Valve’s Steam Deck just got a smoothness boost thanks to FSR 3 frame generation. Now, you can double your frame rate and enjoy a better experience on the go.
Despite its slower hardware, Steam Deck managed to seduce a massive player base thanks to its well-thought-out design, affordability, and ease of use. Today, this weakness is also somewhat alleviated thanks to the Decky plugin loader which adds FSR 3 frame generation support.
This mod replaces Nvidia’s DLSS DLL files with FSR 3.1’s, thus unlocking AMD’s Fluid Motion Frames (AFMF). The latter is a driver-based alternative to regular frame generation which requires game integration. This means that the output quality may be lower than other frame generation methods due to the lack of game engine movement vectors, but the smoothness increase should feel the same.
Note however that this plugin is better used with OLED Steam Decks as they feature 90Hz screens instead of 60Hz on LCD models. The reason is that the visual quality of frame generation is directly tied to the base frame rate. Going from 30fps to 60fps is possible but will introduce more artefacts and visual anomalies. However, 60fps to 90fps will be a far more comfortable experience truer to native.
To get an idea, a frame is retained on screen for 16.66ms at 60Hz, against 11.11ms at 90Hz. Yes, said like this, these seem too small to notice, but your eyes are very good at detecting inconsistencies. If only the Steam Deck had a faster display to further improve this aspect, especially as frame generation is generally recommended when the base frame rate exceeds 60fps.
With that in mind, Steam Deck will likely struggle to push above 40fps in demanding games anyway, so 90Hz should be fine for now. We do however recommend trying to hit at least a locked 45fps – when possible – to have the best frame gen experience.
Needless to say, with DLSS’s massive support list, this plugin just opened the way for heaps of games to boost their performance on AMD-powered hardware – i.e. Steam Deck in this case. This is why we like open products that allow user modification. Good luck doing this on a Nintendo Switch without risks.
Now, if you want to try this on your Steam Deck you can follow GameTechPlanet’s guide on how to install and enable it. Have fun.
