t actually perform as well as it could with better support.
How does 3DS run? I have a hacked Switch so can just run Switch games on that, but 3DS is beyond the Switch’s capabilities.
So, I have literally never used a 3ds emulator before, ever.
EmuDeck set up Azahar in a few minutes, a few minutes more for me to find an OoT rom, a few minutes more to dl it…
…a few minutes more to figure out that the EmuDeck parser thing either isn’t working at finding 3ds files … or I am a moron and you just install the .cia (what a file extension name) into the Emu, in Desktop mode.
Add the Azahar emulator itself into steam library via EmuDeck which launches Steam Rom Manager…
Back out into game mode, launch Azahar, launch OoT, and yep, it works, also wow I forgot the 3ds has two screens, Azahar’s default render screen sectioning for this is weird, but it works!
Turn on performance overlay, looks like I’m getting a solid 60 fps, rendering the main game screen at double the DS’s native resolution.
Start a new save file, go through the intro sequence, run around in my treehouse room a bit…
All works, save for a few instances of the audio playing… a bit too fast, or too slow, for maybe a split second, in a few parts of the Navi flying really fast intro sequence.
… So… seems to work just fine, basically?
Probably I could tinker with Azahar’s settings a bit to see if I can iron out the mild audio quirks, but I’d say thats pretty good for a total elapsed time of about 30 minutes, and me having literally zero experience with 3ds emus, much less on a Deck.
EmuDeck handled making up the control scheme layout in Game Mode, which worked fine in game, automatically, I just had to deal with some mild awkwardness of double clicking on OoT with the trackpad to launch it.
Thanks for trying it out! Sounds like it’ll require tinkering to get games running smoothly. About what I’d expect!
It might be worth noting that I was running Azahar through Vulkan… which … I think is currently listed as an ‘experimental’ level of support by Azahar’s website.
It recommends OpenGL for better support and stability.
I ran around more in Kokiri Village, no more audio spikes. I think its just due to how certain cutscenes quick load scene transitions.
Also, I completely didn’t expect this to just work, but it does:
The secondary screen, that’s touch sensitive on a 3ds?
Well the Deck’s screen is touch sensitive as well.
Worked just fine to navigate through the map and item menus and what not, just poking the Deck’s screen itself.
I’m just referring to possibly outdated package repos which may not have kept up with the forks and all the drama, but I could be easily wrong with outdated info. I haven’t touched my steam deck in a couple months :p
EmuDeck isn’t letting you auto install Yuzu anymore…
But it does install Ryujinx for you.
But it doesn’t provide BIOS or prod/title keys, gotta find those on your own.
There’s also Citron, but EmuDeck just lets you know it exists and won’t auto dl it.
Ryujinx has a flatpak (though its a fork) in the base Discover store on a Deck running SteamOS, so its just on mainline flathub.
Yuzu and Citron appear to no longer be on flathub.
Thank you for your service o7