Valve’s Steam client is basically the de facto game launcher for a majority of people that play PC games. Whether it’s Windows and Linux, you’re more than likely using this, and as of recently their Big Picture mode as well. Because of the success of SteamOS, Steam Deck, and the Steam Machine; Big Picture mode has been getting regular updates alongside the OS, and they’ve been adding more and better features because of it. Well the latest update adds something we’ve seen a lot of if you’re a CSS Loader user. And that’s Big Art Mode.
If you want the full rundown of information, it’s better to check the Steam Client Beta page, but you can catch the full list from this update below.
- Homescreen – Big Picture Mode
- Added a new ‘Big Art Mode’ option for the home screen. This can be enabled in Settings > Home.
- Added Personal Calendar to the Recommended tab on the home screen
- Screensaver – Big Picture Mode
- Added a new screensaver feature, accessible in Settings > Customization. There are two screensavers available:
- The default is a game art slideshow that can be configured to show artwork from recently played games and your recent in-game screenshots.
- A retro inspired bouncing logo screensaver
- Big Picture mode can also load custom screensavers.
- Added a new screensaver feature, accessible in Settings > Customization. There are two screensavers available:
- General
- Improved Steam Client startup performance
- Fixed a case where after server maintenance some users might fail to auto-reconnect to Steam
- Fixed bug where being prompted to refresh credentials more than once could trigger an immediate restart
- On Windows, using the systray menu to exit while the Steam window is minimized will no longer flash the window visible briefly
- Dialogs that appear for serious error conditions now stay above the main window
- Game Recording
- Fixed some cases where playback would jump to an unexpected point in the timeline when reaching the end of a play session or clip
- Decreased performance impact of game recording for some D3D12 games on Windows
In-Game Overlay
- Fixed frame rate hitches in D3D11 and D3D12 games when taking screenshots on Windows
- Fixed rendering the overlay and using other overlay related features (screenshots, game recording, etc.) in Vulkan games that create multiple windows.
- Big Picture Mode
- Added explicit warning text to power menu confirmation dialogs when proceeding will shut down an active game
- Updated default artwork when an app does not have library or hero artwork
- Reorganized the idle timer settings when on battery and AC power
- Steam Input
- Improved CPU performance at runtime and in configuration loading
- Added information about which configurations are compatible in the configurator browser when using a game that requires Steam Input API
- Fixed the controller support widget showing “This game doesn’t support controllers” for unreleased games that don’t have controller support information yet
- Fixed controllers not using the desktop configuration on the desktop UI login window
- Added the missing settings for adjusting emulated joystick adaptive centering on trackpad
- Linux
- Improved download speeds on high latency connections.
- The “Select compatibility tool” dropdown is now always visible.
- The recommended compatibility tool, or steam runtime for native games, now shows at the top of the list as the “Default” option.
- Compatibility tool aliases, e.g. “Proton Stable”, can now be selected from this dropdown.
- The SteamOS compatibility dialogs will now show in desktopUI when installing games not verified for that HW
- On Desktop Linux we will now show the SteamOS unsupported dialog when installing games that are known to not work with Proton
- Improve distro information collection for hardware survey, preferring data from /etc/os-release.
- SteamRT3 Experimental Beta
- Fixed “Add a Non-Steam Game” showing an invalid list of applications.
- Fixed the “Run Steam when my computer starts” toggle.
- Remote Play
- A PIN is no longer required to download an app to a remote device. A PIN is still required to Install and Stream from a remote device.
- Adding Download Complete notification for a remote download if you initiated the download on your current device.
While the biggest updates are revolving around the Big Art modes for the home menu and screensaver, there were a few other neat additions to the rest of the update that I’ve highlighted as well. While I’m sure we’ll be seeing many more updates into the future on the Steam Client, these additional Beta’s are all really nice to have, and are good to keep up with. I can’t wait to see what’s coming next.
