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Autoboot into RetroDECK and not Game Mode

This experiment was initiated by the user Daeymon. It was later expanded upon by the RetroDECK Team. Daeymon goal was to explore the possibility of autobooting into RetroDECK when the Steam Deck's Game Mode is launched.

Note: RetroDECK was never intended to be used in this manner.

Extra Warning ⚠️

This experiment is extremely dangerous and could damage your Game Mode / SteamOS. Attempting it may cause a bootloop, requiring you to reinstall the Steam Deck and lose all your data.

We do not recommend anyone to attempt this.

Disclaimer on Experiments

These experiments are created by the RetroDECK Team and/or Community. The guides are intended for people with technical knowledge and a passion for tinkering. Using these guides might put RetroDECK and your data at risk. The RetroDECK Team can't provide any support for these experiments or fix any issues they might cause on your system or RetroDECK installation.

Prerequisites

Add RetroDECK to Steam

You need to add RetroDECK to Steam.

How-to: Configure Autobooting into RetroDECK

You need to be in Desktop Mode.

Step 1: Get your gameid for RetroDECK

Games published on Steam have a permanent game ID assigned. However, the game ID for non-Steam games is random when they are added to Steam.

The easiest way to get the game ID for non-Steam games is to go to the RetroDECK entry in Steam:

  1. Right-click on RetroDECK.
  2. Select Manage.
  3. Click on Add Desktop Shortcut.
  4. Go to the newly created Desktop Shortcut.
  5. Right-click on the shortcut and select Properties.
  6. Under the Application tab, look for the Arguments field. It should contain the steam://rungameid/<RetroDECK_gameid> command.
  7. Copy and save the RetroDECK gameid somewhere.

Example:

steam://rungameid/14508945201516511232

Step 2: Create the devkit-game Folder & devkit-steam File

  1. Go to /home/deck/.
  2. Create an empty folder called: devkit-game.
  3. Inside the folder create an empty file called devkit-steam.
  4. Populate the file with the following, replacing <RetroDECK_gameid> with your RetroDECK gameid and be very careful:
#!/bin/bash
steam "$@" steam://rungameid/<RetroDECK_gameid>

Example:

#!/bin/bash
steam "$@" steam://rungameid/14508945201516511232

Step 3: Save and reboot into RetroDECK

  1. Save the devkit-steam file.
  2. Reboot the Steam Deck.
  3. The Steam Deck should now directly boot into RetroDECK.