Immediately after announcing the latest Steam Controller improvements for December 2015, Valve updated its stable Steam Client for all supported operating systems, including GNU/Linux, Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X.
The December 10 release of the Steam Client brings all the awesome features that landed in the Beta channel last month, such as an updated web browser component, which is now based on the open-source Chromium 47.0.2526.49 software, better error messages for strange login failures, and improved support for launching games while using the client in offline mode.
For Linux gamers, the new stable Steam Client updates multi-monitor support for the Steam Link device, patches a crash in The Beginner’s Guide, and adds better support for sending various special characters to games when using the Big Picture overlay keyboard. For Mac gamers, Valve prepared great improvements to the Steam Controller, which should now work flawlessly when exiting and relaunching the Big Picture mode.
Big Picture and In-Home Streaming improvements
The biggest changes implemented in the new stable Steam Client application are for the Big Picture mode and In-Home Streaming feature. Among the new Big Picture features, we can mention improved navigation of the Big Picture mode user interface, especially when using a mouse, better zooming in the web browser, and the addition of a new system menu option that lets users minimize the Big Picture mode.
Moreover, there’s another new Web Browser option that lets users control how the left touchpad of the Steam Controller scrolls websites. Then the Resume and Explore part of the Steam Library has been expanded with additional rows based on recent game updates and friend activity, and the default ambient music volume has been turned off by default.
For the In-Home Streaming feature, Valve has added game controller mouse emulation for game launchers, new advanced client and host options, and video stream quality improvements to AMD hardware. Also worth mentioning are better support for third-party overlays, such as Uplay, updated game capture modes, as well as reduced frame-rate impact when using the Big Picture mode during streaming sessions.
Last but not least, the latest stable Steam Client addresses a Broadcasting issue and switches the Steam user interface to use the VR dashboard on Microsoft Windows operating system for Oculus Rift VR headsets. All users are urged to update their Steam Client to the new stable version as soon as possible by using the built-in update checking functionality.
Via Softpedia