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Valve have today put out a stable Steam Client update pulling in lots of changes from the previous beta version, it's a good one too.

In terms of what's changed for Linux specifically:

  • Added a 2X-scaling mode with high-res text and graphics when running the Steam client in desktop mode on 4k-resolution monitors. You can also force 2X scaling with the "GDK_SCALE=2" environment variable, or disable it with "GDK_SCALE=1".
  • Improved window-resizing interactions with the window manager
  • Fixed an issue where the Steam client could prevent some desktop sessions from shutting down

Some seriously welcome stuff there from Valve—good work. The bug about preventing shut downs was a particular nuisance I'm really glad to see the back of.

They also worked to reduce CPU use when the mouse is moved back and forth over part of the Library view, fixed a problem with corrupted Workshop items endlessly re-downloading and they fixed a strange issue where some games wouldn't launch in offline mode if Steam had previously started or scheduled an update.

On top of that, there's numerous fixes and improvements to Steam Input, for interacting with the Steam Controller and various other gamepads.

See the full update notes here.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Steam
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26 comments
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Jahimself Mar 21, 2018
very nice addition indeed, especially for the shutdown issue ;)
poke86 Mar 21, 2018
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Oh good, that shutdown bug was really annoying!
legluondunet Mar 21, 2018
but this bug still occurs:
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/5030
Steam regularly looses credentials and settings, very annoying.
ThePierrasse Mar 21, 2018
but this bug still occurs:
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/5030
Steam regularly looses credentials and settings, very annoying.

Yup, that is so annoying...
Leopard Mar 21, 2018
but this bug still occurs:
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/5030
Steam regularly looses credentials and settings, very annoying.

For the last few weeks , this issue did not occur for me. I hope it keeps it that way.
linuxjacques Mar 21, 2018
but this bug still occurs:
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/5030
Steam regularly looses credentials and settings, very annoying.

For the last few weeks , this issue did not occur for me. I hope it keeps it that way.

Same here. I was assuming they fixed it. :|
bolokanar Mar 21, 2018
Wonder when will we see a x64 client. Valve time at work!
Redneck Mar 21, 2018
but this bug still occurs:
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/5030
Steam regularly looses credentials and settings, very annoying.

Geeeee! I thought i was the only one! It also resets the skin to the default one... Hope they get it sorted out
fryk Mar 21, 2018
Thank you Valve, this is awesome! I was hoping for this quite some time. Finally the client is usable in UHD on Linux.
fryk Mar 21, 2018
Nice! I'm happy that they did this scaling thing for users with HighDPI screens! That is a huge improvement. In next update would love to see fractional scaling (non-interger values) like 1.5 and so on :) that would be perfect! As now I'm using 28" 4K UHD Screen and I scale everything to 150% (1.5 ratio).

That would be even better. The scaled fonts and images took me some time getting used to. But finally I can USE the shop via client. Before, that was almost impossible on my 27" 4K screen.

Edit: And Yes, the Steam client does act weird sometimes when resized / moved around on my Xubuntu machine, too.


Last edited by fryk on 21 March 2018 at 9:32 pm UTC
chr Mar 21, 2018
All of you people who have the credentials forgotten bug should try the workaround from here. Worked for me and some other people.

Another thing that worked sometimes was to close Steam when prompted for login credentials and on second launch of Steam it auto-logged-in as it was supposed to.
Exidan Mar 21, 2018
Fixed an issue where the Steam client could prevent some desktop sessions from shutting down
finally, I was in Beta for this. But since its not giving me any trouble, I guess I'll continue using beta.
phalen Mar 21, 2018
unfortunatly they still have not killed the nfs bug https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/4982
kernel 4.10? and later 0mb free on any shares.
elmapul Mar 21, 2018
still no smoth scrolling...
fagnerln Mar 21, 2018
"Fixed an issue where the Steam client could prevent some desktop sessions from shutting down"

Isn't the first time that they "fix" this, I heard this before, and the bug persist.
14 Mar 22, 2018
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Another thing that worked sometimes was to close Steam when prompted for login credentials and on second launch of Steam it auto-logged-in as it was supposed to.
I've been doing this myself. Works every time.

You know what I would like fixed? Screenshots. Why should I have to click on a screenshot twice and then drag a stupid window by the corners so I can see a large version of the screenshot?! It should be one click to get a larger-than-thumbnail version, and then there should be a maximize button. Or, there could be a maximize button overlay upon mouse hover.

All that said, I do appreciate what fixes have some so far.
TheSHEEEP Mar 22, 2018
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The most annoying bug for me and my GF (on totally different systems), that using the Steam overlay often (especially when using the browser) freezes the app and requires you to kill Steam AND the game, still doesn't seem to be fixed.
Adamfx990 Mar 22, 2018
Thank @*&! they fixed the shutdown issue.
Xelancer Mar 22, 2018
The bug about preventing shut downs was a particular nuisance I'm really glad to see the back of.
Lol, that one has been bugging myself and my wife for some time now... Good job.
g000h Mar 22, 2018
I was actually bothered by the new Steam client. For me, on my 40 inch 4K display it looks ridiculously large at 2x scale. And then, a cursory look around the menus and I couldn't spot a way to reduce it to the original size.

Thanks for publishing this article. When I get home tonight, I'll try changing the environment variable: GDK_SCALE=1

When I got into 4K it was that 1 screen could be massive for gaming and also have the screen estate equivalent to four 20 inch monitors, for productivity. Not to mention avoid Linux gaming issues with the wrong monitor being selected by the game (or smearing across two monitors or whatever).

For me it is absolutely pointless having a 4K monitor sized less than 32 inches. Ideally, my 40 inch would be 50 inch, and then even better screen estate and less squinting with small text.

I'd probably recommend to others - If you want to do gaming at higher resolutions, but don't want to suffer poor frame rates then go for QHD (Quad High Definition) 2560x1440 pixels. It's a good compromise and you can buy cheaper monitors (e.g. 28 inch) for that pixel density.
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