3.5.17 breaks game on Steam deck.

Voting disabled

After latest patch (0.217.46) on steam deck running latest stable SteamOS 3.5.17 i get the following error:

PlayFaf could not load. It is necessary for playing on crossplay servers. This is usually because you do not have microsoft visual C++ installed Download here [link to C++]

I can no longer join the server i play on.

Please help

Under consideration Suggested by: <Hidden> (10 Apr, '24) • Upvoted: 04 May, '24

Comments: 3

10 Apr, '24
<Hidden> Admin
Hi Charlie,

If you didn't have this PlayFab dependencies installed before, but you could connect to the server, chances are that the server wasn't using crossplay anyway. Due to how majority of servers behave after updates, crossplay might turn on as it's the default setting. If that's the case, you should contact the server owner and tell them that they should disable crossplay. Please check that the server you are trying to connect to, is indeed using crossplay? (does the server have intertwined arrows icon when you view it in the join servers tab).

If you are no Xbox or PC gamepass (MS store) players playing on the server, crossplay doesn't have to enabled on the server.

Some SteamDeck devices don't have the necessary PlayFab dependencies (necessary for crossplay), but by turning on proton compatibility mode for Valheim + running the Valheim on Vulkan (for more performance), any Steam Deck will be able to connect to such servers.
1
11 Apr, '24
<Hidden>
Hi, Thank you for the answer.
By now i managed to get it working with ticking the 'force the use of a specific steam play compatibility tool' button under the game options compatibility tab and then selecting 'Proton 9.0 (beta)'
This has solved the problem for me, however i still find it strange that it worked before the patch yesterday.
Also, our server has xbox and pc players so yes it does have crossplay enabled and can not be disabled.

Anyway have a nice day!

edit: Thank you for the tip about vulkan! WOW! now it runs so much better!
11 Apr, '24
<Hidden> Admin
@Charlie

If you are running the game on the steam deck screen, you might also consider lowering render scale in the graphic options.
At the minimal cost in graphic fidelity, you can get more performance out of it also. Try 80% first.

Yes it is a bit strange that you didn't have problems connecting to crossplay server before. Unlike on previous game version, Valheim now warns players when they don't have PlayFab dependencies installed. Let me know if you will have some time later, and if you can hop onto our official Discord (Steam bugs channel), and if you will be ok with testing previous version of the game again (won't affect your saves), where I could run a old crossplay server for you. It might help us figure out what exactly on Steam deck is causing this issue.