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New Steam update from Valve lets you trace your entire backlog

Valve’s Steam client update for August 1 adds several new features including a timer and the ability to sort your Steam Library by the date each game was added.

Steam update August 1 patch notes - the Steam logo over a game collection on the Valve client for PC gaming.
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A new Steam update has rolled out from Valve, updating the Steam client with some new features and fixing a number of common bugs. This Steam patch changes quite a few small things, but probably the most welcome news for many players is that you can now sort your Steam library by date added, giving you a quick and easy way to check in on all the best PC games in your backlog and see the full history of your account.

These latest Steam patch notes from Valve also include a new timer for the Steam overlay, which lets you keep track of how long you’ve been playing. Unfortunately, it’s just a countdown timer at the moment, so it can’t be used as a stopwatch for timing your speedruns, but if you’re susceptible to losing track of time while deep in a Civilization marathon or getting heavily invested in all the Baldur’s Gate 3 romance options then this should prove handy.

What I’m most happy about, however, is the addition of a ‘Sort by date added to Library’ feature for your Collections and Shelves. Finally, I can see the full extent of my Steam history, as well as track down exactly how that huge pile of shame built up. Combined with Valve’s Dynamic Collections tool, it’s now easier than ever to line up all the games you’ve never played and see exactly when you bought each one.

That’s also quite handy if you’re susceptible to buying numerous games whenever a big Steam sale kicks off and then forgetting about some of them, as you’ll be able to easily check back in. I’ve already been having fun tracing the history of my first few big sales after I initially installed Steam, with big bundles of classic PC games all suddenly landing in my library on a single day.

There are also several improvements to controller support and the Steam Input functionality to help improve compatibility. PlayStation controllers can now make use of touchpad typing with the on-screen keyboard, and will now stay in DirectInput compatible mode over Bluetooth if you disable Steam Input.

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Steam client update patch notes – Tuesday, August 1, 2023

Here are the full Steam patch notes for the August 1 update from Valve:

General

  • Added timer to the overlay. You can enable this button in the in-game settings.
  • Improved library performance for users with large numbers of collections.
  • Fixed some confirmation dialogs not closing with the cancel or X buttons.
  • Fixed “Clear Download Cache” also deleting cached login information.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause a Steam Guard code to fail the first time it is entered, and then succeed immediately after that.
  • Fixed Steam Overlay not respecting Windows scale factor for full-screen windows at heights <= 1200px.
  • Fixed Windows scale factors <150% not applying to Steam overlay.
  • Fixed a hitch that some players with large libraries might encounter every 15 minutes while playing a game.
  • Fixed main client window taking focus from other Steam windows when navigation menus are hovered.
  • Fixed notifications for achievements not firing when offline.
  • Fixed wallet balance not updating in title bar when balance hits zero.
  • Fixed incorrect display of “Notify me about additions or changes to my games…” setting in interface settings if it had never been changed before.

Library

  • Added the ability to sort by date added to library to shelves and game grids.
  • Added a setting to display Steam Deck compatibility information in the library while not on a Steam Deck.

Steam Overlay

  • Added In-Game setting to allow enabling or disabling display scaling in the overlay.
  • Changed behavior of overlay tabbed browser to clear all tabs when the close button is clicked and added a minimize button to hide the browser as the close button previously did.
  • Fixed intermittent crash in overlay browser when switching to overlay for in-game purchases.

Steam update - a library collection showing games sorted by 'date added to library.'

Big Picture Mode

  • PlayStation Controller can now use touchpad typing in the on-screen keyboard.
  • Fixed presentation and localization of items in the Special Offers section.

Steam Input

  • Improved navigation in the configurator when navigating from the Preview screen. Repeatedly going to Preview then an input will no longer build up loops in the back stack and you can now go back with a single B button press if you’ve not interacted with the left column.
  • Added the ability to copy and paste button/axis mappings when setting up input for unrecognized controllers.
  • The selected controller configuration shown in the configurator should now update quicker and more reliably, including when exporting configs.
  • DualSense Wireless Controllers will now remain in DirectInput compatible mode over Bluetooth when Steam Input is disabled.
  • Fixed some cases where navigation changes from the previous beta could result in a blank page in the configurator.
  • Fixed detecting controllers using the Xbox Enhanced Feature Support driver.
  • Fixed changing effects on PS4 and PS5 controllers when Steam Input is not enabled.

Developer Console

  • Added a setting to display timestamps in the Steam console window.
  • Changed Steam console window to keep the last several seconds of output even if that would exceed the normal buffer length.
  • Fixed command echo sometimes appearing on the same line as the previous output.
  • Fixed clear_console command not doing anything.

macOS

  • Fixed file chooser dialog not opening for some actions.
  • Fixed file chooser not allowing directories to be selected in some cases.
  • Fixed Steam app pulling focus back to the previous space when switching to a space without a Steam Client window on it.
  • Fixed app hiding not working with Steam Client windows.
  • Fixed Steam Client windows not allowing dragging past the height of the titlebar on the main screen when running with multiple displays.
  • Fixed navigation menus not opening on mouse-over of buttons when the store or community browsers are focused.

Linux

  • Fixed a case where the controller input thread could operate at normal instead of high scheduling priority.
  • Fixed file dialogs not appearing in some cases for systems without an active xdg-desktop-portal.
  • Fixed a rare crash when processing shaders.
  • Fixed a case where the UI would show the wrong image when switching between small mode and normal mode.
  • Additional fixes for file dialogs for systems where xdg-desktop-portal is not available.

If your digital library shelves are still looking a little bare, take a look through the best free Steam games to help fill them out. Then head over to the best upcoming games to see what’ll be next on your list.

Ken is a news writer for PCGamesN. He wants to play everything that comes out, but keeps finding himself back on old favorites. As such, you’ll find him covering the latest updates for FFXIV and Terraria, and diving deep into some of today’s biggest games such as Baldur’s Gate 3 and Diablo 4. He especially loves RPGs, soulslikes, and roguelikes, and just won't stop talking about the Monster Hunter and Like a Dragon games. A masters graduate in mathematics, you’ll also find Ken playing the piano, cello, and guitar in his spare time.