Jul 24, 2023
Steam Stealth Fest Is Underway!
Steam News - rachelt77


Steam Stealth Fest is live now, celebrating sneaky games for an entire week! From now through July 31st at 10am PT, you'll find discounts, demos, and more on both current and upcoming games of stealth.

And we do mean all kinds of stealth. For some games, achieving your objective without being detected is the only way to succeed, while others offer it as just one of the ways to play. Either way, there's usually a benefit to being quiet and sticking to the shadows or tall grass.

Head HERE to join in the action!
Jul 20, 2023
Team Fortress 2 Update Released
Team Fortress 2 - Valve
An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Team Fortress 2. The major changes include:

  • Enabled Versus Saxton Hale (Community) support for Valve matchmaking servers
Jul 20, 2023
Team Fortress 2 Update Released
Team Fortress 2 - Valve
An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Team Fortress 2. The major changes include:

  • Added main menu character for the Summer event
  • Fixed pd_watergate capture zone not working properly
  • Fixed geometry collision issue with the Wildflower Meadows Unusual effect
  • Fixed the Deepsea Rave Unusual effect's ground particles not being visible on some surfaces
  • Fixed Bubble Breeze, Global Clusters, Celestial Starburst, and Sylicone Succiduous Unusual effects not following moving players
  • Fixed the Strange Filter prefix for pd_selbyen
  • Fixed broken materials for the second style of the Cranium Cover
  • Updated koth_sharkbay
    • Fixed the flying boat
    • Removed collision from seagulls
    • Updated Map Stamp icons
  • Updated cp_hardwood_final
    • Fixed a crash affecting a small number of players
    • Minor clipping adjustments throughout the map
    • Minor lighting issues fixed throughout the map
    • Adjusted areaportalwindow fade brush textures
    • Adjusted collisions for some props
  • Updated cp_steel
    • More blockbullet /clipbrush swaps where needed
    • Fixed some stairs/ramp brushes needed to be extended to the bottom of the ramp
    • Fixed more small unnecessary prop collision/clip removals
    • Fixed blatant texture misalignment
    • Addressed perch spot outside Red spawn on wood beam
    • Closed some accidental holes in geometry
    • Additional fixes to a sticky/shooting exploit through and under Red's E platform area
    • Increased pit damage to kill some certain class loadouts in a single trigger
    • Moved Blu spawns forward a little to previous distance
    • Extended projectile blocker brush along the top side of the Blu spawn building's roof
    • Fixed Sniper sightline into Red's first spawn points from E
  • Updated koth_rotunda
    • Aligned various textures and fixed cubemap issue
    • Improved clipping
    • Improved lighting and reduced visual noise on some textures
    • Raised gate to flank route for ease of access
    • Aligned some props
    • Fixed out-of-bounds exploit related to func_tracktrain (Thank you, The Nubing!)
    • Added missing collision to some props
    • Sealed the map more
  • Updated cp_sulfur
    • Fixed a case where Blu could win too well and lock the timer, not correctly allowing them to win when their timer hit 0 and they owned the main control point
    • Fixed a case where Blu could contest their own win
    • Fixed a case where you could build a teleporter under a platform and become trapped
    • Altered Blu spawn positions to better lead players towards the point they should be attacking during different states of the game
    • Altered Red spawn positons to spread them out when defending main point
    • Lowered Red's initial time to defend slightly
    • Convinced the boiling water to properly scald people that are submerged below the surface
    • Gravity density in the potplants has been correctly calibrated
    • Reduced time added to Red's clock when Blu captures A, B and C slightly - further calibration going forward
    • B can no longer be capped from the outside of the building
    • Area under Point A can no longer be accessed
    • Fixed numerous perch points, clipping errors and small visual errors - special thanks to Wicket on Steam discussions for reporting most of these
  • Updated pd_selbyen
    • Fixed exploit that would let you build in spawn
    • Seal will now select a random skin every time it teleports to the break room (3 possible skins)
    • Adjusted oob seal animation timings
    • Fixed seal swimming animation
    • Added missing resupply cabinet on the Blu side
    • Added some missing clipping that would let players build in undesirable places
    • Fixed some floating windows
    • Fixed some props clipping through stuff
    • Fixed some displacements clipping through stuff
    • Fixed some displacement seams
    • Fixed some visible nodraws
    • Fixed some z-fighting
    • Various detailing additions
  • Updated vsh_distillery, vsh_tinyrock, vsh_nucleus, vsh_skirmish
    • TF_Bots now function in Versus Saxton Hale
    • Fixed first-person spectators not seeing Hale's arms glow when he uses his abilities
    • Fixed players dropping Player Destruction pickups
    • Fixed Hale sometimes holding Necro Smasher or Sandvich
    • Fixed Hale's "Dispenser Down..." line playing for any type of building destroyed
    • By community request, added Pyro VSH lines, performed by James McGuinn
    • Updated VSH voice lines for Spy
    • "Behind you" and "Above you" now play exclusively for the player the line is addressed to
    • Reduced the frequency of Hale's on-kill lines with more than 20 players currently alive
    • Mad Milk recharge rate returned to stock value
    • Demoman's Swords now deal less knockback than other melee weapons
    • Demoman's Shields will now break when absorbing a Hale punch
    • Fixed a bug relating to sending a class-restricted duel to Hale during Setup
  • Updated vsh_skirmish (additional changes)
    • Fixed an exploit that allowed players to build out of bounds
    • Added decals to ammo pack locations throughout the map
  • Updated vsh_distillery (additional change)
    • Fixed crash when using mat_phong 0
Jul 13, 2023
Team Fortress 2 Update Released
Team Fortress 2 - Valve
An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Team Fortress 2. The major changes include:

  • Fixed a crash when opening the achievement dialog
  • Fixed a bug where custom replacement materials in a map could persist to other maps
  • Fixed a bug where some particles were not the using correct particle types on clients
  • Fixed EmitSoundEx not using the correct sound name
  • Fixed the Strange Filter prefix for vsh_tinyrock
  • Fixed missing sounds and animation blends for the Taunt: Teufort Tango
  • Fixed the equip_region for The Shrapnel Shell
  • Updated vsh_skirmish to fix an issue where some props would disappear when viewed at certain angles
  • Updated pl_phoenix
    • Fixed missing materials
    • Fixed various physics props obstructing the payload cart
  • Updated vsh_nucleus
    • Fixed an exploit that allowed players to build out of bounds
    • Added decals to ammo pack locations throughout the map
Jul 12, 2023
Team Fortress 2 Update Released
Team Fortress 2 - Valve
An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Team Fortress 2. The major changes include:

  • Fixed a client crash related to audio and the new taunts
  • Fixed Red being able to enter the Blu spawn room on pl_cashworks
  • Fixed a transparency issue with the Hard Carry Unusual effect
  • Fixed missing contributor for vsh_distillery
  • Fixed spelling for the Taunt: Teufort Tango
Jul 12, 2023
Team Fortress 2 Update Released
Team Fortress 2 - Valve
An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Team Fortress 2. The major changes include:



Summer 2023!
  • Featuring 14 new community maps: Sharkbay, Rotunda, Phoenix, Cashworks, Venice, Reckoner, Sulfur, Hardwood, Pelican Peak, Selbyen, VSH Tiny Rock, VSH Distillery, VSH Skirmish, and VSH Nucleus
  • Added the Summer 2023 Cosmetic Case
    • Contains 25 new community-contributed items
  • Added 6 new community-contributed taunts to the Mann Co. Store
    • Taunt: Killer Joke
    • Taunt: Star-Spangled Strategy
    • Taunt: The Head Doctor
    • Taunt: Tuefort Tango
    • Taunt: The Road Rager
    • Taunt: The Killer Signature
  • Added 20 new community-created Unusual effects
    • 12 new effects for Unusual hats
    • 8 new effects for Unusual taunts
  • Added the Summer 2023 War Paint Case
    • Contains 10 new community-created War Paints that make-up the Summer 2023 Collection
    • Has a chance to give a taunt Unusualifier as a bonus item
  • All cosmetic and taunt cases will grant Summer 2023 Unusual effects instead of their normal Unusual effects during the Summer event. This does not include crates.
  • The Summer event runs through September 15th, 2023
General
  • Security and stability improvements
  • Fixed the Mann vs. Machine upgrade panel closing after receiving a matchmaking party invite
  • Fixed an exploit related to the ConTracker and being able to move/shoot while it's deployed
  • Fixed the Strange Count Transfer Tool not being able to transfer stats for Sandvich items
  • Fixed the Engineer not being able to move for a short period of time after doing The High Five taunt
  • Fixed missing No Headphones style for the Universal Translator
  • Fixed Engineer teleporter audio that was referencing the dispenser by mistake in Spanish
  • Fixed incorrect alpha channels for the Smissmas 2021/2022 Cosmetic Case models
  • Fixed the Winter 2019 War Paint Case not being shown in the Mann Co. Store
  • Updated/Added some tournament medals
  • Updated pl_enclosure_final to fix localization issues
  • Updated cp_gravelpit_snowy
    • Boosted volume of snowman explosions
    • Added occluders to C to improve performance
    • Improved clipping
  • Updated cp_steel
    • Prop collision cleanup and improved player clipping
    • Explosive splash bug collisions on stairs, props, etc., around the map
    • Spawn point issues (collision, prop blocking, clipping, etc.)
    • Fix Pyro door exploit on A
    • Fix choke and spam issues into Blu & Red spawns
    • Fix Pixel walk collision issues
    • Fixing ceiling clipping and stuck spots including exploits
    • Clean up geometry in spawns, the spawn locations and their exits
    • Fix roof readability issues, with sticky and rocket jumping
    • Fix rare double death bug when falling into pit
    • Fix Cliff stuck spots and ledges in E pit
    • Removed head glitch tele spawn on A-B connector
    • Fix rare overtime cap bug
    • Fix Red team getting stuck in spawn door to A
  • Updated cp_mossrock
    • Fixed numerous perch points
    • Fixed players being able to get under Blu spawn
    • Fixed a location where a teleporter could be build out of the map
    • Fixed collision on rock near final point so it is more accurate to the visuals
    • Fixed lots of small visual bugs
    • Fixed some small exploits
    • Improved optimisation
Jul 11, 2023
The top demos of Steam Next Fest: June Edition
Steam News - kaci
Steam Next Fest: June Edition had the most visitors (11.4 million!) of any other Next Fest so far, and there were hundreds of free demos available to play throughout the fest.

We thought we'd surface a list of the most played (by unique players) during the week of the event itself. Some of these still have their demos up (or recently reactivated for the week!) and all are available to wishlist ahead of their official launch date.

Take a look through the 50 most-played demos from Steam Next Fest: June Edition!
Jul 10, 2023
Steam Client Update - July 10th
Steam News - TomB (Valve)
A new Steam client has been released and will be automatically downloaded.

Note: This client was rereleased on July 10 to fix installscript support for some games

General
  • Added playing a sound when displaying a notification toast in desktop mode.
  • Added a toggle in notification settings to turn on/off sounds for non-critical notifications.
  • Improved responsivity of showing systray menu.
  • Small organization and clarity changes to notifications settings.
  • Rearranged notifications settings page and made some controls respond to changes in the global settings.
  • Fixed stability of blue focus bar at the top of various windows.
  • Fixed "When a screenshot is taken, display a notification" setting not being honored and "When a screenshot is taken, play a sound" only changing after the current game has exited.
  • Fixed window control positions on chat settings popups.
  • Fixed issue where certain links would load pages in an overlay browser rather than open on desktop.
  • Fixed URL bar in popup/overlay browser sometimes being out of date.
  • Fixed issue that could cause an error when entering a valid Steam Guard code.
  • Fixed rare achievement animation not appearing when Steam was not focused or hovered instead of just pausing.
  • Fixed not being able to type into some browser views if using touch input.
  • Fixed Windows virtual keyboard sometimes not working in library when using touch input
  • Fixed persona name in top bar occasionally displaying incorrectly if it started with #.
  • Fixed rare crash when displaying some tooltips.
  • Fixed some web pages being viewable in tabbed browser even if Family View should have restricted that content.
  • Fixed recent games list in systray menu not updating while Steam is running.
  • Fixed placement of systray menu on Windows when text scaling is enabled.
  • Fixed app icons for events in What's New not loading on first click.
  • Fixed links not working in account creation and pre-login help dialogs.
  • Fixed windows sometimes not updating appearance when clicking maximize button.
  • Fixed showing a black screen at startup if the startup location was set to something prohibited by Family View.
  • Fixed the tops of some context menus not being interactable if they overlap the title bar.
  • Removed incorrect date display on some DLC hovers.
  • Properly show an error when failing to load existing awards given when showing the award dialog for user generated content, reviews, discussion posts, and comments.

In-Game Overlay
  • Added battery indicator to the desktop overlay when running on laptop or handheld device with battery.
  • Fixed soft-lock when a game requested that asynchronous game notifications be enabled.
  • Fixed issue causing desktop overlay to not render properly in macOS CS:GO.
  • Fixed issue where viewing a user's profile was not working in some older games (e.g Left 4 Dead 2).
  • Fixed issue where the overlay was not responding to mouse input when there was a controller configuration loaded that included virtual menus.
  • Fixed an issue where the "Invite Friend to Game" dialog didn't work while in a Steam group voice chat channel.
  • Fixed overlay windows showing in pinned state when overlay is activated for some games (e.g. Warhammer: Vermintide 2).

Big Picture Mode
  • Added playing a sound to some notification toasts where it was previously missing.
  • Fixed wrong auto display scale being chosen for wide displays.
  • Fixed some views being the wrong size on macOS.
  • Fixed issue displaying the system tray context menu.
  • Fixed some issues where some taller sections in controller summary layout preview screen were cut-off at the bottom when viewed in the in-game overlay.
  • Fixed error message that was sometimes displayed while showing a notification.
  • Fixed viewing and closing a news event partially blocking mouse and touch input on the window.
  • Fixed an issue with displaying SSIDs in internet settings for some SSIDs containing non-alphanumeric characters.

Steam Input
  • Fixed some Nintendo Switch Pro controllers not being recognized after the last Steam update.
  • Fix bug where configurations could fail to get deleted.
  • Fix bug where configurations could disappear from the configuration browser after deleting a different configuration.

Screenshots Manager
  • Privacy dropdown selector for local screenshots will now remember the last selection.
  • Clicking the large image in the right panel will now open a larger popup of the screenshot.
  • Fixed issue where the screenshot manager might popup after closing a game when no screenshots were taken for that gameplay session.

Friends & Chat
  • Fixed chat window not being raised when clicking a chat notification while docked mode is enabled.
  • Fixed minimize/maximize buttons not working for chat windows created minimized.

Server Browser
  • Fixed a bug viewing server info from server browser.
  • Fixed a bug where connecting to server with password from server browser would not give you an opportunity to enter the password.

Linux
  • Add a setting to improve compatibility with window managers that send an unfocus event before every pointer click event, e.g. openbox. This setting can be found in "Settings->Interface->Enable context menu focus compatibility mode". Enabling this setting will fix dropdown menus being unclickable on these window managers.
  • Fix incorrectly spawning a file chooser instead of a directory chooser on systems with xdg-desktop-portal FileChooser version 2.
  • Fix a case where the overlay could have dpi scaling applied twice.
  • Fix login window having the wrong dimensions when dpi scaling is enabled.
  • Fix a case where menus could get clipped if dpi scaling is enabled.
  • Fix a case where disabling dpi scaling via settings wouldn't have any effect.
  • Restrict a workaround that prevents a crash on Nvidia GPUs to only activate when we detect an Nvidia GPU. Side-effects for this workaround include window flashing and focus stealing when a steam window is closed, which should no longer affect Intel/AMD users.

macOS
  • Updated the Remote Play driver installation dialog for the new UI, fixing driver installation.
  • Fix intermittent crash and reload of client windows when closing a window or menu.
Jun 29, 2023
The Steam Summer Sale is on now!
Steam News - kaci


Join us in celebrating games of all genres in the Steam Summer Sale, with two full weeks of discounts and all sorts of fun. Take a peek at the official trailer above, or just dive in now -- the sale runs until July 13th at 10am PT.

We're also excited to bring Steam Deck into the celebration as well! From now until the end of the Steam Summer Sale (July 13th at 10am PT) you can purchase a Steam Deck for up to 20% off. We've even put together a list of the top 100 most-played games on Steam Deck this year so far, many of which are participating in the Summer Sale.

Get into the summer gaming spirit (even if you're currently in the middle of winter where you are!) with deals and all sorts of fun stuff, from stickers to trading cards, badges, and more:
  • Each day of the sale brings you another free sticker to claim.
  • Look for the new Summer seasonal badge in the Points Shop
  • Two brand new Artist profiles
  • Plus opportunities to earn Summer Sale trading cards to level up your Summer Sale badge!

Enjoy these two weeks of gaming fun! Get your shopping started on the front page of the Steam store now.
Jun 21, 2023
Steam Client Update - June 21st
Steam News - TomB (Valve)
Note: This client was re-released on June 23rd to fix the following additional issues:
  • Fixed client window opening at login or when started with -silent flag for certain startup locations
  • Fixed incorrect screenshots showing for non-Steam games
  • Fixed adding non-Steam games on Windows
  • Added note to hidden achievement view to alert that showing will reveal a spoiler.

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

General
  • Fixed small mode missing client update information.
  • Fixed several issues related to the navigation backstack not working properly.
  • Fixed systray menu opening at wrong location for certain Windows scaling settings or when scaling is disabled in Steam.
  • Fixed Steam client window rendering at wrong scale after exiting Big Picture Mode when scaling is disabled.
  • Fixed some popup windows maximizing incorrectly.
  • Fixed crash when trying to load an empty URL in the tabbed browser window.
  • Improved performance of the Achievements panel for games with thousands of achievements.
  • Fixed game list sometimes incorrectly scrolling to top when selecting a game.
  • Added ability to clear in-game overlay data in a game's Properties > General settings.
  • Fixed issue where the modal file browser was appearing behind other windows in the in-game overlay. This was causing some soft-locks of the overlay, especially combined with the fact that URLs for the open ed tabs are saved between sessions.
  • Fixed weird scroll behavior in the Achievements popup.
  • Fixed issue where executing steam://url/ would not bring the main window into focus.
  • Fixed an issue where the system tray menu and Steam menus could open in the incorrect direction for certain monitor configurations.
  • Fixed second achievements progress bar not being filled in when comparing achievements with a friend.
  • Fixed sharing screenshots not working properly.
  • Fixed videos continuing to play in browsers when window is minimized or closed.
  • Fixed page erroneously scrolling up when clicking certain parts of the advanced app filter pane.

Friends & Chat
  • Fixed an issue that caused a new chat window to close almost immediately after opening. This was reproducible after inviting a friend to a game, exiting the game, and then attempting to open a chat window.
  • Fixed incorrectly signing in to Friends on startup when setting is disabled.

In-Game Overlay
  • Fixed overlay scaling when Steam display scaling setting disabled.
  • Fixed case where a game would shell execute steam://store/<appid> to open a browser to their store page, but the overlay was not activated.
  • Fixed issue where the overlay would not be created properly for games that spawn multiple windows (e.g. Gwent).

Steam Input
  • Fix for stuttery output on DualSense over Bluetooth when using Gyro->As Joystick Output to Sticks (Was previously fixed for output to mouse only).
  • Fixed issue where DualSense controllers would not work properly when hotplugged on Linux and Steam Deck.
  • Gyro calibration now uses a time window to calibrate (5s), rather than a fixed number of samples (since Dualsense is now being sampled at 800hz, and could potentially autocalibrate over too short a period).
  • Minimum Rumble Sustain reverted from 3 seconds back to 10 seconds.
  • Improved support for third party Nintendo Switch controllers.

macOS
  • Fixed certain macOS configurations that were unable to render browser content.
  • Fixed crash opening the file browser.
  • Fixed View > Hidden Games option.
  • Fixed some focus issues.
  • Fixed window control position on friends list when chat is docked.
  • Fixed Go Online/Go Offline menu options.

Linux
  • Fixed a case where a steam window would incorrectly steal input focus.
  • Fixed cases where we would get stuck on "Waiting for Network" on platforms where NetworkManager is unreachable.
  • Fixed a startup crash for systems that don't support the CEF sandbox.
  • Fixed a startup crash for systems that hide GLX support from steam.

SteamVR
  • Fixed some rare crashes.

Big Picture Mode
  • Fixed issue where inviting a user to a game would cause the overlay UI to soft-lock.

SteamCMD
  • Add the ability to request cloud storage of drm_wrap products via optional "cloud" command parameter.

Steam Deck
  • Fixed issue where the main menu and quick access menus were not rendering properly after entering a PIN at the lock screen
...