SyncToDeck - Omni-guides/Wabbajack-Modlist-Linux GitHub Wiki

How to transfer files to Steam Deck (New Install & Modlist Update)

There are many (many) ways to copy data to your Steam Deck. From USB drives to graphical tools or command line options, there are many more ways than those I list below. If you have a preferred method that works, by all means stick with that.

PLEASE NOTE: I cannot be held responsible for anything negative that happens if you use the following method incorrectly for your system or file paths.

For all methods described here, you will need to have already set a password for the deck user on your Steam Deck. If you haven't already done so, you can follow Valve's guidance:

Enable SSH on the Steam Deck

Rsync uses the SSH (remote access) protocol to connect two systems and transfer the data. By default SSH is not enabled on the Steam deck - if you haven't already done so, by running the following command in a konsole terminal window on your deck, you can enable it forever more:

sudo systemctl enable --now sshd

You will be prompted to enter you 'deck' user password.

Option 1 (Recommended): WinSCP - a free file manager for Windows supporting FTP, SFTP, S3 and WebDAV.

Download WinSCP from here on your Windows system.

Once downloaded, install it, then open WinSCP, you will be presented with a Login Configuration window.

Keep "SFTP" selected as the File protocol, enter the IP Address of your Steam Deck in the "Host name" text box. Keep the port as 22, and enter "deck" as the User name. You can leave the password box blank for now.

You may wish to Save the connection details for future use, but that is optional.

Once your Login details match the screenshot (your IP Address will be different), click the Login button.

The first connection from WinSCP to you Deck will likely prompt you to accept the host key - simply click the "Accept" button:

The SFTP connection from your Windows system to your Deck will be initiated, and you will be prompted to enter the password for the "deck" user on your Steam Deck:

Enter the password and click OK. All being well, you should be presented with a "Dual Browser" window, which displays your Windows filesystem on the left, and your Steam Deck filesystem on the right.

At this point, the steps differ slightly depending on if you are copying Tuxborn to the Deck for the first time, or if you are updating an existing copy of Tuxborn already on the Deck. If you are updating Tuxborn, then follow the steps here, otherwise, continue with the following.

New Tuxborn Install

If this is the first time you are transferring Tuxborn from your Windows system to the Deck, you will need to browse to your Tuxborn folder on Windows (left hand side), and browse to the path you want to copy. If needed you can right click on the right hand browser (Deck) and create a new folder.

For example, on my Windows system, I browse to the following:

D:\Games\WabbajackGames\Tuxborn

And on the Steam Deck side (right hand side), I navigate to:

/home/deck/Games/Skyrim/Tuxborn

Once you have the two Tuxborn directories open on Windows and Deck, click the "Synchronize" button in the top right:

Given that the Tuxborn directory on the Deck is empty, you can leave the most of the default settings as they are, just make sure that "Remote" is selected for the "Direction/Target directory":

Once you have these settings in place, click OK to start the comparison phase. You may get a popup regarding opening a separate shell session.

This is fine to accept, so click OK. WinSCP will begin comparing the source and target directories:

After a few minutes, a report will be displayed listing the changes that WinSCP will carry out if you proceed:

For a new Tuxborn install, this is going to essentially report that it will be copying everything from the Windows system, to the Deck. Click OK in the top right to accept these actions and start the transfer process:

How long this process takes will depend on how much data needs to be synchronised, and how fast your connection between Windows system and Steam Deck is. Eventually it will finish. Once it has, you will need to return to the main Tuxborn Install guide, for the next steps - rejoin it here and complete all of the remaining steps. After that, you should be able to start Tuxborn from steam, and get back to playing!

Updating Tuxborn

If you already have Tuxborn installed on your Deck and are just updating it, follow these steps.

On each side of the Dual Browsers, navigate to your Tuxborn directory. For example on my Windows system (left hand side) I navigate to:

D:\Games\WabbajackGames\Tuxborn

And on the Steam Deck side (right hand side), I navigate to:

/home/deck/Games/Skyrim/Tuxborn

Once you have the two Tuxborn directories open on Windows and Deck, click the "Synchronize" button in the top right:

A new window will pop up, allowed you to alter the settings for the synchronisation. Set them as follows, while double checking that the "Local directory" and "Remote directory" folder paths at the top are correct:

The important settings to use here are:

Direction/Target directory: Remote - This sets whether the Remote system (Deck) is the destination for the date, rather than the other way around.

Mode: Mirror files - This setting tells WinSCP to make sure that the target (Deck) directory is identical to the source (Windows).

Synchronize options: Delete Files - This allows WinSCP to remove things on the Deck version of Tuxborn, that are not present on the Windows system. Preview changes - This feature will display a report of what actions WinSCP will carry out if you proceed. This can be good to just double check you have the right directories selected, and nothing unexpected is about to take place. It will show you which files are being updated, which will be removed, and which are new files that will be transferred.

Comparison criteria: Checksum - While this is a slower method of comparing the Windows Tuxborn and existing Deck Tuxborn directories, it is the best way to ensure that the Deck copy ends up identical to the Windows copy.

Once you have these settings in place, click OK to start the comparison phase. You may get a popup regarding opening a separate shell session.

This is fine to accept, so click OK. WinSCP will begin comparing the source and target directories:

After a few minutes, a report will be displayed listing the changes that WinSCP will carry out if you proceed:

Have a quick check through the list of actions in the report, and if you are ready to start the sync, click OK in the top right.

WinSCP will now begin synchronizing the data:

How long this process takes will depend on how much data needs to be synchronised, and how fast your connection between Windows system and Steam Deck is. Eventually it will finish. Once it has, you will need to rerun the Automated Install Script from the main Tuxborn Install guide, so rejoin it here and complete all of step 3. After that, you should be able to start Tuxborn from steam, and get back to playing!

Option 2: Rsync over SSH using MobaxTerm

While rsync is a command line tool, it is very powerful that can be used to synchronise two directories so they are identical, including removing files in the destination that are no longer in the source. This is particularly useful when updating a Wabbajack Modlist that you already have on the Steam Deck.

Windows does not have rsync command line by default, but you can still use this wonderful tool with an additional application on Windows. There are a few Windows apps that will do this for you, my favourite is MobaXTerm, which has a 'free for personal use' version.

MobaXterm on Windows

You can download the MobaXterm application here: MobaXTerm

Once installed, open MobaXterm and click "Start Local Terminal":

In terms of the actual rsync command, these are the flags I use. Please be very careful with this command, using the --delete flag with rsync can be dangerous if you get the paths wrong - see below the command for a brief description of what each flag is applying here. The rsync command I use is (using Tuxborn as an example):

rsync -arvP --delete /drives/c/Wabbajack/Skyrim/Tuxborn/* deck@steamdeck:/home/deck/Games/Skyrim/Tuxborn/.

You will need to adjust the path in /drives/c/../.. to match where the Modlist Install directory you set in Wabbajack exists on your Windows system. For example a Wabbajack Install path of D:\Wabbajack\Tuxborn would be referenced as /drives/d/Wabbajack/Tuxborn for the rsync command.
The * and ending . are very important here, so please make sure you get the command exactly right.
The -arvP flags tell rsync to sync all data, including subfolders and files (-arv), and to disaply the progress while it is sync'ing the data (-P).
The important part for updating a modlist, is the use of the --delete flag. This will delete anything present in the Destination directory (i.e. on the Steam Deck), that isn't in the Source directory on Windows. That means game saves, Custom character presets, or mods no longer in the modlist will be removed, unrecoverably. But.. this will be far quicker than fully deleting the Modlist and copying it over from scratch.

Conclusion

As ever, please use the above information at your own risk. If you are unsure, I am usually around in the #unofficial-linux-help channel of the Official Wabbajack Discord, so you may be better to ask for guidance before you proceed.