Editing Openai/69492970-fd84-8012-81ad-fad51507b9fe (section)

==== What does work (reliable paths) ====

===== ✅ OPTION 1 (Most reliable): Use Desktop Mode for TV gaming =====

This is what many eGPU users end up doing.
* Stay in Desktop Mode
* Launch Steam from there
* Use Big Picture if you want the console feel
* HDMI + eGPU works consistently

This avoids Gamescope entirely.

===== ✅ OPTION 2: Force Game Mode to “see” the external display (sometimes works) =====

This is the only semi-reliable trick:
# Boot into Desktop Mode
# Make the TV the primary display ``<code>bash xrandr --output HDMI-1 --primary <syntaxhighlight>3. Disable the internal display (optional but helps) </syntaxhighlight>bash xrandr --output eDP-1 --off <syntaxhighlight>4. Without rebooting, switch to Game Mode

If you’re lucky:
* Game Mode will inherit the display state
* HDMI will work

If you reboot after this, it usually breaks again.

===== ✅ OPTION 3: Force eGPU rendering per-game (render only) =====

Even if HDMI doesn’t light up, you can still make games render on the eGPU (internal screen only):

Steam launch options:

</syntaxhighlight>bash
DRI_PRIME=1 %command%

</code>``

This does not fix HDMI output, but confirms the GPU is usable.