Valve Shrinks Steam Deck’s Shader Caches for More Game Space

An update for the Steam Deck’s open source video driver is set to slash the handheld PC’s shader cache files by more than half.

As reported by PC Gamer, this update is said to shrink the files by “approximately” 60 percent.

Just a quick note for those, like me, who aren’t as tech-savvy as others: Steam Decks come with fixed sizes for the internal SSD memory. Nevertheless, these sizes aren’t particularly large – although memory can be expanded using microSD cards. Hence, with Valve now aiming to reduce the size of its shader caches, this update will liberate more space for games on the console.

Now, onto the technical discussion. Essentially, a Steam OS update is on the horizon that incorporates a new version of the Mesa graphics driver, version 23.1. This driver “[re-implements] the RADV pipeline cache based on the common vk_pipeline_cache”, a modification that should decrease the file size of the game shader caches maintained by Steam OS.

Valve’s Pierre-Loup Griffais informed PC Gamer that he anticipates the pre-built shader caches to reduce file sizes “by ~60 percent”.

However, Griffais added that this might not apply to all games on the handheld PC, as the update “won’t alter anything for the size of transcoded video depots, which are also labeled ‘shader pre-caching’ in the UI.” So, it’s something to keep in mind if you’re still seeking ways to free up space on your Steam Deck.