Steam Deck: EmuDeck vs. RetroDeck - THE ULTIMATE SHOWDOWN

[@nogovannut9386]

Just saw this, looking forward to watching! Thank you very much for doing this comparison - very much needed and appreciated! 👍

[@MRxRadex]

Wow man this is an amazing work. Thank you so much for this detailed comparison.

[@KillahMate]

_Exactly_ what I was looking for. Thanks!

[@Gods_Titan]

im really impressed with this video, exactly what i was looking for and im honestly impressed with the quality!

[@Darkuni]

Thanks so much!

[@MyAmazingUsername]

RetroDeck is the best for me. Just Flathub, and you're done. No clutter. Just a nicely self-contained, pre-configured frontend for a bunch of emulators.

[@Darkuni]

Some people love it. Feels a bit "RetroPi" for me - and some people like that. I prefer EmuDeck's UI. Then again, I'm used to it.

[@MyAmazingUsername]

@@Darkuni Are you talking about the configuration UI or the actual frontend? Because they both use the same frontend (EmulationStation-DE) and can use the same skins. The first thing I did in RetroDeck was adding the Iconic theme to make it look better If you are talking about the configuration UI and its features, then yeah EmuDeck is better at the moment, but I don't use that UI for anything.

[@Darkuni]

@@MyAmazingUsername That's what I mean. The EmuDeck's UI. Compressor tools, store, emulator updates, config updates. It is all so easy without billions of nested menus.

[@MyAmazingUsername]

@@Darkuni Ah, yeah I agree. RetroDeck is nearly done remaking the configurator UI in Godot, so it'll improve a lot on that front very soon. :)

[@Darkuni]

@@MyAmazingUsername I will 100% re-review it when it comes!

[@Usograve0708]

Got my sub. Well informed. Will be buying my the OLED 1tb steam deck and plan on playing alot of retro games on it. This has helped me to decide to go with Emudeck.

[@Darkuni]

I specialize in classic emulation ... classic arcade, C64, Amiga ... let me know if you need help ... we have like minded people on the discord.

[@Queztapotel123]

thanks men. really good video about those two

[@kingfreemind7314]

One of my favorites channels. Have helped me more times than I can count with Steam Deck.

[@Darkuni]

Thank you my friend!

[@kingfreemind7314]

@Darkuni You are very welcome. And, Thank You Sir.

[@wilp9255]

agreed! one of my all time favorite channels, Monroe is the man!

[@jimbobcheezeburger2020]

love retrodeck on my 2tb sd card 💯 nice to keep it all in once place for convenience

[@StreetsOfSonic]

What I need is a guide on how to install custom textures for some emulators (running from SD card); I find consistently that directions given on most games doesn't work for me but most guides either are PC specific or assumes you are running off the hard drive.

[@Darkuni]

That's not something I do myself (and have no particular interest in) - which makes it hard for me to get motivated to do a video on it. I'll add it to my backlog and if I have a lull or dead period I'll consider it. I would list a SPECIFIC example here - what emu, what game, what textures - so I have something to work with. Thanks for the comment!

[@StreetsOfSonic]

@Darkuni Maybe partially it is that I don't understand the nuances. I recently downloaded custom textures for the N64 version of Resident Evil 2 and on my Deck it would only work up past the title screen. Worked fine when I test it on PC. Some other games, mainly PS1 and PS2 titles, I followed directions that were supposed to correlate with the Deck and they wouldn't load at all. Now, on EmuDeck the supposed process seemed simpler but I had no result. On retrodeck the process I was given seemed more difficult and multiple people had small differences in their directions, but I managed to at least get the game to start up with the textures working but again, past the title screen it wouldn't work. Not sure if game/user specifics come into play, along with potential Steam Deck compatibility issues, which may or may not even be know.

[@Darkuni]

@@StreetsOfSonic Yeah, you're dealing with a lot of delta here. You're on a completely different OS. You're on a completely different build of the emulator (RetroArch) - and you're potentially using a different core on RA and you could even be using a potentially different version of the CORE in RA. Then you have all the "hardware differences" between the architecture (perhaps the textures require a ridiculous amount of RAM that your PC has, but the Deck doesn't? Dunno how that works ... but you get the idea). I would start by making sure you are using the same version of RA, the same RA core, and the same version number of the core in question. If they all line up perfectly - and things still don't work? Then you're down to OS/hardware delta :(

[@paynomind81]

retrodeck because i got to work as a newbie and i thought all the videos on emudeck were not up to date enough and i ran into issues and errors too much to the point where i just gave up so i went to retrodeck and got it to work.

[@Darkuni]

@@paynomind81 which is why my version of emudeck's tutorial is on version 3. With version 4 coming soon. :)

[@drusso66]

I still cannot decide which of these is better on my oled deck, would it be ok the use both without any confusion, and also to share the rom folders.

[@Darkuni]

While I indeed had both installed at one time, I might not totally recommend it - only because I do NOT know what might clash. The folder system is pretty damn close between both - I don't recall what I found but it was one or two little things. A lot had to do with BIOS files I seem to recall. What is your driving your indecision?

[@drusso66]

I like to use it for the newer systems, Ps2, PS3, Xbox,Switch etc. Did not want to spend to much time setting emulators up etc have done that to many times over the years on a PC, also like the idea of auto saving when I exit a game.

[@Darkuni]

@@drusso66 I believe EmuDeck is the superior solution for your particular use cases. I would start there (god, please use my video - it is at version 5) and if you are displeased, make the switch. I don't think you will be displeased.

[@drusso66]

Great thanks for advice, only thing is I have already installed Retro deck, is it fairly easy to uninstall ?

[@Darkuni]

@drusso66 clean and easy

[@feeshifeeshi]

Very helpful video! Gonna stick with EmuDeck for now

[@handmade_videos]

Thank for the well done video! CT 3003 recommended „Retro Deck“ and prefered it to „EmuDeck“. He said the installation and deinstallation would be cleaner. Now you say the opposite. I wonder how the different opinion is originated. Greetings

[@Darkuni]

Well, I actually did both uninstalls personally to test. Did he? Or is he just following the patter of others before him? If he plans to support you with your RetroDeck needs? Great. But if you want a lot bigger community to be able to help you? EmuDeck still wins. Hands down.

[@adelin081]

retroachievements never worked for me with emudeck’s configuration. I Always had to login into each emulator seperately and logging in from emudeck’s interface did nothing. I’m also always afraid to even open emudeck because I’ve had it reset my configurations I’ve set in the emulators(including having to re-input my retroachievements account) Never used retrodeck though.

[@Darkuni]

Strange. They are working okay here (well, as you can see by the video - it pops up a couple of times). Then again, 99% of my retro achievements are via RetroArch. I can't really say about other emus.

[@xXTheSammichXx]

This is a brilliant channel. It’s been so helpful in setting up less straightforward emulators on the Steam Deck. Would you be able to show how to get emulators working for more obscure systems on EmuDeck/EmulationStation like Dragon32, BBC Micro and Super Cassette Vision? Thanks

[@Darkuni]

Tell you what ... Pick ONE and I'll take a look at it ...

[@xXTheSammichXx]

Perhaps BBC Micro. I know you can get it to run (sort of) in MAME but I’ve never been able to get the controls to work. Anyway, keep up the good work 👍

[@Darkuni]

@@xXTheSammichXx Can you give me a couple of games you might recommend? I have no history with the BBC Micro whatsoever. :)

[@xXTheSammichXx]

It’s not surprising. I think the BBC Micro was only successful in the UK, similar to the ZX Spectrum. Classic games that come to mind are Chuckie Egg and Repton. Citadel and Magic Palace are also worth checking out. You’ll also need bios files to run the system. Can’t remember exactly what they’re called. Theres a post on AtariAge forums that list them. Tried to post a link but KZbin wouldn’t allow it. if it’s too much bother don’t worry. Appreciate your time.

[@mistersonic93]

Really good comparison!

[@sebastiendominguez1351]

Updated my EmuDeck and now GameCube inputs doesn't work with Dolphin. This isn't the first time where EmuDeck update broke my install. It's really bad

[@Darkuni]

Did you RESET the config on Dolphin? That usually fixes things right up.

[@sebastiendominguez1351]

Yes, I also tried completely restoring the Steam Deck to factory settings. For whatever reason, Dolphin sees the Steam Virtual Gamepad as disconnected. I had to manually force it to the Steam Deck controller or the DS4, but then I lose the ability to swap between the Bluetooth controller and the GamePad, like in every other emulator. Something broke il the last version of SteamOS or EmuDeck and now the controllers aren’t correctly mapped for Dolphin.

[@Darkuni]

@@sebastiendominguez1351 Ah you're using external controllers. Probably why I've never seen that particular issue. You may want to hop on the EmuDeck Discord and ask there. I don't do a lot of Dolphin myself and I don't really do external controllers - so I'm not sure how much help I can be.

[@sebastiendominguez1351]

I use an external controller, but I just wiped my Deck this morning and tried to launch a GC ROM from ESDE, and the gamepad isn’t recognized. I didn’t even configure a Bluetooth controller this time..

[@sebastiendominguez1351]

​@@Darkuni Turn out that there was a bug introduced by Dolphin. An update dropped today.

[@autochat]

Im about to buy a Rog Ally X, and I'm thinking on putting Bazzite on it, does bazzite (emudeck) makes YUZU and PS3 run better?

[@Darkuni]

I don't have any numbers for you - but the OS isn't likely to make any sort of improvements here. It's pretty much about raw system power and optimization of the emulator on the OS. Windows' build may be better optimized than the Linux builds. Hard to say. PS3 is just a beast to emulate - raw CPU power required (so the X should perform better than the Steam Deck here). Yuzu is just down to settings and tolerance :D

[@arvinmercado7873]

Tried emudeck the first time and nothing but headache. Then I went retrodeck and never looked back.

[@Darkuni]

I'm really glad it has an audience!

[@infasis]

That's why I'm looking into Retrodeck. I've used emulators and stuff for decades now, and I'm not sure I ever had a more frustrating experience where things either worked or didn't work and I had no idea why. Updates and reinstalling seemed to fix most of the biggest issues for me, but the experience was the opposite of "easy/streamlined". It worries me that people new to this stuff are going to think emulators are much harder to use than they really are if they come across the same problems.

[@Darkuni]

@@infasis RetroDeck is really no "easier" than EmuDeck. What makes these tools "useful" is that they handle all the stuff the newbies either don't or won't learn about. EmuDeck has the most community support - the most help available. Have they made some mistakes? 100% - some of those mistakes have naffed people's install. But there are a ton of moving parts - we can't begrudge either team a mistake or two.

[@Brookiethehornedpupper]

I just want there to be integrated support for mednafen. We have the beetle cores through retro arch which is a fork and they work great mostly. But mednafen is available why hasn't it been integrated ??? If I am missing something and someone knows feel free to comment and tell me what I'm missing.

[@Darkuni]

@@Brookiethehornedpupper is that supported in ESDE? If not? That's probably why these don't support it.

[@MrApplewine]

Emudeck can't find my roms and won't create the rom folders. So, it doesn't work. That may be because I selected "custom location". I may need a fresh install of Emudeck.

[@Darkuni]

I recommend you use my tutorial - I'll be able to help you better. kzbin.info/www/bejne/m2PRpnevhJuMb6M

[@MrApplewine]

@@Darkuni OK, I'll check that out. Retrodeck just worked, very easy.

[@Darkuni]

@MrApplewine more community help available for Emudeck... Means something

[@Darkuni]

@@MrApplewine Let me know where you land at the end!

[@JuicerNation]

yeahhh... i got emudeck setup but it needs steam. bouta uninstall it for retrodeck... dont want extra bloat on a system with low power

[@Darkuni]

It doesn't require Steam at all. In fact, I don't recommend using any steam injections.

[@kingj282]

I see why EmuDeck is more popular

[@Darkuni]

Right? I mean - there is nothing WRONG with RetroDeck per se. But the EmuDeck package is just ... more mature ... and probably has more people working on it. If you were a die hard emulation person not afraid of basic Linux windows being used? It would be a FINE solution. But for the newbie? Who is going to need help ... have questions ... need their hands held? Yeah, EmuDeck kinda wins.

[@nicolasmayer618]

@@Darkunibiggest difference is that emustation creators say that RetroDeck is the right way to use it on the SteamDeck, the installation of EmuDeck is kinda hacky according to them

[@Darkuni]

@@nicolasmayer618 I know the ESDE developer - we chat quite a bit. They don't like EmuDeck for .. other ... reasons (not unreasonably). I mention a few in this video. But the fact still remains that EmuDeck is the most popular, with the most amount of resources and community.