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.

Note on Preview Releases

This is an early Preview build of SteamOS 3.9, and may contain unexpected bugs or stability issues. If you encounter problems, please consider filing a bug on the SteamOS issue tracker.

These notes contain all changes since the current stable SteamOS 3.8 release, with the changes added since the previous preview noted below

General

• Fixed a system crash when launching Forza Horizon 6 on Legion Go 2

• Fixed an issue causing frame limits to result in lower than intended FPS on certain external displays

• Fixed issues with suspend/resume on systems with RDNA1 or RDNA2 based dedicated GPUs

• Fixed a regression in seamless boot causing the boot logo to disappear prior to the Steam startup animation

• Fixed a rare issue where fan speed would revert to BIOS control until a reboot, resulting in higher than normal fan speeds on Steam Deck

• Security and stability updates

Developer

• Fixed verbose-mode boots, triggered by the [c]steamos-bootdebug[/c] utility or chainloader menu, having their output hidden by plymouth

• Updated included renderdoc version

General

• Updated Arch Linux base

• Updated Desktop Mode from Plasma 6.4.3 to Plasma 6.7.3

  • For more information, see
    https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/6/6.7.0/
    https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/6/6.6.0/
    https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/6/6.5.0/

Misc

• Updated the bootloader to improve compatibility with certain motherboards

• The Desktop Mode lockscreen is no longer prevented from being explicitly enabled in settings (but remains off by default)

Developer

• Switched WiFi backend to wpa_supplicant by default for new installations, improving compatibility with various WiFi networks

  • Enhanced wpa_supplicant to support fast WiFi reconnect on resume from sleep, previously only available in the iwd backend

  • Known issue: Existing installations will continue to use iwd unless manually enabled in Developer Settings

• Linux kernel rebased on Linux 7.2

• Added preliminary support for hibernation, not yet exposed in Game Mode UI

  • Enhanced Linux kernel hibernation support to enable interrupting hibernate requests and fixed various driver issues

• Various scripts and packages have been renamed from `steamos-` to `holo-`, with aliases to the former names where appropriate

• Improved support for running SteamOS as a VM guest with accelerated graphics (virtio-gpu, venus)

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

General

• Fixed a rare issue where fan speed would revert to BIOS control until a reboot, resulting in higher than normal fan speeds

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

General

• Fixed a regression that would cause the client to crash when interacting with Compatibility Tool selection dropdown if the default compatibility tool has been uninstalled.

• Fix "Suspend Download Throttle" not properly updating on the downloads page.

Steam Input

• Fixed a regression that broke action set layer binds when editing the configuration

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

Home Screen

• Added a new 'Big Art Mode' option for the home screen. This can be enabled in Settings > Home.

• Added Personal Calendar to the Recommended tab on the home screen

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Screensavers

• Added a new screensaver feature, accessible in Settings > Customization. There are two screensavers available:

  • The default is a game art slideshow that can be configured to show artwork from recently played games and your recent in-game screenshots.

  • A retro inspired bouncing logo screensaver

• Custom screensavers are also supported. Similar to startup movies, they can be placed in directories at ~/.steam/root/config/uioverrides/screensavers/. You can use the bouncing logo screensaver (in the steamui/screensavers directory) as an example to get started.

  [carousel][/carousel]

General

• Added notification about the current user when waking from sleep, if there have been multiple recent users. The notification can be activated to switch users and dismisses immediately on any other input. This notification can be toggled from the Notification Settings.

• Added confirmation step to "exit VR" and "switch to desktop mode" power menu actions, and removed it from "sleep".

• Added explicit warning text to power menu confirmation dialogs when proceeding will shut down an active game.

• Added confirmation dialog/user switching ability when waking from sleep would require kicking an active session elsewhere.

• The SteamOS compatibility dialogs will now show in desktop mode when installing games not verified for that HW.

• The 'System Report' dialog is now more responsive when displaying and uploading the gathered system report.

• Added "Default to Desktop Mode" toggle to System settings.

• Fixed a case where Windows games would show as 'Not Compatible' in the library view until a manual Proton version was selected for this app.

• Improved download speeds on high latency connections.

• The "Select compatibility tool" dropdown is now always visible.

  • The recommended compatibility tool, or steam runtime for native games, now shows at the top of the list as the "Default" option.

  • Compatibility tool aliases, e.g. "Proton Stable", can now be selected from this dropdown.

• Updated default artwork when an app does not have library or hero artwork.

• Reorganized the idle timer settings when on battery and AC power

• Pressing the controller's system button will request the TV to switch to the Steam Machine as the active source (the connected TV must support HDMI CEC)

Game Recording

• Fixed some cases where playback would jump to an unexpected point in the timeline when reaching the end of a play session or clip

• Decreased performance impact of game recording for some D3D12 games on Windows

Steam Input

• Improved CPU performance at runtime and in configuration loading

• Added information about which configurations are compatible in the configurator browser when using a game that requires Steam Input API

• Fixed the controller support widget showing "This game doesn't support controllers" for unreleased games that don't have controller support information yet

• Fixed controllers not using the desktop configuration on the desktop UI login window

• Added the missing settings for adjusting emulated joystick adaptive centering on trackpad

SteamRT3 Experimental Beta

• Fixed the Performance Overlay slider.

• Fixed "Add a Non-Steam Game" showing an invalid list of applications.

• Fixed the "Run Steam when my computer starts" toggle.

Remote Play

• A PIN is no longer required to download an app to a remote device. A PIN is still required to Install and Stream from a remote device.

• Adding Download Complete notification for a remote download if you initiated the download on your current device.

In-Game Overlay

• Fixed frame rate hitches in D3D11 and D3D12 games when taking screenshots on Windows

• Fixed rendering the overlay and using other overlay related features (screenshots, game recording, etc.) in Vulkan games that create multiple windows.

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

General

• Fixed a case where the steamwebhelper process could experience high CPU usage when certain events were shown in the library tab.