Click here to try out the Steam News Hub A Steam Labs Experiment
All Products > News

Client Updates

Jul 16, 2019
Steam Client Update Released
Client Update - Valve
A new Steam client has been released and will be automatically downloaded.

General
  • Improve client logic used to choose and connect to download servers, which should yield better download rates for clients with download servers close to them on the network
  • Improve connection logic in friends list initialization
  • Fix screenshots in SteamVR Home
  • Fixed a bug where a P2P connection would not properly migrate to another relay, if the active relay went offline.
  • Fixed certain web page elements continuing to render in the Steam client when it is minimized or closed to the system tray
  • Improved reliability of registry saving on Linux and macOS
  • Fix the SteamVR dashboard obscuring transition overlays when launching a game.

Steam Input
  • Added mouse hover to action buttons in Configurator to display which physical buttons are related.
  • Rework the setting for enabling the Big Picture Mode overlay when using a Steam Input enabled controller from the desktop client. This setting now defaults to off and can be overridden on a per-game basis.
  • Improve handling of Switch Pro controllers when not universally opted into Steam Input - we will now toggle between DirectInput mode and the extended mode which includes gyro and rumble support depending on whether a game is using Steam Input
  • Added the GetDeviceBindingRevision function, which allows developers of Steam Input API games to detect out of date user configurations. Configurations with out of date major revisions should be automatically updated by Steam to the latest official configuration, but configurations with out of date minor revisions will be left in-place.
  • Added Change Player Slot binding to Steam Input. This allows a Steam Input binding to change the player’s x-input slot as seen by a game. This can be mapped to a chord for easy application across all games, and as with all bindings, be set to cycle through slots via an activator. Intended for fighting games and such where a larger set of controllers may need to be regularly and easily swapped across a limited number of player slots.
  • Rework controller activity detection to require movement of joysticks/triggers instead of just deflection. Should fix wireless PS4/Switch controllers not turning off from inactivity when set down in a way that deflects the triggers or joysticks
  • Fix an issue with Switch Pro controller joystick input sometimes pulling down when alt-tabbing
  • Fix a rare crash when connecting a Switch Pro controller

Streaming / Steam Remote Play
  • Fix a crash when streaming non-Steam game with touch controls enabled
  • Fix some other rare crash cases
  • Fixed a crash when streaming a non-Steam game to the Steam Link app

Big Picture
  • Properly hide password entry text in the in-game on-screen keyboard
  • Fix non-Steam Controllers receiving a Steam Controller configuration on the login screen
  • Fix the “hide device” option in Controller Settings not being shown in some cases
  • Fix the alignment of the Steam logo in several notifications

Mac
  • Fix rare crash at exit
  • Fix rare crash when a HID device fails to open when no other devices are open

Linux
  • Plumb Steam Input’s action set change on cursor visibility feature. This allows for games that show a cursor in menus but not in game, ex: Dark Souls 3, to have separate controls in those contexts
  • Use the host's zenity program when available for basic dialogs during startup
  • Fix crash caused by audio cards with no active port set
  • Improve detection of some linux versions at steam update time

Shader Pre-Caching
  • More fixes to reduce the download size of Vulkan pipeline pre-caching data

SteamNetworkingSockets
  • Fix bug that would sometimes cause the app to hang
Jun 13, 2019
Steam Client Update Released
Client Update - Valve
A new Steam client has been released and will be automatically downloaded.

Note: This update has been re-released on June 17th to fix regressions with network lobby matchmaking and Steam Input configuration loading.

Note: This update has been re-released on June 14th to fix an issue with the on-screen keyboard on Windows 8.1.

General
  • Fixed Windows cursor sometimes showing as the incorrect type, most often in system tray menu
  • After workshop updates, 'View News' on the download panel will now navigate to the list of subscribed items, rather than to news for the base game.
  • Fixed a bug causing Steam UI and some Steamworks games to have occasional performance hitches for users with large friends lists or large numbers of blocked friends

In-Game Overlay
  • Fixed a bug where the Big Picture in-game overlay could be abnormally pixelated for titles using the Vulkan graphics API
  • Fixed mouse cursor intermittently disappearing while mousing over certain windows (e.g. full-screen videos) which caused mouse input to not work in the overlay until restarted
  • Full-screen views in chat windows now render in the chat window rather than in a separate full-screen window on top of the game
  • Fixed certain keyboard events being sent incorrectly when in a web browser window.
  • Fixed dark rendering of windows in the overlay in titles that use the Vulkan graphics API.

In-Home Streaming (AKA Steam Remote Play)
  • Steam In-Home Streaming is experimentally available outside the home, and is now known as Steam Remote Play. Your Steam clients can now stream games from each other wherever they are, as long as there is a good network connection on both sides and they are close to a Steam datacenter
  • In-Home Streaming settings have been renamed Remote Play settings
  • Paired Steam Link devices now show up in the Remote Play settings
  • You can now remove all paired Steam Link devices
  • Fixed the PC to PC streaming client hanging when you alt-tab away from it
  • Added a network status icon to indicate that the network connection is slow.

Steam Input
  • We will now download official Steam Input configurations during game installation for Steam Input users. This should fix the issue where Steam Input games would need to be run once before controllers worked in offline mode
  • Joystick ranges are now saved for Switch controllers after performing controller calibration. This fixes joystick drift when first connecting the controller
  • Reworked the Controller Options screen to better show device specific options
  • Fixed a bug that could cause some game’s official configurations to not show up in the configuration browser
  • Fixed a bug that could cause Steam to open Big Picture Mode immediately when connecting a Steam Controller via the wireless receiver
  • Fixed some cases where Steam Input’s haptics or rumble could ignore the user’s enable/disable and intensity settings.
  • Added support for the Astro C40 PS4 controller
  • Improved rumble on Nintendo Switch controllers – there should now be a wider dynamic range of rumble values
  • Fixed a case where glyphs shown through Steam Input API are incorrect when converting a configuration between controller types, ex: loading a Xbox controller configuration on a PS4 controller.

Shader Pre-Caching
  • Re-worked the shader system to enable downloading and pre-compiling of the whole collection of Vulkan pipelines for a given game. As a result, some shader data downloads will now show in the Steam download manager. Pre-compiling will be enabled in a future Steam update.
  • Fixed some cases where shader depots could get downloaded even when the feature was disabled.

SteamNetworkingSockets
  • Fix bug causing P2P connections to sometimes fail to migrate to another relay when the relay became unavailable or shut down to apply an update.
  • Fix bug causing repeated connections to the same relay to fail.

Linux
  • Fixed a random Steam client crash when launching games
  • Fixed a bug where copying/moving files bigger than 2GB would fail with an I/O error
  • Improved the client's responsiveness to network changes
  • Added support for rumble pass-through for virtual controllers. This fixes missing rumble support for any controllers opted into Steam Input, and rumble emulation support for the Steam controller.
  • Fixed library ordering to prefer the Steam Runtime's libcurl over the hosts'. Fixes "Risk of Rain" and other GameMaker titles
  • Added support for removing old Proton versions by aliasing them to more recent ones
  • Added support for developers and Valve testing specifying default Proton configuration options for games even if they're not yet white-listed

macOS
  • Fixed a random Steam client crash when launching games
  • Fixed playback of streaming videos from library

This update has been re-released on June 13th with the following change
  • Fixed crash reporting error at client start
May 1, 2019
Steam Client Update Released
Client Update - Valve
A new Steam client has been released and will be automatically downloaded.

General
  • Fix Steam video player not streaming some free video content successfully

Steam Input
  • Fix an issue causing the “deregister” button to not show on the Controller Settings page
  • Fix the “Cross-Gate” setting for controllers with a physical dpad

macOS
  • Fix audio capture driver not enabling successfully on macOS 10.14.5
Apr 17, 2019
Steam Client Update Released
Client Update - Valve
A new Steam client has been released and will be automatically downloaded.

General
  • Updated embedded Chromium build in Steam to 72.0.3626.121
  • Fixed the Steam updater window intermittently displaying as a small transparent rectangle if it is shown when the main Steam window is closed.
  • Fixed store trailer video playback on Windows when DPI scaling is active.
  • Fixed audio artifacts in web audio / friends notification sounds / voice chat for users with certain headsets that create multiple devices and have mono/single-channel chat output devices
  • Improved wizard that helps install SteamVR and related components (such as the Windows MR driver) when VR hardware is present.
  • Fixed an issue with the new Steam networking system where the datagram relay configuration would never become available to the application if it was the first run after starting the Steam client.
  • Updates to shared installer content will now be listed under “Steamworks Common Redistributables”
  • Fixed black box covering much of the first page of the dialog when installing multiple games on Windows

Broadcasting
  • Reduced latency for 1 on 1 viewing of friend broadcasts to less than a second

Big Picture Mode
  • Added a Big Picture Mode library filter for local multiplayer games

Steam Input
  • Added a “Controller Connected” notification to the desktop client for Steam Input enabled controllers. This can be disabled under Steam->Settings->Controller.
  • Added a “Configuration Loaded” notification to the desktop client and Big Picture when launching a game with a Steam Input enabled controller
  • Add action set layer visualization support to the controller HUD and the ability to bind beeps when applying/removing action set layers
  • Fix some cases where the Steam Input Configurator could get stuck with a blank view when previewing configurations or when deleting action sets
  • Fix some cases where adding/deleting action sets and action set layers could scramble which action set layer an “Apply Action Set Layer” binding points to.
  • Fixed modifier and volume keys not working properly as controller bindings on macOS
  • Added a “Platformer” variant of the gamepad template for the Steam Link Mobile Touch Controller with pre-laid out on-screen controls
  • Added filtering of unneeded template results in the configuration browser for controllers that don’t have touchpad or gyro inputs (ex: Xbox One, Xbox360, and Generic Gamepads)
  • Added the ability to blacklist individual DirectInput and Xinput devices in the controller settings menu. This is intended to be used when a device either erroneously shows up as two devices or shows up as a controller but isn’t one.

In-Home Streaming
  • Reduced packet loss and latency on high bandwidth streams
  • Improved automatic bitrate algorithm to rapidly handle changes in available bandwidth

Vulkan
  • Enabled Vulkan pipeline dumping and collection if Shader Pre-Caching is enabled

Steam Networking Sockets
  • Fixed issues with P2P connections sending too many keepalives on an idle connection

Linux
  • Fixed more instances of 0-byte downloads and missing Proton or data files for Steam Play titles
  • Added Steam Play configuration settings in Big Picture Mode
  • Fixed an issue where the mouse cursor would be invisible in the Steam Overlay when playing games through Steam Play
  • Fixed an issue where the Steam Client wouldn’t automatically update or download Proton before launching games through Steam Play
  • Fixed additional cursor and mouse grabbing issues with the overlay on Steam Play games.
  • Improve support for Steam Library on NTFS mounts

macOS
  • Fixed kernel panic in audio capture driver when streaming on macOS 10.14
Feb 19, 2019
Steam Client Update Released
Client Update - Valve
This update has been re-released on March 5th to fix a friends performance problem.

A new Steam client has been released and will be automatically downloaded.

General
  • Re-enabled IPv6 content downloads with automatic fallback to IPv4
  • Fixed regression in content update scheduler
  • Fixed broadcast changed encoding notification to close

Big Picture Mode
  • Fixed crash opening web pages in some cases
Feb 1, 2019
Steam Client Update Released
Client Update - Valve
A new Steam client has been released and will be automatically downloaded.

Update
  • Fixed issue "Servers content unreachable" related to some IPv6 network configurations

General
  • Support using ipv6 for connections to download servers
  • Fixed multiple issues in tracking Steam window and chat window position and size when adjusted by the user or automatically through DPI and screen size changes
  • Fixed downloading unnecessary updates for games that self-update after initial install
  • Fixed a crash related to SteamVR

Desktop Overlay
  • Added "Force Quit" button to the desktop client overlay, matching existing Big Picture functionality. Force-quitting a game can result in loss of unsaved data
  • Added “Edit Controller Configuration”, which will open the current Steam Input configuration in a new window.

Steam Input
  • Allow the On-screen Keyboard to spawn on secondary monitors
  • Fixed a bug that could require you to hit the “Summon On-screen Keyboard” button twice before it launched
  • Fixed Mouse region bindings in windowed games running without the Big Picture Overlay
  • Fixed an issue where frequent rumble commands from games could cause input stuttering for PS4 controllers
  • Fixed some cases where Steam Controller rumble emulation could get stuck on
  • Added support for HORI Battle Pad
  • Added support for HORI Wireless Switch Pad
  • Added support for PDP Wired Fight Pad Pro
  • Added support for PDP Faceoff Wired Pro Controller

Big Picture Mode
  • Fixed race condition in Big Picture chat panel that would intermittently cause some controller actions to not respond
  • Fixed issue in Big Picture overlay that was causing it to fail to render screen updates in a timely manner
  • Fixed Control-A/Control-B sending enter and backspace respectively on Windows when in web browser and chat panels

Linux
  • Fixed 0-byte downloads getting queued on startup for all Steam Play titles
  • Fixed incorrect mouse wheel scrolling offsets
  • Fixed an issue where some games wouldn't be properly detected as still running despite some of their processes still lingering in the background
  • Fixed system tray including menu sometimes including too many recent game entries
  • Fixed settings dialog incorrectly always prompting for a client restart
  • Added gnutls 3 to the Steam Runtime, fixing network connectivity issues in many Steam Play titles
  • Fixed an issue with host libssl on newer distributions breaking some titles
  • Fixed a bug that could result in being unable to create shortcuts for certain games. To unblock previously affected titles, delete all *.ico and *.zip files from ~/.steam/root/steam/games and "Verify Game Files" to re-download the icons with the right format
  • Fixed a crash with in-game purchases in Big Picture
  • Fixed a case where drop-down menus or notifications would become stuck on screen
  • Added the ability to force Steam Play compatibility tools for non-Steam game shortcuts

macOS
  • Added the ability to quit games from the Steam overlay
Jan 8, 2019
Steam Client Update Released
Client Update - Valve
A new Steam client has been released and will be automatically downloaded.

General
  • Improved Steam client responsiveness while downloading games
  • Fixed some places where recently played games list was truncated to 5 items
  • Fixed a rare crash if getting local network address failed on a local network connection
  • Fixed an issue where trying to buy or sell items in the overlay could result in an empty browser window when Family View was active

Windows
  • Improved automatic discovery of HTTP proxies on some types of restrictive networks, which will allow users on those networks to download game content and other HTTP content while using the Steam client

Steam Input
  • Added support for PowerA wired/wireless GameCube Style controllers and PowerA Enhanced Wireless Controller
  • Added support for PDP Faceoff Wired Pro Controller

Big Picture Mode
  • The Steam community header is now hidden when in Big Picture chat

In-Home Streaming
  • Re-enabled support for streaming from Mac OS X Mojave (requires 10.14.1 or newer)

macOS
  • Fixed an issue where friends list and chat windows would continually freeze and duplicate when running with a secondary monitor attached with a different DPI setting than the primary monitor
Nov 27, 2018
Steam Client Update Released
Client Update - Valve
A new Steam client has been released and will be automatically downloaded.

General
  • Fixed closing the overlay web browser after adding funds for an in-game transaction.
  • Added support for in-game transactions in VR, and fixed an issue preventing in-game transactions when Family View is enabled.
  • Fixed certain Big Picture web browser controller actions that were no longer functioning.
  • Fixed issues with mouse cursor and scroll controller actions in Big Picture chat.
  • Correct an uncommon navigation issue in the dashboard view for SteamVR users.

In-Home Streaming
  • Improved connection reliability when starting a stream.
  • Fixed network test occasionally failing immediately.

macOS
  • Fixed “content servers unreachable” errors when downloading or updating games on older versions of macOS.
Nov 8, 2018
Steam Client Update Released
Client Update - Valve
A new Steam client has been released and will be automatically downloaded.

This update has been re-released on November 12th with the following additional fixes
  • Fixed a regression in the initial release of this client causing zoomed HTML views for some users on certain Windows versions and high DPI configurations
  • Fixed a regression causing games to crash on launch for users running macOS versions 10.7-10.10
  • Fixed a case where the friends list position in the in-game overlay was not correctly saved

General
  • Fixed friends chat and other UI being visible when authorizing an in-game mictransaction

New Steam Chat
  • Unread messages or active voice chats will now update your Steam tray/taskbar icons to indicate these states
  • When displaying a Steam store link in a chat window, extra information about the game, such as screenshots, video and price, are now displayed in the chat history

Windows
  • Significantly improved performance and decreased memory usage for HTML based UI (Store, Community, etc) in the main Steam desktop window

Steam Input
  • Added the ability to change controller type in the “Define Layout” screen. This only affects the glyphs and configurations recommended for the device and the limits of whatever low-level API the controller is read through still apply. For example if a PS4 controller is currently treated as an Xbox controller because of a driver or non-Steam Input remapping software presenting the device over Xinput reclassifying it to a PS4 controller will only correct the glyphs and the gyro/trackpad will not work.
  • Fixed an issue with devices with digital triggers and buttons bound to trigger outputs
  • Added Steam Input per-game settings to the desktop client’s game properties page.

In-Home Streaming
  • Streaming from Mac OS X Mojave is currently disabled

Big Picture Mode
  • Added the new chat functionality to Big Picture Mode. If you’re using a custom Big Picture Mode controller configuration please update to the new recommended configuration under Settings->Base Configurations->Big Picture Mode. Hit X/Square to browse configurations and apply the recommended configuration.
  • Added "Invite to Game" action to Big Picture chat
  • Chat scaling is now done automatically based on whether Big Picture is running on a large monitor (>40" diagonal) or running in VR with the option to override regular and VR scaling settings individually
  • Default chat controller bindings for Steam Controller/Xbox are:
    • Left Trackpad/Stick: Scroll the UI, press to show/hide the friends list
    • Long press of joystick/D-pad press:
      • Up: Invite currently selected chat friend to game
      • Down: Close the current chat tab
      • Left/Right: Switch between chat tabs
    • Right Trackpad/Stick: Mouse cursor, press to show/hide the on-screen keyboard
    • X: Accept game invite from friend
    • Y: Start/end voice chat
    • B: Exit chat panel
    • A: Select item under cursor
    • Start: Submit entered text
    • Back: Open emoticon list
    • Left Bumper: Switch to web browser
    • Right Bumper: Return to main menu
    • Left Trigger: Open context menu under cursor
    • Right Trigger: Click/double click at cursor

VR
  • The VR overlay keyboard is now opened when the Show Keyboard button is activated
  • Added a Back button to the left of the Show Keyboard button that shows while running in VR
Oct 11, 2018
Steam Client Update Released
Client Update - Valve
A new steam client has been released and is being automatically downloaded.

This update has been re-released on October 12th with a crash workaround for the AMD driver on Windows.

General
  • Updated embedded Chromium version in Steam to Chromium 68
  • Added Vietnamese and Latin American Spanish as Steam client UI languages
  • Allow language selection before game install if current Steam UI language isn’t supported

New Steam Chat
  • Added ability to test your microphone in Friends Voice settings dialog
  • Added support for mute on/off toggle hot-key setting when using Open Mic voice transmission mode
  • Don’t try to start chat or open the friends list if Steam is started in offline mode
  • Chat tabs are now scrollable using the mouse wheel
  • Fixed a bug where if you are offline for Friends & Chat clicking Friends & Chat in the overlay would activate the desktop friends window
  • Fixed a bug causing duplicate sounds for friends coming online or going in-game

Steam Link
  • You can play local co-op by streaming to multiple devices simultaneously (high quality 5 GHz WiFi network required)
  • You can use your Android phone as a touch controller for games by tapping to disable audio and video in the Steam Link app
  • Fixed stopping streaming from the in-game Big Picture overlay
  • The streaming protocol now uses UDP ports 27031-27036

Big Picture
  • Fixed loading custom controller layouts from the Big Picture Mode “Define Layout” screen
  • Fixed displaying numbers in the Family View PIN entry screen
  • Fixed using controllers and keyboards on the Manage DLC screen
  • Prevent exit of Big Picture Mode while games using its overlay for controller support, friends list integration, or other Steamworks API features are running

Steam Input
  • Added the ability to switch controller order for XInput controllers in the in-game Big Picture overlay
  • Fixed intermittent crash occurring when controllers are rapidly connected and disconnected
  • Fix an issue with Generic Gamepads that have digital triggers where the trigger could get stuck on
  • Fix an issue with Nintendo Switch Pro Controllers that could cause loss of input while rumbling
  • Fix an issue where applying a configuration in the in-game overlay would open in the main Big Picture window instead of the overlay
  • Fix an issue on Linux that could cause gamepad emulation to break when using Steam Input for generic gamepads
  • Fix previewing configurations for non-Steam Games. Note - you will still not be able to apply the configuration unless you have a matching shortcut in your library.
  • Fix some cases where inputs would be misaligned when previewing configurations
  • Fix some 3rd party PS4 controllers showing up as having low batteries when connected over USB
  • Fix an initialization issue with the Nintendo Switch Pro controller over USB

Linux
  • Fixed a Steam Cloud save issue with DOOM (2016) preventing specific files from getting properly saved
  • Fixed install scripts for Steam Play games sometimes not properly running after using Big Picture mode
  • Fixed missing DLC for some Steam Play games
...

Channels
All News Announcements Client Updates Press Releases Product Releases Product Updates Steam Blog
Syndicated
Eurogamer Kotaku Left 4 Dead Official Blog PC Gamer Portal 2 Official Blog Rock, Paper, Shotgun Shacknews Steam Community Announcements TF2 Official Blog
Search news
Archive
2024
May   Apr   Mar   Feb   Jan  
Archives By Year
2024   2023   2022   2021   2020  
2019   2018   2017   2016   2015  
2014   2013   2012   2011   2010  
2009   2008   2007   2006   2005  
2004   2003   2002