Latest SteamOS update breaks DeckyLoader plugins, but there's a solution

Gamers with a Steam Deck might have noticed some trouble brewing after the latest SteamOS update hit on June 30. If you’re one of the many who use DeckyLoader to spice up your handheld with cool plugins, you’ve probably hit a snag. The update has thrown a bit of a curveball, particularly messing with the ability to uninstall plugins through DeckyLoader’s sidebar. But hang tight — there’s a fix for this mess.

Let’s back up a bit. The Steam Deck, Valve’s nifty little handheld gaming machine, runs on SteamOS, a custom operating system built just for it. DeckyLoader is this awesome third-party tool that lets you load up plugins to tweak your Deck. Want a better interface or some extra features? That’s where DeckyLoader shines. So, when an update like this one comes along and breaks something, it’s a big deal for folks who love their custom setups.

What’s actually going wrong? Well, users are finding that clicking the little three-dot menu (you know, the “hamburger” icon) next to a plugin throws up an error. Uninstalling plugins is basically a no-go without restarting the whole Deck. One user vented their frustration, saying,

I went to uninstall Junk Store from DeckyLoader and I get this crap in the picture after I hit the three hamburger dots. Can’t do crap until I pretty much restart the Deck.

Another user commented in a separate thread stating,

My Decky has been broken for so long and now it’s fully disappeared. I should probably look into fixing or uninstalling it.

It’s not exactly a new problem either. Someone else pointed out,

Every… single… update… Decky should really just default to ‘Disable Decky until next boot’ if the OS version doesn’t match the confirmed working version.

The good news? You don’t have to sit around waiting for your plugins to magically work again. There’s a solid workaround. The trick is to update DeckyLoader to its latest pretesting version. You can do this by running the install script in desktop mode. If that doesn’t cut it, try disabling DeckyLoader until your next reboot, then update it again from desktop mode. Some folks even suggest a full reinstall if things are still wonky. One helpful tip from the community was,

Update to the latest prerelease build and it’ll let you uninstall plugins. If it fails to update, do it in desktop mode.

The DeckyLoader crew isn’t sitting idle either. I spotted a comment from a user noting that a new version — possibly 3.1.6 — is already in beta and should roll out soon to smooth things over. Until then, these steps should get you back in action.

Featured image credit: Gold_Championship657 / X