CheatDeck vs TrainerBridge

CheatDeck is a free, GPL-3.0 Decky Loader plugin for Steam Deck that launches sidecar programs and manages game launch options. It can start a selected .exe or .bat alongside a game in the same Proton or Wine environment, then stop it when the game exits. Its Language setting assigns one locale code to both LANG and HOST_LC_ALL. Advanced controls cover desktop behavior, FSYNC, WineD3D, compatibility-data redirection, and audio latency. Custom Options accept environment assignments, prefix commands, and arguments before or after %command%. Unsupported shell syntax or unclear launch options make a document read-only to prevent unsafe partial edits. Optional Lossless Scaling and OptiScaler presets require their corresponding Decky plugins. Installation uses Decky Loader Developer Mode and CheatDeck.zip from a release or nightly build. Some sidecars need runtime dependencies installed with protontricks.

TrainerBridge is a free, open-source Linux application for running standalone Windows trainers with Steam games through Proton. It examines Steam libraries, identifies each game’s Proton version and compatdata prefix, then starts a trainer inside the matching Proton environment. You can import and manage one trainer executable for each Steam game and launch the game and trainer together or independently. Steam installations delivered as native packages, Snap, or Flatpak are supported. An optional Protontricks frontend can place common runtimes, fonts, settings, and applications into a game prefix. Before prefix changes, TrainerBridge can create backups using copy-on-write folders on compatible Btrfs filesystems or compressed .tar.zst archives elsewhere. Downloads include an x86_64 AppImage and portable .tar.xz archive with SHA-256 checksums. It does not supply trainers, alter game files, or bypass anti-cheat systems. Prefix component compatibility varies by game, prefix state, Proton version, and Winetricks recipe.