Modders give Portal RTX a performance boost on Steam Deck

Portal RTX has received a performance boost on Steam Deck, making it run up to 60FPS, thanks to a new fan-made mod.

Back in 2022, Portal got a significant update which resulted in Portal RTX, free DLC available to anyone with a copy of the original game. Portal RTX showcased Nvidia’s then-most recent upscaling and ray-tracing tech, from Reflex to DLSS 3. However, its performance on the Steam Deck left much to be desired, until modding team NightSightProductions got their hands on it.

Through some clever tinkering of the in-game settings, NightSightProductions were able to make Portal RTX playable on Steam Deck. Although they were able to achieve a stable 30FPS, this came with the downside of the game running at a measly 846 x 486 resolution. Now, the same team of modders has done it again, giving Portal RTX a significant boost on the Valve handheld.

NightSightProductions has managed to get Portal RTX to run at 720p, sitting around 50 to 60FPS, leagues above the previous 30FPS achievement. They’ve managed this impressive feat by taking code from the brand-new Nvidia Remix GitHub post, which brought with it additional RADV support, and adding it to Portal RTX. The increased RADV support likely improves performance, as the Steam Deck is powered by AMD GPUs which rely on specific RADV Vulkan-based drivers.

NightSightProductions explains in their brand-new YouTube video, that adding the RADV support coding doubled the performance of Portal RTX on Steam Deck. They have now packaged the end result, into a mod that anyone is free to download and try out for themselves. The mod includes custom presets, varying in performance quality, which NightSightProductions additionally put together through their research during the modding project.

As of writing, the mod is still being approved by Nexus Mods, so its publication to the massive mod site is still pending. However, once the Portal mod is approved, anyone with a Steam Deck and copy of the original Portal game, along with the Portal RTX add-on, can download it and see the impressive results on their own Valve handheld.