EmuDeck for Windows! Emulation Guide

EmuDeck is one of the easiest ways to get emulation up and running on the Steam Deck, and it's now available in early access for Windows! In this guide I'll walk you through the setup process so that you can play your favorite classics on any Windows device -- desktop, laptop, or handheld.

Timestamps:
00:00 introduction
01:27 early access
03:14 installation
04:42 initial setup
09:30 Steam ROM Manager vs EmulationStation
10:58 adding ROMs and BIOS
16:43 Steam ROM Manager
21:35 EmulationStation
24:08 EmuDeck maintenance
26:05 cloud sync and game mode
28:31 summary and conclusion

Theme song written by Jim Gray of Our Ghosts:

This video is for entertainment and educational purposes only.

#EmuDeck #ROGally #emulation

[AlecWiese]

I was literally just going to pull up your channel to watch your last emudeck and emulation station videos to see how I could make it work on my windows PC. And here you are with the exact thing I’m looking for! What a fun coincidence

[BrianJones-wkcx]

Brilliant as always. Thank you, Russ! Love to see the innovation and great ideas of the EmuDeck team getting some love. Nobody else is talking about this, let alone doing a full walk though, which is why the community is so lucky to have you.

That “game mode” for Windows is super smart. I’ve been replacing my shell with Steam Big Picture mode on Windows for years (in a separate user distinctly setup for only gaming) to achieve the same end, but doing it manually isn’t for the feint of heart.

[aruantec]

I myself used to code frontends (many old videos on my channel) for an emulation community in the past and it's interesting to see how much things have changed while the concept remains the same. Somehow it gives me a bit of motivation to work on my own once again and revive my old project. I'm also glad to see that today there are so many alternatives.

[robert.sec]

"Yeah man, I wanna do it" is my favorite recurring bit. Gets a chuckle every time

[Flipbug_The_Whimsical]

This is just incredible. For years I've been keeping up with the latest emulators, downloading and configuring them over and over... Now I can just do this instead. This will replace my entire setup for sure. It's time for an emulator cleanout :D

[brycedayton]

Thanks Russ! I'd REALLY love to see a guide for setting up windows on steamdeck, specifically a really good guide on using tools like handheld companion. Since you do so many guides that end up being the go-to guide, I'm sure you'd knock it out of the park. Looking forward to the playnite guide. I've got it set up myself on a deck running Windows 11 and I'm really enjoying it, but sometimes handheld companion doesn't seem to work exactly how I'd like and I'm sure I just have something misconfigured.

[JamesTechJackin]

Great content as always my guy! I supported the Patreon and I can't to use all these options as they become available. You guys are doing some great work over there. Keep it up!!!

[mfreddy]

Yes!!! I am so excited for this one. Thanks for the awesome work Russ!

[Dracossaint]

I've actually done all the work manually myself. I'm still tempted to become a patron just to support it, because I want people to be able to emulate fairly easily.

[zZiLyRj]

Oh God EmuDeck does everything in a fraction of the time it took me to set up Launchbox, Retroarch and standalone emulators on Windows!

They even got the 8:7 aspect ratio for SNES, which is the default output before it was stretched, Super Mario World blocks would be perfect squares, if you use 4:3 it would get stretch, that's why you get chonky Link in Zelda. Depends on the games, some are output with 4:3 in mind like MK3. I have to do some research to find that out. That's phenomenal that EmuDecks know about it right of the bat. God damn!!!

[julienfalco]

I feel like the ROG Ally with Emu Deck is all I ever wanted in my life. This is fantastic. Thanks !

[trachysa]

Bro! THIS is what I’ve been waiting for! Russ!!! Thank you! Thank you!

[alexmusic]

Tried setting this up myself and did it but things are just subtly off. Been waiting for your vid to get the realness. Thanks for the video, you are dependable and reliable.

[ronquin]

Very cool feature for the cloud saves... I run my own SFTP and it looks like they have this app setup for it. Thanks for posting!

[HealyHQ]

Bypassing the desktop is so useful. Truly makes even Windows feel like a game console. Perfect for these Win Handhelds.

[sianjackson]

fantastic video just what i was looking for thanks

[KLCII]

Posted 2 hours before I searched for this video. Thanks!

[tankdome]

Awesome! I been waiting for this for my gpd win 4

[Jonnicom]

Just bought a Deck after thinking about it for months. The sale convinced me. This is the first thing i'm going to do with it. I cannot wait to backup my entire retro library onto it. It's going to be amazing to have a on the go and plug and play device for all of my retro games - to be able to be played upscaled on an HD TV, it's going to change how I operate for sure... but I'll always collect physical <3

[Guitario]

That Game Mode on startup will be a game changer 😎