Steam Deck

June 1, 2026 ยท View on GitHub

openQ4 supports Steam Deck through the dedicated openQ4-steamdeck launcher shipped in Linux packages as of March 30, 2026.

Launching

  • Use openQ4-steamdeck instead of openQ4-client_x64.
  • The launcher adds +set com_platformProfile steamdeck and preserves any extra command-line arguments you pass.
  • If SDL_VIDEODRIVER is unset and both WAYLAND_DISPLAY and DISPLAY exist, the launcher exports SDL_VIDEODRIVER=x11 so Steam Deck sessions prefer XWayland for now.

Controls

Default gameplay bindings shipped by the stock openQ4 config:

  • JOY15 = attack
  • JOY16 = zoom
  • JOY3 = jump
  • JOY4 = crouch
  • JOY6 = reload
  • JOY5 = flashlight
  • JOY1 = weapon wheel
  • JOY2 = last weapon
  • JOY13 = run toggle / walk modifier
  • JOY18 = show objectives / scores

Menu behavior:

  • JOY7 and JOY8 both open the in-game menu.
  • JOY3 selects the focused menu item, while JOY4, JOY7, and JOY8 back out of menus.
  • The D-pad is reserved for menu focus movement whenever a menu is open, even though those same buttons also have gameplay bindings.
  • The movement stick can also move menu focus, and holding the D-pad, movement stick, or shoulder buttons repeats navigation/scrolling for longer lists.
  • Rear paddles are left unbound by default for user customization.

Tuning and haptics:

  • Controller rumble is driven from Quake 4 sound shake/rumble metadata during gameplay.
  • Use in_joystickRumble 0 to disable motor output, or tune strength with in_joystickRumbleScale.
  • The in-game menu exposes these controls under Settings -> Game Options -> Controller, alongside stick layout, radial dead-zone, look sensitivity, look curve, invert-look, and trigger-threshold tuning.
  • For the full input settings guide, see input-settings.md.

Asset Discovery

Linux Steam auto-discovery checks these roots and then expands any additional library folders from libraryfolders.vdf:

  • ~/.steam/steam
  • ~/.local/share/Steam
  • ~/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam/.local/share/Steam

openQ4 then looks for steamapps/common/Quake 4 under each Steam library root.

Notes

  • Steam Deck support is explicit launcher/profile behavior, not automatic hardware detection.
  • Native Wayland-specific work is not required for this pass. XWayland is the recommended path when both Wayland and X11 are available.