Valve have officially announced that the Beta for the overhaul of the Steam Library is coming on September 17th. Valve did a demo to some press outlets recently in a closed-doors session and now they've formally announced it.
This is something Valve have been working on for a long time and it is absolutely needed. The current Library feature of Steam is incredibly simplistic and when you've built up a bigger amount of games it's so a bit useless really.
Most of what's coming we already knew about, especially since you could actually try it out back in June thanks to a previous leak. From what I checked out personally, it was a huge improvement in just about every area of the Library system.
Image: Valve.
Seeing what games have been updated easier and the new events system should be interesting, giving developers a new big way to hook players back in. Valve said that today developers will have access to the tools required to make the events so they can be ready. More about the Events stuff here.
I'm most excited about the Collections feature, a much expanded version of the current and simplistic category system. Allowing you to do filters on features available and the genre, to have them pull in games that apply over time as you buy more, it is pretty sweet.
See the full announcement on a special page here. Valve said more info will come before the Beta starts.
There's also some new experiments coming to Steam Labs, like "Deep Dive" based on the Steam Diving Bell prototype from developer Lars Doucet (Tweet) which looks interesting. I just hope Valve actually get around to adding an Operating System platform filter to their experiments, as it's assuming everyone is on Windows right now for all of them. The Interactive Recommender for example, shows me tons of Windows games even though I only have Linux ticked in my Steam preferences.
Update: Also, it doesn't seem to have been announced anywhere I could see but it seems Valve are also doing some tweaks to store pages which seem to be live now. Here's a comparison:
Left: New, Right: Old.
The cover image on the news item gives it a bit more attention, it also seems it can be animated. You can hover over to get an excerpt too:
When you click on it it, you're given an overlay instead of a new page too like below:
However, if you're now directly linked to an update the whole layout has changed too. Here's how, click to enlarge the pictures:
Valve did say some of the new tools were rolling out for developers today, so this seems to be part of it. Since the new Steam Library design will show the "What's New" section (first image at the top), it's likely being shared here.
Update #2: Valve confirmed in an email to GamingOnLinux that the Steam Library Beta will be available through the usual opt-in Steam Client Beta and it will go live for all platforms (Linux included).
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The comments on this article are closed.
ElectricPrism Sep 4, 2019
Very exciting. Looks amazing so far.
2 Likes, Who?
Really good for them that Epic is even slower in bringing out new features ;)
Anyway, it really does look better - and I hope it will let me disable that "recent news" section (or it will be gone altogether), as all that gets filled with is "quality journalism" from RPS and the likes.
Not exactly interested in reading the latest political hot takes in my Steam library...
Last edited by TheSHEEEP on 4 September 2019 at 6:46 pm UTC
Anyway, it really does look better - and I hope it will let me disable that "recent news" section (or it will be gone altogether), as all that gets filled with is "quality journalism" from RPS and the likes.
Not exactly interested in reading the latest political hot takes in my Steam library...
Last edited by TheSHEEEP on 4 September 2019 at 6:46 pm UTC
2 Likes, Who?
This looks quite promising. I don't hate the Steam client, but organizing the games into categories leaves a lot to be desired and the page for each game in the library is a wasteful mess. Organizing the games takes a lot of work and the filtering isn't really convenient. The game page shows little useful information, and what is of interest is cropped in a way that makes it useless (such as seeing the workshop, your achievements, or the links to the store page and community). Some things, like the DLC section and a weird feed of news from various places, I never used.
The idea of "Events" is cool. I can think of many games that had cool events/releases/updates I wanted to know about, but I found out through other channels - often through Steam itself, but on the store page instead of the library. If they don't spam too much, this could be great... particularly for indies that get less mainstream attention but could reach their own players.
Now what I really want is some change to the wishlist. Either allow us to have multiple lists or give us some organization tools besides just sequential numbering.
The idea of "Events" is cool. I can think of many games that had cool events/releases/updates I wanted to know about, but I found out through other channels - often through Steam itself, but on the store page instead of the library. If they don't spam too much, this could be great... particularly for indies that get less mainstream attention but could reach their own players.
Now what I really want is some change to the wishlist. Either allow us to have multiple lists or give us some organization tools besides just sequential numbering.
2 Likes, Who?
Added an update about a change to store pages that seems to now be live.
0 Likes
Quoting: TheSHEEEPI hope it will let me disable that "recent news" section (or it will be gone altogether), as all that gets filled with is "quality journalism" from RPS and the likes.
IIRC the auto-aggregation of news will be totally gone in the new client, because it inadvertently promoted Epic news in the recent times.
5 Likes, Who?
Quoting: pbNot quite. I just read on Ars, that seems to indicate it will expand to include more sites based on who follows them. Will be interesting to see how they handle that and if we get included somehow...Quoting: TheSHEEEPI hope it will let me disable that "recent news" section (or it will be gone altogether), as all that gets filled with is "quality journalism" from RPS and the likes.
IIRC the auto-aggregation of news will be totally gone in the new client, because it inadvertently promoted Epic news in the recent times.
4 Likes, Who?
Update #2: Valve confirmed in an email to GamingOnLinux that the Steam Library Beta will be available through the usual opt-in Steam Client Beta and it will go live for all platforms (Linux included).
7 Likes, Who?
Looking at these animations, I'm wondering if they are going to support something more efficient than gif: webp, heif, or even avif would be nice. Maybe everyone is waiting on avif's adoption?
1 Likes, Who?
Quoting: Liam DaweNot quite. I just read on Ars, that seems to indicate it will expand to include more sites based on who follows them. Will be interesting to see how they handle that and if we get included somehow...
"Any [press] outlet could show up to players who want to follow that outlet and receive that news. We need a system that can support any language. All six current outlets [in the existing Steam Library] only serve a particular audience, and they only speak English. Soon, any outlet can show up in there based on who's following them, and then we can support different languages."
Seems like they will allow players to mark/unmark certain RSS feeds, probably also add their own, and then sort the news, attaching them to a given game. This may work but it could also be easily abused. Gotta wonder what precautions they prepared for this. Also I think that publishers may be quick to protest it, since some game pages could easily get overflown by the usual drama and negativity not necessarily related to the game itself.
3 Likes, Who?
Quoting: pbSo . . . an Epic fail, then?Quoting: TheSHEEEPI hope it will let me disable that "recent news" section (or it will be gone altogether), as all that gets filled with is "quality journalism" from RPS and the likes.
IIRC the auto-aggregation of news will be totally gone in the new client, because it inadvertently promoted Epic news in the recent times.
3 Likes, Who?
Death to epic!!!!
Death to Microsoft!!!!
Longe live Steam and linux!!!!!!!
Death to Microsoft!!!!
Longe live Steam and linux!!!!!!!
2 Likes, Who?
Hopefully Valve will tweak the store as well.
I have "Show Virtual Reality content" unticked (i.e. do not show), but I still get VR-only games showing up in Featured & Recommended, Special Offers, and my Discovery Queue; the Virtual Reality category is still featured in "Browse Categories" and in the Games drop-down menu, the Valve Index and HTC Vive are still featured in the Hardware drop-down menu, and there is still a Valve Index banner on the store homepage. I also still see VR-only games (e.g. Serious Sam 3 VR: BFE, The Talos Principle VR, etc.) when browsing all products despite other titles being successfully excluded when browsing all products based on my preferences (VR hardware also shows up). VR is not something I want promoted to me; if I found it more compelling in the future then I would tick (i.e. select) "Show Virtual Reality content", if that setting actually functioned as I expected it to. Currently unticking it seems to do little to nothing in terms of hiding Virtual Reality content.
Each new Steam session, for the first game with adult content (e.g. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, Dying Light, etc.) whose page I visit, I am prompted that "Your preferences are configured to warn you about this kind of mature content - Edit Preferences". I am also prompted that "Your local rating agency requires that you enter your birth date to continue"; I understand the age gate being beyond Valve's control, but the alert that "Your preferences are configured to warn you about this kind of mature content - Edit Preferences" is not consistent with my settings, and that alert shouldn't be included with the local agency age gate prompt. Based on the provided product examples shown in the store preferences, for mature content I have "General Mature Content", "Frequent Violence or Gore", and "Nudity or Sexual Content" ticked (i.e. show), but "Adult Only Sexual Content" unticked (i.e. do not show). For community content preferences, I have both "Blur and warn about content that may contain frequent violence or gore" and "Blur and warn about content that may contain frequent nudity or sexual content" unticked (i.e. do not blur and do not warn). Eroge games and their ilk are the only "mature" content I wish to exclude, and based on my preferences, only "Adult Only Sexual Content" games should alert me that "Your preferences are configured to warn you about this kind of mature content - Edit Preferences". However, currently that isn't the case, and I receive that warning for any game with adult content (when beginning a new Steam session; once acknowledged I don't have to deal with it again until the next Steam session). Again, I understand having to verify my age for adult content given legal restrictions, but I should not be receiving an alert to edit my preferences to allow content when I've already allowed it.
Other than blocking multiplayer-only games on a per-title basis, there is seemingly no way to exclude multiplayer-only games from showing up in Featured & Recommended, Special Offers, and my Discovery Queue. Filtering out games by "multi-player" or "MMO" isn't desirable because that can include games with both single-player and multi-player modes (e.g. Total War: WARHAMMER II, Sid Meier’s Civilization VI, ARK: Survival Evolved, etc.). User tags on Steam can be suspect (e.g. Cyberpunk 2077 is currently tagged "Dating Sim"), so I try to avoid relying on them, but there aren't any established user tags which address multiplayer-only games anyway (i.e. tags which aren't used for any games with both single-player and multi-player modes, but are instead limited to multiplayer-only games).
I realize Valve is heavily invested in VR hardware (the Index) and its upcoming VR games, as well as multiplayer-only games (e.g. Dota 2, CS:GO, TF2, etc.), but I would like the ability to filter these categories out if I so choose.
As for Steam Labs, I hope the Interactive Recommender also sees some improvements. It doesn't seem very reactive to my changes in gameplay or able to strike a good balance between genres I typically enjoy. For example, I have more hours (that is an understatement) per game invested in RPGs than platformers, but that is due to the nature of the games (unless you don't care about side quests and lore, RPGs typically require more time investment to fully flesh out the game world, whereas platformers aren't typically as expansive and dialogue tree laden). The Interactive Recommender isn't adequately reflective of the games in my library (both played and yet to be played), the number of games I have played per genre, or the recency of my play (e.g. maybe I'm playing more FPS games at the moment). Hours played seems to override everything else; this along with the tagging system ends up skewing results. E.g. I get a lot of point-and-click adventure games and hidden object games recommended because most of the RPGs I've played are tagged "Adventure" (or maybe the majority of RPG gamers are prodigious consumers of point-and-click adventure games and hidden object games, and that's why I get these recommendations). I don't want to have to exclude certain games (e.g. RPGs I have the most time invested in), as I am still interested in recommendations for those types of games as well, I just want more relevant recommendations (e.g. I am not a potential buyer of hidden object games) and a better mix/balance in the recommendations.
Last edited by vector on 6 September 2019 at 7:36 pm UTC
I have "Show Virtual Reality content" unticked (i.e. do not show), but I still get VR-only games showing up in Featured & Recommended, Special Offers, and my Discovery Queue; the Virtual Reality category is still featured in "Browse Categories" and in the Games drop-down menu, the Valve Index and HTC Vive are still featured in the Hardware drop-down menu, and there is still a Valve Index banner on the store homepage. I also still see VR-only games (e.g. Serious Sam 3 VR: BFE, The Talos Principle VR, etc.) when browsing all products despite other titles being successfully excluded when browsing all products based on my preferences (VR hardware also shows up). VR is not something I want promoted to me; if I found it more compelling in the future then I would tick (i.e. select) "Show Virtual Reality content", if that setting actually functioned as I expected it to. Currently unticking it seems to do little to nothing in terms of hiding Virtual Reality content.
Each new Steam session, for the first game with adult content (e.g. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, Dying Light, etc.) whose page I visit, I am prompted that "Your preferences are configured to warn you about this kind of mature content - Edit Preferences". I am also prompted that "Your local rating agency requires that you enter your birth date to continue"; I understand the age gate being beyond Valve's control, but the alert that "Your preferences are configured to warn you about this kind of mature content - Edit Preferences" is not consistent with my settings, and that alert shouldn't be included with the local agency age gate prompt. Based on the provided product examples shown in the store preferences, for mature content I have "General Mature Content", "Frequent Violence or Gore", and "Nudity or Sexual Content" ticked (i.e. show), but "Adult Only Sexual Content" unticked (i.e. do not show). For community content preferences, I have both "Blur and warn about content that may contain frequent violence or gore" and "Blur and warn about content that may contain frequent nudity or sexual content" unticked (i.e. do not blur and do not warn). Eroge games and their ilk are the only "mature" content I wish to exclude, and based on my preferences, only "Adult Only Sexual Content" games should alert me that "Your preferences are configured to warn you about this kind of mature content - Edit Preferences". However, currently that isn't the case, and I receive that warning for any game with adult content (when beginning a new Steam session; once acknowledged I don't have to deal with it again until the next Steam session). Again, I understand having to verify my age for adult content given legal restrictions, but I should not be receiving an alert to edit my preferences to allow content when I've already allowed it.
Other than blocking multiplayer-only games on a per-title basis, there is seemingly no way to exclude multiplayer-only games from showing up in Featured & Recommended, Special Offers, and my Discovery Queue. Filtering out games by "multi-player" or "MMO" isn't desirable because that can include games with both single-player and multi-player modes (e.g. Total War: WARHAMMER II, Sid Meier’s Civilization VI, ARK: Survival Evolved, etc.). User tags on Steam can be suspect (e.g. Cyberpunk 2077 is currently tagged "Dating Sim"), so I try to avoid relying on them, but there aren't any established user tags which address multiplayer-only games anyway (i.e. tags which aren't used for any games with both single-player and multi-player modes, but are instead limited to multiplayer-only games).
I realize Valve is heavily invested in VR hardware (the Index) and its upcoming VR games, as well as multiplayer-only games (e.g. Dota 2, CS:GO, TF2, etc.), but I would like the ability to filter these categories out if I so choose.
As for Steam Labs, I hope the Interactive Recommender also sees some improvements. It doesn't seem very reactive to my changes in gameplay or able to strike a good balance between genres I typically enjoy. For example, I have more hours (that is an understatement) per game invested in RPGs than platformers, but that is due to the nature of the games (unless you don't care about side quests and lore, RPGs typically require more time investment to fully flesh out the game world, whereas platformers aren't typically as expansive and dialogue tree laden). The Interactive Recommender isn't adequately reflective of the games in my library (both played and yet to be played), the number of games I have played per genre, or the recency of my play (e.g. maybe I'm playing more FPS games at the moment). Hours played seems to override everything else; this along with the tagging system ends up skewing results. E.g. I get a lot of point-and-click adventure games and hidden object games recommended because most of the RPGs I've played are tagged "Adventure" (or maybe the majority of RPG gamers are prodigious consumers of point-and-click adventure games and hidden object games, and that's why I get these recommendations). I don't want to have to exclude certain games (e.g. RPGs I have the most time invested in), as I am still interested in recommendations for those types of games as well, I just want more relevant recommendations (e.g. I am not a potential buyer of hidden object games) and a better mix/balance in the recommendations.
Last edited by vector on 6 September 2019 at 7:36 pm UTC
0 Likes
I wish steam had something like http://lorenzostanco.com/lab/steam/ built-in; It seems we're getting close
3 Likes, Who?
Quoting: UncleivanDeath to Microsoft!!!!Microsoft repainted, investing in open software, released Gears 5.
0 Likes
Most free-to-play games I've installed don't remain listed in my library once I've uninstalled them (e.g. Doorways: Old Prototype, Sigils of Elohim, What Never Was, etc.), unless they have some sort of monetization involved (paid DLC, microtransactions).
After having previously claimed a license for a free-to-play game (by clicking "Play Game" on its store page), if I return to its store page once the game has been uninstalled, the page will state that the game is already in my Steam library, but the game won't actually be listed in my Steam library until I reinstall it; uninstalling it again will remove its library listing again.
Not a big deal, except that it's easy to forget these games since they don't appear in my library when uninstalled (they do, however, remain in the list of games on my profile, and are filterable via Lorenzo Stanco's Steam library filters). The method I use to keep free-to-play games listed in my Steam library when they are uninstalled is to hide them in my library while they are installed, then uninstall them; the listings will remain in my library under hidden games even though I have uninstalled the games.
Does the Steam library overhaul allow free-to-play games to be listed in one's library when they are uninstalled (without needing to hide them to achieve this)?
Last edited by vector on 5 September 2019 at 6:02 am UTC
After having previously claimed a license for a free-to-play game (by clicking "Play Game" on its store page), if I return to its store page once the game has been uninstalled, the page will state that the game is already in my Steam library, but the game won't actually be listed in my Steam library until I reinstall it; uninstalling it again will remove its library listing again.
Not a big deal, except that it's easy to forget these games since they don't appear in my library when uninstalled (they do, however, remain in the list of games on my profile, and are filterable via Lorenzo Stanco's Steam library filters). The method I use to keep free-to-play games listed in my Steam library when they are uninstalled is to hide them in my library while they are installed, then uninstall them; the listings will remain in my library under hidden games even though I have uninstalled the games.
Does the Steam library overhaul allow free-to-play games to be listed in one's library when they are uninstalled (without needing to hide them to achieve this)?
Last edited by vector on 5 September 2019 at 6:02 am UTC
3 Likes, Who?
It looks quite nice, though I have just started using Lutris as my all in one game launcher, just as I can access my Steam, GOG, WINE based launchers / games from one front-end along with configuration for them easily.
0 Likes
Seems things are not quite working for me with the "updates overlay" on the site. Nothing on there is clickable for. Neither the discuss button, nor the social media links do anything other than closing the overlay.
0 Likes
Quoting: EhvisSeems things are not quite working for me with the "updates overlay" on the site. Nothing on there is clickable for. Neither the discuss button, nor the social media links do anything other than closing the overlay.Yeah it seems they are still updating it. Yesterday it had a scrollbar of its own, today it shares the main page scrollbar and I also cannot click on anything...oof.
0 Likes
I don't like this new design I see on the images. It looks like Windows 10 Start menu. I don't like this motley collection of rectangles. I don't want to know "what's new", I either play these updated games already or don't intend to. I don't want to see my recent games, I can remember what I am playing. I don't want to see recent friend activity; if I do, there is a dedicated page for that. I can't stand annoying animation and tons of CPU-consuming javascripts.
What I do like is the current Steam client design. I choose a game, I see the 'install/play' button for it, I can see how much time I have spent on it and when did I launch it the last time. I can see achievements, visit discussions or read guides. That's what I need.
Don't also forget, it's Valve, their new software features are always incredibly glitchy. Since they updated Friends/Chat, every day I encounter bugs like pop-up friends list at launch with random position on my display and random size, tilted content of chat windows, errors when I upload images, frequent disconnections from Steam servers, time format ignoring my system settings and always showing as stupid mm/dd/yyyy, etc, etc. And that's only the chat, I'm afraid to imagine what to expect after the whole Steam client gets updated.
What I do like is the current Steam client design. I choose a game, I see the 'install/play' button for it, I can see how much time I have spent on it and when did I launch it the last time. I can see achievements, visit discussions or read guides. That's what I need.
Don't also forget, it's Valve, their new software features are always incredibly glitchy. Since they updated Friends/Chat, every day I encounter bugs like pop-up friends list at launch with random position on my display and random size, tilted content of chat windows, errors when I upload images, frequent disconnections from Steam servers, time format ignoring my system settings and always showing as stupid mm/dd/yyyy, etc, etc. And that's only the chat, I'm afraid to imagine what to expect after the whole Steam client gets updated.
1 Likes, Who?
I'm glad Valve is trying to improve the user experience, and I'm guessing that more than a little research went into what their users do and don't want from their Steam client.
Beyond being generally prettier---and therefore potentially slower---I don't see anything here that really ticks any of my personal boxes.
I'd like to see the same information available in my library as see in the little pop-up I get on the Store page: A picture, user rating, and the same user tags. I have just south of 400 games. I wish I could remember what even half of them were by name alone, but I can't. It would be so nice to have a little information on each one available on my Library page.
I'd like to have a decent sort and filter for my Library. I don't really feel there's a need for a "search" function for a list that's already alphabetized, but an ability to filter by a particular tag (side-scroller, RPG) or sort by "last played" or "purchase date" might be helpful.
While some of this could be done with the Library's "set category" feature, it's terribly inefficient. The category feature is great letting me personalize my library with custom groupings that Steam couldn't possibly foresee, but it's less than useless to for me to re-categorize all of my Open World RPG games if Steam's already done that. Just let me filter by tags and make use of the work that's already been done and is sitting in a data-base in Steam.
And for the love of humanity, I wish Steam would optimize their desktop client for viewing on 1080p screens. (Big Picture's great, but not when someone is viewing it with the kind of decades-old antique broadband shat out by American capitalism. Then it's worse than slow, it's torturous.) I shouldn't have to squint to see what my games are.
Oh my, I have gone on, haven't I. Sorry about that everyone. Still, I feel a bit better for it. I think I'll copy paste this into some Steam suggestion box somewhere.
And hey, that Steam Diving Bell is great!
Beyond being generally prettier---and therefore potentially slower---I don't see anything here that really ticks any of my personal boxes.
I'd like to see the same information available in my library as see in the little pop-up I get on the Store page: A picture, user rating, and the same user tags. I have just south of 400 games. I wish I could remember what even half of them were by name alone, but I can't. It would be so nice to have a little information on each one available on my Library page.
I'd like to have a decent sort and filter for my Library. I don't really feel there's a need for a "search" function for a list that's already alphabetized, but an ability to filter by a particular tag (side-scroller, RPG) or sort by "last played" or "purchase date" might be helpful.
While some of this could be done with the Library's "set category" feature, it's terribly inefficient. The category feature is great letting me personalize my library with custom groupings that Steam couldn't possibly foresee, but it's less than useless to for me to re-categorize all of my Open World RPG games if Steam's already done that. Just let me filter by tags and make use of the work that's already been done and is sitting in a data-base in Steam.
And for the love of humanity, I wish Steam would optimize their desktop client for viewing on 1080p screens. (Big Picture's great, but not when someone is viewing it with the kind of decades-old antique broadband shat out by American capitalism. Then it's worse than slow, it's torturous.) I shouldn't have to squint to see what my games are.
Oh my, I have gone on, haven't I. Sorry about that everyone. Still, I feel a bit better for it. I think I'll copy paste this into some Steam suggestion box somewhere.
And hey, that Steam Diving Bell is great!
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