14 DAY TRIAL // Valve has just released a new Beta version of its Steam client, fixing a large number of problems that apply to all platforms supported by the software.
The Steam developers usually make a number of intermediary releases before a stable and large version of the application is launched. This is just one such version and it comes with quite a few changes and improvements.
According to the changelog, a regression that was causing certain games to crash on startup has been fixed, downloading games in development is now working correctly, and some cases where Steam wasn't asking the user if they wanted to let the game update when re-launching after a game crash have been patched.
Also, the sensitivity of trigger buttons for fast paging in library all games view has been decreased, the sensitivity of analog triggers for mode switches in the daisywheel text input has been lowered, the hotkeys involving ctrl/alt/shift modifiers are now functioning in the in-game overlay as intended, and a regression that was causing a crash when using Alt-Enter with the performance stats visible has been fixed.
Windows users will be happy to know that this Steam Beta release also comes with some improvements made specifically for them. The devs say that a number of performance improvements have been implemented for the in-game overlay in D3D9ex, D3D10, D3D10.1, and D3D11 games.
Keep in mind that this is a Beta version and bugs are bound to show up. In order to get it, you have to enroll in the Beta program, from Preferences, and to restart the application.
If you already are in the Beta program, you won't have to do anything special. After you start the application, you will be prompted to update it.
It's also possible that the Beta version of Steam might cause some problems. Some users have reported that, after the previous update, the games in the library didn't show up as installed. Reinstalling the application didn't solve the problem and neither did getting the old Stable version back in place.
Installing a development version of Steam comes with certain risks, but if you feel that the changes are important enough, then you should try it.
Valve is keeping itself very busy, with SteamOS, Steam Machines, and the new controller, so it's likely that we won't see any major changes to the client anytime soon. Even so, some of the improvements are worth the update.