A super secret Steam Deck build of Baldur’s Gate 3? No way! It’s not so secret, but the story behind this one is actually unreal. A lone Larian developer worked on it after hours to deliver us a much smoother, better-optimised experience specifically for the Steam Deck. I had such a blast that I wrote a full Steam Deck-centric review of it. I assume the dev just wanted to play Baldur’s Gate 3 on their own Deck and have it run a bit better. But the best part? Larian signed off on it and here we are: a dedicated Steam Deck version of Baldur’s Gate 3, now with better stability and less chugging like a steam train during Act 3. Heh, get it…?
How to play Baldur’s Gate 3 Steam Deck build:
Disclaimer: This guide is for the Steam version of Baldur’s Gate 3 only. As far as I know, there’s no way to use the Steam Deck build on any other versions of the game. I could be wrong, but if you didn’t buy it through Steam, you might be out of luck.
To enable the Steam Deck build of Baldur’s Gate 3, simply do the following:
- Download Baldur’s Gate 3 from your Steam library
- Once installed, head to ‘Settings’ or select the ‘Gear’ icon
- Select ‘Properties…’
- Head over to the ‘Compatibility’ tab
- Tick ‘Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool’
- From the dropdown menu, select ‘Steam Linux Runtime 3.0 (sniper)’.
Aaaaand, that’s it. You’re now running Larian’s official Steam Deck build of Baldur’s Gate 3. You should notice better stability, faster load times and overall smoother performance especially in those busy areas of Act 3. I’m pretty deep into Act 3 on this build and haven’t even noticed a stutter. But I’m also not big on obsessing over frame counters or benchmark graphs. If it feels smooth, that’s what matters to me.
Further Notes:
– We’re all different, my settings might look amazing to me and like complete trash to you. But you can tweak Baldur’s Gate 3 to suit your own style and priorities.
– To ensure best performance on your Steam Deck: start by turning off, or down, any settings you don’t care about. Then obviously: turn on, or up, any visual effects that actually make a difference to you.
– Baldur’s Gate 3 is one of those games where some small settings tweaks can make a huge impact in performance and battery life.
Dad with a Deck’s Baldur’s Gate 3 Steam Deck Settings:
Update 11/11/25: After sinking more time into Baldur’s Gate 3 on the Steam Deck, I’ve now opted to turn off FSR. I ran into some weird shiny and glittery artifacts at item edges and through some visual effects along with a slight blurriness. With FSR disabled and most settings on Medium, it seems to run just as smooth while looking much cleaner and sharper. I’ve updated my recommended settings below.
I’m deep into Act 3 and it’s been running great for me, below are my current settings. Use them, tweak them or ignore them. Whatever.
If a setting isn’t listed below, it will be the default setting.
| Aspect Ratio | 16:10 |
| Resolution | 1280×800 |
| Refresh Rate | 90Hz |
| Vsync | Disabled |
| Upscaling Type | Off |
| Anti-Aliasing | TAA |
| Model Quality | Medium |
| Shadow Quality | Medium |
| Cloud Quality | Medium |
| Texture Quality | Medium |
| Terrain Texture Quality | Medium |
| Texture Filtering | Anisotropic x4 |
| Instance Distance | Medium |
| Fog Quality | Medium |
| Detail Distance | Medium |
| Animation Level of Detail | Medium |
| Ambiant Occlusion | On |
| Depth of Field | None |
| Bloom | Off |
| Subsurface Scattering | Off |
| Slow HDD Mode | Off |
| Dynamic Crowds | On |
Dad with a Deck 
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