You will find here how to play Shadows of the Damned with RPCS3 on Steam Deck – best performance guide with fixed audio cracking, reduced stuttering and pretty stable framerate. I’d say the performance is even better than on the original hardware.
Shadows of the Damned is one of the craziest games in the surivival horror genre with an absurd plot, world creation, characters, and the whole setting. Unfortunately it was never released on PC, but with the help of the RPCS3 emulator you can complete it even on Steam Deck.
How to get RPCS3 on Steam Deck?
First, go to Desktop Mode. Now you have a lot of options, but I personally recommend the EmuDeck program – it’s a collection of emulators along with pre-defined settings. You can download it here with full instructions: LINK. I recommend a full installation along with Steam Rom Manager.
You can also download RPCS3 directly from Discovery, but this is an option for advanced users.
I have installed EmuDeck on a memory card, so in my case RPCS3 can be found here: /run/media/mmcblk0p1/Emulation/tools/launchers/
Run (Execute) RPCS3.sh and Go to File/Install Firmware. Download the PS3 software from the official site.
When you are ready, go back to Gaming Mode and launch the game – you will find it in the Library in the Non-Steam category. The first launch takes a few minutes, so be patient.
Close the game and run RPCS3. You should see Shadows of the Damned on the Game List. Hold Steam button and using right touchpad click with L2 on game and with R2 choose “Create Custom Configuration”.
In CPU tab set:
- SPU Block size: Mega
- Preferred SPU Threads: 2
In GPU tab:
- ZCULL Accuracy: Approximate (Fast)
- Framelimit: PS3 Native (Steam’s frame limiter is not working on RPCS)
- VSync: On for better frametimes
You can try to increase or decrease resolution, but for me game works best at native 720p. Even with unlocked framerate mod Shadows of the Damned can’t work at stable 40FPS even with 50% resolution.
If you change resolution scalling make sure that Resolution Scale Threshold is set close to 512×512 to fix graphic issues. Don’t touch it if you play at native.
In Audio tab:
- Enable Tme Stretching and set 75%.
With those settings Shadows of the Damned works great on Steam Deck – audio cracking is fixed with no delay, pretty stable 30FPS at native resolution.