• Home
  • Guides
  • Games
    • Integrated Graphics [iGPU]
  • Hardware
    • Handheld PCs
  • Consoles
  • Steam Deck

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest creative news from FooBar about art, design and business.

What's Hot

Are Mechanical Keyboards Worth It For Gaming?

May 26, 2023

Best Third-Party Controllers For Xbox

May 25, 2023

How to Get Steam Deck Plugins With Decky Loader

May 21, 2023
Trending
  • Are Mechanical Keyboards Worth It For Gaming?
  • Best Third-Party Controllers For Xbox
  • How to Get Steam Deck Plugins With Decky Loader
  • How To Fix Steam Deck Screen Colors
  • What Is DLSS 3.0 Frame Generation and Is It a Big Deal?
  • Best Mini PCs for Gaming
  • Lightest Gaming Mice in the World
  • Best Handheld Consoles for Retro Gaming
GamersDirectorGamersDirector
Facebook Twitter
  • Home
  • Guides

    What is Ambient Occlusion in Games? [Explained With Examples]

    January 26, 2023

    What is Triple Buffering and should you use it?

    December 21, 2022

    What is Global Illumination in Games? [Explained With Examples]

    November 4, 2022

    Team Fortress 2: Optimization Guide and More

    October 13, 2022

    Headphones vs Headset For Gaming – Which do you need?

    August 10, 2022
  • Games
    1. Integrated Graphics [iGPU]
    2. View All

    Can You Run Street Fighter 6 on Integrated Graphics? [iGPU]

    April 28, 2023

    Can You Run Diablo 4 on Integrated Graphics? [iGPU]

    April 6, 2023

    What Is DLSS 3.0 Frame Generation and Is It a Big Deal?

    May 18, 2023

    Steam vs Epic Games Store vs Battle.net — Which Is Better?

    May 14, 2023

    Can You Run Street Fighter 6 on Integrated Graphics? [iGPU]

    April 28, 2023

    Contra May Critique: No More Heroes III [PC Review]

    April 17, 2023
  • Hardware
    • Handheld PCs
  • Consoles
  • Steam Deck

    How to Get Steam Deck Plugins With Decky Loader

    May 21, 2023

    How To Fix Steam Deck Screen Colors

    May 19, 2023

    What Can Steam Deck Emulate?

    May 14, 2023

    Steam Deck 2 — When Will It Be Released?

    April 7, 2023

    Steam Deck for Console Gamers: Beginner’s Guide [Start Here]

    March 22, 2023
GamersDirectorGamersDirector
Home»Hardware»Handheld PCs»How To Fix Steam Deck Screen Colors
Handheld PCs

How To Fix Steam Deck Screen Colors

By Christopher HarperMay 19, 2023Updated:May 21, 20238 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
Steam Deck screen colors
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

Table of Contents

  • A Brief on the Steam Deck’s Screen and Its Shortcomings
  • Introducing VibrantDeck Standalone
  • Why Not Use Decky Loader For VibrantDeck?
  • Installing Vibrant Deck Standalone
    • Step 1: Open Desktop Mode
    • Step 2: Open your Konsole
    • Step 3: Copy and Paste The Install Command
  • How To Tweak VibrantDeck Afterward
    • Step 1: Open Dolphin File Manager
    • Step 2: Copy The File Path Given in Konsole, or From This Section
    • Step 3: Paste into Dolphin Address Bar, Hit Enter
  • Parting Words

Looking at a Steam Deck and feeling like its screen colors are a little…lacking compared to other IPS panel displays? It isn’t just you: adjusting the Steam Deck’s screen is actually one of the more popular modifications to make to the device, especially since the release of the Switch OLED has started putting serious pressure on visuals in the handheld market again.

The PS Vita had OLED, too…forever ago. It might’ve been a little early back then, or PlayStation was just in a bad market spot for it. In any case, the Vita was the last handheld we saw that really brought competition to Nintendo’s market domination until the Steam Deck launched, bringing console-level pricing into the handheld gaming PC market.

Now, though, the Switch OLED is enjoying a comfortable spot on top of the “best-looking” handheld market, even though its hardware and actual performance is quite weak compared to Steam Deck. There’s nothing we can do to turn a non-OLED screen into an OLED, of course, but there’s no reason Steam Deck owners should just give in to having a worse viewing experience because some handhelds have a fancier screen. Let’s get into some more detail.

A Brief on the Steam Deck’s Screen and Its Shortcomings

So, let’s start by talking about the Steam Deck’s screen. It’s a 7-inch, 800p, IPS display on a comfortable gaming handheld. Not bad, right? You’d be generally-correct, but you may be surprised at just how accurate “not bad” is as a descriptor, in both directions.

Let’s start with the most major compromise of the Deck display. Despite using IPS, the Deck does not aim for Wide Color Gamut coverage. I’d say the colors generally look “accurate” enough and distinct to my eyes by default, but the Deck is also limited to only 63.7% of the sRGB color gamut. Compared to the kind of visuals you can expect from a gaming monitor or higher-end gaming laptop, this isn’t very good, but for the price it’s still fairly workable.

Despite this downside, the out-of-box calibration for the Steam Deck display mostly looks fine— still better than the non-OLED Switch for sure, in my opinion. I was more than happy to use it without even thinking of adjusting the display colors the first month or so I had the device, just because I was used to accepting compromises like that based on past experiences with handheld consoles.

However, the most obvious problem of the Steam Deck display immediately presents itself when you put it side-by-side with the Switch OLED or a proper gaming monitor. It just isn’t particularly bright or vivid. It feels a bit washed-out in the same way that older handheld consoles did, prior to the introduction of built-in screen backlighting.

So, the most straightforward solution to improve your Deck gaming experience is pretty simple. Let’s kick up the saturation!

Source: Prima Games

Introducing VibrantDeck Standalone

Meet VibrantDeck! Or the standalone version, anyway.

The purpose of VibrantDeck is pretty simple. The Steam Deck’s display may not be as high-end as some other models on the market, but the display in and of itself is not the Real problem. The real problem is that Valve played it a little too safe and ultimately ended up giving us an IPS handheld that only looks a little bit better than the regular Switch before you dive in and start adjusting the screen settings for yourself.

After making these changes, the Steam Deck looks a bit more comparable to the likes of the Switch OLED! Unfortunately it can’t simulate OLED per-pixel dimming for those insane contrast levels we all love, but we can put this 63.7% sRGB coverage to better work, especially on a handheld gaming device. It’s not like you’re doing graphic design on the Deck’s 7-inch screen.

Anyway, let’s dive into the how-to.

Why Not Use Decky Loader For VibrantDeck?

Compared to Decky Loader, which somewhat fundamentally modifies the functions of the Steam Deck, the standalone version of VibrantDeck is dead simple to set and forget without really needing to think about it at all afterwards. That plus the relatively young age of the Steam Deck plugin marketplace at the time I originally applied this tweak to my own device meant I opted against using Decky Loader for this article, but I’ll be covering Decky Loader quite soon as well.

The main benefit of using this standalone compared to the VibrantDeck plugin available on Decky Loader is that standalone functionality. While Decky Loader is known to occasionally break and require reinstallation after system updates, I’ve not once had this issue with the standalone version of VibrantDeck, which I consider one of the best tweaks you can make to the Steam Deck.

There are some downsides to not using the Decky Loader plugin version of VibrantDeck, though— including the inability to set individual game profiles and adjust more than just saturation. However, I’ve used the standalone Vibrant Deck’s saturation adjustment alone for quite a while, and found it very nice on its own, providing a viewing experience more comparable to my IPS monitor than the out-of-box low-saturation picture offered by the Deck.

Installing Vibrant Deck Standalone

Now let’s get into it!

Step 1: Open Desktop Mode

First and foremost, you’re going to need to enter Desktop Mode on Steam Deck for this guide. I recommend using a Docking Station with a mouse, keyboard, and external monitor to make Desktop Mode use a little easier, but fortunately you can still do everything with an undocked handheld, it’ll just be a little more tedious.

To enter Desktop Mode, just hold down the power button until you get the context menu that lets you Switch to Desktop. I’ve embedded a screenshot of this below.

Step 2: Open your Konsole

Now that you’re in Desktop Mode, go ahead and get your Konsole (Terminal) prepared. All you need to do is click on the Start button and start typing “Kon” to get your Konsole prompt.

If you haven’t been in Desktop Mode before and are undocked, use the Right Touchpad for mouse input and Steam Button + X to pull up the onscreen keyboard.

Step 3: Copy and Paste The Install Command

Once the Konsole is open, it’s time to get the Install Command you need to get VibrantDeck up and running. If you’ve been reading this in Desktop Mode from the get-go, you can go ahead and snag the code you’re looking for below.

Alternatively, you can search for “Vibrant Deck Cli” to pull up the GitHub page for the standalone version, but we’ve included everything you need from that GitHub page in this guide, including the command you’ll be using to install VibrantDeck below.

Either way, the install command is

curl -sL https://github.com/agustinmista/vibrant_deck_cli/raw/main/install.sh | sh

Just copy and paste that into your Konsole, and hit Enter.

Congratulations! You’ve installed the standalone version of VibrantDeck, and it has automatically increased the Steam Deck’s saturation by…50 percent, assuming that “1.5” is a multiplier on the system’s base saturation. It definitely looks better to my eye, but you can adjust it up or down to your whims.

How To Tweak VibrantDeck Afterward

Note: VibrantDeck’s changes will only apply within Gaming Mode. Desktop Mode will be unaffected by any changes you make here, so be sure to at least try the basic VibrantDeck setup at 1.5 Saturation before you use this part of the guide to adjust it further.

Step 1: Open Dolphin File Manager

Still looking to adjust VibrantDeck? Let’s get to it.

Start by opening your Dolphin File Manager. You don’t even need to type anything, this should be a default “Favorite” seen immediately by clicking the Start button.

Step 2: Copy The File Path Given in Konsole, or From This Section

Now, you’ll want to copy the file path that was spat out in Konsole earlier, or from this section, and paste it into the Dolphin Address Bar. I’ve placed this path below, should you need to copy and paste it from our guide:

/home/deck/.config/vibrant_deck_cli/config

Step 3: Paste into Dolphin Address Bar, Hit Enter

Congratulations! You now have the config file open, and you can adjust that Saturation setting to your heart’s content. I think the “1.5” is just fine, personally, though. Since the standalone VibrantDeck doesn’t support per-game profiles, I’d worry about setting it to a number too high or too low, since it may look worse in some games than in others.

The 1.5 setting seems pretty balanced, at least in my experience.

Parting Words

And that’s it, for now!

Pretty soon I’ll be covering Decky Loader, which includes a superior version of VibrantDeck in convenient plugin form, but for now I wanted to cover this “Essentials” guide, especially for those who just want a quick fix for the Steam Deck’s oddly dim default configuration. This way, you can pretty much just set it and forget it, and not really worry about updates potentially breaking it.

I hope this article helped! However you feel, consider telling us @GamersDirector on Twitter! Alternatively, you can just go on about your day and enjoy your video games. Either way, happy gaming!

Display Calibration Handheld Gaming PCs Steam Deck Valve
Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
Previous ArticleWhat Is DLSS 3.0 Frame Generation and Is It a Big Deal?
Next Article How to Get Steam Deck Plugins With Decky Loader
Christopher Harper
  • LinkedIn

Christopher Harper is a lifelong gaming and tech enthusiast. Starting with Super Mario 64 and Tekken 3 at a mere three years old, Christopher has since pursued the cutting-edge of games that are, above all, fun to play and respectful of your time and intelligence. His more hardware-centric guides elsewhere on the web are still mindful of these goals.

Related Posts

Handheld PCs

How to Get Steam Deck Plugins With Decky Loader

May 21, 2023By Christopher Harper
Handheld PCs

What Can Steam Deck Emulate?

May 14, 2023By Christopher Harper
Consoles

Steam Deck vs Nintendo Switch: The Definitive Guide

May 13, 2023By Christopher Harper
Latest Posts

Are Mechanical Keyboards Worth It For Gaming?

May 26, 2023

Best Third-Party Controllers For Xbox

May 25, 2023

How to Get Steam Deck Plugins With Decky Loader

May 21, 2023

How To Fix Steam Deck Screen Colors

May 19, 2023
Featured Posts
Hardware

Are Widescreen Monitors Better For Gaming?

By Christopher Harper
Hardware

Do You Need Fast NVMe Storage for Gaming?

By Petar Vukobrat
Advertisement
Facebook Twitter
© 2023 GamersDirector. All rights reserved.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.