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MAKO Decky v4.5.0

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@eugeniosegala eugeniosegala released this 13 Oct 11:47
plugin-v4.5.0
9b3d446

Looking for the standalone Vulkan layer? See MAKO Renderer v4.5.0.

What's new in MAKO Decky v4.5.0

Maelstrom release artwork: a colossal mako draws a storm-torn sea into the glowing whirlpool inside its jaws

Release codename: Maelstrom

“I drew a course around the storm. By morning, the storm had drawn a course around us.”

Mira Valen, Charts of the Last Fleet

Maelstrom adds experimental HDR, AC/battery settings, display-aware Adaptive targets, custom shaders and native Steam Remote Play, with new Steam Overlay controls and broader Flatpak support.

  • Experimental HDR: HDR10/PQ and linear scRGB now work with Scaling, Frame Generation and Shaders through Gamescope, on external HDR displays. HDR Quality offers Quality, Balanced and Performance (default), trading precision and motion detail for speed while preserving output resolution. See HDR setup.

  • Window-mode stability: Scaling, Frame Generation and HDR share swapchain retirement and resize recovery. Returning from native display resolution retains a proven output size, and HDR Quality updates the internal HDR resize live with Scaling off.

  • AC and battery settings: Enable separate Handheld and Docked settings for each profile, then edit either set or Base settings. The matching Renderer follows battery or AC power automatically while playing, even with the panel closed. Switching sets preserves shared shader edits and keeps native settings separate; normal restart requirements still apply.

  • Match Display Refresh Rate: Let Adaptive follow Gamescope's current refresh rate instead of a fixed target. Your manual target is kept as the fallback; turn matching off to edit it. Live Status shows the effective target. The option can differ between AC and battery settings.

  • Custom shaders: Add compatible ReShade .fx files, then select and order them alongside bundled effects. Selection, ordering and deletion apply live while Shaders is active; Refresh reloads edited files and dependencies. Failed edits keep the previous chain running. The picker has more reliable paging, scrolling and controller focus. Flatpak games need access to the original files and dependencies.

  • Lossless Scaling is optional: MAKO Scaler and Shaders work through the installed Renderer without it. All profile controls remain editable; only Frame Generation and LS1 require Lossless Scaling.

  • Clearer FP16 controls: Allow FP16 applies to LSFG and MAKO Scaler across profiles and presets; LS1 always stays FP32, and shader effects keep their own precision behavior. Model warnings explain unavailable native FP16. Restart the game after changing precision.

  • Native Steam Remote Play: Stream on the receiving native x86_64 Linux Steam client using your selected profile and optional AC/battery settings. Create a named copy during a stream; normal live/restart rules apply. Qt and Decky share client restoration and current shader selections. Requires system Python 3.11 or newer; standalone Steam Link, Flatpak Steam and browser streaming are unsupported. Stream quality and latency still need qualification. Thanks to Hugo Uchôas Borges for the contribution.

  • Disable Steam Overlay (Restart): New per-profile Performance control, enabled by default. May reduce stutter; disables Steam's in-game overlay and FPS counter and may affect Steam Input. Gaming Mode menus and performance overlay remain available.

  • Better profile capture: Launcher and helper processes cannot stand in for the game or select another game's profile through old aliases. Ubisoft Connect, CD Projekt RED, Rockstar helpers and EA app windows remain excluded while their games stay eligible.

  • Non-Steam menu handling: Steam and Quick Access menus pause generated frames on supported non-Steam launches, including Heroic/UMU shortcuts. Works across Fixed and Adaptive modes, with or without Scaling.

  • Flatpak support: Flatpak Setup now includes Freedesktop 26.08 extensions alongside 23.08–25.08. Automatic host discovery applies VRR On/Off requests to the game's verified Gamescope session during Frame Generation. Requires a VRR-capable display; Follow Steam and manual Steam changes retain their existing priority.

  • Adaptive stability: Steam menu returns preserve multiplier retry cooldowns. Failed Smooth Cadence reductions keep their retry delay across stalls and menu returns. Higher-multiplier pacing is rechecked against its real-frame cost. Brief native-only recovery samples restore the automatic base cap and generated workload before checking recovery.

  • Frame pacing and recovery: The matching Renderer improves capped Fractional spacing, completion pacing and recovery from retired Gamescope scaling swapchains, while keeping native fallback responsive. Scaling and HDR preserve games’ presentation-wait support while adapting output timing to compositor feedback.

  • Shader overhead: The bundled vkBasalt reduces per-frame CPU work and preserves ReShade effect settings. Effect GPU cost still increases with the Frame Generation multiplier.

  • Clearer guides and reports: Setup, configuration, Remote Play, Flatpak and troubleshooting guides are shorter. Diagnostic instructions now request 5,000 lines; reports retain startup, state and process/GPU health context.

  • German interface: MAKO Decky now follows Steam's German interface language with a complete translated catalog. Thanks to Hu2ki3 for contributing German support to the Renderer configuration app in PR #77.

  • Russian interface: MAKO Decky now follows Steam’s Russian language setting. Thanks to rosakodu and the Decky Loader Russia community for PR #83.

  • Japanese translations: Clearer shader controls, installation messages, and explanations. Thanks to Tak-attack for PR #71.

🎮 In-game considerations

Tip

Try V-Sync on and off. The smoother choice depends on the game, FPS cap, VRR, and compositor.

Compare Fixed, Adaptive, and scaling-only modes one at a time. If a feature does not work, try Fullscreen, Borderless Fullscreen, and Windowed. For Scaling, test in-game resolutions and check that Live Status shows Input smaller than Display.

  • Adaptive target: Adaptive aims for an average frame rate; it cannot lower a game’s native rate or exceed available GPU and compositor capacity.
  • Quality and latency: Higher multipliers and lower real-frame rates can increase ghosting and latency. Smooth Cadence may trade responsiveness for steadier motion.

See the Configuration guide and Troubleshooting guide for complete behaviour and per-game controls.

Important

MAKO does not contain or distribute Lossless Scaling, Lossless.dll, or extracted proprietary model payloads. Frame Generation and LS1 scaling read selected resources at runtime from a lawful, user-supplied Lossless Scaling installation. The open MAKO Scaler does not use it. MAKO does not alter the user’s DLL file, and translated resources remain process-local. Users are responsible for complying with the terms applicable to their copy.

⚠️ Required MAKO Renderer update: Installing the ZIP updates MAKO Decky, but does not replace the shared native Renderer. Open the plugin and select Install MAKO Renderer afterwards.

Installation

New to Decky or installing MAKO Decky for the first time? See the full install and use guide for Decky Loader setup and prerequisites.

  1. Download MAKO-Decky-v4.5.0.zip below.
  2. On SteamOS, open Decky Loader's settings and enable Developer Mode.
  3. Choose Developer > Install Plugin from Zip, then select the downloaded ZIP.
  4. In MAKO Decky, select Install MAKO Renderer. For native Steam/Proton games, add /home/deck/.local/bin/mako-run %command% to the game’s Steam launch options.

Third-party launcher setup: Follow the quick guides for Heroic, Lutris, EmuDeck, and other Flatpak apps.

Updating an existing MAKO Decky installation

  1. Quit any game currently using /home/deck/.local/bin/mako-run.
  2. Uninstall MAKO Decky, then download the newer ZIP from version 4.5.0.
  3. In Game Mode, open Decky Loader’s settings, choose Developer > Install Plugin from Zip, then select the newer ZIP.
  4. Restart your Steam Deck or Steam Machine.
  5. ⚠️ Required: Open MAKO Decky and select Install MAKO Renderer to install the version bundled in the new ZIP.
  6. In Flatpak Setup, select Update for every prepared application’s matching runtime extension. This replaces its Flatpak layer with the engine bundled in the new ZIP while preserving its preparation and per-game Wrapper commands.

Existing profiles and Steam launch options are retained. The shared native Renderer and launcher are re-created in step 5; shared Flatpak extensions are retained, then refreshed in step 6.

Before you play

  • Test MAKO per game. Start with Frame Generation and Scaling disabled, then enable one path at a time before combining them.
  • If you use Frame Generation or LS1 scaling, confirm the detected Lossless.dll path before launching. Leaving it blank permits normal discovery. The open MAKO Scaler does not need it.
  • Do not combine mako-run with another frame-generation or scaling Vulkan wrapper for the same game.

Bundled MAKO Renderer 4.5.0

  • Includes checksum-verified MAKO-Renderer-v4.5.0-linux.tar.xz.
  • Corresponding MAKO Decky source: plugin-v4.5.0.
  • Corresponding MAKO Renderer source: render-v4.5.0, pinned by commit and checksum in the ZIP metadata.
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