Stable Steam Client update for Desktop and Steam Deck brings a whole lot of fixes

Valve released a fresh stable update to the Steam Client this week bringing numerous bug fixes and improvements for Desktop and Steam Deck.

Originally released January 20th but Valve re-released this update with a few extra changes on January 21st. The extra fixes are noted as:

• Fixed an issue where dropdown menus would sometimes fail to appear.
• Fixed "Processing Shaders" status window failing to show during game launch on Linux.
• Fixed an issue where foreground colors did not apply correctly to Steam Input Virtual menus.
• Updated localization.

Scanning over the changelogs these below seem to be specific to the Steam Deck update, as they don't show up in the Desktop update:

• Improved the display of the startup animations on 16:9 and ultra-wide monitor resolutions.
• Discovery Queue: Smoothed out user experience and brought up to date with recent changes to web version.
• Child accounts are now allowed to adjust the brightness of the screen.
• Fixed desktop Steam Clients exiting while running a game if a Steam Deck is resumed while running a non-Steam app.
• Fixed the WiFi auto connect setting being forgotten after a system restart.
• Fixed a case where the WiFi connection dialog would not show a password prompt for networks that only support WPA3.
• Fixed brightness slider (HDR) in Quick Access Menu.
• Fixed the display of the Triangle/Cross glyphs for the PlayStation DualShock controller on some Virtual Keyboard skins where they didn't display.
• Fixed turning off external gamepads connected via BT via the controller chord and after the inactivity timeout.
• Fixed a case where bluetooth devices would sometimes show as a generic device under Settings->Bluetooth instead of showing as their specific type (e.g. gamepad/headphones).
• Fixed a rare crash that could happen when scanning for WiFi devices under Settings->Internet.
• Fixed a case where navigation menus stopped showing after closing a game in Desktop Mode.
• Fixed a bug where the video track of a game recording could be empty.
• Fixed a crash in Drill Core when Steam Input is enabled with a gamepad config.
• Fixed an issue where the Wireless HORIPAD for Steam could wake up OLED Steam Decks when they suspend while the device is connected via BT.
• Fixed an issue where hitting down in the Keyboard section of the Choose Binding screen could switch to the gamepad tab.
• Fixed some cases where bindings were removed for grip or share buttons on devices.
• Fixed Gyro Drift Correction not saving to disc when Sleeping the console. Save now occurs during manual calibration.

And here's everything from the main Desktop update:

General

• Added a global setting for improved management of game updates.
• Added a panel to manage per-game exceptions to the global setting.
• Added keyboard controls for dropdown lists in the client.
• Added "View In Library" to the context menu for games on the downloads page.
• Clicking on the game image of the actively downloading item on the downloads page will now navigate to the game's library page.
• Updated layout of downloads page for the active item.
• Improved caching of Soundtrack album covers in library.
• Improved library asset loading times for large libraries.
• Fixed Steam Client exiting instead of showing a refresh login dialog if another client session starts playing a game or resumes from suspend in a game session.
• Fixed Steam Client exiting while running a game if a Steam Deck is resumed while running a non-Steam app.
• Fixed a case where Steam would prefer to stream from another PC on your local network if the game was installed on both PCs and could be played without streaming.
• Fixed a stall in games after taking a screenshot for users with very large numbers of local screenshots (10's of thousands).
• Fixed Steam window being draggable from left and right edges when maximized on the Store/Community view.

Library

• Fixed friends showing multiple times in the "In-Game" section if they also had the game on their wishlist.

Game Recording

• Improved error messages for limited accounts sharing messages in chat or via the share menu.
• Fixed OpenGL games failing to record on Linux.
• Fixed issue which prevented audio capture from some games on Windows 11 24H2.

Steam Overlay

• Added support for bookmarks saved per game in the overlay browser.
• Improved reliability of saving for notes.
• Fixed scroll position, selection, and undo history getting lost when switching between notes.
• When editing notes, the "Insert Link" button can now edit links as well, and can be opened with ctrl-k.
• The toolbar buttons in notes will now display the associated keyboard shortcut in their tooltips.

Remote Play

• Fixed Remote Play Together session not fully starting for some games running on macOS host systems.

Big Picture Mode

• Updated suspend animation when not on Steam Deck.
• Fixed several issues where navigation could get stuck behind menus or dialogs.
• Fixed an issue where the guide button would open the menu in the main steam window instead of in the game overlay.
• Fixed cases where repeatedly accessing the controller configurator in the overlay would leave extra instances of it in the backstack after exiting the game.

macOS

• Added "End of Life" alert for macOS 10.15 ("Catalina"). Steam Client support for these operating systems will end on February 15th, 2025 at 10am. See here for additional details.
• Fixed game recording failures on Apple Silicon Macs when recording native games.
• Fixed audio in Remote Play Together sessions when streaming a native game from an Apple Silicon Mac.
• Fixed mouse input to Steam Overlay not working for some multi-display configurations.

Linux

• Fixed a case where Steam could permanently inhibit the screensaver if it crashed while holding the screensaver lock.
• Fixed potential crash when exiting a game if Game Recording is enabled on systems with recent versions of pipewire.
• Fixed high single core CPU usage for users with large libraries during Steam startup.
• Fixed a rare issue which resulted in a GetTimelineLoaderForGame() error showing in the in-game overlay.
• Fixed crash in games using Steam P2P Voice Chat.
• Fixed a crash in the game recording viewer caused by unstable vaapi drivers (disable GPU in recording settings).
• Fixed a case where navigation menus stopped showing after closing a game.
• Fixed a rare crash when hotplugging a mouse and keyboard.

Steam Input

• Reduced overhead/latency of controller input in Big Picture Mode and Virtual Menus.
• Slightly reduced steady-state CPU usage of Steam Input overall.
• Added visualization of mode shifts to the Preview Layout page.
• Added the ability to have a mode shift without needing to have a mode already on a source.
• Added Nintendo Switch controller configurations to the options shown by default for the Wireless HORIPAD for Steam so that gyro configurations are more easily found.
• Made the "Choose a Configuration" page remember which tab you were on when returning from previewing a configuration.
• Made the "Choose a Configuration" page remember the setting to show/hide configurations from other controller types.
• In Options->Controller->Calibration & Advanced Settings->Gyro Calibration, the gamepad Pitch, Yaw, and roll ion rotation now come from the internal quaternion that drives many of the new "Gyro to..." modes, and Steam Input api's GetMotionData.
• Gyro Drift Corrections now save during successful manual calibration, rather than only when exiting Steam.
• Fixed some Linux-specific crashes.
• Fixed a crash at startup when certain analog keyboards are connected.
• Fixed not being able to use "Export Layout->Save New Layout" when using a "Sharable Personal Layout".
• Fixed an issue where previewing a configuration, then editing your original configuration could corrupt it.
• Fixed a case where the title of the configuration in the summary screen would break after making an edit.
• Fixed a case where inputs with multiple bindings would show up as [object] [object] after removing a binding.
• Fixed SIAPI trigger bindings sometimes not working when bound to buttons.
• Fixed Gyro as Joystick mode ignoring sensitivity settings.
• Fixed a case where mode shift bindings leftover from a bug in 2019 could activate a mode shift that was disabled in the UI.
• Fixed detecting thumbsticks that have been mapped to a D-pad in controller setup.
• Fixed the left/right trigger soft pull showing in the mode shift button dropdown as "none".
• Fixed the mode shift button sometimes not having a localization token in the summary page.
• Fixed virtual menus showing as "Create Touch Menu" instead of "Touch Menu" in the summary page.