Valve has launched an opportunity to try out a new version of the Steam Big Picture mode, in which the game client resembles the interface of a Steam Deck portable computer. This innovation, which was first announced back in July 2021, is designed to improve the experience of using Steam when using a gamepad.
The company warns that the new user interface has “rough edges”. Therefore, she wants to collect feedback from the community about him. In addition to the updated look, Valve is also testing new features, including universal search, which will display results from the user’s library, friends list, and store. In addition, updates for quick access, system menus and controller configurator are being tested.
To test the new Big Picture mode, you need to enable the beta client. This can be done through the settings menu: the “Steam” button in the upper left corner of the screen > “Settings” > “Account”. Here, in the “Beta testing” section, you need to click the “Change” button and select the Steam Beta Update item in the drop-down menu. After that, you will need to click the “OK” button and restart Steam in order to download the update.
You will then need to set up a shortcut that launches Steam in Big Picture beta mode (pressing the Big Picture button in the client will launch the old version). To do this, in the Start menu, you need to find Steam, right-click and select “Go to file location.” In the folder that opens, you need to right-click on the shortcut, click “Properties”, and then add “-gamepadui” to the end of the target path (without quotes). After that, you need to click “Apply”. In the future, when you open Steam using this shortcut, it will launch a new user interface for the program.
Source: The Verge