If you wish to play games from other platforms on your Steam Deck, you will need the supported emulation to run it. In this guide, we will see how to set up Ryujinx emulation on your Steam Deck to play Switch games.
How to Install Ryujinx on Steam Deck for Switch Emulation
There are two emulations that you can use to play Switch on your Steam Deck, Yuzu, and Ryujinx, but Ryujinx is noted to be superior to the former. Here we will see how to configure Ryujinx on Steam Deck.
- Go to Desktop Mode on Steam Deck
- Go to Discover Software and find Ryujinx
- Install the software and run it.
If Ryujinx is not available in the Discover app, you can manually download the emulator from its official website through your internet browser. Find Ryujinx in your Library and run it as a Non-Steam Game for it to work on your Steam Deck. You can also input this command into the Terminal to directly get the program – flatpak install org.ryujinx.Ryujinx
Now you need to manually load your Switch games onto Ryujinx. To do this, follow the steps below.
- Go to Dolphin File Manager > on the taskbar of the window and select the option for Show Hidden Files.
- Go to the directory where Ryyjinx has been saved and open the config file
- In the system folder, if you have the prod.keys file or the XCL file compiled with all the games and their firmware, you can add it here.
- Open Ryujinx and go to Options > Settings > Game Directories > Add
- Add the XCL file from the directory
- Click on Apply and Save
- Select Yes to all the dialog boxes that will come up
- To configure your controls, go to options > settings > Input > Configure for Player 1
- Under Input Device, select Steam Deck, and Pro Controller for Controller Type
- You can now decide on the key bindings for your controller setup here. Save your settings once done
- Click Apply and Save to exit the window
By now you will be able to run Switch games on your Steam Deck, but it won’t run as flawlessly as while playing on your Switch console itself. Nevertheless, you can now carry only one device to store all your games in. If this worked for you or if you would like to see some changes in the post, then let us know in the comments below.
