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After being in Beta since the end of July, Valve has now released a big update to the stable version of the Steam client for everyone which has the new Downloads Page & Storage Management.

The new Downloads Page is actually a big improvement overall. Allowing you to drag and drop games around in the list. It now also correctly shows the total progression based on the downloading and disk allocation. You will also see a new (i) icon you can hover over on some updates which shows different types of content included and plenty more tweaks as you can see in the below shot:

Another big one is the overhaul of the Steam library folder management with the new Storage Manager. Instead of a plain list it now gives you easy access to each folder you have set up. From there you can repair folders, make them default, see when you last played each game and how much space they take up and more. It's another big improvements for the Steam client overall.

For Linux specifically there's these changes:

  • Fixed regression causing too many open file handles error during downloads of some games
  • Library pinning process is significantly faster at startup after runtime updates
  • 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
  • SDL 2.0.16 now available in sdk and runtime
  • Fix web views incompatibility with distro host freetype (steam-for-linux#7935)

There's plenty of other smaller bits like support for the current set of PowerA Xbox Series X controllers, bug fixes for Remote Play Together, Valve removed the Recent Friend Activity library shelf and more. See the release notes.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Apps, Steam, Update, Valve
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38 comments
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dpanter Sep 10, 2021
Library: The Recent Friend Activity shelf has been removed.
But why?
Schattenspiegel Sep 10, 2021
Still taking ages to start the client. Wish they would at least add a a banner or something to indicate the client is loading.
Ehvis Sep 10, 2021
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This storage manager thing looks like it was created with the Steam Deck in mind.
Eike Sep 10, 2021
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Still taking ages to start the client. Wish they would at least add a a banner or something to indicate the client is loading.

Still wonder why this is the case for some and for some others not...
BielFPs Sep 10, 2021
Still taking ages to start the client. Wish they would at least add a a banner or something to indicate the client is loading.
What's the size of your "localconfig.vdf" file inside "~/steam/userdata/youridnumber/config/" directory?
DarkVantage Sep 10, 2021
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Does this update also fix the freetype2 incompatibility that broke web view windows on Arch?
Nezchan Sep 10, 2021
I wonder if it'll stop asking me to re-login after my computer comes out of sleep mode (but only sometimes) even though it's supposed to keep me logged in.
Schattenspiegel Sep 10, 2021
Still taking ages to start the client. Wish they would at least add a a banner or something to indicate the client is loading.
What's the size of your "localconfig.vdf" file inside "~/steam/userdata/youridnumber/config/" directory?

681,4kB
slaapliedje Sep 10, 2021
Library: The Recent Friend Activity shelf has been removed.
But why?
Pffft, people always wanting to know what others are doing! Creepy, man...
slaapliedje Sep 10, 2021
This storage manager thing looks like it was created with the Steam Deck in mind.
This has been sorely needed. I always end up having to go into the gnome disk usage utility to figure out where all my disk has gone... usually it's the giant steam library.
dpanter Sep 10, 2021
Does this update also fix the freetype2 incompatibility that broke web view windows on Arch?
Yes, that's one of the listed fixes.
Schattenspiegel Sep 10, 2021
Still taking ages to start the client. Wish they would at least add a a banner or something to indicate the client is loading.

Still wonder why this is the case for some and for some others not...

Might be raw single core power. Whatever it does the first minute or so it only seems to utilize one core at a time.
AussieEevee Sep 10, 2021
This storage manager thing looks like it was created with the Steam Deck in mind.
I was thinking that too. But it's very fast and responsive, at least on Windows (don't judge me!).
BielFPs Sep 10, 2021
681,4kB

Seems normal then, are you using ssd or hd?
Schattenspiegel Sep 10, 2021
681,4kB

Seems normal then, are you using ssd or hd?
librarys on both but client on ssd
BielFPs Sep 10, 2021
librarys on both but client on ssd

If you disconnect your hd, does it start faster?
Schattenspiegel Sep 10, 2021
librarys on both but client on ssd

If you disconnect your hd, does it start faster?
Interesting: with SSD + HDD(raid0) ~ 1 minute
with SSD only ~ 12 seconds
to load the client.
Edit:
And for reasons unknown the loading time stays at 12 second after remounting the HDDs even after rebooting
Thank you very much! I would never have tried that.


Last edited by Schattenspiegel on 10 September 2021 at 4:20 pm UTC
BielFPs Sep 10, 2021
Interesting: with SSD + HDD(raid0) ~ 1 minute
with SSD only ~ 12 seconds
to load the client.
Probably the bottleneck cause is steam reading the games in your hd when it opens, so it takes more time to read them all before open the client itself.

Once you removed your hd, the client only read the games from ssd (which is way faster) then it doesn't have the bottleneck.
Schattenspiegel Sep 10, 2021
Probably the bottleneck cause is steam reading the games in your hd when it opens, so it takes more time to read them all before open the client itself.

Once you removed your hd, the client only read the games from ssd (which is way faster) then it doesn't have the bottleneck.
see edit above^^ It does not really seem to be a bottleneck but something must have been broken somewhere
Purple Library Guy Sep 10, 2021
This storage manager thing looks like it was created with the Steam Deck in mind.
I was thinking that too. But it's very fast and responsive, at least on Windows (don't judge me!).
Cast 'im out! Tar! Feathers! Wailing! Gnashing of Teeth!!!
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