You're Doing It Wrong! Steam Deck FSR

How to enable FSR on steam deck and difference between the settings.
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[@surrealchemist]

It’s also worth noting, if the game itself supports FSR as an option you should use it there and not through the steam menu. When the game utilizes FSR on its own it will render things like text and UI elements independently often making it clearer.

[@0tispunkm3y3r]

So when it is enabled via a game menu (because game supports it)...does it show as "on" in the overlay?

[@Cr4zyJ0n]

@@0tispunkm3y3r no it does not sadly

[@TheSaintsVEVO]

Ah jeez what a mess

[@serhii_himself]

Not always, older titles may only support fsr 1.0 (same as deck that essentially just applies a filter in the post proccesing). But if game support fsr 2.1 - then yeah, definitely better take this over the system one. Or you can use both for super sharp image xD

[@kevindesousa6277]

​@@serhii_himselfThats what i did with dead space remake, the ingame fsr is just terrible...

[@Artorias.2210]

Wow! Valve should really have some sort of instructions about this. Even tho I am using the Steam Deck since 1 year, I was using FSR the wrong way the whole time.

[@redcrimson1028]

I think everybody was, especially if you're not tech suave.

[@pornobob]

Me too

[@Prolyfyk]

Protip: If the game that you're playing doesnt support your prefered resolution you can force the resolution in the games properties within the the per game steam options prior to laumching the game. Switch the forced resolution to internal and external after you've selected your prefered resolution then launch the game and you should be good to go 😊

[@Thornskade]

Then you also don't have to switch to windowed mode

[@richardfrink]

A different way to apply FSR for any game is to go into the launch settings of a game in steam before starting it and changing the (can't remember the names but) game resolution and screen output resolution there to be scaled down, then you won't have to touch in game resolutions and windowed mode settings and FSR will go ON

[@pali122]

I was doing it wrong all the time, holy shit, valve should really put a warning if you have it on but is not kicking in

[@tannerbass7146]

I've had this thing since launch and I had no idea you could apply FSR on non-FSR games. Thank you

[@Xianpaul0523]

In case you guys still don't know. System wide FSR on steamdeck works with yuzu emulator as well.

[@WhoIsLudwig]

Thanks for the explanation. FSR can get a little confusing at times, it's always good to have a nice recap on how it kicks in and how impressive it gets

[@buckethead420]

1152x720 (16:10) + windowed + FSR Sharpness 4/5 is the perfect setting for almost every game i've tested. As odd as is seems, but the image quality is way more crisp than the native resolution, even with all the AA in the world enabled. if possible, these settings are the way i play every game on the deck

[@Ludecan]

Ohh wow! FSR doesn't work on fullscreen but only on windowed??? Wow thanks for sharing, never knew about this.

[@kestononline]

This isn't correct. FSR upscaling does work in fullscreen mode on most games (I do it all the time). Some games just likely do not implement the fullscreen mode correctly or something. But just flip on Level 4 of the Performance display to see when it is on and which games are not doing it properly.

[@cama838]

Wow that actually works. I was playing atelier ryza. It was playable for a time in 30 fps all standard graphics. Then after the few updates later it dropped down to 10 to 20 fps and it became unplayable. Even after dropping graphics way down. But it want back after you mention FSR and I got that on. It got less blurry and fps is back up to 30.

[@MrGrzegorzD]

Thx man, this will come handy. Waiting for my 1st SD, OLED :) so will use your tips definitely. Cheers!

[@holyvanguard]

Thank you so much. I had tried the other 2 steps but i never thought about window mode and just thought it was smoke and mirrors i wonder if dlss is like that too cause i never really saw a change with that either and thought my cpu was the bottleneck. Im so excited to try this out. Thank you so much again.

[@retro_ed746]

It is possible manually set max resolution which is lower than Deck`s own display and run games with FSR & fullscreen. Under game`s Properties set resolution for both Internal and external display. 1024 x 640 is 16:10 aspect ratio. With this method it is possible push even more lower resolutions than game normally offers and gain some more performance.

[@darkenblade986]

I think to do this the game has to natively support fsr. some games allow you to enable fsr in the settings

[@retro_ed746]

@@darkenblade986 No. FSR1 works with every game. Newer version are implemented in games settings.

[@NyneIX9]

Don coming in clutch! lol Just got my Steam Deck OLED a week ago. Thanks so much for this!

[@GreenLeefMusic]

Wouldn't setting the resolution manually in Properties for that specific Game's Settings on the Steam interface to a lower 16:10 resolution force the game to then let you scale FSR properly in those cases? EDIT: No it won't, this was well explained in a response below but I am leaving this thread for anyone else who had this thought.

[@dewinter1411]

No. When you set that, you are telling the system what resolution to scale up to. So if you set it to 1080 and go in game and turn it down to say, 720, when you enable FSR, it will try and scale up to 1080.

[@GreenLeefMusic]

@@dewinter1411 Thank you for the response. I should have probably known this as I have used that a few times to upscale to 1200p or 1600p for Yuzu to edit Gyro settings and Stardew Valley to make more of the game visible on the native Steam Deck screen. So probably the best bet with those games is to find mods (if available) to add in those custom resolutions if you want to keep that 16:10 aspect ratio while FSR upscaling. I appreciate you clearing that up and I will probably leave this comment in some form for anyone else who is wondering if this would've worked.

[@PercyPanleo]

​@@dewinter1411 If you enable "Set resolution for internal and external display" then you are telling the system what resolution to scale from rather than the resolution to scale to, thus allowing you to use it to do 16:10 FSR in games that don't support 16:10 in windowed mode. As a side note, this setting is also great for getting rid of shimmering in retro games. Just set the resolution to something extremely high and scale the image down with linear filtering. This is basically required for 2D DS games.

[@oscopin74]

This was a great video. Thank you for this! I've been wondering if I've been doing things correctly, turns out I haven't. Appreciate it 👍.

[@g00ndini46]

Great video, I have owned a steam deck for a few months and been trying to figure this out. Thanks!

[@Lo-Fi-_-Gaming]

Thanks! It's helpful. Never tried using FSR but I never knew that the only way to know if FSR is running is thru the performance overlay. Valve really needs to make FSR functionality better otherwise some notice of limitations and prerequisites before it can be activated.

[@wile123456]

Good example pictures but you really should had enabled some AA to remove jagged as FSR 1 works best when there is good AA smoothing

[@lnox2449]

awesome video hoping to see more FSR stuff with the new ryzen based systems

[@hectorrodriguez7007]

MAJOR GAINS! I WAS WONDERING WHY FSR WASNT KICKING IN! THAT'S A SUB! THANKS!

[@KarimJovian]

We should leave the steam video game properties for the resolution to default or native?

[@VisceralMonkey504]

Super helpful, thanks. It's just bot explained well most of the time anywhere.

[@makandalp]

This is the video the scene needed!

[@vendor.unknown]

LoL almost owning deck for 1 year and it's something new for me 😂🎉

[@porkopio9468]

Never knew I had to window mode the game for fsr to kick in. Thanks for the tip bro

[@kevinsecrets]

thanks for this video man, i was always wondering why it wasn't showing on. 🙏

[@mingistech]

Yes, going below the native resolution for FSR to do anything makes a lot of sense, but having to switch the games to Windowed mode for it to do anything seems like an oversight.

[@J.Wick.]

I too have been doing it wrong for about 6m now lol. I thought it worked just like DLSS. Great video.

[@fenbekus]

Wtf, this should be explained better by Valve! I had no idea it only works in windowed! Great tip!

[@Kinos141]

I've been doing FSR like a noob. lol.

[@StupifiedTrooper]

Thats for the info dude. Great vid. Def subbing.

[@HARLANP]

Have you noticed any games handled properly by default? If not, I've been leaving performance on the table for a long time.

[@NovaspiritTech]

yes lots of games i play handle just fine, only triple A titles like armored core 6 needs some tweaking

[@toxicshot4528]

i did not know this till now, thanks

[@davidgarcia8782]

Yeahhhhhh. Didnt know this..thanks mate good job!!

[@BackDaws]

Why isnt FSR working in full screen mode ?

[@gdpiscopo]

Wow great video! now Days Gone manages 60+ fps while sacrificing very little fidelity which is amazing.

[@BDLeader88]

Have definitely been doing that wrong lol. Thanks for the tips

[@paulc2007]

If a game already has fsr in the graphics options is it better to use the ingame graphics choice or the steam deck version

[@Rainarrow]

Yes!

[@akaRAIJIN]

If the game supports it, use the games implementation instead and leave the SteamOS version off.

[@Ryan-1337]

Weird that you have to switch to windowed mode. Works fine on full screen mode on some games. No man's sky, Mass effect, ect.

[@akaRAIJIN]

I'm guessing those games natively support FSR themselves though? (I don't know, I'm genuinely asking)

[@erebostd]

Thanks 🙂👍

[@ConquerMFR]

Very Good and informative video, thank you

[@Zanbatoss]

Most games doesn't let you go below 720p in the options 😢

[@retro_ed746]

You can "force" system to run lower than Deck's native display.... On game properties, set max resolution to 1024 x 640 (or lower...) MAKE SURE YOU TICK BOX for resolution both Internal and external display. Go back and forth in menus if option is not available. Now your game has limited max resolution.

[@yingbxua6240]

Note: Some games have Bugs with FSR Enabled. Example: Fallout 3 or 4(most likely 4rth one) have bug where you cant just chose a place for fast travel on the map, because of the enabled FSR....controls are out of the place

[@askers81]

I play fallout 4 with fsr and have never encountered this issue. But it has happened to me in other games. Far Cry 2 and Civ 5 specifically

[@grayghost832]

I've heard the first batch of steam decks had fans that would make this annoying sound that some people were complaining about. I did get mine in October last year and haven't been annoyed by the fan one bit. Might be the "revised" fan on mine. I just full send it. 15w tdp all the way lol. Though I am going to tinker with fsr a little bit on some more intensive games and maybe it will make sense to lower the power consumption a little at the cost of a few frames. I'm a 30 fps gamer and never understood the hype.

[@PixelShade]

My suggestion is to lock games somewhere between 8-12W. Because the performance benefit of going from 12 to 15W is incredibly small, but it adds tons of extra heat and noise. Adapt your settings to work with a TDP lock and I think you will become a much happier Steam Deck owner.... Looking at the official efficiency profile from AMD, you will see a graph where performance truly skyrockets from between 1W to 8W, then it starts to even out between 8-12W and after 12W the efficiency curve is almost flat. You might gain a single fps (when you are at the 30fps mark) or a few reduced stutters, but the loss of battery life, the increased heat & noise just doesn't make it worth it.

[@grayghost832]

@@PixelShade I haven't experimented enough to notice that. I will take a look at it on a couple games. Thanks! It would be nice to reduce the console heat a little on some more intensive games.

[@GuyManley]

Thanks, now I can send this video rather then tell people all the steps in discord DMs.

[@gengis_gun]

Thanks man, really appreciated 👍

[@MasterPJ86]

I'm happy to see someone needs this kind of video. That means, Valve is doing it right: bringing PC gaming to console players how are not used of thinking about setting or how tech works

[@guillaume4646]

FSR is still relatively new in and I doubt most pc gamers ever used it before getting a Steam Deck. So no it's not a console players thing.

[@PippetWhippet]

⁠@@guillaume4646 I think they were saying that players from a system that throughout its history has required tinkering and testing settings, with no safety barriers to results that can break everything with your game will be much more used to tinkering and testing than a player in a system that is designed to just work and no be breakable. They go on to say that taking players from the second category and putting them in the first system is “right” that I’m not necessarily on board with, but I don’t think they were particularly saying that all pc users are well versed in every tech.

[@morizcaballero]

awesome, thanks for the nice explanation!

[@GoldenBeast90]

Very informative 👏 thanks

[@tony2shanks]

Great video thanks

[@scenenuf]

I have never had to change from fullscreen to windowed when using it? I use it on KCD, Hitman Absolution, Tomb Raider all on 960x600 and FSR still kicks in perfectly for me. Sharpness definitely looks artificial from native, but man playing Tomb Raider and Hitman on high at 60fps is amazing. And I can now lock KCD at 40fps. I do wish fsr 2+ was as universal as fsr 1 thought for slightly better image quality. But on this size screen you barely notice any artifacts at all.

[@TheEternalHyperborean]

At 5:17, the FSR looks terrible, it's like super compressed jpeg image. are you sure you they're labeled correctly?

[@joeykeilholz925]

That's fsr for ya.

[@katanamaru1]

I didn't know I had to be in windowed mode. Need to go back and check some things out.

[@abcdoooabcd]

bro educate us about FSR3 on steam deck should we try it on steam os or windows ? how do we enabke it for each games and so on.. hitting 60 fps onAAAgames on steam deck is like a dream teach us about it

[@ahmadnooryuhdi7514]

Thank you for the video sir

[@GreenLeefMusic]

Great video by the way. 👏 This might explain why I didn't notice much benefit in the past when trying to enable FSR. I am subbing as I love solid content like this that is very informative. I love to learn more about this stuff as sometimes I think I know more than I actually do 😂

[@HexBore13]

Thank you soooo much!

[@riviello16]

What can I do if the game doesn’t allow me to decrease the game resolution?

[@drgarza1000]

Great info for an average gamer like myself

[@rastamouse7861]

Do you have to put your games in windowed mode for FSR to take effect?

[@rubendiaz671]

Thank u so much 🙏🏻🔥

[@RafaelSchiabel]

I still can't tourn on FSR on Elden Ring, for exemple. Even the lowest resolutions in fullscreen or window or borderless do not turn FSR ON. I'm not getting how to use it properly even watching tutorials. =/

[@andikaramadhan376]

Man you are lifesaver 😂

[@splaynn]

Thank you!!!! This makes Valheim a dream to play on Steam Deck! For the aspect ratio problem though, I just use the stretch feature.

[@mrcharliekane]

you kick ass dude thank you

[@Zenith0000]

how to swap back n forth to window mode for FSR to work on deck ? Couldn't catch the step/button prompt.

[@MrSOOPERcooper]

I’m playing tekken 8 on the deck and fsr won’t enable unless I have the scaling mode set to fill, which messes with where stuff is on the screen. Any way to fix this or am I stuck like that

[@mohq9183]

Wait so what's happening when you enable FSR and set the in game to ultra performance? Or balanced?

[@just00saying]

thank you 🎉

[@gemshards6062]

Thanks

[@Robinss0n]

Hey thanks for sharing but i cant find the setting on the display section to make a custom resolution since i want to try out your res so badly but the only way to make it seems to be an old script from a reddit post. Not sure its not available on oled screens yet or why i cant do it :(

[@andreitgk4748]

If the game doesn't have integrated fsr it can be used for text visibility

[@retrotechx2600]

so.... Under the Waves can look even better!

[@jacobburgin826]

This is only for games that do not natively support fsr yeah?

[@echtvergoldet]

but how is NMS FSR 2.0 working? I'm playing on native, fullscreen. It 100% does something and improves the performance... I guess they do it the right way and scale up internally?

[@darthfader7414]

As your the man that knows why do I see YT videos of game’s running well on streamers hardware yet I cannot get play them crash free..?

[@wumpratt]

how do i enable FSR(gamescope) on desktop mode? 3.5.7 broke the command line i used to use

[@acegear]

with gpu prices are insane and the performance they bring is miniscule buying a gpu vs buying a steam deck is making the steam deck very budget friendly

[@c-tothefourth4879]

Definitely. Especially the OLED deck.

[@josephs9600]

They should really grey out the option if youre running 720p or above

[@user-tc4ce7zw1y]

How do I get this to work for The Last of Us part 1? I can’t lower the resolution. And the overlay still says No for FSR. Any ideas?

[@MillardBarredo]

Dude! This video made me appreciate the steam deck even more! it shows the steam os offers a lot more than windows!

[@LISTEDGames]

On mine it limits itself to 20 fps..

[@z1nky_aqz_Lascar]

for the steam deck OLED, i lowrered the ingame resolution + enabled FSR in the steam app settings, but it still says "OFF"

[@paulwilson1555]

Did you change the in game setting to "windows mode"?

[@z1nky_aqz_Lascar]

@@paulwilson1555 yes

[@donaldolafaurie]

I want armored core so badly but it’s always $60 on steamed

[@Jinsh1911]

lol Just realize after owning Steam Deck for about a year and I've been using FSR wrongly this whole entire time.

[@iamnotmrlebowski]

I tried this on Baldur's Gate 3. There is FSR 1 & 2 in the game itself but no matter what I try with performance overlay level 4 turned on, FSR is always in red as OFF. I can't find a single video on KZbin with a person showing FSR 1 & 2 with it actually ON when having performance overlay level 4 up on screen? Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks a lot for the video

[@iamnotmrlebowski]

Got the green light! Aspect ratio: 4:3 Resolution: 1024x768

[@joogled1839]

@@iamnotmrlebowski sorry for the necropost but why 1024x768?? couldn't you go lower for better performance, or is the steam deck actually THAT good that it can run bg3 at 45-90 or 60-60?

[@octaviopina9593]

So does FSR only work in windows mode?

[@ameliabuns4058]

Waaaaaat I had no idea! All this time….

[@Quagula]

How abput on desktop mode? Same proccess?

[@danielwilliams3161]

Half rate shading can boost fps ya know

[@deadrift886]

I dont understand why you would set the resolution to 928x580 and not 1280x720 when enabling fsr. Whats the advantage? If im playing dock mode on a 1080p tv, wouldnt 720p with fsr enabled be better?

[@user-xe6sm4jv8f]

If docked - yeah, 720p will look better on a 1080p TV. But on battery 580p would make more sense because 1) the Steam Deck's screen aspect ratio is 16 : 10 and 2) fewer pixels to render means more FPS (or more battery)

[@retro_ed746]

1600x900 would be even better on external display if game performance is good enough.

[@ColinXYZ]

720p is still 1:1. It just has black bars on the top and bottom.

[@deadrift886]

Ok so for persona 5 i can play dock mode at 1080p. Are you guys sating 720p with fsr would be better?

[@joogled1839]

@@deadrift886 you would get better performance but honestly for persona 5 there isnt really a point

[@mosthated8848]

Wth I been had this thing since launch 😂 I did not know this. Appreciate it if I sell the LCD model and, get the oled one this will be handy cause I was considering buying Rog Ally instead my games are running poorly hope this helps.

[@flower4000]

Why are all my cut scenes tiny now

[@pkpkpkok]

steam deck afmf?

[@averagejackmedia609]

*Me watching this in data saver mod* Ahhh yes.. more blurry.

[@FlameOfAnor86]

I can’t get this to work for hogwarts legacy for some reason

[@japandi780]

If you want to force 16:10 ratio, just above where the setting for FSR is in the steam menu there is a slider for filling or zooming in to fill the screen. Also to note, FSR is best avoided on CPU heavy games as this will add more workload to the CPU, so this works best when you have a little headroom in the CPU and want to boost FPS or keep stable FPS and increase graphics settings.

[@mycelium1456]

That's on preview on LCD unless they put it into stable already idk been on preview forever and my OLED already came with 3.5

[@PercyPanleo]

@@mycelium1456 I believe it was put into the stable branch for LCD units a little over a week ago now.

[@mycelium1456]

@@PercyPanleo true

[@AFxstuxkonmarz]

Can we talk about the tearing? Why tf does everyone I play look like ps1 graphics?? I have my tearing setting off. But it doesn’t change!

[@AFxstuxkonmarz]

Nvm I just figured it out…. Disable Half rate shading. God why doesn’t anyone talk about this.

[@joogled1839]

@@AFxstuxkonmarz because half rate shading is OFF by default. just dont turn it on in the first place if your game looks worse.