I grew up playing on consoles.
You turn them on, pick a game, and play.
That expectation never really left me.
So when I bought my first PC handheld, a Lenovo Legion Go in mid‑2024, I was genuinely excited… and then quickly overwhelmed.
Not because the hardware was bad.
But because everything required decisions.
The problem I ran into (and kept running into)
Before I could actually play, I had to think about:
- In‑game graphics presets
- In-game resolution vs screen resolution
- TDP values
- Refresh rate
- Scaling (RSR, FSR, in‑game upscalers)
- Driver‑level GPU features (AFMF, RSR, etc.)
Every game.
Every device.
Every time.
And the worst part?
The same game behaved very differently on different handhelds.
A config that felt smooth on a Legion Go could stutter on a ROG Ally.
A preset that worked on one device destroyed battery life on another.
So I did what most PC gamers do:
I tweaked.
I tested.
I retested.
I took notes.
Eventually I realized something important:
The hard part wasn’t performance.
The hard part was knowing what to change, when, and why.
That’s the problem AutoPilot+ exists to solve.
What AutoPilot+ is
AutoPilot+ is not a magic performance booster.
It’s a system that applies in-game configuration before the game even starts.
When you launch a supported game, AutoPilot+:
- Detects the handheld you’re using
- Applies the most appropriate in-game settings from the available options
- Adjusts display resolution when needed
- Enables or avoids AMD GPU features like RSR or AFMF based on whether their requirements are met
Some driver-level features like RSR or AFMF only work correctly when both in-game settings and device settings are aligned. AutoPilot+ takes that relationship into account.
The goal is simple:
Launch the game already in a playable state that makes sense for the device.
Not perfect.
Not ultra.
Playable.
What AutoPilot+ does today
Right now, AutoPilot+:
- Supports a limited list of games
- Uses game‑specific configuration logic (not generic presets)
- Applies settings only when they are stored in plain text or deterministic locations
- Adjusts resolution and GPU features based on the game’s actual configuration
This is intentional.
Each supported game is added manually, tested manually, and validated manually.
No guessing.
No auto‑benchmarking.
No “AI decided this is optimal” claims.
What AutoPilot+ does NOT do (and why that matters)
This part is important.
AutoPilot+ does not:
- Tune every game on your system
- Guarantee max FPS or best battery life
- Replace user choice
- Apply settings blindly
If a game isn’t supported, AutoPilot+ stays out of the way.
That restraint is deliberate.
Why this isn’t just another “optimizer”
Most PC optimization tools focus on hardware knobs:
- TDP up / down
- FPS limits
- System‑level tweaks
Those matter, and ZenDeck’s AutoPilot already handles a lot of that.
AutoPilot+ exists because:
Performance problems often start inside the game settings, not the hardware.
If a game is rendering at an unreasonable resolution or using settings that don’t fit the device, no amount of TDP tuning will fix the experience.
What comes next
AutoPilot+ is intentionally built as a foundation.
The long‑term vision includes:
- Community‑shared profiles with device-specific variants and community feedback
- Quality vs performance paths
No black boxes.
No locked presets.
If you understand the system, you can extend it.
Why I’m writing this now
This post isn’t a launch announcement.
It’s an anchor.
Something I can link to when people ask:
- Why does this exist?
- What problem are you actually solving?
- Why isn’t this open to every game yet?
PC handheld gaming doesn’t need to be this hard.
Until it isn’t, AutoPilot+ is my attempt to make it a little less exhausting.
AutoPilot+ is part of the ZenDeck project and can be tried through ZenDeck.
0degreez 