Steam Deck Installation and Setup

[marsh island]

For this installation process, it's helpful to use the standalone Steam Link application to remote desktop into your Steam Deck from your computer (on the same network), allowing you to more easily navigate the desktop environment for the setup process. Steam Link can be downloaded here: https://media.steampowered.com/steamlink/windows/latest/SteamLink.zip

[marsh island]

Installing the Battle.net App

For the installation of Battle.net, we will be using the standard Windows installer, run through Proton via Steam. The installer can be downloaded at the following link:
https://download.battle.net/en-us/desktop

• Boot the Steam Deck into Desktop Mode. Using your preferred browser, download the Battle.net desktop app.
• Open Steam in desktop mode, go to Library and click on Add A Game in the bottom left corner.
• Select Add a Non-Steam Game.
• Click Browse.
• Click the upper center pull-down menu and select /home/deck/
• Click on Downloads.
• Change the File Type to "All Files".
• Select Battle.net Setup.exe, and then click Open.
• Click Add Selected Programs. Battle.net Setup.exe will now appear in your Steam library.
• Right-click on Battle.net Setup.exe and select Properties.
• Under Launch Options add verbatim WINE_SIMULATE_WRITECOPY=1 %command%
• Navigate to Compatibility.
• Select Force the Use of a Specific Steam Play Compatibility Tool.
• Select Proton version. Recommended Proton versions are 7.0-6, 8.0-4 or Experimental. Close the window.
• With Battle.net Setup.exe selected click Play. The Battle.net installer will launch.
• Disable Launch at computer start and use the default install location.
• Enter your login credentials. Make sure you click Keep Me Logged In before logging in.
• The Battle.net Desktop App will launch. Close out of the scan for games windows and the tour.
• Close Battle.net.

Running the Battle.net App

Our next step is to add the Battle.net App to Steam. Because it's a Windows App running using Proton, it can be found in an emulated folder structure on your Deck.

• Click on Dolphin (folder icon) in your Task Manager bar.
• In the new window, open the hamburger menu in the upper right corner.
• Select Show Hidden Files, then close the window (You can alternatively use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+H to show hidden folders).
• Open up Steam and add the Battle.net executable to your Steam games list:
• Go through this chain of directories: /home/deck/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata
• There will be several directories listed, all with numbers as their names. One of them contains the newly installed Battle.net. It will be one of the longer numbers. It should be the last modified directory. Open the last modified directory, pfx, then drive_c, then Program Files (x86). The right one will have a Battle.net directory.
• Open the Battle.net directory.
• Change the File Type (bottom center) to All Files.
• Click on Battle.net.exe to select it. Click Open.
• Click Add Selected Programs. Battle.net.exe will now appear in your Steam library.
• Once added, right-click on Battle.net.exe and go to Properties.
• Under Launch Options add verbatim WINE_SIMULATE_WRITECOPY=1 %command%
• Navigate to Compatibility.
• Select Force the Use of a Specific Steam Play Compatibility Tool. Select your preferred version of Proton. Close the window.
• Open Battle.net from Steam!

Installing World of Warcraft onto your Steam Deck

• With the Battle.net App open, select World of Warcraft and click Install.
• Allow it to use its default install location. Deselect the option to allow the installer to add a desktop shortcut.
• World of Warcraft will download and install just as it would on a computer.
• Once installed, click Play to launch your game and make sure it starts up as expected. Once verified, close the game.

Installing CurseForge App, ConsolePort and other add-ons

The CurseForge App is an addon manager that automatically installs, updates and maintains addons. The app can be downloaded at the following link:
https://curseforge.overwolf.com/downloads/curseforge-latest-linux.zip

• Create a World of Warcraft Directory Shortcut. This will allow CurseForge to find your World of Warcraft installation directory.
• Click on Dolphin (folder icon) in your task manager bar.
• Click on Home on the left sidebar.
• Go through this chain of directories: /home/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata
• There will be several directories listed, all with numbers as their names. One of them contains the World of Warcraft installation. It should be the last modified directory. Open the last modified directory, pfx, then drive_c, then Program Files (x86). The right one will have a World of Warcraft folder.
• Drag the entire World of Warcraft folder into Home in the left sidebar.
• At the prompt select Link Here. Do NOT move it, or you'll break Battle.net's link to it.
• You'll now see a World of Warcraft directory in Home, in italics. That is a shortcut to the real directory.
• Download CurseForge.
• Open your Downloads folder using Dolphin. You can leave the .appimage file here, but it can be moved to your desktop for easy access. If it prompts you to allow it to execute, let it.
• Once open, click on Manually Add a Game. Select World of Warcraft.

From here, you can search for and install as many addons as you'd like. Apart from ConsolePort itself, I highly recommend downloading Immersion, BugSack and BugGrabber.

Immersion is the companion addon to ConsolePort for more immersive questing, which also integrates well with your gamepad controls.
https://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/immersion

Conclusion

Once finished, you should be able to boot up World of Warcraft! For any new ConsolePort user, I highly recommend starting on a fresh character and taking your time to learn the setup. Glhf 🙂

Notes

A common issue we see is that the Battle.net app doesn't have the correct profile applied for gamepad inputs. This can make things seem like they are kind of working in-game, but all the buttons are misbehaving. In that case, you need to correct the gamepad profile in Steam for the Battle.net app and select Gamepad with Mouse Trackpad as your preset.

Grip buttons (on the backside of the device) are not recognized in-game as gamepad buttons. You can choose to still use these by mapping them to arbitrary keyboard buttons (F1-F4 in the example) and then add these as emulated paddles in-game. Open the ConsolePort config, go to Interface > Bindings > Emulate Paddle 1-4 and set them up. You can now use them as any other button.

A relatively new change to Battle.net can make the application stop loading or render as a completely blank, grey box. If you're experiencing this, make sure to add the following to your Battle.net launch options in Steam:
WINE_SIMULATE_WRITECOPY=1 %command%