Counter-Strike 2 bug prevents you from seeing smoke grenades at a distance on Steam Deck

It seems that Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) may have a visual bug on Steam Deck that is preventing players from seeing smoke grenades at a distance.

After a long wait and weeks of teasers, Counter-Strike 2 is finally live and playable on PC  Players have wasted no time in jumping right in, with SteamDB stats now showing that as of writing, there are over one million concurrent players in-game.

Valve’s first-person competitive shooter – which received a bunch of much-needed changes – is also playable through Steam Deck, allowing you to enjoy the shooter on the go with analog controls – if such a thing catches your fancy. 

However, one player over on the game’s subreddit has reported that they’re having a few issues with the Steam Deck version of the game, explaining that, during matches, they’re unable to see smoke grenades at a distance. 

Can’ see smokes from distance on Steam Deck from r/cs2

User MaerHase uploaded a clip showing that after throwing a smoke grenade at the enemy, there is no visual cue that the grenade activated, and from where they’re standing, there appears to be no smoke rendering. 

Unimpeded by the smoke, they’re able to fully see the enemy team – not ideal for a competitive shooter. Isn’t until MaerHase walks closer that the smoke suddenly loads in. 

MaerHase reported that this is a Steam Deck bug, but it could be the case that the error is due to the console being altogether unable to generate the required visual effects. The Redditor explained in the comments that they were playing with default settings and haven’t made adjustments, but says that when testing CS2 on PC via Steam, the game didn’t have the same problem. 

Another user also shared they were having the same issue, saying, “Dude I have the same bug on Linux mint…..I literally just don’t see the smoke, but the other guys absolutely do.”

Over on GitHub, several other players are reporting similar problems and there doesn’t appear to be a solid fix right now. One user explained that they were able to reproduce the smoke bug on their Steam Deck when they launched the game in desktop mode, too. 

Valve hasn’t yet addressed the issue, but if it’s a widespread bug affecting Steam Deck players, it’ll hopefully be fixed with a future patch.

For more, check out our picks for the best Steam games of 2023, as well as the best PC games available right now.