Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is the action-open-world sequel players wanted. Released in 2020 as a PlayStation-exclusive title, its PC version made its debut just last year. One of the launchers you can use to play it is the well-known Steam launcher, owned by Valve. Coincidentally, Valve’s own handheld gaming device, the Steam Deck, also saw its release last year. And Marvel’s Spiderman: Miles Morales just happens to be Steam Deck-verified out of the box, which means you do not need any additional hacks or shady third-party software to play it on your Steam Deck. However, this does not mean that it works flawlessly. There are many players who have reported Marvel’s Spiderman: Miles Morales crashing on the Steam Deck. If you are struggling with the same issue, consider reading this guide for workarounds to fix it.
For a title from such a prestigious game series as Spiderman, one would expect it to work pretty well. Alas, there is no such thing as perfection in this world. Many players have reported Marvel’s Spiderman: Miles Morales crashing on their Steam Deck. This is obviously quite frustrating, as the game’s main story takes quite a few hours to complete at best, so players want the option to not have to sit in one place for that long. The Steam Deck would allow them to do just that, given that the game actually works on it. So, is there a fix for this issue yet? Well, keep reading to find out.
Marvel’s Spiderman Miles Morales crashing on Steam Deck: How to fix it?
This is quite a generic issue, so there can be a lot of causes for it that are tough to pinpoint without more information. So, we have compiled a list of possible fixes for you to try below. If one fix does not work for you, do not give up. We encourage you to try them all; you never know what might fix it.
Update the game –
If you have not been playing the game on the latest version, update it as soon as possible. Patches and hotfixes for these kinds of bugs are constantly being rolled out. Staying up-to-date with the current version makes sure that if this issue was reported previously by someone else, it will be fixed for you.
Switch to previous version and enable Proton Experimental –
According to Lazy_Whereas_2443, you should enable developer mode in SteamOS if you have not already done so. Next, go to the game’s tile on your Steam Deck, select the Options button, and then select Properties > Beta. Switch the version to the previous one. Wait for it to update, then force it to use Proton Experimental. You can do so by heading over to the Compatibility tab. In case you did not know, Proton is the compatibility layer Steam Deck uses to make Windows games run on Linux-based operating systems (such as SteamOS).
Lower visuals –
It is possible your game’s visual settings might be set too high for the Steam Deck’s hardware to handle. If you notice the game seems to run fine sometimes but crashes while displaying a visually intense scene, this might be the cause of your issue. You can fix this manually by going to settings and turning down some visual settings like Texture Quality, turning off DLSS, or switching to the Medium Graphics preset as jondunn95 did. Or, you can install CryoUtilities if you have not done so already. CryoUtilities is a set of scripts that is designed to improve the performance of the Steam Deck.
Verify game files and delete Proton files-
TrumpetEater3139 suggested verifying game files and deleting Proton files. This can fix your issue if there was a problem during the game installation. Maybe the game files got corrupted, or Proton did not configure correctly for the game. Whatever the case, verifying the game files should fix any potential problems with the game files.
Uninstall any mods –
In case you are playing a modded version of the game, try uninstalling all the mods and running the base version of the game. Sometimes, mods may cause instability or crashes in games, as they are not officially supported. They may conflict with each other (yes, even if the mod page does not mention incompatibility). So it is best practice when facing these issues to try running just the official unchanged game and see if the issue persists.
Check storage space –
If your Steam Deck is running low on storage, it can cause issues with Marvel’s Spiderman: Miles Morales. So you should make sure the device has plenty of storage left. You can do this by hitting the Steam button on your Deck, and then going to Settings > Storage. If the available space is low, consider deleting some unnecessary games and/or apps to free up space.
Reboot your device –
Sometimes the best course of action is the simplest one. The classic ‘Did you try turning it off and on again?’. If the issue is just a random bug caused by something during that specific startup of the Steam Deck, or if it was caused by a random error during the deck’s runtime, a simple reboot should fix it.
Re-install the game –
Admittedly, this is a bit of a last resort. It is possible that something messed up with your installation that even verifying the game files cannot fix. A clean re-install might just do the trick. Be sure to make backups of your saved files if they matter to you before you do this.
If you tried all of these fixes and the issue still persists, consider raising a request with Insomniac support. Make sure to mention all the fixes you have tried already. They should be able to get to the bottom of the issue pretty quickly. In the meantime, if you found this guide helpful, consider checking out Android Gram for more such guides. Also read: Spiderman Remastered PC DirectX12 Support not detected: How to fix it?
