The upcoming update for Steam Deck
Hey gamers, listen up! We have great news for those of you who own a Steam Deck with a smaller SSD storage or are struggling to make space for new games. An upcoming update to the Steam Deck's open-source video driver will reduce the shader cache files of the handheld device by about 60%, as confirmed by Valve.
What does this mean for storage space?
This change affects the way the Vulkan driver caches files. In the case of the Steam Deck, Valve creates large shader cache files for individual games, which are delivered during the installation process. These files improve performance and help avoid the dreaded shader compilation stutter. However, the downside of these shader caches is the required storage space, which can be several gigabytes for larger games. With the new Vulkan pipeline cache, they will be significantly smaller.
Cache size reduced by 60%
According to a summary on Gitlab, the update will reduce the cache size by about 60%. Pierre-Loup Griffais from Valve confirmed this in relation to the shader cache files of the Steam Deck. However, Griffais added that some games will not see such a strong reduction in their cache files, as the update does not change the size of transcoded video depots.
When will the update be released?
The update is expected to be released in early May with the stable version of the Mesa driver 23.1. It is known that SteamOS 3.5 will also be available shortly, including a graphics driver update. These two events will likely coincide first in a beta version of SteamOS and then in a stable version early this summer. So, it will be a good time to relax and play with the Steam Deck outdoors.
What if storage space is still tight?
If you are still concerned about storage space after this update, we have good news for you: you can easily upgrade the SSD of your Steam Deck. And for even more gaming fun, you can always visit our Steam Key page to discover the latest games and deals.
