Valve has announced that it is bringing improved offline mode features to the Steam Deck. The update comes just days after the features were launched in beta, so presumably, things went well. The new update will allow gamers to play their Steam Decks in offline mode without encountering issues like games being unable to launch.
The offline mode improvements come just days after players in the Steam Deck subreddit started complaining of issues with using their Steam Decks in offline mode. The offline mode issues have likely been there since launch but have only just started gaining traction, perhaps as a consequence of Valve being able to get more Decks into customers’ hands.
Essentially, the Steam Deck would need to connect to the internet in order to verify a game is owned to be able to run it while in offline mode, completely negating the point of having an offline mode on the portable device. Judging by Valve’s patch notes, it appears as though the Steam Deck had issues retaining its offline status after a reboot, meaning games could not be launched until connecting to the internet again.
The post that gained traction and sparked debate across the Steam Deck subreddit was about one user’s experience with their Steam Deck on a flight. The first complaint they have (that Valve has addressed in today’s update) is being unable to reboot the device while in offline. The user was only able to use their Steam Deck because they paid for internet access on the flight to allow the Steam verification. It’s an unfortunate situation for a portable device that gamers expect to be able to play anywhere. Hopefully, today’s update will fix most of the issues with offline mode.
Check out the full patch notes for the Steam Deck update below.
Steam Deck Client Update Patch Notes
Offline Mode Fixes
We’re continuing to look at making the user experience of playing games without an Internet connection a better, more intuitive experience.
- Fixed issue where rebooting while in Steam Offline Mode would cause games to fail to launch
- Fixed the Cloud Sync error notification popping up when offline
- Disabled Steam Offline Mode button when not connected to the internet, as trying to do this currently gets Steam Deck into a bad state.
- This change disables this button but does not in any way affect your ability to play games without an active Internet connection.
Keyboard
- Fixed styling for CJK keyboard glyphs so everything appears centered correctly on keys
- Fixed Recommended Layout not always showing up for the author of controller configuration
- Fixed CJK font issues in SteamOS updater when running on Steam Deck
- Fixed focus issue when tapping the show/hide password button
- Removed the gap between keys on the virtual keyboard for improved typing
Other
- Temporarily disabling hot / cold temperature notifications while we address issues with false positives
