Frame generation on Steam Deck made easy with new Lossless Scaling plugin, but there’s some controversy
Table of Contents
You may have heard that Lossless Scaling Frame Generation recently got ported to Linux, thanks to a developer named PancakeTAS. It’s still in its infancy, though it has been getting some help from the original dev. And now, a plugin for Decky Loader should make it easier to use the frame gen tool on the Steam Deck, but there is some controversy.
Lossless Scaling has become a must-have piece of software for some PC gamers, especially those working with older hardware that doesn’t have native access to the latest upscaling or frame generation technology. A recent update to the software, which is available on Steam, helped reduce “up to 2x GPU load,” and the introduction of Linux support (including SteamOS) is a big breakthrough.
Original Linux port dev didn’t collaborate for the Decky Loader plugin
Decky Loader is an open-source plugin launcher for the Steam Deck which is designed to give users more customization and better functionality with third-party tools. The new lsfg-vk Decky plugin, however, has not been made in collaborating with PancakeTAS, despite claims it was. Pancake released a full statement on the Lossless Scaling Discord server.
A couple of hours ago Deck Wizard has made a video on Lossless Scaling in which they present a new Decky plugin for lsfg-vk.
On Reddit, the creator of that plugin claimed they had collaborated with me to create this, however this is incorrect and was likely the result of a language barrier.
I was asked to collaborate, but I instead requested them to wait with the plugin until the new configuration system was written, as otherwise a large portion of the plugin would have to be rewritten to account for it. They did not listen and pushed the plugin out without communicating with me beforehand.
As a result of this, the plugin already has many issues such as incorrect labeling of options and misleading descriptions of other options. Likely in collateral, the video created by Deck Wizard further spreads these wrong explanations. I want to clear up these things.
First of all, the settings recommended by Deck Wizard are 30% flow scale and no performance mode. I can not state enough how terrible these options are. With 30% flow scale, internal calculations are happening in 96×54 images with some going down to 2×1, producing extremely inaccurate results. Instead, it is recommended to keep flow scale at 85-100% with performance mode enabled, as this gives a much larger performance boost while retaining immensely higher quality.
Clearly all of this is simply a result of poor communication and as such I will not support the Decky plugin. Do not ask about help with lsfg-vk when using the Decky plugin. Perhaps in the future an official lsfg-vk Decky plugin can be made in actual collaboration with me.
PancakeTAS, developer of lsfg-vk, source: Discord
If you want to check out Lossless Scaling Frame Generation on the Steam Deck, you can check out Deck Wizard’s video tutorial above. Although it doesn’t have direct approval from PancakeTAS, it’s still the easiest way to get widespread LS frame gen support on the handheld. We hope to see a closer collaboration in future, ideally one which addresses the issues Pancake highlighted in their statement.
About the Author