Steam Deck Playability

fujicakes1

Hi guys, so, I just wanted to say, I love playing on handhelds! I actually sold six game consoles in order to buy a steam deck in order to play The Sims 4 on it lol. But....Sims is basically unplayable on it. It's just impossible. I don't know if it's possible for EA to do anything about that or if it is Steam's thing, but, I was hoping that maybe someone who has some sort of power could do...something. You guys are the best! Thanks!

jcp011c2

Wow I'm actually surprise it can be played on the Steam Deck at all, given how it ties into origin on the PC.

fujicakes1

@jcp011c2 i believe that you have to get the ea app on the console - can’t super remember because my memory is…terrible, but, pretty sure. The console is essentially a computer. It has a desktop and everything. So you can even put mods and stuff on it.

drake_mccarty

You need to download the game thru steam. You will need to configure your controls unless the preset it picks from the community works for you. Once you login to your ea account you can download your packs. I couldn’t tell if it did that in game mode but in desktop mode if you minimize the game while it runs you can open the ea app and start the downloads. It should run on ultra settings I have most packs and some mods and don’t have any issues. I can share my controller mapping if you’d like @fujicakes1

fujicakes1

@drake_mccarty that would be great! I configured one but I think it is not intuitive because I obviously keep hitting the buttons in the wrong order, it does not bring up the cheat bar it just kinda freaks out. My memory is pretty bad and I thought I did something simple to remember but obviously I did not.

drake_mccarty

@fujicakes1 Yeah it’s a lot of trial and error to get it mapped in a way that feels ok. Now I’ll be the first to say these controls aren’t perfect but I found them decent enough to play the game how I would on PC. I’m sure there are some keys that aren’t in my list but these are the buttons I use.

I mapped these controls for The Sims 3 Camera mode and use (mostly) the same button mapping as Sims 4 on console.

A: C Key
B: K Key (hammer tool)
X: R Key (swatch tool)
Y: E Key (eye dropper tool)

L1: 1 (speed 1)
R1: 3 (speed 3)

L4: CTRL Key
R4: Right Mouse Click
L5: 0 (pause)
R5: Delete Key

Window (left): M Key (map)
Menu (right): Escape Key (brings up menu/ deselects object/tool)

DPad
Behavior: Directional Pad
Up: Page Up (floor up)
Down: Page Down (floor down)
Left: End Key (walls down)
Right: Home Key (walls up)

R2 (full pull): Shift
L2 (full pull): Alt

Right Joystick
Behavior: Directional Pad
Up: = (zoom in)
Down: - (dash) (zoom out)
Left: , (comma) (rotate camera/rotate held object)
Right: . (Period) (rotate camera/rotate held object)
Click: G Key (grid)

Left Joystick
Behavior: Directional Pad
Up: W Key (move camera forward)
Down: S Key (move backward)
Left: A Key (move left)
Right: D Key (move right)
Click: Spacebar (next sim)

**The trackpad mapping is based on me being right handed.

Right Trackpad
Behavior: As Mouse
Click: Left Mouse Click

Left Trackpad
Behavior: Scroll Wheel
Click: Middle Mouse Click (hold this button and you can free rotate the camera with the R track pad)
Clockwise Command: Scroll Wheel Up
Counter Clockwise Command: Scroll Wheel Down

Edit- Here is the path to the Mods folder. Pin it to the quick access bar once you’re there so you don’t have to go through the folders again.

/home/deck/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/1222670/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims 4/Mods

Edited to add context for the keys

fujicakes1

Thanks @drake_mccarty !

drake_mccarty

No problem! Later on I will add another spoiler with the folder path to place mods and cc