Steam Deck modders rejoice: Valve is bringing third-party display mod support, which could open up more modding in the future

Enligt Steam Deck-designern Lawrence Yang kommer Steam Deck 2 inte att släppas än på ett bra tag. (Image credit: Future)

Not only is Valve’s Steam Deck one of the best PC gaming handhelds on the market, with some of the best Steam Deck games to boot, but it’s also well-known for being incredibly easy to mod. And now, it seems like Valve is making it even easier with some official third-party mod support.

According to a Twitter post from Brad Lynch, the XR Project Manager at EOZVR, “Valve is starting to add official support for the Steam Deck LCD’s 1920x1200p ‘DeckHD’ mod right into the Gamescope compositor.” This means that Steam Deck owners won’t have to source replacement bios to run the third-party display option properly.

However, as of right now, the code seems to refer to the DeckHD mod, meaning that universal support isn’t here yet. But that could definitely change, given that even supporting this level of third-party mod is a huge step.

This mod support could change everything

The Steam Deck is already a monster of a PC gaming portable, still considered the gold standard in an ever-expanding market featuring some truly excellent competition like the Lenovo Legion Go, the Asus ROG Ally X, and Ayaneo’s line of handhelds. Valve opening up the floodgates with the DeckHD mod support is an incredible sign of what will come.

If this support turns out to be popular with a sizable enough portion of its audience, it could mean even more hardware modding support for other specs in the future. We could also see official software mod support, which would be a dream come true.

The Steam Deck is well-known for being an amazing emulation machine due to its excellent OS and, while I somehow doubt that official emulation support is in the future, support for better customizing the OS itself, as well as making it simpler to install programs, browsers, and other tools. Steam Deck’s recent expanded support for Nvidia’s GeForce Now already proves how beneficial that support would be, and that’s for one service.

It’ll be interesting to see what the future holds for the Steam Deck, but judging from this news, it’s sure to be a bright one. If you need more proof, check out our Steam Deck vs. Lenovo Legion Go comparison, which highlights some of the best qualities of both systems.

Named by the CTA as a CES 2023 Media Trailblazer, Allisa is a Computing Staff Writer who covers breaking news and rumors in the computing industry, as well as reviews, hands-on previews, featured articles, and the latest deals and trends. In her spare time you can find her chatting it up on her two podcasts, Megaten Marathon and Combo Chain, as well as playing any JRPGs she can get her hands on.