New Steam Client Beta Brings Better Data Management
Since yesterday, the beta of the new client can be tested by Steam users. The next version of the overlay refreshes the interface and makes the download manager more readable.
Since yesterday, the beta version of the refreshed Steam client is available. Valve has revealed several nice features that will certainly the Steam users will certainly find handy. If you want to see for yourself how the updated Steam client looks like, the procedure is as follows:
- Click on "Steam."
- Go to "Settings",
- Go to "Account",
- Check Steam Client Beta in the "beta test participation" tab.
Let's start with the download manager, which has undergone a major overhaul. At this point, the platform shows the entire update download process, including the completion of the update. Previously, there were problems with this, because it only showed the download of content, without taking into account its allocation on disk, which "could make the update look completed, while it was not". In addition, updates will now be differentiated based on the content. Players will be able to tell if an update is for game content, Steam Workshop add-ons, downloadable content, or shader caching. With this knowledge, we can distinguish whether an update should be downloaded immediately or be postponed.
Changes have also affected the memory manager, which now gives us an easy overview of which drive a game is on and enables us to move games between drives in an easy to understand way. In other news, the download queue can be manipulated by dragging and dropping items with the mouse.
In addition to purely functional changes, the Steam client beta has also received a visual facelift. This includes more readable icons and a refreshed color palette to support the visually impaired, among other things. A full description of Steam Beta Client's new features can be found here.
