DroidDeck not working? Troubleshooting guide

DroidDeck quick checks

“The session ended” in DroidDeck

When DroidDeck says “The session ended”, the Steam session stopped before or shortly after it started. It is a symptom, not a single bug. These are the causes contributors identify most often in the official issue tracker:

1. Your GPU is not an Adreno

On Mali, Xclipse or PowerVR graphics, which covers MediaTek, Exynos and Google Tensor phones, the session’s graphics driver cannot run. A contributor explains in issue #265 that “Session ended” is expected there, and in issue #686 that the session ends right away because there is no usable Vulkan device. No setting changes this. See GPU notes below.

2. Your Adreno is newer than the bundled driver

Reports for the Adreno 825 (issue #334), 845 (issue #1111) and 850 (issue #342) show the session closing within about two seconds, with a VK_ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER or “device is unsupported” line in session.log. The bundled Turnip build does not recognise the chip ID yet. The contributor workaround:

1. Open the GPU drivers settings. Contributors refer to it as Setup → Drivers or Components → GPU drivers.
2. Switch from Auto to manual.
3. Pick “WinNative · Balanced” or “Banners-Turnip · Adreno 8xx” and let both halves download.
4. Start a session again. If it still exits, attach the new Share logs zip to the issue for your chip.

In issue #66, Adreno 825 users confirmed that a manually chosen 8xx driver got Steam running. The Adreno 845 report is still open.

3. The Steam client could not download

If the session dies after 20 seconds or so with nothing on screen, the first-run Steam download may have failed. See Network and VPN.

4. Changing the language inside Steam

Older versions ended the session when Steam restarted to apply a language change, and on the third Steam restart of a session. Version 0.5.0 fixed the third-restart case (issue #250). The language is meant to be set in DroidDeck itself, under Setup → Launcher → Language, and Steam follows it at every start.

5. Android ran out of memory

An open report (issue #945) on a 16 GB AYN Thor Max shows Android killing the whole DroidDeck session during heavy loading. There is no official fix yet; the report is worth following if your session dies only in heavy scenes.

DroidDeck black screen

On the first launch

Be patient on the very first start. A contributor explains in issue #75 that Steam downloads and unpacks a client update of about 650 MB before it draws anything. The loading panel shows the download percentage but not the unpack step, so the screen can look stuck for ten minutes or more.

Steam never draws a frame

Since version 0.3.1, if Steam starts twice without drawing a frame, DroidDeck fetches the client again while keeping games, settings and user data. Steam’s settings also have a Repair Steam client item that queues a manual repair.

Wrong driver pair picked automatically

In issue #75, a black Big Picture screen on an Adreno 810 device was traced to Auto choosing the 8xx driver family. The suggested fix: GPU drivers → Manual → “Show drivers for other GPUs”, pick the Banners-Turnip (7xx) pair, then send Share logs if it does not help.

Black screen with image scaling, after sleep or behind the loading screen

Several of these were fixed in earlier versions: Steam staying black after idle sleep or resume (0.3.1), games staying behind Steam’s black loading screen while already running (0.3.2), and black Steam output with FSR 1 scaling (0.4.0). If you see one of them, check that you are on DroidDeck 0.6.0.

One game shows a black screen

Game-specific black screens are reported individually, for example The Binding of Isaac and Serious Sam 3. Try another Proton version under Steam → Properties → Compatibility, then search the tracker for your game before opening a new issue. Contributors ask for the session folder, Download/DroidDeck/<date>-NN-steam/, and the Proton version you used.

DroidDeck on Mali, MediaTek and Exynos vs Adreno

DroidDeck renders through Turnip, the Adreno Vulkan driver, and checks for an Adreno before downloading anything. A contributor wrote in issue #481 that supporting Mali would mean a different Vulkan driver, PanVK. As of October 17, 2026, non-Adreno work sits on a separate test branch and none of it is in a release. The DroidDeck supported devices page maps common chips to their GPUs.

DroidDeck network and VPN problems

On first run DroidDeck downloads the Steam client from Valve’s servers. In issue #987, a user in mainland China found the session closing silently because a split-tunnel proxy blocked Steam’s download servers from inside the session. Switching the VPN or proxy app to global mode fixed it, and contributors confirmed this. Since version 0.6.0, a failed Steam client download shows a message that your network or VPN may be blocking Steam, with a Retry button, instead of closing the session silently.

Version 0.5.0 already made DroidDeck’s own runtime downloads resume where they stopped and fall back to mirrors, which the release notes say helps especially in mainland China.

DroidDeck SD card problems

• SD card not shown in Steam. SD cards and external drives became full Steam libraries in 0.3.2 (issue #319). Update first.
• Partitioned card, for example with ROCKNIX. A contributor notes in issue #577 that Android usually mounts only one partition, and DroidDeck can only see what Android mounts. The reporter got it working by choosing the partition in Steam’s settings under Library → game storage, as a second library.
• Very slow “Reserving space”. A contributor explains in issue #164 that on an SD card the cost is per file, not per gigabyte, so a game with thousands of small files can sit at 1% for a long time. Version 0.3.2 included the first fixes and later changes shortened the per-file cost further. Moving an already installed game to the card was not changed. Remaining cases are collected in #164.
• Store games. Since 0.5.0, GOG, Epic and Amazon installs can go to internal storage, any SD card or your second library.
• Card disappears at random. Open reports (issue #523, issue #1257) have no official fix yet.

DroidDeck Epic Games problems

• “The connection to the sign-in page is not secure”. Fixed in DroidDeck 0.6.0 (issue #667). Update from the Updates page or install the 0.6.0 APK.
• Sign-in page loops without showing the form. A contributor says this is a different problem, not covered by that fix, and asks for a separate issue with Share logs.
• Expired sign-in. Since 0.5.0, an expired Epic or Amazon sign-in asks you to sign in again instead of failing with a generic error.
• Not enough space. Since 0.5.0, Epic installs assemble files as they download, so a 71 GB game no longer needs about 142 GB free.
• Limits. Epic games now start through Epic’s own Linux launcher. The README notes that this launcher preview and the ARM setup are outside Epic’s listed Linux support.

DroidDeck APK will not install

• Play Protect warning. A contributor explains in issue #351 that Play Protect warns about any app installed outside the Play Store. DroidDeck is not on Play, so the prompt is expected.
• Android 17 “App not installed”. The Android developer verifier and App Protection can block a first install (issue #436).
• An older copy with a different key. Android refuses the update if a test build or self-built copy is installed. Uninstall it first.
• Samsung and the pubg or antutu files. A contributor notes that Galaxy Store and Device Care can conflict with the pubg and antutu package-name variants (issue #806). Use the standard DroidDeck-0.6.0.apk first. The download page explains the four files.

DroidDeck with GameHub or GameNative installed

Steam allows one session per account. A contributor explains in issue #176 that if GameHub signs in to the same Steam account, DroidDeck’s Steam is signed out and downloads fail with “No internet connection”. DroidDeck therefore asks Android to stop GameHub’s background processes before each session. It does not close GameHub while you are using it. The official sources do not publish a feature or performance comparison between DroidDeck, GameHub and GameNative, so this guide does not offer one.

Reporting a DroidDeck bug

1. Update to the latest version. Many problems on this page were fixed in a later release.
2. Search the GitHub issues for your chip or game.
3. Reproduce the problem, then use Share logs.
4. Post in the #bug-reports forum of the DroidDeck Discord or open a GitHub issue, with the zip, your device and DroidDeck version.

DroidDeck troubleshooting questions

Back to the DroidDeck guide, or see the install guide.