Win Mini 2024 - Brightness shortcuts not working

Hey all, I'm using Bazzite on a GPD Win Mini 2024 and for some reason, the brightness shortcuts (FN+F1 / FN+F2) don't do anything in game mode, they work on the desktop but I'd love to get them working in game mode if possible. I haven't tweaked the install much and wouldn't be able to tell you if it worked initially.
Solution:
That doesn't work in Game mode because laptop function (Fn) keys are sadly not handled by gamescope.
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12 Replies
Solution
CheckYourFax
CheckYourFax3d ago
That doesn't work in Game mode because laptop function (Fn) keys are sadly not handled by gamescope.
Jade
JadeOP3d ago
Ah damn, that sucks, I assume the fn combos for mute / vol - / vol + are special on their end
CheckYourFax
CheckYourFax3d ago
yeah they are handled by ALSA directly steam just doesn't do anything with the brightness up and down function keys mainly because the steam deck just doesn't have these keys neither does any handheld
Jade
JadeOP3d ago
Yeah GPD is the exception because it's a whole damn keyboard
CheckYourFax
CheckYourFax3d ago
GPD handheld devices are a big exception and some of the ayaneo devices too but those are more laptops than handhelds any of the real popular known ones sold by big retailers do not have any
Jade
JadeOP3d ago
Wondering if there's some hacky workarounds possible, maybe some service in the background to handle them. Though I'm not familiar enough with Linux to figure that out I didn't think of checking if anyone using bazzite on a laptop had figured smth
CheckYourFax
CheckYourFax3d ago
It could be, but from what I've seen here there's no plan in doing so: https://github.com/ublue-os/bazzite/issues/2428
GitHub
Some keyboard function keys don't work in gamescope · Issue #2428 ...
Describe the bug Function keys like Brightness up/down keys, Volume mute keys don't work in gaming mode, but work in desktop mode. What did you expect to happen? Function keys like Brightness u...
CheckYourFax
CheckYourFax3d ago
probably none work except for the sound related ones right?
Jade
JadeOP3d ago
That's correct That'd leave brightness (maybe keyboard brightness too?) and media apart from volume
CheckYourFax
CheckYourFax3d ago
the thing with gamemode is is that it is its complete own compositor and the brightness is controlled directly in Steam itself. The desktop mode has no influence whatsoever to what is happening in game mode that's all managed by gamescope-session (the package that enables game mode) you'll notice the brightness levels are not shared between them either
Jade
JadeOP3d ago
Ooookay then yeah that definitely puts in question whether bazzite or valve themselves should handle it. Hope that it gets addressed when steamOS 3.0 gets opened up to general devices I guess?
CheckYourFax
CheckYourFax3d ago
No idea. Since you can access the brightness slider from steam settings even while in game I doubt it's a priority

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