Lossless Scaling for Steam Deck

Note:
This is an unofficial community plugin. It is independently developed and not officially supported by the creators of Lossless Scaling or lsfg-vk. For support, please use the Decky Lossless Discord Channel.

What is this?

A Decky plugin that streamlines the installation of lsfg-vk (Lossless Scaling Frame Generation Vulkan layer) on Steam Deck, allowing you to use the Lossless Scaling features on Linux with a controller friendly UI in SteamOS or Bazzite.

Installation

Note: This plugin is currently in active development. While functional, some features may change before the official Decky Plugin Store release.

1. Download the plugin from the latest release
   • Download the “Lossless Scaling.zip” file to your Steam Deck
2. Install manually through Decky:
   • In Game Mode, go to the settings cog in the top right of the Decky Loader tab
   • Enable “Developer Mode”
   • Go to “Developer” tab and select “Install Plugin from Zip”
   • Select the downloaded “Lossless Scaling.zip” file

How to Use

1. Purchase and install Lossless Scaling from Steam
2. Open the plugin from the Decky menu
3. Click “Install lsfg-vk” to automatically set up the lsfg-vk vulkan layer
4. Configure settings using the plugin’s UI - adjust FPS multiplier, flow scale, performance mode, HDR settings, and experimental features
5. Apply launch option to games you want to use frame generation with:
   • Add ~/lsfg %command% to your game’s launch options in Steam Properties
   • Or use the “Launch Option Clipboard” button in the plugin to copy the command
6. Launch your game - frame generation will activate automatically using your plugin configuration

Note: Configuration changes are applied in real-time and will take effect immediately without restarting your game.

Configuration Options

The plugin provides several configuration options to optimize frame generation for your games:

Core Settings

• FPS Multiplier: Choose between 2x, 3x, or 4x frame generation
• Flow Scale: Adjust motion estimation quality (lower = better performance, higher = better quality)
• Performance Mode: Uses a lighter processing model - recommended for most games
• HDR Mode: Enable for games that support HDR output

Experimental Features

• Present Mode Override: Force specific Vulkan presentation modes for compatibility
• Base FPS Limit: Set a base framerate cap before the multiplier is applied (useful for DirectX games)

All settings (except base FPS limit) are saved automatically and can be changed while games are running.

Feedback and Support

For per-game feedback and community support, please join the Decky Lossless Discord Channel

Troubleshooting

Frame generation not working?

• Ensure you’ve added LSFG_PROCESS=decky-lsfg-vk %command% to your game’s launch options
• Check that the Lossless Scaling DLL was detected correctly in the plugin
• Try enabling Performance Mode if you’re experiencing crashes
• Make sure your game is running in fullscreen mode for best results

Performance issues?

• Lower the Flow Scale setting for better performance
• Enable Performance Mode (recommended for most games)
• Try reducing the FPS multiplier from 4x to 2x or 3x
• Consider using the experimental FPS limit feature for DirectX games

What it does

The plugin:

• Automatically downloads and installs the latest lsfg-vk Vulkan layer to ~/.local/lib/
• Configures the Vulkan layer in ~/.local/share/vulkan/implicit_layer.d/
• Creates a TOML configuration file in ~/.config/lsfg-vk/conf.toml with your settings
• Automatically detects your Lossless Scaling DLL installation
• Provides an easy-to-use interface to configure frame generation settings:
  • FPS Multiplier: Choose 2x, 3x, or 4x frame generation
  • Flow Scale: Adjust motion estimation quality vs performance
  • Performance Mode: Use lighter processing for better performance
  • HDR Mode: Enable for HDR-compatible games
  • Experimental Features: Override present mode and set FPS limits
• Hot-reloading: Configuration changes apply immediately without restarting games
• Easy uninstallation that removes all installed files when no longer needed

Credits

• PancakeTAS for creating the lsfg-vk Vulkan compatibility layer
• Lossless Scaling developers for the original frame generation technology
• Deck Wizard for the helpful video tutorial
• The Decky Loader team for the plugin framework
• Community contributors and testers for feedback and bug reports