the probelm was this package AUR (en) - devify was causing udev rules to time out. once I uninstalled that everything was working fine
in case anyone was wondering how I got all this working first I did
sudo pacman -S gamescope-session-git gamescope-session-steam-git
to install the chimeraos gamescope session files, but these are incomplete (and upstream says this is on purpose because they can’t include the files for some reason 
)
next you need to clone nobara gamescope session files which are actually based on the chimeraos ones( and adapted for fedora)
git clone https://github.com/Nobara-Project/steamdeck-edition-packages.git
next I installed some of the nobara game scope files
sudo install gamescope-session-plus/usr/bin/gamescope-session-plus /usr/bin
sudo install gamescope-session-plus/usr/share/gamescope-session-plus/gamescope-session-plus /usr/share/gamescope-session-plus
cp gamescope-session-steam/etc/skel/Desktop/Return.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/
sudo install gamescope-session-steam/usr/bin/steamos-desktop-return /usr/bin/
sudo install gamescope-session-steam/usr/bin/steamos-session-select /usr/bin/
sudo install gamescope-session-steam/usr/libexec/os-session-select /usr/lib/
sudo install gamescope-session-steam/usr/share/polkit-1/actions/org.nobaraproject.session.select.policy
sudo cp -a gamescope-session-steam/usr/share/icons/ /usr/share/
and optionally (technically the last one above is also optional it just has the icon for the return.desktop file) for the ability to run startup commands for the gamescope session
sudo cp -a gamescope-session-plus/etc/gamescope-session-plus/
sudo install gamescope-session-plus/usr/libexec/gs-thirdparty-services /usr/lib/
sudo install gamescope-session-plus/usr/share/polkit-1/actions/org.gamescope.start.policy
next you need to modify the files to replace all instances of libexec to lib and comment out a few files
comment out since we don’t have nobara-automount
diff gamescope-session-plus/usr/bin/gamescope-session-plus /usr/bin/gamescope-session-plus
24c24
< /usr/libexec/nobara-automount
---
> #/usr/lib/nobara-automount
comment out steamrestart since we do not have that and change libexec to lib
gamescope-session-steam/usr/bin/steamos-desktop-return /usr/bin/steamos-desktop-return
10,11c10,11
< /usr/bin/steamrestart
< /usr/libexec/os-session-select gamescope
---
> #/usr/bin/steamrestart
> /usr/lib/os-session-select gamescope
change libexec to lib
diff gamescope-session-steam/usr/bin/steamos-session-select /usr/bin/steamos-session-select
6c6
< GAMESCOPE_SESSION_SCRIPT="/usr/libexec/os-session-select"
---
> GAMESCOPE_SESSION_SCRIPT="/usr/lib/os-session-select"
comment out the echo for some reason this fails with permission denied and doesn’t allow the rest to run
diff gamescope-session-steam/usr/libexec/os-session-select /usr/lib/os-session-select
7c7
< echo $@ >> /tmp/args
---
> #echo $@ >> /tmp/args
change libexec to lib
diff gamescope-session-steam/usr/share/polkit-1/actions/org.nobaraproject.session.select.policy /usr/share/polkit-1/actions/org.nobaraproject.session.select.policy
18c18
< <annotate key="org.freedesktop.policykit.exec.path">/usr/libexec/os-session-select</annotate>
---
> <annotate key="org.freedesktop.policykit.exec.path">/usr/lib/os-session-select</annotate>
and if you did the optional stuff
change libexec to lib
diff gamescope-session-plus/usr/share/gamescope-session-plus/gamescope-session-plus /usr/share/gamescope-session-plus/gamescope-session-plus
272c272
< /usr/libexec/gs-thirdparty-services
---
> /usr/lib/gs-thirdparty-services
change libexec to lib
diff gamescope-session-plus/usr/share/polkit-1/actions/org.gamescope.start.policy /usr/share/polkit-1/actions/org.gamescope.start.policy
18c18
< <annotate key="org.freedesktop.policykit.exec.path">/usr/libexec/gs-thirdparty-services</annotate>
---
> <annotate key="org.freedesktop.policykit.exec.path">/usr/lib/gs-thirdparty-services</annotate>
now make sure you have auto login and relogin setup up in sddm
ex:
File: /etc/sddm.conf.d/kde_settings.conf
[Autologin]
Relogin=true
Session=plasma.desktop
User=zany130
...rest of file
and you will be able to switch to a steam-deck like game mode by running Return to Gaming Mode from your start menu.
to switch back to your de just go to power → switch to desktop from the steam guide menu