SteamOS 3.7.21 has just been released for all users with the following changes:

General

• Security and stability updates

Note: This update is for the Steam Deck Beta and Preview channels, and includes new features that are still being tested. You can opt into this in Settings > System > System Update Channel.

These notes contain all changes since the current stable SteamOS 3.7 release, with those additional changes since the previous 3.8.1 Beta:

New in 3.8.2

• Fixed a regression that could cause Borderlands 2 to crash on startup on certain systems

• Fixed trackpad losing functionality after sleep/resume on the Legion Go

• Security updates to Flatpak, libpng and openssl

General

• Fixed a case where WiFi performance could become degraded until the device was put to sleep or manually reconnected

• Fixed excessive trackpad sensitivity on certain early Steam Deck LCD models

• Initial support for upcoming Steam Machine hardware

• Updated Arch system base

• Updated graphics driver with performance and stability fixes

• Fixed a case where per-app performance settings would intermittently fail to apply when launching a game

• Improved support for the screencasts in Game Mode (e.g. OBS/Discord)

• Fixed dropdown menus not appearing in some games

• Improved VRR frame pacing

• Fixed FSR badge remaining off in the performance overlay, even if it was actually active

• Improved support for games that attempt to open PDF files in external viewers

• Fixed an issue affecting certain titles (such as "SpongeBob SquarePants: Titans of the Tide") where the game window could have an incorrect position

• Fixed closing certain titles (such as "STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor™") and Starfield resulting in a session crash

• Improved support for certain USB racing wheels and USB devices that boot in a non-standard mode

  • Frequently these are devices that appear as USB storage devices with a driver installer, and must be switched to their normal mode by the OS

• Steam Deck controller firmware updates now display update progress on the splash screen

• Fixes issue on specific Steam Deck revisions where firmware updates could render the left controller inoperative for that session

• Numerous stability and security updates

Bluetooth

• Re-re-enable Bluetooth Wake for Steam Deck LCD

  • Fix for more spurious wake issues that were present in earlier attempts

Audio

• Detect HDMI channel count and expose surround configuration if available

• Add a setting to allow using Bluetooth headset mics (Bluetooth playback quality will be worse while capture is active)

• Restore internal audio device on reboot if set to "Off" in desktop mode

• Increase suspend timeout for HDMI devices so initial audio isn't cut off after a few seconds of inactivity

• Fixed a bug with switching input devices when a wired headset is plugged in

• Fixed an issue where audio underruns could be experienced after sleep/resume

Accessibility

• Added an option to force mono audio output

Desktop Mode

• KDE Plasma updated to version 6.4.3 from 6.2.5, and now uses wayland by default

  • Fixes several cases of reduced performance in Desktop Mode compared to Game Mode

  • Improved support for rotated displays

  • Better scale factor out of the box on TVs

  • Adds support for external HDR displays

  • Adds support for VRR displays

  • Adds support per-display scale factor

  • For more information, see Plasma release announcements

    • https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/6/6.3.0/

    • https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/6/6.4.0/

• Keyboard layout and language are now obeying Game Mode settings

• Improved windowing behavior for games running in Proton

System Firmware

• Includes Steam Deck LCD BIOS v133

  • Security updates

  • Added "Memory Power Down" setup option

  • Preliminary support for hibernation

• Includes Steam Deck OLED BIOS v114

  • Security updates

  • Charging LED now changes color when charge limit is reached, rather than only at 100%

Non-Deck

• Improved compatibility with recent Intel and AMD platforms

• Greatly improved video memory management with discrete GPU platforms

• Fixed a compatibility issue with the SteamOS chainloader that could cause a boot failure on some desktop systems with recent UEFI firmware

• Power button short and long presses now supported across a wide variety of devices

• Improved controller support for OneXPlayer F1 series, GPD Win 5, GPD Win Mini, Anbernic Win600, OrangePi NEO, and Lenovo Legion Go

• Added controller support for OneXPlayer X1 series and Lenovo Legion Go 2

• Added system and controller firmware update support for the Lenovo Legion Go 2

• Added preliminary charge limiting support for Legion Go, Legion Go S, and Legion Go 2 - currently only accessible in Desktop Mode

• Added controller RGB LED color settings for the Lenovo Legion Go 2

• Added controller, TDP control, and speaker audio support for the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally series

• Reduced handheld controller input latency from 5-8ms to 100-500us

• Night mode, color vibrance, and color temperature sliders in Steam now work on Z2E and later AMD APUs

• Seamless boot fixes for Z2E and later AMD APUs

• Automatically handle internally rotated display for some third-party handhelds

• Improved motion control support for handhelds with BMI260 IMUs

• SD card reliability improvements for some third-party handhelds, including ASUS ROG Xbox Ally, Legion Go 1, Legion Go S, Legion Go 2, and MSI Claw

• Fixed washed out colors for Zotac and OneXPlayer handhelds with OLED

• Fixed some GPU hangs on Phoenix APU devices (Tales of Arise, Octopath Traveler II)

• Fixed ASUS ROG Ally power consumption from fingerprint reader while shut down

Developer

• Desktop Mode now uses Wayland by default

  • X11 support may still be selected via Steam developer settings, or via `steamosctl`

• Updated Linux kernel to 6.16

• Steam now uses steamos-manager to query available desktop sessions and trigger desktop session switching

• Added support for setting the desktop password in developer settings

• Initial support for running as a Virtual Machine guest (virtio guest drivers)

• Added support for third-party devices to trigger the SteamOS boot menu via EFI variable

• Added `custom-update` verb to `atomupd-manager` for easier testing of specific builds

• System reports now include more audio debug information

• Initial support for LAVD CPU scheduler via `steamosctl set-cpu-scheduler lavd`

We have just shipped an updated Steam Deck Client to the Preview/Beta channel.

The Steam Deck Client has been updated again on April 11th to fix a launch failure with certain titles.

General

• Additional improvements for captive portals.

The Steam Client Beta has been updated again on April 11th to fix a launch failure with certain titles on Linux.

The Steam Client Beta has been updated with the following changes:

General

• Added System Report button to the Help section on Windows.

SteamRT3 Beta

• Fixed a case where the ~/.steam/root symlink would fail to be created at client startup.

Note: This update is for the Steam Deck Beta and Preview channels, and includes new features that are still being tested. You can opt into this in Settings > System > System Update Channel.

These notes contain all changes since the current stable SteamOS 3.7 release, with no changes added since the 3.8.1 preview

General

• Fixed a case where WiFi performance could become degraded until the device was put to sleep or manually reconnected

• Fixed excessive trackpad sensitivity on certain early Steam Deck LCD models

• Initial support for upcoming Steam Machine hardware

• Updated Arch system base

• Updated graphics driver with performance and stability fixes

• Fixed a case where per-app performance settings would intermittently fail to apply when launching a game

• Improved support for the screencasts in Game Mode (e.g. OBS/Discord)

• Fixed dropdown menus not appearing in some games

• Improved VRR frame pacing

• Fixed FSR badge remaining off in the performance overlay, even if it was actually active

• Improved support for games that attempt to open PDF files in external viewers

• Fixed an issue affecting certain titles (such as "SpongeBob SquarePants: Titans of the Tide") where the game window could have an incorrect position

• Fixed closing certain titles (such as "STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor™") and Starfield resulting in a session crash

• Improved support for certain USB racing wheels and USB devices that boot in a non-standard mode

  • Frequently these are devices that appear as USB storage devices with a driver installer, and must be switched to their normal mode by the OS

• Steam Deck controller firmware updates now display update progress on the splash screen

• Fixes issue on specific Steam Deck revisions where firmware updates could render the left controller inoperative for that session

• Numerous stability and security updates

Bluetooth

• Re-re-enable Bluetooth Wake for Steam Deck LCD

  • Fix for more spurious wake issues that were present in earlier attempts

Audio

• Detect HDMI channel count and expose surround configuration if available

• Add a setting to allow using Bluetooth headset mics (Bluetooth playback quality will be worse while capture is active)

• Restore internal audio device on reboot if set to "Off" in desktop mode

• Increase suspend timeout for HDMI devices so initial audio isn't cut off after a few seconds of inactivity

• Fixed a bug with switching input devices when a wired headset is plugged in

• Fixed an issue where audio underruns could be experienced after sleep/resume

Accessibility

• Added an option to force mono audio output

Desktop Mode

• KDE Plasma updated to version 6.4.3 from 6.2.5, and now uses wayland by default

  • Fixes several cases of reduced performance in Desktop Mode compared to Game Mode

  • Improved support for rotated displays

  • Better scale factor out of the box on TVs

  • Adds support for external HDR displays

  • Adds support for VRR displays

  • Adds support per-display scale factor

  • For more information, see Plasma release announcements

    • https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/6/6.3.0/

    • https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/6/6.4.0/

• Keyboard layout and language are now obeying Game Mode settings

• Improved windowing behavior for games running in Proton

System Firmware

• Includes Steam Deck LCD BIOS v133

  • Security updates

  • Added "Memory Power Down" setup option

  • Preliminary support for hibernation

• Includes Steam Deck OLED BIOS v114

  • Security updates

  • Charging LED now changes color when charge limit is reached, rather than only at 100%

Non-Deck

• Improved compatibility with recent Intel and AMD platforms

• Greatly improved video memory management with discrete GPU platforms

• Fixed a compatibility issue with the SteamOS chainloader that could cause a boot failure on some desktop systems with recent UEFI firmware

• Power button short and long presses now supported across a wide variety of devices

• Improved controller support for OneXPlayer F1 series, GPD Win 5, GPD Win Mini, Anbernic Win600, OrangePi NEO, and Lenovo Legion Go

• Added controller support for OneXPlayer X1 series and Lenovo Legion Go 2

• Added system and controller firmware update support for the Lenovo Legion Go 2

• Added preliminary charge limiting support for Legion Go, Legion Go S, and Legion Go 2 - currently only accessible in Desktop Mode

• Added controller RGB LED color settings for the Lenovo Legion Go 2

• Added controller, TDP control, and speaker audio support for the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally series

• Reduced handheld controller input latency from 5-8ms to 100-500us

• Night mode, color vibrance, and color temperature sliders in Steam now work on Z2E and later AMD APUs

• Seamless boot fixes for Z2E and later AMD APUs

• Automatically handle internally rotated display for some third-party handhelds

• Improved motion control support for handhelds with BMI260 IMUs

• SD card reliability improvements for some third-party handhelds, including ASUS ROG Xbox Ally, Legion Go 1, Legion Go S, Legion Go 2, and MSI Claw

• Fixed washed out colors for Zotac and OneXPlayer handhelds with OLED

• Fixed some GPU hangs on Phoenix APU devices (Tales of Arise, Octopath Traveler II)

• Fixed ASUS ROG Ally power consumption from fingerprint reader while shut down

Developer

• Desktop Mode now uses Wayland by default

  • X11 support may still be selected via Steam developer settings, or via `steamosctl`

• Updated Linux kernel to 6.16

• Steam now uses steamos-manager to query available desktop sessions and trigger desktop session switching

• Added support for setting the desktop password in developer settings

• Initial support for running as a Virtual Machine guest (virtio guest drivers)

• Added support for third-party devices to trigger the SteamOS boot menu via EFI variable

• Added `custom-update` verb to `atomupd-manager` for easier testing of specific builds

• System reports now include more audio debug information

• Initial support for LAVD CPU scheduler via `steamosctl set-cpu-scheduler lavd`

Steam's Hidden Object Fest is live, and as you can tell from the trailer we've hidden (in plain sight) above, it's packed with discounts on games that require your keen eye.

Search through buildings, castles, rooms, piles, you name it: The objective is to find the object.

The Steam Hidden Object Fest, on now through April 13th. Go check it out now!

The Steam Client Beta has been updated with the following changes:

Game Recording

• Fixed a bug which affected taking a screenshot from a game recording clip.

We have just shipped an updated Steam Deck Client to the Preview/Beta channel.

Game Recording

• Fixed a bug which affected taking a screenshot from a game recording clip.

We have just shipped an updated Steam Deck Client to the Preview/Beta channel.

Steam Input

• Improved controller setting behavior when a controller is disconnected.

The Steam Client Beta has been updated with the following changes:

Steam Input

• Improved controller setting behavior when a controller is disconnected.

The Steam Client Beta has been updated with the following changes:

Steam Input

• Changed controller settings to use a menu and details structure instead of tabs to list the connected controllers.

We have just shipped an updated Steam Deck Client to the Preview/Beta channel.

General

• Fixed a case where pressing the power button would enter Sleep mode instead of Display-Off Download mode.

• Improved compatibility with WiFi captive portals.

Steam Input

• Changed controller settings to use a menu and details structure instead of tabs to list the connected controllers.

We have just shipped an updated Steam Deck Client to the Preview/Beta channel.

Downloads

• Added Remote Downloads Management. This allows you to manage downloads on Remote Steam Clients from the downloads page. You can select different clients by pressing Y on the downloads page.

• The App Details page now has the same options and statuses for remote clients as the local client.

• Both the local and remote clients must be updated to enable this feature.

Store Home Beta

• Fixed "..." context menu in Discounts & Events section

• Increased number of capsules per page in various carousels

• Smoothed the Featured & Recommended carousel transitions

• Updated the Recently Updated section's capsules to link to the corresponding announcement for the game

Steam Input

• Fixed a case where radial menus would fail to dismiss after releasing the joystick on Steam Deck

The Steam Client Beta has been updated with the following changes:

Downloads

• Added Remote Downloads Management. This allows you to manage downloads on Remote Steam Clients from the downloads page.

• The App Details page now has the same options and statuses for remote clients as the local client.

• Both the local and remote clients must be updated to enable this feature.

Windows

• Updated CPUID SDK used for CPU Temperature in in-game overlay performance monitor when enabled

Store Home Beta

• Fixed "..." context menu in Discounts & Events section

• Increased number of capsules per page in various carousels

• Smoothed the Featured & Recommended carousel transitions

• Updated the Recently Updated section's capsules to link to the corresponding announcement for the game

Steam Input

• Fixed a case where radial menus would fail to dismiss after releasing the joystick on Steam Deck

We have just shipped an updated Steam Deck Client to the Preview/Beta channel.

General

• Enabled the refreshed Steam Store home page

• Updated the Store main menu option to navigate to the Steam Store home page instead of the Great On Deck hub

Cloud

• Fixed an issue which could lead to data loss when uninstalling, reinstalling, and playing a game without restarting the client in between

The Steam Client Beta has been updated with the following changes:

General

• Enabled the refreshed Steam Store home page

Linux SteamRT3 Beta

• Fixed Steam tray icon not showing.

Big Picture

• Updated the Store main menu option to navigate to the Steam Store home page instead of the Great On Deck hub

Cloud

• Fixed an issue which could lead to data loss when uninstalling, reinstalling, and playing a game without restarting the client in between

We're giving the Steam store home a refresh, and you can try it out now by opting into the latest Steam beta within your desktop client.

The updated design is our latest work in making improvements across the Steam store, like the game page updates we made a few months ago. The new layout aims to make it even easier for you to find new games by displaying more content and information. We're now displaying higher resolution game art for better visual clarity. Those of you with higher resolution monitors will notice the new store home is wider and more responsive. If you're viewing the store home on Steam Deck or in Big Picture mode you'll also see these updates.

Updates

• Overall Design Refresh: Over the years we've introduced new sections and added new ways for you to discover and learn about games, and this update aims to make the store home feel more cohesive. Each section has a distinct set of tools and information to give users many ways to explore the diverse catalog of games on Steam. A goal of this visual refresh is to strike a balance between providing more consistency in UI elements, while allowing the unique nature of each section to show through.

  

• Featured & Recommended: There is now more detailed information highlighting the reason a game is being recommended to you; plus a user review round-up.  When hovering over a game's cover art, the game's micro-trailer will play for a quick peak at the action. We also added a sneak-peek of the adjacent games in the carousel.

• Option to disable: Micro-trailer hovers and animated marketing assets can be disabled in Store Settings for users with motion sensitivity.

  

• Discounts & Events: Now uses larger game artwork.

  

• Updated Discovery Queue: A quicker way to browse titles in your Discovery Queue without leaving the page.

  

• Better Hover States: A short description is presented along with other relevant information. The UI is updated to provide better contrast and legibility. 

  

• Infinite Scroll: Refreshed design to bring this part of the store home in line visually and functionally with the rest of the sections.

New Sections

• Your Wishlist: This section, as you might guess, features games on discount from your wishlist. 

• DLC for Your Games: This section will feature DLC that's on discount for games from your library.

  

About the beta

We're constantly looking to make Steam better, and we make decisions based on data and feedback we receive. The Steam Client Beta is a great way to test features that are in-progress and provide impactful feedback.

Not participating in the Steam Client Beta? Here's how to join. Try out the new homepage and let us know what you think.

Welcome to your humble abode for the week—Steam House & Home Fest—featuring discounts and demos on games all about the home from now through April 6th at 10AM Pacific.

You'll be floored by all the ways you can make a home your own, whether interior decoration, cleaning, organizing, power-washing, renovating, or anything in between. Chores may be no fun in real life, but in these games, there's nothing quite so satisfying as having everything in its right place.

Steam House & Home Fest is in residence now through April 6th...don't sleep on it!

Note: This update is for the Steam Deck Preview channel, and includes new features that are still being tested. You can opt into this in Settings > System > System Update Channel.

These notes contain all changes since the current stable SteamOS 3.7 release, with the changes added since the previous preview noted in bold

General

• New in 3.8.1 Fixed a case where WiFi performance could become degraded until the device was put to sleep or manually reconnected

• New in 3.8.1 Fixed excessive trackpad sensitivity on certain early Steam Deck LCD models

• Initial support for upcoming Steam Machine hardware

• Updated Arch system base

• Updated graphics driver with performance and stability fixes

• Fixed a case where per-app performance settings would intermittently fail to apply when launching a game

• Improved support for the screencasts in Game Mode (e.g. OBS/Discord)

• Fixed dropdown menus not appearing in some games

• Improved VRR frame pacing

• Fixed FSR badge remaining off in the performance overlay, even if it was actually active

• Improved support for games that attempt to open PDF files in external viewers

• Fixed an issue affecting certain titles (such as "SpongeBob SquarePants: Titans of the Tide") where the game window could have an incorrect position

• Fixed closing certain titles (such as "STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor™") and Starfield resulting in a session crash

• Improved support for certain USB racing wheels and USB devices that boot in a non-standard mode

  • Frequently these are devices that appear as USB storage devices with a driver installer, and must be switched to their normal mode by the OS

• Steam Deck controller firmware updates now display update progress on the splash screen

• Fixes issue on specific Steam Deck revisions where firmware updates could render the left controller inoperative for that session

• Numerous stability and security updates

Bluetooth

• Re-re-enable Bluetooth Wake for Steam Deck LCD

  • Fix for more spurious wake issues that were present in earlier attempts

Audio

• Detect HDMI channel count and expose surround configuration if available

• Add a setting to allow using Bluetooth headset mics (Bluetooth playback quality will be worse while capture is active)

• Restore internal audio device on reboot if set to "Off" in desktop mode

• Increase suspend timeout for HDMI devices so initial audio isn't cut off after a few seconds of inactivity

• Fixed a bug with switching input devices when a wired headset is plugged in

• Fixed an issue where audio underruns could be experienced after sleep/resume

Accessibility

• Added an option to force mono audio output

Desktop Mode

• KDE Plasma updated to version 6.4.3 from 6.2.5, and now uses wayland by default

  • Fixes several cases of reduced performance in Desktop Mode compared to Game Mode

  • Improved support for rotated displays

  • Better scale factor out of the box on TVs

  • Adds support for external HDR displays

  • Adds support for VRR displays

  • Adds support per-display scale factor

  • For more information, see Plasma release announcements

    • https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/6/6.3.0/

    • https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/6/6.4.0/

• Keyboard layout and language are now obeying Game Mode settings

• Improved windowing behavior for games running in Proton

System Firmware

• Includes Steam Deck LCD BIOS v133

  • Security updates

  • Added "Memory Power Down" setup option

  • Preliminary support for hibernation

• Includes Steam Deck OLED BIOS v114

  • Security updates

  • Charging LED now changes color when charge limit is reached, rather than only at 100%

Non-Deck

• Improved compatibility with recent Intel and AMD platforms

• Greatly improved video memory management with discrete GPU platforms

• Fixed a compatibility issue with the SteamOS chainloader that could cause a boot failure on some desktop systems with recent UEFI firmware

• Power button short and long presses now supported across a wide variety of devices

• Improved controller support for OneXPlayer F1 series, GPD Win 5, GPD Win Mini, Anbernic Win600, OrangePi NEO, and Lenovo Legion Go

• Added controller support for OneXPlayer X1 series and Lenovo Legion Go 2

• Added system and controller firmware update support for the Lenovo Legion Go 2

• Added preliminary charge limiting support for Legion Go, Legion Go S, and Legion Go 2 - currently only accessible in Desktop Mode

• Added controller RGB LED color settings for the Lenovo Legion Go 2

• Added controller, TDP control, and speaker audio support for the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally series

• Reduced handheld controller input latency from 5-8ms to 100-500us

• Night mode, color vibrance, and color temperature sliders in Steam now work on Z2E and later AMD APUs

• Seamless boot fixes for Z2E and later AMD APUs

• Automatically handle internally rotated display for some third-party handhelds

• Improved motion control support for handhelds with BMI260 IMUs

• SD card reliability improvements for some third-party handhelds, including ASUS ROG Xbox Ally, Legion Go 1, Legion Go S, Legion Go 2, and MSI Claw

• Fixed washed out colors for Zotac and OneXPlayer handhelds with OLED

• Fixed some GPU hangs on Phoenix APU devices (Tales of Arise, Octopath Traveler II)

• Fixed ASUS ROG Ally power consumption from fingerprint reader while shut down

Developer

• Desktop Mode now uses Wayland by default

  • X11 support may still be selected via Steam developer settings, or via `steamosctl`

• Updated Linux kernel to 6.16

• Steam now uses steamos-manager to query available desktop sessions and trigger desktop session switching

• Added support for setting the desktop password in developer settings

• Initial support for running as a Virtual Machine guest (virtio guest drivers)

• Added support for third-party devices to trigger the SteamOS boot menu via EFI variable

• Added `custom-update` verb to `atomupd-manager` for easier testing of specific builds

• System reports now include more audio debug information

• Initial support for LAVD CPU scheduler via `steamosctl set-cpu-scheduler lavd`

The Steam Client Beta has been updated with the following changes:

General

• Fixed regression causing download items to shift to side when entries are dragged.

• Fixed regression causing Steam overlay to dismiss when Exit Game dialog is shown.

Linux

• Fixed regression launching games with custom environments set in launch options.

Steam Input

• Fixed regression causing Switch 2 controllers to not function correctly.

We have just shipped an updated Steam Deck Client to the Preview/Beta channel.

General

• Fixed regression causing download items to shift to side when entries are dragged.

• Fixed regression launching games with custom environments set in launch options.

Steam Input

• Fixed regression causing Switch 2 controllers to not function correctly.

This release includes a variety of bug fixes and quality of life improvements for SteamVR.

We continue to focus on OpenXR as our preferred API for new games and applications. SteamVR’s official OpenXR subforum is here and we’d love to hear your feedback, as well as suggestions for new features.

SteamVR:

• Overlays now render translucent grey backsides, unless docked to a controller.

  • Third-party overlay apps won’t have translucent backsides until recompiled with the next OpenVR SDK.

• Fix cases where loading drivers would fail for paths containing non-ASCII characters.

• Fix motion smoothing not working with latest Nvidia drivers.

• Fix for VRAM leak on some AMD systems.

• Fixed an issue where the audio thread for Steam Link VR was using too much CPU.

• Change how our Oculus driver handles initialization failure. This affects people who use Oculus headsets with the Oculus Desktop app, as well as people who stream to their HMDs (all types, not only Quest) with Virtual Desktop Streamer. The driver will no longer be unloaded on failure, which was causing crashes. Some failures which resulted in safe mode restarts will now display better diagnostic information.

Steam Link:

• Fix Pico headsets under-reporting recommended render resolution (increased to 2160x2160 from 1832x1920).

• Improvements to slider groupings in settings section.

• Reduce stutters when adjusting encoded video size.

OpenXR:

• Fix API layers UI not displaying layers if a path for one was not found.

• Fix case where XR_META_recommended_layer_resolution would always return low resolutions.

• Fix OpenGL subrect being incorrectly flipped.

• Fix xrGetSystemProperties maxSwapchainImageWidth/Height reporting (was reporting recommended resolution).

• Fix case where XR_META_performance_metrics could return errors for valid performance metric counter paths.

• Pressing the system button will no longer instantly cause the session state to change to VISIBLE. The system now waits to decide if the user is doing a quick recenter, screenshot, or opening the dashboard.

• Fixed a hang caused by invoking render model APIs and then destroying the instance before the initial API calls finished.

• Fix for OpenXR quad layers updating at reduced frame rate under certain conditions.

• Fix for OpenXR apps which create multiple sessions and submit quad layers being unable to submit quad layers after the first session (notably: Unreal Editor)

Steam VR Home:

• Fixed multiplayer lobbies to accept connections again.

Developers:

• SteamVR will no longer forcibly terminate the Unreal Editor process when exiting.

As always, if you are interested, we encourage enrolling into SteamVR Beta by right-clicking on SteamVR in your Steam library, clicking on "Properties" and selecting "Betas" from the list on the left hand side and then clicking "Beta" under Beta Participation. Additionally, if you use Steam Link for Meta Quest, you can opt into the beta here or in-headset by going to your library, clicking the "..." on Steam Link, selecting Settings and clicking the button to the right of "Installed Version Information."

The Steam Link for Meta Quest FAQ page is available here.

If you encounter issues with this update, please post in the SteamVR Bug Report forum. If possible, please include a SteamVR System Report to aid in tracking down your issue. Replies to this post are not tracked for bug reporting purposes. Please use the forum linked above to report issues.

The Steam Client Beta has been updated with the following changes:

Big Picture

• Fixed an issue with the "use the gamepadui overlay when a controller is connected" mode where desktopUI chat windows could open and block the Big Picture overlay.

Game Recording

• Fixed the instant clip shortcut not working for non-Steam games when using a gamepad.

Linux SteamRT3 Beta

• Fixed games failing to start when when some custom launch options are specified.

• Fixed client startup loop that could occur in rare circumstance when Steam config directory is in an unexpected state.

Remote Play

• Fixed launching with surround sound audio when streaming a game from the library

• Added support for streaming 7.1 surround sound

We have just shipped an updated Steam Deck Client to the Preview/Beta channel.

Game Recording

• Fixed the instant clip shortcut not working for non-Steam games when using a gamepad.

We have just shipped an updated Steam Deck Client to the Preview/Beta channel.

General

• Fixed subtle sizing issues with the Recently Played carousel

The Steam Client Beta has been updated with the following changes:

Remote Play

• Added a workaround for an AMD driver bug causing stream corruption and lockups on Windows. This bug is also fixed in the latest AMD drivers, version 26.3.1.

The Steam Client Beta has been updated with the following changes:

Big Picture Mode

• Moved Steam chat into the quick access menu, making it easier to access while in-game.

• Introduced new quick chat feature for Steam Deck and Big Picture Mode

  • When in a chat, press and hold the view button to bring up quick chat options.

  • Move thumbstick and release view button to send a quick chat.

  • Quick chats can be edited in Settings > Keyboard

Remote Play

• Enabled streaming while Remote Desktop is active on Windows

• Added more flexible options to the Advanced Host Options for selecting primary display, resolution, refresh rate, etc. while streaming from a Windows computer. This will also allow setting whether HDR is enabled while streaming.

• Added support for the SudoVDA virtual display driver on Windows. If you have the SudoVDA driver installed and select this as your primary display in the Advanced Host Options, Steam will automatically create a virtual display to match the client display settings.

Linux SteamRT3 Beta

• The Steam for Linux client can now be run inside a Steam Runtime container. This will help the Steam client provide a more consistent experience across multiple distributions. This is the same technology we use for Steam games.

• The SteamRT3 beta client is distributed alongside the regular beta client. You can opt-in to the beta client via the 'Use experimental SteamRT3 Steam Client' toggle in Settings->Interface.

• The SteamRT3 beta client has been updated to 64 bits.

• Please report issues specific to the SteamRT3 beta in the Beta Forums or the steam-for-linux issue tracker.

We have just shipped an updated Steam Deck Client to the Preview/Beta channel.

General

• Added a setting to enable 'Switch To Desktop' in the login screen. It can be found in System Settings.

• Fixed a case where opting into the 'Preview' channel could silently fail.

Chat

• Moved Steam chat into the quick access menu, making it easier to access while in-game.

• Introduced new quick chat feature for Steam Deck and Big Picture Mode

  • When in a chat, press and hold the view button to bring up quick chat options.

  • Move thumbstick and release view button to send a quick chat.

  • Quick chats can be edited in Settings > Keyboard

• Focus will no longer jump to room effect replay buttons when scrolling through chat history

• Fixed a bug that would sometimes prevent chat history from loading when scrolling up

Note: This update is for the Steam Deck Preview channel, and includes new features that are still being tested. You can opt into this in Settings > System > System Update Channel.

Known Issue: Users not currently opted into Preview channel updates may be automatically returned to the Beta channel when attempting to opt-in. This can be worked around by enabling "Advanced Update Channels" in developer settings, and will be fixed in an upcoming Steam Client update.

General

• Initial support for upcoming Steam Machine hardware

• Updated Arch system base

• Updated graphics driver with performance and stability fixes

• Fix a case where per-app performance settings would intermittently fail to apply when launching a game

• Improved support for the screencasts in Game Mode (e.g. OBS/Discord)

• Fixed dropdown menus not appearing in some games

• Improved VRR frame pacing

• Fixed FSR badge remaining off in the performance overlay, even if it was actually active

• Improved support for games that attempt to open PDF files in external viewers

• Fixed an issue affecting certain titles (such as "SpongeBob SquarePants: Titans of the Tide") where the game window could have an incorrect position

• Fixed closing certain titles (such as "STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor™") and Starfield resulting in a session crash

• Improved support for certain USB racing wheels and USB devices that boot in a non-standard mode

  • Frequently these are devices that appear as USB storage devices with a driver installer, and must be switched to their normal mode by the OS

• Steam Deck controller firmware updates now display update progress on the splash screen

• Fixes issue on specific Steam Deck revisions where firmware updates could render the left controller inoperative for that session

• Numerous stability and security updates

Bluetooth

• Re-re-enable Bluetooth Wake for Steam Deck LCD

  • Fix for more spurious wake issues that were present in earlier attempts

Audio

• Detect HDMI channel count and expose surround configuration if available

• Add a setting to allow using Bluetooth headset mics (Bluetooth playback quality will be worse while capture is active)

• Restore internal audio device on reboot if set to "Off" in desktop mode

• Increase suspend timeout for HDMI devices so initial audio isn't cut off after a few seconds of inactivity

• Fixed a bug with switching input devices when a wired headset is plugged in

• Fixed an issue where audio underruns could be experienced after sleep/resume

Accessibility

• Added an option to force mono audio output

Desktop Mode

• KDE Plasma updated to version 6.4.3 from 6.2.5, and now uses wayland by default

  • Fixes several cases of reduced performance in Desktop Mode compared to Game Mode

  • Improved support for rotated displays

  • Better scale factor out of the box on TVs

  • Adds support for external HDR displays

  • Adds support for VRR displays

  • Adds support per-display scale factor

  • For more information, see Plasma release announcements

    • https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/6/6.3.0/

    • https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/6/6.4.0/

• Keyboard layout and language are now obeying Game Mode settings

• Improved windowing behavior for games running in Proton

System Firmware

• Includes Steam Deck LCD BIOS v133

  • Security updates

  • Added "Memory Power Down" setup option

  • Preliminary support for hibernation

• Includes Steam Deck OLED BIOS v114

  • Security updates

  • Charging LED now changes color when charge limit is reached, rather than only at 100%

Non-Deck

• Improved compatibility with recent Intel and AMD platforms

• Greatly improved video memory management with discrete GPU platforms

• Fixed a compatibility issue with the SteamOS chainloader that could cause a boot failure on some desktop systems with recent UEFI firmware

• Power button short and long presses now supported across a wide variety of devices

• Improved controller support for OneXPlayer F1 series, GPD Win 5, GPD Win Mini, Anbernic Win600, OrangePi NEO, and Lenovo Legion Go

• Added controller support for OneXPlayer X1 series and Lenovo Legion Go 2

• Added system and controller firmware update support for the Lenovo Legion Go 2

• Added preliminary charge limiting support for Legion Go, Legion Go S, and Legion Go 2 - currently only accessible in Desktop Mode

• Added controller RGB LED color settings for the Lenovo Legion Go 2

• Added controller, TDP control, and speaker audio support for the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally series

• Reduced handheld controller input latency from 5-8ms to 100-500us

• Night mode, color vibrance, and color temperature sliders in Steam now work on Z2E and later AMD APUs

• Seamless boot fixes for Z2E and later AMD APUs

• Automatically handle internally rotated display for some third-party handhelds

• Improved motion control support for handhelds with BMI260 IMUs

• SD card reliability improvements for some third-party handhelds, including ASUS ROG Xbox Ally, Legion Go 1, Legion Go S, Legion Go 2, and MSI Claw

• Fixed washed out colors for Zotac and OneXPlayer handhelds with OLED

• Fixed some GPU hangs on Phoenix APU devices (Tales of Arise, Octopath Traveler II)

• Fixed ASUS ROG Ally power consumption from fingerprint reader while shut down

Developer

• Desktop Mode now uses Wayland by default

  • X11 support may still be selected via Steam developer settings, or via `steamosctl`

• Updated Linux kernel to 6.16

• Steam now uses steamos-manager to query available desktop sessions and trigger desktop session switching

• Added support for setting the desktop password in developer settings

• Initial support for running as a Virtual Machine guest (virtio guest drivers)

• Added support for third-party devices to trigger the SteamOS boot menu via EFI variable

• Added `custom-update` verb to `atomupd-manager` for easier testing of specific builds

• System reports now include more audio debug information

• Initial support for LAVD CPU scheduler via `steamosctl set-cpu-scheduler lavd`

No matter what your favorite kind of game may be, this is a great time to shop for deals in the Steam Spring Sale. View the trailer above for a quick glance at the wide range of themes and genres you’ll find; or just stop reading this blog post right now and head straight to the sale itself!

The Steam Spring Sale is our first store-wide seasonal sale of the year, and the discounts are, much like the pollen seeping into our noses this time of year, everywhere. But in a good way!

Join us for the Steam Spring Sale, on now through March 26th at 10 a.m. PT on Steam.