Viewing topic Make steam client to start faster?

Make steam client to start faster?

kokoko3k May 15, 2020

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Maybe it is not the right section to post this into, feel free to move, if needed.

Anyway,
In my system, steam takes quite a bit of system resources (cpu memory, gpu memory, sometimes cpu cycles).
Things are no way better since the introduction of the new library system since it seems everything now is done via the embedded browser, but I don't want to dig into how inefficient this could be.

Since my system specs are not stellar (only 3GB of video ram), i have to shut down the whole steam client when starting games which doesn't run from Steam.
(and for the games I start with the steam client, I just kill steamwebhelper processes; it somehow helps a bit, but this is not relevant now).

Question is in the topic, if I shut down the client, when I need to start it again, it takes something like a bunch of seconds (more than 10), even on an SSD. Of course i can live with that, but since my whole system starts in about the same time, i ask myself if there is some magic/hidden/locked switch i can use to make the client to start faster.

Thanks!

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Schattenspiegel May 16, 2020

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Quoting: kokoko3k
Spoiler, click me
Maybe it is not the right section to post this into, feel free to move, if needed.

Anyway,
In my system, steam takes quite a bit of system resources (cpu memory, gpu memory, sometimes cpu cycles).
Things are no way better since the introduction of the new library system since it seems everything now is done via the embedded browser, but I don't want to dig into how inefficient this could be.

Since my system specs are not stellar (only 3GB of video ram), i have to shut down the whole steam client when starting games which doesn't run from Steam.
(and for the games I start with the steam client, I just kill steamwebhelper processes; it somehow helps a bit, but this is not relevant now).

Question is in the topic, if I shut down the client, when I need to start it again, it takes something like a bunch of seconds (more than 10), even on an SSD. Of course i can live with that, but since my whole system starts in about the same time, i ask myself if there is some magic/hidden/locked switch i can use to make the client to start faster.

Thanks!

You could try 'steam steam://open/minigameslist -noverifyfiles -no-browser %u' as a launcher. This will give you only the gamelist for launching games and the friendlist for chatting at a much reduced memory cost - it also skips the file integrity checks for the steam client which may safe a little time during start. ( if you switch back to the normal client afterwards it will initially start in minimal view and you need to change it back manually via the menu)

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kokoko3k May 17, 2020

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Thanks, definitely something to try, and thank you for the detailed explaination!

I'm waiting for the day you will need a browser based application to do 1+1=2.
Just wait and see :)

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Dunc May 18, 2020

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For the full-size client, there's a “Low Performance Mode” in the settings, under “Library”. I found it helped a lot when they introduced the new library, although not with the startup speed. “Low Bandwidth Mode”, on the same page, might be worth a shot too. Although, as the name suggests, it's intended to save network bandwidth, anything that loads less stuff into memory will surely help.

Count yourself lucky you have an SSD. I'm still on spinning rust, and Steam takes the best part of a minute to start. I'll have to try that -noverifyfiles switch.

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