A fresh Beta update is available for the Steam Client and this time it's a big one. Overhauling the Downloads page, and the Steam Library manager is finally more useful.
Valve say the new Downloads area is a "minimal and more focused design with stronger CTAs (Calls to Action)", and the style overall much better matches the new Steam Library too. The new colouring is also supposed to help the visually impaired, which is always nice to see more of a focus on. Updates downloading will show the total progression completed instead of just the download progress, where it previously did not have the disk allocation as part of it which it now does.
Another nice little addition: drag and drop. No more needing to tap the tiny little icon, just drop updates into the queue - very useful and a change I'm going to enjoying using since I have tons installed that always seem to want to update. If a game update includes more than just normal game content, there will also be an (i) icon to give a tooltip of what's in it.
The Steam Library manager also saw a big overhaul. It's no longer just a plan box with a list of drives setup. Now, it's a proper interface for seeing what games are on each drive. Giving you the ability to quickly switch between them to see how much space each Steam Library setup is taking total on the drive, plus individual details for each game - including when you last played them - making it easier to purge those you no longer actually play too.
A lot of this is probably helpful for the Steam Deck, so the new Big Picture UI can also hook into these changes. Overall though, Valve just continues to try and make Steam a better client. Can't argue against the changes done here, they all seem to be much better than what came before.
Steam Input, their API for hooking into gamepads also saw some nice upgrades to reduce CPU usage and add support for the current set of PowerA Xbox Series X controllers.
On the Linux side we also saw multiple improvements:
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
- update scout LD_* and container runtime to 0.20210721.1:
- library pinning process is significantly faster at startup after runtime updates
- update soldier container runtime to 0.20210723.18:
- Restore compatibility with NixOS (steam-runtime#431)
- Make /usr/share/nvidia available to the container if using the NVIDIA proprietary driver, so that app-specific profiles can be applied (steam-runtime-tools#73)
- Silence most LD_PRELOAD warnings
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Speaking of the Library manager, when I go into the directory I always find myself surprised how many games leave some stuff there that I actually uninstalled (I'm not keeping games around which I don't play)...
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DebianUser Jul 30, 2021
"library pinning process is significantly faster at startup after runtime updates"
Nice, i'm always wondering why Steam is so long to start.
Nice, i'm always wondering why Steam is so long to start.
1 Likes, Who?
"library pinning process is significantly faster at startup after runtime updates"
Nice, i'm always wondering why Steam is so long to start.
There's a Steam thread about this:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/221410/discussions/0/3046104336669739701/
It takes more than 1.5 minutes for some, and less than 10 seconds for others (including me).
2 Likes, Who?
Speaking of the Library manager, when I go into the directory I always find myself surprised how many games leave some stuff there that I actually uninstalled (I'm not keeping games around which I don't play)...
Are you sure that’s not the saves and users settings? Keeping saves and others user-related stuff, so I can continue if I reinstall the game is expected for me (and, for any user that can’t keep all their games always installed because of disk space, and have to rotate between them).
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DebianUser Jul 30, 2021
"library pinning process is significantly faster at startup after runtime updates"
Nice, i'm always wondering why Steam is so long to start.
There's a Steam thread about this:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/221410/discussions/0/3046104336669739701/
It takes more than 1.5 minutes for some, and less than 10 seconds for others (including me).
Thanks, i will look at that.
For me the problem is obviously here:
CApplicationManagerPopulateThread took 27010 milliseconds to initialize (will have waited on CAppInfoCacheReadFromDiskThread)
My OS is on SSD, but my ~ is on HDD, but 27 sec....
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Thanks, i will look at that.
For me the problem is obviously here:
CApplicationManagerPopulateThread took 27010 milliseconds to initialize (will have waited on CAppInfoCacheReadFromDiskThread)
How do you get that info?
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DebianUser Jul 30, 2021
Thanks, i will look at that.
For me the problem is obviously here:
CApplicationManagerPopulateThread took 27010 milliseconds to initialize (will have waited on CAppInfoCacheReadFromDiskThread)
How do you get that info?
By lauching Steam from CLI.
The bad news is that library pinning update will not change anything i think.
Last edited by DebianUser on 30 July 2021 at 8:47 am UTC
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hardpenguin Jul 30, 2021
Along with their Steam mobile app updates I wonder if they are FINALLY doing unified webdev and are just gonna re-use same or similar components on all type of screens: desktop, mobile, and big picture.
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TheRiddick Jul 30, 2021
Still waiting for that anti cheat support to drop but not happening yet. I've tried to get developers support wine64 platform on EAC (a option btw), but it appears they just ignore me like I'm made of glass... (many attempts)
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I just hope the base UI get's a update ASAP.
Kinda ugly seeing the new and old stuff mixed together.
Kinda ugly seeing the new and old stuff mixed together.
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Along with their Steam mobile app updates I wonder if they are FINALLY doing unified webdev and are just gonna re-use same or similar components on all type of screens: desktop, mobile, and big picture.They said in one of the IGN videos that the new Steam Deck UI is using the same bits as the Steam desktop client, rather than being a separate product like BPM was.
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TheRiddick Jul 30, 2021
I just hope the base UI get's a update ASAP.
It would be nice to see Steam get a proper UI scaling option in the form of percentile options or a 1.x multiplier, whatever. Atm its sort of a roll the dice and see what you get option...
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Oh, that new library management is excellent news! It even supports moving a game to a different library directly from the listing!
It was really frustrating making room for new games in the past, switching back and forth between Steam and ncdu, searching for each ncdu listing in Steam, moving it, going back to ncdu, updating to find the next candidate, repeat... This is so much better :D
It was really frustrating making room for new games in the past, switching back and forth between Steam and ncdu, searching for each ncdu listing in Steam, moving it, going back to ncdu, updating to find the next candidate, repeat... This is so much better :D
3 Likes, Who?
DebianUser Jul 30, 2021
Oh, that new library management is excellent news! It even supports moving a game to a different library directly from the listing!
It was really frustrating making room for new games in the past, switching back and forth between Steam and ncdu, searching for each ncdu listing in Steam, moving it, going back to ncdu, updating to find the next candidate, repeat... This is so much better :D
Oh, that new library management is excellent news! It even supports moving a game to a different library directly from the listing!
It was really frustrating making room for new games in the past, switching back and forth between Steam and ncdu, searching for each ncdu listing in Steam, moving it, going back to ncdu, updating to find the next candidate, repeat... This is so much better :D
Baobab is also and option.
You just wait for the disk to be analyzed, then go to your library in baobab and sort the game folders by size.
https://wiki.gnome.org/action/show/Apps/DiskUsageAnalyzer?action=show&redirect=Apps%2FBaobab
Last edited by DebianUser on 30 July 2021 at 12:36 pm UTC
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Yeah, there are various other options (KFileLight and duc also come to mind), but the workflow is the same. Having my games spread over four libraries, that meant a lot of context switching that can now pretty much be eliminated :DOh, that new library management is excellent news! It even supports moving a game to a different library directly from the listing! [...]Baobab is also and option.
You just wait for the disk to be analyzed, then go to your library in baobab and sort the game folders by size.[...]
2 Likes, Who?
DebianUser Jul 30, 2021
Yeah, there are various other options (KFileLight and duc also come to mind), but the workflow is the same. Having my games spread over four libraries, that meant a lot of context switching that can now pretty much be eliminated :DOh, that new library management is excellent news! It even supports moving a game to a different library directly from the listing! [...]Baobab is also and option.
You just wait for the disk to be analyzed, then go to your library in baobab and sort the game folders by size.[...]
Yeah, there are various other options (KFileLight and duc also come to mind), but the workflow is the same. Having my games spread over four libraries, that meant a lot of context switching that can now pretty much be eliminated :DOh, that new library management is excellent news! It even supports moving a game to a different library directly from the listing! [...]Baobab is also and option.
You just wait for the disk to be analyzed, then go to your library in baobab and sort the game folders by size.[...]
I understand, having 4 libraries is for sure a hell without a dedicated piece of sotfware.
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For the uninitiated, to see this new storage view: Steam -> Settings -> Downloads -> STEAM LIBRARY FOLDERS
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Bit broken here – the library manager shows 0 games and a lot of “other”, despite there being a lot of games installed. Then again, on startup (and that's faster than it used to be), it shows only non-Steam games then adds in the rest a short time later – could be related…
Also, converting the path name of a library root directory to upper case is just… wrong, particularly as it can be selected and copied.
Also, converting the path name of a library root directory to upper case is just… wrong, particularly as it can be selected and copied.
1 Likes, Who?
The "View News" button is now a "Patch Notes" link that will open an overlay to the most recent relevant patch notes for the game. This will only display for games that have entered patch notes into the new event system. The patch notes link will only show up on updates, not fresh installs.This is the change I'm excited about, now I only hope developers can properly feedback on it.
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soulsource Jul 30, 2021
I wonder if/when Valve finally fixes https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/7856
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