Valve have once again gathered all the new features and fixes from a bunch of recent Beta builds and pushed it out to everyone, this includes a bunch of nice fixes for Linux.
Steam Remote Play is one of the biggest changes (previously in-home streaming), now it's "experimentally" available outside the home too with the renaming. You should now be able to stream games from one Steam client to another, wherever they are.
On the Linux side the fixes include: a random Steam client crash when launching games, a bug where copying/moving files bigger than 2GB would fail with an I/O error, improved responsiveness to network changes, support for rumble pass-through for virtual controllers (rumble for the Steam Controller), prefer Steam Runtime's libcurl over yours which fixes "Risk of Rain" and other GameMaker titles, support for removing old Proton versions by aliasing them to more recent ones and support for developers and Valve testing specifying default Proton configuration options for games even if they're not yet white-listed.
Their Shader Pre-Caching was re-worked, to enable downloading and pre-compiling of the whole collection of Vulkan pipelines for a given game. You will likely now see them show up in the Steam client downloads area with an OpenGL/Vulkan logo below them. Valve said "Pre-compiling" will be enabled in a future Steam update. This is the feature that should, eventually, help stop stuttering in games when you first play them. They also fixed an issue with them being downloaded, even if the feature was disabled by you.
There's plenty more fixes in this update, like issues with the in-game overlay becoming "abnormally pixelated" for games using Vulkan, plenty of Steam Input updates and so on.
Full news here.
As a reminder, the Steam Library overhaul is also getting a public beta soon.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The comments on this article are closed.
gradyvuckovic Jun 14, 2019
Quoting: kuhpunktQuoting: gradyvuckovicFor Linux (& Mac) gamers, that would mean all those games currently not playable on Linux, the 40% or so of Steam that isn't quite there yet with Proton, would suddenly immediately become playable via an alternative solution, ie: streaming from a Valve server. Effectively bringing all Steam games to Linux.
The Valve servers would have to run on Windows, though and I highly doubt Valve would want to pay for those licenses.
Valve could limit the feature to just what they call "SteamOS + Linux" initially. Which would really give a huge incentive for developers to support Linux. They could also include with Steamworks an API for telling games when they are launching in Streaming mode in the same way they have an API right now for telling developers when Steam is in Big Picture mode. So developers know to launch in fullscreen and stay in that mode for the best possible streaming experience. There could be even a flag for knowing what kind of device is being streamed to, like PC/Mobile, to present different UI options.
Last edited by gradyvuckovic on 14 June 2019 at 12:16 pm UTC
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Quoting: gradyvuckovicThat would certainly give Linux a push. Valve saying "want your games to work the best on it? Port it"Quoting: kuhpunktQuoting: gradyvuckovicFor Linux (& Mac) gamers, that would mean all those games currently not playable on Linux, the 40% or so of Steam that isn't quite there yet with Proton, would suddenly immediately become playable via an alternative solution, ie: streaming from a Valve server. Effectively bringing all Steam games to Linux.
The Valve servers would have to run on Windows, though and I highly doubt Valve would want to pay for those licenses.
Valve could limit the feature to just what they call "SteamOS + Linux" initially. Which would really give a huge incentive for developers to support Linux. They could also include with Steamworks an API for telling games when they are launching in Streaming mode in the same way they have an API right now for telling developers when Steam is in Big Picture mode. So developers know to launch in fullscreen and stay in that mode for the best possible streaming experience. There could be even a flag for knowing what kind of device is being streamed to, like PC/Mobile, to present different UI options.
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gradyvuckovic Jun 14, 2019
Quoting: liamdaweQuoting: gradyvuckovicThat would certainly give Linux a push. Valve saying "want your games to work the best on it? Port it"Quoting: kuhpunktQuoting: gradyvuckovicFor Linux (& Mac) gamers, that would mean all those games currently not playable on Linux, the 40% or so of Steam that isn't quite there yet with Proton, would suddenly immediately become playable via an alternative solution, ie: streaming from a Valve server. Effectively bringing all Steam games to Linux.
The Valve servers would have to run on Windows, though and I highly doubt Valve would want to pay for those licenses.
Valve could limit the feature to just what they call "SteamOS + Linux" initially. Which would really give a huge incentive for developers to support Linux. They could also include with Steamworks an API for telling games when they are launching in Streaming mode in the same way they have an API right now for telling developers when Steam is in Big Picture mode. So developers know to launch in fullscreen and stay in that mode for the best possible streaming experience. There could be even a flag for knowing what kind of device is being streamed to, like PC/Mobile, to present different UI options.
And many would, since they're already porting their game for Stadia, it would be almost the exact same software! But, with the advantage of that Linux build being playable locally on Linux distros as well! And with Vulkan! =D
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Mohandevir Jun 14, 2019
Quoting: liamdaweQuoting: kuhpunktNo they wouldn't, not with Steam Play once it's mature enough.Quoting: gradyvuckovicFor Linux (& Mac) gamers, that would mean all those games currently not playable on Linux, the 40% or so of Steam that isn't quite there yet with Proton, would suddenly immediately become playable via an alternative solution, ie: streaming from a Valve server. Effectively bringing all Steam games to Linux.
The Valve servers would have to run on Windows, though and I highly doubt Valve would want to pay for those licenses.
I suspect SteamStreaming, or SteamCloud (who knows how they will call that), might happen the day SteamPlay/Proton leaves beta and become official. Simultaneous announcements is my guess.
Edit: It can't be too far away, because Valve risks long term damages, if they let users get accustomed to the competitions' solutions (Xcloud or Stadia).
Last edited by Mohandevir on 14 June 2019 at 12:51 pm UTC
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Quoting: liamdaweQuoting: kuhpunktNo they wouldn't, not with Steam Play once it's mature enough.Quoting: gradyvuckovicFor Linux (& Mac) gamers, that would mean all those games currently not playable on Linux, the 40% or so of Steam that isn't quite there yet with Proton, would suddenly immediately become playable via an alternative solution, ie: streaming from a Valve server. Effectively bringing all Steam games to Linux.
The Valve servers would have to run on Windows, though and I highly doubt Valve would want to pay for those licenses.
But his argument is that they could use servers for games that aren't playabale with Linux yet.
1 Likes, Who?
Quoting: MohandevirQuoting: liamdaweQuoting: kuhpunktNo they wouldn't, not with Steam Play once it's mature enough.Quoting: gradyvuckovicFor Linux (& Mac) gamers, that would mean all those games currently not playable on Linux, the 40% or so of Steam that isn't quite there yet with Proton, would suddenly immediately become playable via an alternative solution, ie: streaming from a Valve server. Effectively bringing all Steam games to Linux.
The Valve servers would have to run on Windows, though and I highly doubt Valve would want to pay for those licenses.
I suspect SteamStreaming, or SteamCloud (who knows how they will call that), might happen the day SteamPlay/Proton leaves beta and become official. Simultaneous announcements is my guess.
Edit: It can't be too far away, because Valve risks long term damages, if they let users get accustomed to the competitions' solutions (Xcloud or Stadia).
I wonder if Valve is legally allowed to offer everything in your library as a streaming service just like this. I could imagine that existing contracts would need at least some review. This might also be the reason that official Steam Play whitelisting isn't happen that often, even for games that work perfectly well (e.g. TW3). I'm just speculating here though.
Last edited by jens on 14 June 2019 at 1:00 pm UTC
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Mohandevir Jun 14, 2019
Quoting: jensQuoting: MohandevirQuoting: liamdaweQuoting: kuhpunktNo they wouldn't, not with Steam Play once it's mature enough.Quoting: gradyvuckovicFor Linux (& Mac) gamers, that would mean all those games currently not playable on Linux, the 40% or so of Steam that isn't quite there yet with Proton, would suddenly immediately become playable via an alternative solution, ie: streaming from a Valve server. Effectively bringing all Steam games to Linux.
The Valve servers would have to run on Windows, though and I highly doubt Valve would want to pay for those licenses.
I suspect SteamStreaming, or SteamCloud (who knows how they will call that), might happen the day SteamPlay/Proton leaves beta and become official. Simultaneous announcements is my guess.
Edit: It can't be too far away, because Valve risks long term damages, if they let users get accustomed to the competitions' solutions (Xcloud or Stadia).
I wonder if Valve is legally allowed to offer everything in your library as a streaming service just like this. I could imagine that existing contracts would need at least some review. This might also be the reason that official Steam Play whitelisting isn't happen that often, even for games that work perfectly well (e.g. TW3). I'm just speculating here though.
Who knows... Whitelisting of games might not have happened for a while, just because Valve is so hard at work to make SteamPlay a thing that they didn't stop to Whitelist games, too. Maybe they consider that the SteamPlay compatibility tool is doing an awesome job and is sufficient, for the moment.
Edit: And maybe SteamPlay just switched focus, during the development phase, from desktop to cloud, and it's not relevant anymore to update the Whitelisted list since SteamCloud (I like this name) is not a thing yet.
Edit2: For the case of Witcher3, I wouldn't be surprised if we learn that CDPR warned Valve not to ever officially support their games with Steamplay. How far goes their mistrust of the Linux community is unknown...
Last edited by Mohandevir on 14 June 2019 at 1:24 pm UTC
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hardpenguin Jun 14, 2019
Quoting: CorbenHow is Steam Remote Play performing compared to the Shadow streaming? It's kinda funny though to use one streaming service to test another :DThe thing is, my Android TV device is not efficient enough to use Shadow client or Parsec client. My hardware Steam Link is. And I have to say, the quality is really good. The input lag is not noticeable and the stream is as crisp as if I was streaming from the local network.
1 Likes, Who?
Quoting: jensQuoting: MohandevirQuoting: liamdaweQuoting: kuhpunktNo they wouldn't, not with Steam Play once it's mature enough.Quoting: gradyvuckovicFor Linux (& Mac) gamers, that would mean all those games currently not playable on Linux, the 40% or so of Steam that isn't quite there yet with Proton, would suddenly immediately become playable via an alternative solution, ie: streaming from a Valve server. Effectively bringing all Steam games to Linux.
The Valve servers would have to run on Windows, though and I highly doubt Valve would want to pay for those licenses.
I suspect SteamStreaming, or SteamCloud (who knows how they will call that), might happen the day SteamPlay/Proton leaves beta and become official. Simultaneous announcements is my guess.
Edit: It can't be too far away, because Valve risks long term damages, if they let users get accustomed to the competitions' solutions (Xcloud or Stadia).
I wonder if Valve is legally allowed to offer everything in your library as a streaming service just like this. I could imagine that existing contracts would need at least some review. This might also be the reason that official Steam Play whitelisting isn't happen that often, even for games that work perfectly well (e.g. TW3). I'm just speculating here though.
They sure can. Services like Geforce Now and Shadow already do that. You just rent a remote computer with those and access your Steam library from there.
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Quoting: kuhpunktThey sure can. Services like Geforce Now and Shadow already do that. You just rent a remote computer with those and access your Steam library from there.
It will severly limit what you can do, IMHO.
Many people will prefer to just play game X - not buy, download and install it first.
Hm... But then, who if not Valve is in the position to do this faster than anybody else...
Buying will be the bigger problem. Like people don't buy Netflix series, they won't want to buy games. But how would Valve be allowed to install it then, without an agreement with the developers...?
No, I don't think it's so easy.
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