Gaming My "Steamtendo Switch"

[LightyKD]

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to show off what I was able to accomplish with a windows tablet and a controller.

The "Steamtendo Switch" with "Steam Cards"

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The "Steam Cards"

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"Steam Card" and Nintendo Switch Game Card comparison.

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"Steamtendo Switch" Front

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"Steamtendo Switch" back

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Basically the tablet is an "Acer Iconia 8: W4" with a ipega 9023 telescopic controller wrapped around. The black "brick" tied to the controller is a 5500 mAh power bank but sadly I cant figure out a decent play and charge solution. The battery basically gets used when I'm playing games installed to the "internal" SD card slot (the D: drive). Finally, the smaller translucent box attached to the tablet is a SD card reader for the "Steam Cards".

The two biggest roadblocks I have with this setup is the max of 2GB of RAM and the bootloader being locked which prevents me from installing Win 10 64bit. All of the Steam Cards work with, Bayonetta and LA Noire being the more stressful games for the tablet. I actually spent a good majority of Christmas last year playing Tomb Raider off its Steam Card. In order to get decent frame rates, almost all games are played at 800x600 resolution with Bayonetta not allowing anything under 1024x768 and oddly enough, Resident Evil Revelations which runs at 720p perfectly.

In the end, this has been a rewarding project. Sadly, it doesn't seem like there will be any affordable 7-8" Win 10, 64 bit tablets with 4GB of RAM coming out anytime soon. You'd think someone would hop all over it, considering the success of the Nintendo Switch but oh well. Either way, I hope you ladies and gents enjoyed this little posting, feel free to share your thoughts.

 

[jrobertdobson]

I love it, gonna find that controller. So this is running WIN 10, steam onboard, and you downloaded the steam games to SD cards to load and play?

 

[thekarter104]

Love the Steam carts! Amazing :3

 

[TotalInsanity4]

Well that's... something...

DEFINITELY very cool as a DIY project, but I dunno if I'd trust everything to hold together on the go as it's currently configured

 

[LightyKD]

I love it, gonna find that controller. So this is running WIN 10, steam onboard, and you downloaded the steam games to SD cards to load and play?

Correct. Steam is a bitch when it comes to multiple SD cards so I install games to the internal SD first and then move the game's folder to a Steam Card. After I setup the Steam Card (E: STEAMCARD > GAME > Bayonetta, for example), I create a link in Windows between the real folder and the location where Steam thinks the folder is at. After that, you just launch the game like normal and all is well.

Something to note. You might want to turn automatic updates off. Steam will update a game on a Steam Card but you don't want to have Steam start an update before you can get the card in. If that happens, you will need to uninstall the game, reinstall and create your folder link all over again.

 

[Reploid]

Nifty, but silly.

 

[TotalInsanity4]

Correct. Steam is a bitch when it comes to multiple SD cards so I install games to the internal SD first and then move the game's folder to a Steam Card. After I setup the Steam Card (E: STEAMCARD > GAME > Bayonetta, for example), I create a link in Windows between the real folder and the location where Steam thinks the folder is at. After that, you just launch the game like normal and all is well.

Something to note. You might want to turn automatic updates off. Steam will update a game on a Steam Card but you don't want to have Steam start an update before you can get the card in. If that happens, you will need to uninstall the game, reinstall and create your folder link all over again.

Can you not just assign all the SD cards the same drive letter? That seems less tedious

 

[LightyKD]

Can you not just assign all the SD cards the same drive letter? That seems less tedious

All Steam Cards are assigned to the same letter. That said, Steam gets "forgetful" when it comes to games installed on drives that are constantly removed. On my tablet I have the following

C: - internal storage
D: - the micro SD slot (where I keep my Steam game install folder)
E: - the SD card reader aka the Steam Card slot.

I create folder links from the Steam Card to the allotted spot on the D: drive so that Steam doesn't forget. Also it helps when it comes to game updates. Also, think of it this way. You only have to install a game once, lol.

 

[Noctosphere]

looks... wow...

 

[TotalInsanity4]

All Steam Cards are assigned to the same letter. That said, Steam gets "forgetful" when it comes to games installed on drives that are constantly removed. On my tablet I have the following

C: - internal storage
D: - the micro SD slot (where I keep my Steam game install folder)
E: - the SD card reader aka the Steam Card slot.

I create folder links from the Steam Card to the allotted spot on the D: drive so that Steam doesn't forget. Also it helps when it comes to game updates. Also, think of it this way. You only have to install a game once, lol.

Aha, that makes sense lol

 

[LightyKD]

BTW I'll be happy to make a list of games that I have been able to get to work on this tablet so far. Might help people with similar Windows tablets gain a realistic view of what their device can really run.

 

[bendevnull]

Not really digging the idea of the tablet, but I like the Steam card idea!

 

[MasterControl90]

Clunky, inconvenient, slammed together...."fun"

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!

V2 idea: what about one of those pc on a stick with a 2A capable battery pack used in conjunction with a portable 7 to 10 inch screen? This way you can put the pc in a backpack lowering the weight of the device at the expense of the visible hdmi cable.
Regarding the resolution you use, try to force games if possible to use half Res , so you will get better performance and you have a perfect pixel match

 

[migles]

father @p1ngpong should be happy and aprove this!

btw @LightyKD did you tried to have the steam installed in each card? would probably fix that issue you are having, with each card has it's own steam installed, but you would have to turn off and on the steam client every time you swap the cards

or you know, apply cracks in all of the cards.. sadly you won't get online features :C

 

[brickmii82]

Nicely done Lighty!

 

[LightyKD]

I'll be replying back to a lot of posts once I get back home this weekend. I'm on a business trip and actually putting this "Steamtendo" through its paces. Had some ups and downs with it but, that will all be detailed soon. I think a decent chunk of the downs stem from the shoddy wifi here at the hotel and the TVs provided not having proper resolution scaling.

As for the ups. I played some Tomb Raider last night and a game of Paladins the day before and both were great! I had to switch out the SD card reader with a newer one as my non branded (but smaller) one screwed with my Tomb Raider card. Issue was fixed quickly.

Eventually id like to grab a Marseille mCable, female to female HDMI extender and a micro to full size HDMI cable. I'm noticing that the weight of a full size cable connected to a converter adapter is a pain in the ass for my tablet. As for the mCable, I can have that handle all the anti aliasing for my games and turn of AA from the tablet's end, allowing for a tad bit more processing power to go back into the game.

 

[TechDark]

any specifications on the tablet??

 

[LightyKD]

any specifications on the tablet??

https://www.phonearena.com/phones/Acer-Iconia-W4_id8184

 

[LightyKD]

Back home now!

First thing, here is a list of games I got running on this tablet

Perfect!
Costume Quest
Sonic Mania
Dirt 3
Valkyrie Drive (long load time into game but perfectly fine within game)
Resident Evil Revelations (plays in 720p, no problem)
Borderlands 1 (long load time into game but perfectly fine within game)
Borderlands 2 (long load time into game but perfectly fine within game)

Minor compromises
Rocket League ( this one would actually be perfect if you dummy the settings further than what I have)
LiLi Child of Geos (Very much playable with slow downs here and there)
Star Trek (2013) (Very much playable with slow downs here and there)
Tomb Raider (Very much playable with slow downs here and there)


Reeeealy pushing it!
LA Noire
Bayonetta (Mostly playable but slow but I have this nagging feeling if I could brute force it to 800x600 it would be damn near perfect)


I received 4 8GB cards today so I'm trying to find out which games I want to move OFF tablet. Gotta save as much space as possible lol. I'll be uploading the playable games list over the weekend. Gotta let my tablet charge for now.

 

[MasterControl90]

Another game you can try is Spec Ops: The Line since it is free, for a limited time, on humble store. Obviously they give you the Steam Key and being a relatively old game it should run in your thingie.