So during one of the Xbox Game Pass promotions I signed up for a few months and ended up buying Forza Horizon 4 on sale. I am trying to find a way to play it on Steam Deck, but so far all I have found is guides on how to use the streaming on the Game Pass to play on Steam Deck, which only works with an active Game Pass sub (in my understanding). Has anyone found a way to get games that you have bought through the Windows Xbox store on Steam Deck? I would love to play FH4 on my Deck!

    • Klanky@sopuli.xyzOP
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      9 months ago

      That’s what I am afraid of. I’m kicking myself for buying it on the Xbox sale (instead of the Steam sale at the same time) solely because the Steam version wouldn’t have my progress! Of course, at the time I didn’t have any plans to get a Steam Deck…

      • Dandroid@dandroid.app
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        9 months ago

        solely because the Steam version wouldn’t have my progress!

        Is that true? It’s not for the Halo games. The saves sync with your Microsoft account, which you log into through the Steam version of the game. I still have my 1th nameplate on the steam version of TMCC because it’s tied to my Microsoft account.

        In general though, I avoid the Microsoft store at all costs. I have had too many issues. And it is completely incompatible with Linux. I have on many occasions payed full price for a game that is on gamepass just because dealing with all the issues with the Microsoft store isn’t worth my time.

        • Klanky@sopuli.xyzOP
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          9 months ago

          It is for FH4. I actually bought the Steam version to check and then refunded it.

        • Stampela@startrek.website
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          9 months ago

          It’s a very, very intentional move: you must link a Microsoft account to play, but it’s a “different account” so no transfer of saves. So different that it will remember all your records, will show races as already done (lots of fun figuring out what you still need to do), you can edit tunes previously shared (can’t edit them unless they’re yours) and if you want to try and launch both versions of the game it will complain about being already logged in on a different machine.

  • MeaanBeaan@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Only real way is to install windows. Even then though it’s not great. You have to use some third party apps to get windows store to recognize the steam deck controls as a controller. It’s a pain in the ass to get working at all and in my experience it’s super flakey and prone to crashes. (if you’ve ever tried to get the steam controller working with game pass games you probably already have a good idea of the problems you might run into).

    A slightly more reliable method though is creating a kb+m desktop config for each game you plan on playing through gamepass and manually switching to it before launching your game directly through the windows store. Unfortunately this isn’t going to work super great with games that require analog inputs like racing games but it works great for things like fps games or traditional kb+m games.

    Steam input is so flexible though that you might be able to figure out a way to get this working right with forza. I’m just not sure how you could. Maybe set throttle in game to some sort of mouse movement and in turn set right trigger to that same mouse movement in your desktop config. That’s pure speculation on my part though. I’ve never personally tried doing that myself. No idea if its actually even possible.

    • KirbySSM@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      In my experience Steam Deck on windows works fine. Just use Steam Deck Tools, it will handle the controller inputs for you. I also personally use Playnite to open the gamepass games instead of using Steam since it’s just easier that way.

      • MeaanBeaan@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        I somehow missed steam deck tools as a thing. Last time I tried figuring things out rewasd is what I kept finding.

        Anyway just grabbed steam deck tools last night because of your comment and it’s great so far. Currently playing Lies of P and it’s perfect. Good looking out, man.

  • thorbot@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Best way is streaming right now. Just pay $10 or whatever and you can play hundreds of games without installing them

    • KirbySSM@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      The best way would be installing windows, as then you can play them offline and it isn’t dependent on how good your current connection is

      • thorbot@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        No because windows runs like ass and most games will run like crap. Better to let the game pass server render the game and push it to your device.

        • KirbySSM@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Windows runs fine on Deck. Performance is similar to SteamOS. SteamOS advantage is the shader pre-cache, which you can get on windows with DXVK. And again, connection isn’t always stable for xcloud, especially if you’re out, which I assume someone who has a portable device is doing.