The Final Last Fantasy 14 Steam Deck Information

Last Fantasy 14 (FF XIV) is without doubt one of the largest MMOs in the marketplace since its launch, and it is clear as day why. The fixed help, enormous participant base, participating gameplay, and new content material have made it a worthwhile expertise to dive into. I’ve already put in nearly 5,000 hours myself, and I do not see that stopping anytime quickly, particularly with the brand new Beastmaster replace dropping right now. On prime of that, it is one of many few MMOs that has discovered its approach to consoles with full controller help.

And that makes Last Fantasy 14 an nearly good match for the Steam Deck. Nevertheless, the default expertise solely scratches the floor of what you are able to do. With the fitting controller configuration, Cross Hotbar setup, Steam Enter tweaks, efficiency settings, UI format, and some non-compulsory additions, the Steam Deck can turn into top-of-the-line methods to play Last Fantasy 14.

So, on this information, we’re going all the way in which. From putting in and configuring the sport to constructing an optimized controller and UI setup, that is tips on how to get probably the most out of Last Fantasy 14 on the Steam Deck.

Launcher

Let’s begin with the obvious factor: the sport launcher.

The default FF XIV launcher sucks. It is sluggish, it is ugly, and it forces you to manually enter your password each time you log in. It must go.

It additionally handles the sport’s set up in a reasonably uncommon method. Steam itself solely downloads and manages the launcher, which is why FF XIV could seem to take up barely any area in Steam even after you’ve got put in all the sport. The precise sport is downloaded individually via the launcher. This additionally signifies that merely uninstalling FF XIV via Steam could depart the precise sport information behind, secretly consuming up nicely over 100GB of storage till you manually take away them.

Fortunately, PC gamers have had entry to XIVLauncher for years, and it is an unimaginable various that fixes many of those annoyances. It presents computerized login, a significantly better set up and replace expertise, correct sport administration, and, most significantly, help for Dalamud and its enormous ecosystem of community-made plugins/addons.

And I am extraordinarily joyful to say that XIVLauncher additionally has a local Linux model designed with the Steam Deck in thoughts.

So let’s do away with the default launcher and arrange XIVLauncher.

To put in it, simply go to the , and replica and paste the ”Steamdeck Set up Script” command into the Konsole whereas on Desktop Mode and press Enter. It is going to set up the XIVLauncher.

As soon as the set up is full, return to Gaming Mode, open FF XIV’s Properties, and head to the Compatibility tab. Allow “Power the usage of a particular Steam Play compatibility software” and choose “XLCore [XLM]” from the dropdown menu. If XLCore does not seem, be sure to’ve totally restarted Steam after finishing the set up. From this level on, you may launch FF XIV usually via Steam, and XIVLauncher will mechanically set up itself and launch rather than the default launcher. It is actually that easy!

The Dalamud Plugins

As soon as you’ve got launched the sport and logged into your character, you will discover a brand new “Dalamud Plugins/Settings” part in the primary menu. And that is the place the true magic occurs.

Dalamud presents an enormous assortment of high quality of life plugins that may make the FF XIV expertise considerably higher. I am not going to undergo each plugin individually, as there are far too many and you’ll flick through them your self and set up no matter fits your preferences. Usually, although, you will discover extremely helpful additions for issues like checking Market Board costs from anyplace, setting timers and each day checklists, discovering which distributors promote particular gadgets, tweaking the UI, serving to with fishing and sure mini-games, checking merchandise costs, displaying your latency, and numerous different conveniences.

It’s doable to manually add third-party repositories via the experimental settings to entry plugins exterior the default choice, however we strongly discourage doing so with out realizing precisely what you are putting in. Sq. Enix formally prohibits third-party instruments, and plugins that automate gameplay, present unfair benefits, or in any other case alter how the sport is performed can put your account in danger.

There are tons of nice plugins to make use of to customise your expertise, however in case you aren’t positive the place to start out, I like to recommend the Market Board plugin to see costs anyplace.

Graphics:

Now let’s get to the graphics settings. The very first thing you need to do is ready the sport to 1280×800 decision. FF XIV natively helps the Steam Deck’s full 800p show, however it does not use it by default, so make certain to vary this earlier than touching the rest.

Since that is an MMO, efficiency can fluctuate dramatically relying on what you are doing, which makes recommending one definitive graphics configuration reasonably troublesome. Fortunately, FF XIV comes with 4 well-optimized presets that make switching between visible high quality and efficiency extremely straightforward: Excessive (Desktop), Excessive (Laptop computer), Commonplace (Desktop), and Commonplace (Laptop computer).

The default Commonplace (Desktop) preset is what I exploit for the overwhelming majority of the sport. Throughout questing, open-world exploration, social actions, and lower-level dungeons, it typically delivers round 45-90 FPS relying on the content material, whereas nonetheless wanting nice on the Deck’s small display. The most important exception is Limsa Lominsa, the place the body charge can drop into the 30s merely due to the ridiculous variety of gamers gathered there. This is not actually a Steam Deck-specific drawback both; Limsa is without doubt one of the sport’s greatest social hubs and may have lots of of gamers hanging round without delay.

Extra demanding content material is a special story. Newer enlargement dungeons, 24-player Alliance Raids, and particularly the huge PvP battles in Frontline can wrestle to keep up the 50-60 FPS vary on Commonplace (Desktop). Every time I am doing the sort of content material, I merely swap over to Commonplace (Laptop computer) for some further efficiency and swap again as soon as I am finished. Altering presets takes about 5 seconds, so there’s actually no motive to sacrifice visible high quality all through all the sport only for the comparatively small quantity of content material that wants the additional headroom.

General, FF XIV offers you a ton of flexibility on the Steam Deck. Moderately than forcing all the sport into one compromised configuration, you may get pleasure from higher visuals throughout much less demanding content material and immediately seize some further efficiency each time issues get hectic. It is a splendidly optimized sport for the Steam Deck total.

Controls:

Controls are most likely an important matter on this total information. I’ve already talked about how FF XIV has arguably the very best controller help of any MMO, and there is a motive the system is so extremely praised by the neighborhood. Nevertheless, nearly as good as it’s, there are nonetheless just a few minor inconveniences that may make sure actions really feel unnecessarily clunky on the Steam Deck.

That is the place the again grip buttons fully change the expertise.

In case you’re taking part in on a Steam Deck, Steam Controller, DualSense Edge, or principally any controller with further again buttons, my setup eliminates most of these remaining annoyances and makes taking part in FF XIV on a controller considerably extra comfy.

First, let’s discuss hotbars. FF XIV has lots of talents and a few fairly difficult rotations. Controller gamers primarily use L2 and R2 mixed with the D-pad and X/Y/A/B to entry them. Holding L2 offers us eight talents, whereas holding R2 offers us one other eight, for 16 instantly accessible actions.

That is nowhere close to sufficient for a Stage 100 character, although. Particularly with extra bloated Jobs like Astrologian or Gunbreaker, you may simply want round 30 buttons, and probably much more in case you’re min-maxing your setup with macros.

FF XIV has two glorious options for this: Expanded Maintain Controls and the WXHB. In apply, this implies both urgent R2 + L2 collectively in a particular order to entry one other set of talents, or double-tapping L2 or R2 to deliver up a further hotbar.

I personally already use the L2 + R2 combos for my further hotbars, however again after I performed on PS4, I nonetheless needed to rely closely on double-tapping the triggers for the whole lot else. When you develop the muscle reminiscence, it turns into surprisingly pure, however it’s nonetheless lots of finger motion. Throughout fast-paced rotations on Jobs like Monk or Dragoon, messing up a double faucet or switching to the flawed set can even price you helpful uptime.

For years, I wanted I may merely dedicate a totally separate button to a different set of talents as a substitute of regularly double-tapping triggers.

Due to the Steam Deck’s again buttons, that is now unofficially doable.

We’re nonetheless going to make use of the double-tap methodology, however as a substitute of bodily double-tapping the triggers ourselves, we will make L4 and R4 do it mechanically and nearly immediately. I managed to realize this via Steam Enter by assigning a number of instructions to a single button.

For L4, assign Left Set off and alter its activation kind to Begin Press. Do not add any delay to this primary enter. Then, open the choices subsequent to that command and add an Additional Command, as soon as once more assigning Left Set off. This time, depart it as a Common Press and set its Hearth Begin Delay to 48ms. By means of my testing, 48ms was the earliest delay at which FF XIV persistently acknowledged the 2 inputs as a double faucet.

Now merely repeat the identical course of for R4, utilizing Proper Set off as a substitute.

And voila! Now you can immediately entry one other 16 talents with a single press of L4 or R4 as a substitute of bodily double-tapping your triggers. However we nonetheless have two again buttons left, and that is the place my private setup will get much more helpful.

As I discussed earlier, a number of talents on the Cross Hotbar are assigned to the directional D-pad buttons. The issue is that reaching for the D-pad requires you to bodily take your thumb off the left analog stick, which controls your motion. Whenever you’re not holding L2 or R2, D-pad Left and Proper are additionally used for biking via targets, making them two of probably the most often used buttons throughout fight.

That is why I assign L5 to D-pad Left and R5 to D-pad Proper.

This lets me cycle via targets with out ever taking my thumb off the analog stick. Even higher, as a result of these buttons nonetheless behave precisely like D-pad Left and Proper, they’ll additionally activate the corresponding Cross Hotbar talents whilst you’re holding L2, R2, or utilizing the brand new L4/R4 immediate double-tap setup. In different phrases, these two again buttons aren’t simply making focusing on simpler; they’re additionally providing you with rather more comfy entry to a different set of hotbar actions whereas sustaining full motion management.

The distinction in apply is large. Beforehand, if I needed to modify to an enemy and instantly use a capability assigned to a directional slot on my further hotbar, I might need to take my thumb off the analog stick, use the D-pad to pick out my goal, double-tap L2, after which transfer my thumb again to the D-pad once more to activate the power.

With this setup, all of that performance is accessible from the again of the controller. I can preserve my thumbs on the analog sticks, swap targets with L5/R5, immediately entry my further hotbars with L4/R4, and proceed my rotation with out continuously shifting my fingers across the controller.

The one directional enter I nonetheless often have to bodily attain for is D-pad Up, however I merely place talents I hardly ever use there, so in apply it has by no means been a deal breaker.

This setup has labored wonders for me, and it is most likely the one greatest enchancment I’ve made to FF XIV’s already glorious controller controls.

Now let’s discuss Dash. Dash is a common motion shared throughout each Job, and because it’s one thing you will continuously use all through all the sport, dedicating certainly one of your valuable Cross Hotbar slots to it has all the time felt like a waste of area to me. Fortunately, there’s an extremely easy macro that solves this drawback.

Open the Essential Menu, choose Consumer Macros, scroll all the way in which all the way down to Macro 99, and enter:

/ac “Dash”

Then head into System Configuration → Gamepad Settings → Button Configuration and select both L3 or R3, whichever you favor. Assign Macro 99 to that button, and that is it! You now have a devoted Dash button with out sacrificing a Cross Hotbar slot.

This one is usually private choice, although. Some gamers want assigning L3 and R3 to D-pad inputs for even simpler entry to their talents, and that is completely legitimate too. That is top-of-the-line issues about FF XIV’s controller help: there is not actually one definitive setup. Between the sport’s native controller customization, macros, Steam Enter, and the Steam Deck’s 4 again buttons, the chances are nearly countless.

HUD:

One other necessary factor to contemplate when taking part in FF XIV on the Steam Deck is the HUD. There’s lots of info on display at any given time, and squeezing all of it onto a small handheld show could make issues really feel cluttered fairly rapidly.

Fortunately, FF XIV’s HUD customization is simply as versatile as its controller settings. Head into HUD Format from the System menu and you’ll transfer virtually each particular person component wherever you need. You possibly can both use the touchscreen and easily drag issues round together with your finger, or use Steam Deck’s proper trackpad whereas holding Steam button as a mouse for extra exact changes.

Choosing a person HUD component additionally helps you to alter issues like its measurement and opacity, so you do not have to scale all the interface simply to make extra room. You possibly can preserve necessary fight info similar to your Occasion Checklist, Goal Bar, Job Gauge, buffs and debuffs clearly seen whereas shrinking or shifting much less necessary components out of the way in which.

There actually is not a definitive “finest” HUD format right here. Everybody has totally different preferences, and totally different Jobs and roles profit from having totally different info entrance and middle. Simply transfer issues round, resize what feels too massive, conceal something you do not want, and experiment till the display feels comfy to you.

It solely takes a couple of minutes, and FF XIV offers you just about the whole lot you should make the HUD really feel fully at house on the Steam Deck.

Last Fantasy 14 and Steam Deck:

I feel Last Fantasy 14 is without doubt one of the best video games you may play on the go. Not simply because its controller help interprets so completely to a handheld or as a result of the sport runs remarkably nicely on the Steam Deck, however due to the sheer quantity of content material obtainable. FF XIV could also be an MMO, however it additionally presents lots of of hours of story-driven and solo-friendly content material, alongside dungeons, raids, PvP, crafting, gathering, exploration, mini-games, and numerous different actions. It isn’t only a sport you often soar into; it is a whole world you may carry round with you.

And there is much more solo-focused content material on the horizon. The long-awaited Beastmaster is becoming a member of the sport as a brand new Restricted Job in Patch 7.56 right now/s, bringing its personal monster-taming and collection-focused gameplay. It is precisely the sort of content material that makes FF XIV such an excellent match for a handheld: one thing you may soar into and make significant progress in even when you do not need to decide to conventional multiplayer content material.

Whether or not you are a longtime Warrior of Gentle on the lookout for a transportable approach to play otherwise you’re about to set foot in Eorzea for the primary time, the Steam Deck is an unimaginable approach to expertise Last Fantasy 14. And with the fitting setup, you do not have to accept a compromised handheld model of the sport. You get the complete FF XIV expertise, wherever you need to play it.

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