Lossless Scaling on the Steam Deck: The Ultimate Guide to More FPS

What exactly is lossless scaling?

Imagine being able to double the frame rate (FPS) in your favorite games. Sounds too good to be true? It's not! That's where lossless scaling comes in. It's software you can buy for a few euros on the Steam Store. Originally developed for Windows PCs, the community has found a way to get this ingenious tool running on the Steam Deck as well.

The magic behind lossless scaling lies in what's called frame generation . Instead of your hardware having to calculate each individual frame itself, the software artificially generates additional frames. The result: a significantly smoother gaming experience, even with demanding titles. Instead of 30 FPS, you can suddenly play at 60 FPS – a difference that's immediately noticeable.

In addition to frame generation, the tool also offers various upscaling methods such as AMD FSR or NVIDIA Image Scaling. This allows you to render games at a lower resolution and then upscale them to your Steam Deck's native resolution without any blurring. This reduces the strain on your hardware and provides additional performance gains.

The advantages and disadvantages at a glance

Of course, not everything that glitters is gold. Before you excitedly click the "Buy" button, let's take a sober look at the pros and cons:

Advantages:

• More FPS: The biggest advantage is the potential doubling of your frame rate. This makes games feel significantly smoother.
• Improved performance: The combination of frame generation and upscaling allows you to enjoy even graphically demanding games on the Steam Deck.
• Easy to use: Thanks to a Decky Loader plugin, using it on the Steam Deck is incredibly simple.

Disadvantages:

• Cost: The tool is not free, but at under 10 euros it's a manageable investment.
• Potential latency: Since the frames are artificially generated, there may be a slight input lag. This is therefore not always the best choice for fast-paced online shooters.
• Not perfect for every game: In some games, graphical artifacts or other problems may occur. The only way to find out is to try it.
  
  

How-To: Install Lossless Scaling on Steam Deck

Excited yet? We'll show you step-by-step how to get lossless scaling working on your Steam Deck. But don't worry, it's easier than it sounds.

1. Buy Lossless Scaling: Purchase and install Lossless Scaling from the Steam Store .
2. Install Decky Loader: If you haven't already, you need to install Decky Loader. It's a plugin manager for Steam Deck that unlocks many cool new features. You can find detailed instructions in our blog post about Decky Loader .
3. Install the Lossless Scaling Plugin: Download the Lossless Scaling Plugin for Decky Loader from the GitHub page. To do this, switch to desktop mode in your Steam Deck and download the latest ZIP file.
4. Install the plugin in Decky Loader: Open Decky Loader, go to the settings and install the plugin using the downloaded ZIP file.
5. Install LSFG-VK: Start the Lossless Scaling plugin in Decky Loader and click the button to install LSFG-VK . This is necessary for the plugin to function.
6. Customize game launch options: Copy the launch option from the plugin and paste it into the properties of your Steam games under "Launch Options".
   

That's it! Now, when you start a game, you can activate Lossless Scaling via the Decky Loader menu and enjoy the doubling of FPS.

Conclusion: A must-have for performance junkies?

For us, the answer is a resounding "Yes!" Lossless scaling is a fantastic way to squeeze even more performance out of your Steam Deck. Especially in single-player games, where minimal latency isn't as critical, the FPS boost is a real game-changer. For a small price, you get a powerful tool that noticeably enhances your gaming experience.

Have you tried lossless scaling yet? Share your experiences in the comments! We're curious to see what you can get out of your Steam Deck.