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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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tomaszg Sep 10, 2021
They fixed freetype bug by introducing another bug affecting other people. I know these things happen, but you don't promote this fix to stable. It is quite irresponsive. In the effect Steam won't work for people who don't have cups installed.
Eike Sep 10, 2021
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Quoting: Schattenspiegel
Quoting: Eike
Quoting: SchattenspiegelStill 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.

I've got below 10 seconds I think. My processor (Ryzen 3700X is it) cannot be that stronger. :D


Last edited by Eike on 10 September 2021 at 5:48 pm UTC
Schattenspiegel Sep 10, 2021
Quoting: Eike
Quoting: Schattenspiegel
Quoting: EikeStill 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.

I've got below 10 seconds I think. My processor (Ryzen 3700X is it) cannot be that stronger. :D
well, core2quad here with 2.66 GHz so, yes, it hopefully is otherwise I will never have a reason to upgrade ;-)
We managed to solve the issue (see above) and I am now down to ~12 seconds.
Eike Sep 10, 2021
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Quoting: EMO GANGSTERis it just me or does the download seem faster on this or is it just in my head

I had the downloads usually use my full 55 mbps, so I'm not expecting anything on this front. :)
CountVlad Sep 10, 2021
I like what they've done with the design, but the new storage manager seems to be confused about my folder structure.
I have two tabs for "Local drive" (the drive where my operating system is), one of which is empty and the other does a breakdown of my entire drive, not just the steam directory. I also have a tab for my additional drive, but it categorizes everything on it as "other" even though the only data on it is Steam games.
Either I've somehow done something wrong or they have a few bugs to fix...
F.Ultra Sep 10, 2021
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Really like that they now display the patch notes on the download page!
x4mer Sep 10, 2021
Quoting: SchattenspiegelInteresting: 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.

HDD went to sleep and motor powered down? When remounting, the drive would be woken up.
Nod Sep 11, 2021
Probably worth mentioning where the Storage Manager is located: Settings > Downloads > STEAM LIBRARY FOLDERS
Schattenspiegel Sep 11, 2021
Quoting: x4mer
Quoting: SchattenspiegelInteresting: 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.

HDD went to sleep and motor powered down? When remounting, the drive would be woken up.

nope: I had the slow start problem for quite a few months now (one of the Steam patches). Neither library repair, changing between beta and stable client nor removal/addition of the Steam-libraries was able to fix it. It seems starting Steam with HDD (containing one of the libraries) unmounted caused some configuration file to be rewritten which fixed the problem.


Last edited by Schattenspiegel on 11 September 2021 at 2:09 am UTC
14 Sep 11, 2021
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Yay! I can get off the beta version.
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