Project 1999 on the Steam Deck? Absolutely!

[Mithu]

I recently had the EQ itch again and decided what better device to test it on than the new Steam Deck. After all, it's a full on PC running Linux so why not?

I was actually surprised how easy it was to install and get running via Steam's Proton layer. It functions similar to Wine, but I have had much better luck than traditional attempts at gaming on Linux. What truly amazed me was how effortless and smooth it was. I have not had a single hiccup whatsoever* once I am in game. No stutter, no frame drop, no weird zoning issues thus far. I did not have to apply any weird winetricks or special configs to get it working. I am NOT running WinEQ2, this is native client!

Being that it worked so well, I had to get a bluetooth keyboard/mouse setup that would be easy to travel with. Settled with the Logitech MX Keys Mini + Anywhere 3 seen here and could not be happier. Lightweight, amazing battery life, both USB-C which is also what charges the Deck itself.

It is possible to play via controller/trackpad but I have not spent the time doing the bindings via Steam. Plus, in a group you need to be able to chat and the thumbstick keyboard isn't convenient for that. But in theory you absolutely could!

*The one hiccup I had seems to do with UDP issues with EQ under Linux/Wine. The login server shows no servers available in the list, which can be fixed by Zaela's p99-login-middlemand (https://github.com/Zaela/p99-login-middlemand). I created a systemd service that just runs it on console boot so I don't forget!

I will say this is the absolute perfect EQ-on-the-go experience. I play windowed at 1280x800 (native Deck resolution) with the taskbar set to auto-hide, EQ window border hidden. Makes it easy to lookup stuff while playing.

I have everything set to the maximum settings and it's really power-efficient. It draws between 5-10W of power, giving you an easy 4-7 hours of battery time.

I'm considering throw together a little guide on the process if anyone is interested. Just amazes me a game over 20 years old can run solidly on an OS it was never designed for and be playable to this day.

[loramin]

Neat!

[Gozuk]

Jealous

[Tunabros]

wow

i can finally show my characters to girls when Im at the club

[Naethyn]

Wheres my steamdeck

[Jibartik]

Wow so cool!!!! Oh the places you'll go.

[Prismaticshop]

I NEEDZ THIS

[Gustoo]

Pretty cool.

[Shawk]

sweet

[Jibartik]

I love how they went through all the trouble to make that thing a mobile device and OP just sets it up like a laptop :D

[Debt]

Do you have a walkthrough on how to get it to play on steamdeck? I got mine the other day. I am not familiar proton/linux though.

Thanks!

[Philistine]

If I had this I'd be unemployed :p Very cool though!!

[Mithu]

Also for anyone trying to get MIDI audio (like the classic music) to playback you’ll need to install Timidity++ via pacman along with the Fluid soundfont. Then add the deck user to the audio group.

I ended up creating a system service that runs the p99 login middleman and a user service that runs the Timidity daemon. No need to remember to run them when I restart the Deck!

[bomaroast]

Screen is too tiny. Extra retard-points considering P99 will play on netbooks from 11 years ago.

[Mithu]

I suppose it’s not terribly useful for some who have achieved this years ago. For me it was mostly a challenge of “can it run EQ, natively”. Sure netbooks have been able to run it but I’m not a fan of Windows and the amount of power and other uses in this device is quite fun for the package size.

Can netbooks play EQ at full settings and solid 60fps even with larger fights and many spell effects? It’s been a while since I’ve messed with them so I’m not sure how their internal GPU handles.

Additionally, you could play with controller via bindings. Granted chat wouldn’t be feasible this way but you could keep the keyboard nearby for that and only use it when you absolutely needed to (or cleverly create hotkey macros for quick replies).

Again, this is a device that can play and do a lot of things so I just added EQ as yet another.

[Insomnia]

I cant buy mine until like October or some bullshit

[Chill0ut]

I'm considering throw together a little guide on the process if anyone is interested. Just amazes me a game over 20 years old can run solidly on an OS it was never designed for and be playable to this day.

Oh please do!

I just got my Steam Deck today and would love to know how you got this set up.

[Mblake1981]

Screen is too tiny. Extra retard-points considering P99 will play on netbooks from 11 years ago.

Technology is so uncool these days.

[AenorVZ]

EQ browser finally up?

[Mblake1981]

EQ browser finally up?

It's like watching a horrible poison that has to run its course.

[brobot02]

I thought these weren't out yet?

[Vormotus]

Wow .. this is actually pretty neat!

Please add a video how to, I have plans to buy one when they finally are released for sale in my country

Amazing things you can do these days with tech :D

[foxchris509]

Nicee

[dannav82]

I would be very interested in your guide. I should be receiving my Deck in the next week or so.

[t0k4]

I would love a little guide as I just got mine (i am running the newest proton GE) , and I would mucho appreciate!!. I am gonna work on a community controls that works well enough for non KMB players and hopefully I can post it here so other peeps can use it!

[Chortles Snortles]

this reminds me of how i landed here at p1999, with someones video of p1999 on an android

v neat op!!

[ariele]

One more vote for a setup guide! I'm running Arch at least, so I'll give this a run on my own and see how it goes.

[mcoy]

I literally just copied over my p99 folder, added "launch titanium" as a non-steam game and set it to proton -04 and it's been fine. I used steam link and my laptop at first so I could set up the controls, but eventually got a bluetooth keyboard to use when chatting.

-Mcoy

[Encroaching Death]

What about them cookies though...

Lemme get one

[t0k4]

Morning all!

So got at least one way figured out!

Firstly, go to Discover in desktop mode and get the newest applications via Discover for
proton GE, Wine and Flatseal.

Fire up Flatseal and go to wine on the Left Selection screen, scroll down to file system and enable all
the sliders.

Exit Discover Application

Transfer your Everquest install folder to a medium of transfer (miniSD card, Google Drive ,etc)Add

Add your main PC's EverQuest folder that you downloaded to Z:/home/deck

Edit the EQ .ini file's screen size (this can be found as how to on the wiki)

Change the resolutions (I did them all) to 1280x800 (this is the screen size of the deck and allows access to the right side of the screen as the cursor will only be on the left side of the screen in default mode.

Open steam in desktop mode and go to library. Select Add non-steam game to library.

Navigate to the Everquest folder and select Launch Titanium .bat and add selected file.

Switch back to gaming mode (desktop mode does t seem to add layouts for controls)

Select Compatibility Mode (the gear on the right of the game screen, second option down in the next window) and select the newest Proton GE (this is your compatibility software that works for a huge amount of steam and non-steam games)

Select controller layout and select a controller scheme that works for you. (As a note, I have made a
Generalized scheme for controller mapping, however I do not know if it will show up in community
Layouts/Templates).

Launch game and have fun!

As an aside you can fire up the keyboard by pressing the steam button and X.

You now have some portable P99 in full screen mode!

Yrs,
Toka

[dannav82]

I literally just copied over my p99 folder, added "launch titanium" as a non-steam game and set it to proton -04 and it's been fine. I used steam link and my laptop at first so I could set up the controls, but eventually got a bluetooth keyboard to use when chatting.

-Mcoy

Hey Mcoy,
I never asked.. where did you place your EQ folder? On the Desktop or elsewhere?

[mcoy]

Hey Mcoy,
I never asked.. where did you place your EQ folder? On the Desktop or elsewhere?

I hit browse when adding a non-steam game and created another "games2" folder for all my non-steam junk; p99 is in "/run/media/mmcblk0p1/games2/Everquest_Classic/".

-Mcoy

[sharkhudson]

wow

i can finally show my characters to girls when Im at the club

lol!