Team Fortress 2 was officially launched in 2007 and to this day, fans have yet to get the sequel to it. But it’s not like TF2 itself is doing badly. In fact, the average player count per month is regularly above 50K. And you don’t see numbers like that for a game as old as TF2. Well, with Valve’s Steam Deck being a go-to PC handheld these days, it’s only evident that the game will be popular among many with the Deck. But, as per recent reports, it has come to light that TF2 is regularly crashing on the Steam Deck. If you are encountering a similar issue, here’s everything you need to know.
It’s hard to pinpoint the root cause of issues like this one due to just how common they are. Anything from the game being out-of-date to compatibility could be the cause behind this. Nevertheless, you are here to find a fix, and we will help you with that. So, continue reading and check out all the available workarounds for this issue.
Team Fortress 2 (TF2) crashing on Steam Deck: How to fix it?
Since we don’t have an official fix for this issue, players will have to make do with the following workarounds:
Update –
The very first thing that we recommend you do is update both the game and the Steam Deck itself. So, go ahead and see if there’s an update available for either one. If there is, then download and install it. However, if the issue continues to exist after updating, try the next method.
Launch in Desktop Mode –
For some players, launching the game in Desktop Mode was what helped them fix this issue. So, if you are yet to try this fix, we recommend you do that. However, if you prefer some other method, then avoid this one.
Disable Force Compatibility Tool –
For one player, disabling the Force use of compatibility tool option was what helped them fix this issue. So, you can give that a try. All you need to do is open TF2’s Properties on Steam, and then switch to the Compatibility tab. From there, uncheck the Force the Use of A Specific Compatibility Tool option and then launch the game.
Try a different Proton version –
If the previous workaround didn’t fix the issue, you can also try switching to a different Proton version and see if that helps in circumventing this issue. Now, we can’t really give you the best Proton version for running TF2, so you will have to experiment a lot with this particular method. So, if you don’t want to do that, just switch to the next workaround.
Reinstall –
If the aforementioned workarounds don’t help, we suggest reinstalling the entire game. This could possibly be the one method that works, but if it doesn’t, the next method should be of help.
Dual boot Windows –
Dual-booting Windows on your Steam Deck and then running TF2 on Windows seems to be what some players are doing to avoid the myriad of issues TF2 has while running on Steam OS (Linux-based). So, if you are comfortable with using Windows on your Steam Deck, try this method and install the game.
Well, that’s the extent of our knowledge on this topic. Additionally, if you want to know how to deal with the same crashing issue in Wizard101 on your Deck, here’s a guide you need to read. Anyway, for more interesting guides like this, keep following DigiStatement. Also read: What does haunted mean in TF2?
