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:



Happy Smissmas 2023!
  • All players who play TF2 during the event will receive a Stuffed Stocking as a gift! Stockings contain goodies for good little Mercenaries.
  • Featuring 10 new community maps: Snowtower, Krampus, Haarp, Brew, Hacksaw, Turbine Center, Carrier, Galleria, Emerge, and Camber
  • Added the Winter 2023 Cosmetic Case
    • Contains 23 new community-contributed items
    • The Festivizer can be found as a bonus drop when opening the case
  • Added 3 new community-contributed taunts to the Mann Co. Store
    • Taunt: Cheers!
    • Taunt: Mourning Mercs
    • Taunt: Foul Play
  • Added 31 new community-created Unusual effects
    • 17 new effects for Unusual hats
    • 14 new effects for Unusual taunts
  • All cosmetic and taunt cases will grant Smissmas 2023 Unusual effects instead of their normal Unusual effects during the event. This does not include crates.
  • Mann Co. Store winter sale!
  • Smissmas runs through January 7th, 2024
General
  • Fixed missing normal map and variables for Festivized weapons (community fix from Woshee)
  • Fixed broken lighting for viewmodels in tight spaces (community fix from Stuffy360)
  • Fixed missing BLU team skin for the B.A.S.E. Jumper
  • Fixed Taunt: Roar O'War removing health after taunting with an honor bound melee weapon equipped
  • Fixed not always hiding floating health bars when the player has the hide_enemy_health attribute
  • Updated pl_corruption to fix trigger_teleports not enabling correctly
  • Updated koth_sawmill_event to fix missing material
  • Updated cp_gravelpit_snowy to improve performance
  • Updated several maps to fix localization issues
Dec 4, 2023
Steam News - jennyj


Steam VR Fest is live now! With the launches of SteamVR 2.0 and Steam Link on Quest headsets, as well as loads of discounts on many of the thousands of VR titles on Steam, there's never been a better time to get into VR gaming. Today through December 11th, 10:00 AM PST (GMT -8), we're celebrating virtual reality games of all kinds with discounts, demos, and more during Steam VR Fest.

Strap on your headset, settle in, and let the adventure begin with Steam VR Fest!

Steam News - kaci


We're excited to announce the streaming technology of Steam Link is now available on the Meta Quest 2, 3, and Pro, allowing you to wirelessly play VR games from your Steam library.

Steam Link is a free app that uses the power of your PC to stream Steam games onto phones, tablets, and TVs — and now, on Meta Quest.

Before you begin: You'll need a router with a wired connection to your PC, and a 5GHz WiFi network for your headset.

Getting started
  • Make sure Steam and SteamVR are installed and running on your PC
    • Note: You may need to restart Steam to confirm you are running the latest version of Steam and SteamVR
  • Connect your headset to the same network as your PC
  • Download the free Steam Link app to your headset.
  • The app will walk you through wirelessly connecting your computer to your headset.

Minimum requirements
Before you connect, make sure you have:
  • Router with a wired connection to your PC
  • 5GHz WiFi network for your headset
  • GPUs: NVIDIA (GTX970 or better)
  • OS: Windows 10 or newer
  • Headset: Meta Quest 2, 3, or Pro

Recommended (but not required): A broadband internet connection with Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 6E, and a computer with at least 16 GB RAM and NVIDIA GPU, RTX2070 or better.

Read more (along with step-by-step instructions) in our Steam Link FAQs.

For additional information check out Steam Link and Remote Play.
Steam News - mikela
A new Steam client has been released and will be automatically downloaded.

General
  • Fixed the new controller support panel showing on tools/applications
  • Fixed opening Big Picture Mode from the system tray/task bar
  • Fixed display of disk space available in "Add a new Steam library folder" dialog
  • Fixed an issue where unlocking Family View in the client would sometimes not unlock checkout
  • Fixed an issue where the controller info interstitials could be scaled incorrect on Steam Deck or other small monitors
  • Fixed an issue where VR-only games could be shown with the "Controller Required" notice along with no controller support

Big Picture Mode
  • Add the buttons back to the game launch interstitials rather than relying on the footer buttons
  • Fixed several layout regressions in the quick access menu, eula dialogs, and game achievements page

Steam Input
  • Fixed the desktop configuration page being blank when opted-out of Steam Input
  • Fixed for Steam Controller gyro turn rate, and sped up gravity correction. Both were affecting the feel of Gyro to Deflection Mode.
  • Fixed some controllers not being able to pass the Stationary Tolerances manual calibration phase.
  • Fixed occasional "jerks" in "Gyro To..." conversion modes that used the gravity axis (i.e. Player Space, World Space, Laser Pointer modes)
  • Improved Gyro to Joystick Deflection mode's low level noise.
  • Reinstated horizontal haptics for all new "Gyro To..." modes.
  • Fixed UI: order of Steam Deck Gyro's Calibration readings.
  • Attempt to fix legacy Gyro "Joystick" mode - use the gravity orientation found upon app switch and subtract it from the live feed.
  • Added support for the NACON Revolution 5 Pro controller
  • Fix: Nintendo Joy-Con gyro turn rates are now correctly calibrated for natural angles. Was previously at 80% real world turn rate.
  • Fix: "Gyro to..." modes jumping when adding/removing action layers or switching action sets.
  • Fix: Sony Dualshock accelerometer reading was incorrect on initial connection via bluetooth.

Linux
  • Fixed steam overlay causing rendering to stall in some titles (e.g. Watch_Dogs)
  • Fixed steam overlay causing crashes in some titles
  • Fixed double click handling in steam overlay
  • Fixed mouse clicks in the overlay for CS2

macOS
  • Added "End of Life" alert for macOS 10.13 ("High Sierra") and 10.14 ("Mojave"). Steam Client support for these operating systems will end on February 15th, 2024 at 10am. See here for additional details.

Steam VR
  • Desktop Game Theater - Only capture non-VR applications while visible in headset. Throttling will revert to default (monitor or no vsync, rather than headset vsynced) when content is not displayed in headset. This should fix most flat2vr type games, which require running the application at double headset framerate to generate stereo image pairs.
  • Fixed some cases of the VR dashboard showing itself on game start.
  • Fixed a couple cases where the dashboard was being opened when it should not.
Steam News - jennyj


Are you ready for an entire week filled with tens of thousands of discounts? The Steam Autumn Sale is officially on! From now until November 28th at 10am PST (UTC -8), browse through every genre imaginable to grab all kinds of games on sale.

Don't forget, you can also pick up a title or two for the people you like the most on your holiday shopping list! Not only can you gift specific games, we also have digital gift cards up for grabs.




The Steam Autumn Sale is also the time to nominate your favorite games from the past year for the Steam Awards in 11 different categories (including an updated category for games you love playing on portable devices called Steam Deck):

  • Game of the Year
  • VR Game of the Year
  • Labor of Love
  • NEW: Best Game on Steam Deck
  • Better with Friends
  • Most Innovative Gameplay
  • Outstanding Story-Rich Game
  • Best Game You Suck At (no offense)
  • Outstanding Visual Style
  • Best Soundtrack
  • Sit Back and Relax
Nominate a game in each category by visiting the Steam Awards Nomination page (via the Steam homepage) once the sale starts or via the event post from developers of the titles you like. Participating events can be found on the library details page for a specific game.

You can even earn a badge for participating in the Steam Awards: nominate at least one game, nominate a game in each category, play a game you've nominated, and/or review (or update a review for) a game you've nominated. Complete all tasks to earn 100 profile XP.

We'll be revealing the top five nominees for each category in the days leading up to the Steam Winter Sale (which runs December 21st at 10am PST until January 4th at 10am PST). You'll be able to vote on the nominees during the sale up until January 2nd at 10am PST when voting will close and winners will be announced.

See you HERE for the Steam Autumn Sale and Steam Awards nominations, NOW through November 28th at 10am PST!
Steam News - Alden

Steam has long made it easy to find games that have great support for Xbox controllers. Today's Steam update expands on that foundation to help the millions of players with PlayStation's DualShock and DualSense controllers easily find games to play with those devices.

These improvements add better options for sorting and filtering areas of the Steam store, seeing clear compatibility information on individual store pages, and finding whether games in one's library will work well with the controller in their hands.

The best place to dive in? Check out the Controller-Friendly hub in Steam to explore for games that work well with controllers.

Store Updates

Browsing the Controller-Friendly hub
We have upgraded the Controller-Friendly hub on Steam to make it easier to explore by controller type. By default Steam will set a filter based on the controller we've seen you play with recently, but you can also manually select any of the major controller models to adjust the filters.



--

Store page display of supported controllers
On each store page, you'll now find more detail on the three controller models with significant player base: Xbox, DualSense, and DualShock. We've also added a category for games that make full use of the Steam Input API which allows any of more than 200 devices to work well with the game.

This display is also personalized based on the device or devices that we've seen you use recently.



Store search options
In search, you'll find a new section of filters that give you more options to narrow the search results by. This includes specific controller models for Xbox, DualShock, and DualSense controllers as well as settings to find games that are built with controllers in mind.


Library Updates

New Compatibility Section In Your Library
You'll also find more controller support information when exploring your own Steam library. If Steam as seen you play with a controller previously, it will show you information about the game's compatibility with your controller. And if a controller is required for play, you'll see a new call-out to make that more clear too.



New Device Filters
To ease in finding games you own that work well with DualShock and DualSense controllers, you'll now find more nuanced filter options in the Steam Library. This also means that you can also create a collection to automatically organize these games into once place.

Controller Configuration Button
You can now always find a controller configuration button, conveniently located next to the settings and information buttons on the play bar.



--

Plus, Similar Updates to Big Picture Mode
If you enjoy kicking back and playing from a bit further away, you'll find that all the above features and benefits are also part of Big Picture Mode, helping you enjoy more gaming without having to get up from the couch.


Wait, why does Valve care about controllers on PC?
Players are clearly interested in using controllers to play a huge variety of games. In fact, around 12% of all active players on Steam are regularly using a controller. And some individual games can see the majority of their players using a controller. For example, many popular ball sports games can have well over 80% of their players using controllers, while many popular punishing RPGs have more than half their players using controllers.

Whenever we're thinking about what areas of Steam to work on, we like to turn to data, especially to note how things change over time and which indicators suggest particular player interests. When we dig into controller usage data, we see a few interesting changes over the past few years.

  • There were over 3 Billion game sessions that included a controller in the past year
    • 60% Xbox controller
    • 27% PlayStation models
    • The remaining % is made up of Steam Deck, Switch Pro, and hundreds of other controller models
  • The same period four years ago (ending Nov 2019) had 990 Million controller sessions
    • 76% Xbox controllers
    • 19% PlayStation controllers
  • During these four years, PlayStation controllers saw a 4x increase in sessions

So data like this tells us that players love the ability to kick back and play with a controller. And given the existing public reports about just how many PlayStation 4 and 5 consoles have been sold in the world, there are certainly a huge number of DualSense and DualShock controllers already in people's houses and ready to be plugged into a PC for a match of football or another run at that challenging boss fight.


Additional Background For The Curious
Want more nitty-gritty details? Read on.

What does Full Controller Support mean?
Generally we aim for Full Controller Support to mean that you'll be able to do almost all of the common actions and interactions that you would expect to be able to do with a controller. For example, to meet this bar, a game needs to show you the right button icons on screen if it's instructing you to push a certain button on your controller. It should be able to get through the menus and into the game and play through the game entirely with a controller.

However, Full Controller Support does not necessarily mean that the game makes use of every feature on the controllers. There are some great features on any of these major controller models that individual games may not make use of, and may not have targeted specifically.

What does Partial Controller Support mean?
There are cases where a game is totally fine to play with a controller, except for some interactions that may require a keyboard or may show the wrong button prompts on screen. For example, in some games with partial controller support you'll find that you have to figure out which buttons on the controller will activate each action in the game (eg, imagine a game that tells you to press "B" quickly, but your controller does not have a button labeled "B"). In other cases, games with Partial Controller Support may require you to occasionally use a mouse and keyboard to click through a launcher, enter text, or to use optional features such as level editors, but otherwise support playing via controller.

USB vs Bluetooth connections (for DualSense and DualShock)
Supporting PlayStation controllers on PC is more complicated than adding support for Xbox controllers, which is a major reason why less games support them. Depending on when the developer added support or which software libraries they used, the game may only support the device over USB. We will show this information on the store page as well as in your library. We also encourage developers to use Steam Input API, which supports nearly all Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch controllers, or SDL3, an open-source library which we've contributed support for these same devices to.



All patch notes
  • Store: Updated the display of supported controllers to split out DualSense, DualShock, and Xbox controllers separately
  • Store: Updated search filters to include more device types to filter results by
  • Store: Updated Controller Friendly hub to include filters for device type and device-specific Top Played/New and Trending results
  • Store: Added display of "Controller Recommended" when a developer suggest that their game is best with a controller
  • Store: Updated the notice on store pages of games that require a controller or VR to play as well as the notice on store pages for games which support both VR and non-VR modes
  • Steam Input: Implemented a new, default mode for PS controllers where Steam Input will be enabled only in games without their own support for the device
  • Library: Added a section in library game pages to describe the level of controller support. This only appears if Steam can tell that you have a controller currently connected
  • Library: Enabled the controller configuration button to always appear next to the settings button for individual games.
  • Library: Updated the controller configurator screen to also describe the full set of popular devices supported by the game while indicating the currently connected device.
  • Library: Added a yellow notice to Steam library game pages when looking at a game that requires a controller to play
  • Library: Added launch process steps to prompt users to plug in a controller when launching games that require or recommend them
  • Library: Added a launch process step to describe when Steam Input is translating button presses from a typically unsupported device
  • Library: Updated the logic and icons that indicate controller support for each game when in grid view
Steam News - jennyj


The Steam Autumn Sale kicks off in just a few days and will feature tens of thousands of discounts as well as the opportunity to nominate your favorite games for this year's Steam Awards. Start prepping your wishlist now, and come on back between November 21st at 10am PST (UTC -8) and November 28th at 10am PST (UTC -8) to snag 'em while they're hot!

Don't forget your naughty and nice list for holiday shopping, too: the Steam Autumn Sale is a great time to pick up a title or two for friends, family, frenemies, nemeses, pretty much anyone. Not only can you gift specific games, we also have digital gift cards up for grabs.




The Steam Autumn Sale is also the time to nominate your favorite games from the past year for the Steam Awards in 11 different categories (including an updated category for games you love playing on portable devices called Steam Deck):

  • Game of the Year
  • VR Game of the Year
  • Labor of Love
  • NEW: Best Game on Steam Deck
  • Better with Friends
  • Most Innovative Gameplay
  • Outstanding Story-Rich Game
  • Best Game You Suck At (no offense)
  • Outstanding Visual Style
  • Best Soundtrack
  • Sit Back and Relax
Nominate a game in each category by visiting the Steam Awards Nomination page (via the Steam homepage) once the sale starts or via the event post from developers of the titles you like. Participating events can be found on the library details page for a specific game.

You can even earn a badge for participating in the Steam Awards: nominate at least one game, nominate a game in each category, play a game you've nominated, and/or review (or update a review for) a game you've nominated. Complete all tasks to earn 100 profile XP.

Get ready to stock up on games for you and yours and celebrate your favorites during the Steam Autumn Sale: November 21st at 10am PST to November 28th at 10am PST!

The sale will be live on the Steam homepage: https://store.steampowered.com/

Steam Awards Nominations will be live on the Steam Awards Nomination page:
https://store.steampowered.com/steamawards/nominations

See you soon!
Steam News - Lawrence
A new Steam client has been released and will be automatically downloaded.

This update has been re-released with the following fix
  • Fixed video freeze when streaming games with launchers when using NVIDIA hardware encoding

General
  • Fixed setting the correct AppID in Source SDK mod manager.
  • Visual tweaks to Steam Deck, Big Picture Mode and SteamVR: Many small changes throughout to make the user interface a more visually-rich experience in Home, Library and other areas.
  • Nicer layout for Soundtracks pages. These pages are now easier to navigate in Big Picture Mode and feature larger artwork on Desktop.
  • Fixed some layout and interaction bugs in the Media viewer.
  • Move the controller support information in the desktop client from the play bar to a widget in the right column
  • Add HDR badge to app details for games that are marked as having HDR output.
  • Fix bug preventing you from launching a game that had temporarily disabled auto-updates if new workshop content was available
  • Additional information about controller support has been added to the client:
    • Game details pages in the library will now show information about specific controller and VR support in the right-hand column when devices are connected
    • PlayStation controllers have a new default mode in Steam Input where Steam will route controllers to the game's built-in support if available and to Steam Input when they would be unsupported. These controllers can still be globally opted-in or out of Steam Input in the controller tab of the Steam settings page
    • The landing page of the controller configurator now has controller support information, and it has been made easier to quickly opt in or out of Steam Input for a particular game
    • In the Big Picture library there is now Xbox/DualShock/DualSense support tabs similar to the "Great on Deck" tab that are populated based on your connected devices
    • DualShock, DualSense, and Steam Input API support have been added to the available filters in the library
    • Games that require controllers (no mouse/keyboard support), require a VR Headset, or support both VR and standard game modes will now show that information in the client, similar to how it displayed in the store.
    • Footer icons for DualSense controllers in Big Picture have been updated to use the black and white style on the device

Remote Play
  • Fixed hidden mouse cursor when streaming to Android TV
  • Fixed stream lockup when using Intel iGPU hardware encoding

Steam Input
  • Improve look of configurator when there are no controllers connected

  • In games that support SteamInput API Actions we no longer hide the Flick Stick as Mouse option if a FlickStick action is defined - this is so that Gyro To Mouse can be properly complemented if you wish.

  • Fixed the ROG Pugio II mouse showing up as a controller
  • Fix: Gyro Joystick mode: Core gyro quaternion is updated even when the app requesting it is not focused.

  • Fixes to both Gyro as Joystick Modes: Min/Max remapping was not allowing values to become zero when gyro values were less than minimum required joystick output values.
  • Gyro to Joystick (Deflection) mode uses sensor fusion controller accelerometer rather than quaternion for more consistent behavior. This should address issues where the X output would become canted in the legacy modes. Note: it may feel subtly different. Feedback welcome.

SteamVR
  • Disable the VR-only warning for the time being due to it sometimes showing up when it shouldn't.
Steam News - mikela
General
  • Fixed back button intermittently returning to library view instead of the correct history entry.
  • Improved UI when a game temporarily disables updates.

Steam Input
  • Fixed gyro anti-drift values being applied to some controllers unintentionally
  • Fixed PlayStations controllers that were opted out of Steam Input having the lightbar/gyro features enabled
  • Fixed anti-drift autocalibration tolerances not being applied when controller first connects
  • SIAPI: Fix for incorrect GetMotionData quaternion values

macOS
  • Fixed "Add a Non-Steam Game" menu option not working
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:

  • Updated koth_sawmill_event
    • Fixed missing model and material
  • Updated pd_farmageddon
    • Fixed instances where players can get stuck when leaving the cap zone (Thanks Lo-fi)
    • Added custom announcer lines for gargoyle spawn
  • Updated zi_atoll
    • Significantly reduced strength of trigger_push in water
    • Adjusted trigger_push entities on trees
    • Improved clipping/collision on wood plank structures
    • Adjusted distribution of health and ammo pickups to make structures easier for Red to hold
    • Reduced file size of map
...