For PC avid gamers, Steam has been such a mainstay for thus lengthy now that it’s virtually melded into the working system itself. The factor is, Steam is greater than only a market — it could do much more.
Simply since you’ve used Steam so much doesn’t imply you understand every part about it. Valve has continued to replace its flagship product through the years with a number of intriguing and downright helpful options, and it’s an actual disgrace that a lot of these options fly beneath the radar.
So, I dug by a few of Valve’s current bulletins and explored the software program from finish to finish. Listed below are some cool Steam options I discovered that you just may’ve neglected.
Play Steam video games in your TV or telephone
Steam is a PC gaming platform, however you aren’t restricted to your PC. With Valve’s personal Steam Link app, you possibly can stream video games out of your PC to appropriate gadgets together with telephones, tablets, and TVs.
All it’s a must to do is set up Steam Hyperlink on the gadget you need to play on (e.g., your TV or telephone) and join by way of Steam Hyperlink to your gaming PC. This connection might be revamped native community or the web, which means you possibly can really play your video games even when away from house.
What really occurs is that your inputs are despatched to your PC, which runs the precise sport, and the sport’s visible output is streamed to your gadget in actual time. It’s mainly a cloud gaming setup, besides your individual PC is the cloud service on this case.
Associated: Which cloud gaming service is right for you?
If you wish to get much more technical with a full-blown DIY undertaking, you possibly can even build your own Steam gaming console for your TV, which is what PCWorld’s personal Will Smith did only for funsies. I gained’t faux to know precisely how he did it, however the finish result’s spectacular.
See how a lot you’ve spent on Steam
Bragging about what number of unplayed video games you could have in your Steam backlog is so 2010s. How about bragging concerning the ungodly quantity you’ve spent on video games, performed or not?
If you wish to pull again the veil and learn the way a lot of your future retirement fund you’ve frittered away in your gaming library, then Steam has the stat loaded and prepared for you.
Navigate to Assist > Steam assist > My account > Information associated to your Steam account > Exterior funds used and also you’ll see a breakdown of your whole spend over the lifetime of the account. Ouch.
Take wealthy notes for every sport
Jon Martindale / IDG
Jon Martindale / IDG
Jon Martindale / IDG
Have you ever used the comparatively new Notes characteristic in Steam? Valve introduced it in a big update last year and I’ve fallen in love with it.
It’s mainly a notepad that you may entry by the Steam overlay (open the overlay utilizing the Shift + Tab shortcut), and you’ll hold notes on a per-game foundation. It’s the place I retailer my strategic plans for sophisticated video games on Tabletop Simulator, and it’s the place I depart myself reminders for what I need to do subsequent in Kerbal Area Program.
And Steam Notes can maintain extra than simply textual content. You may make hyperlinks to webpages, you possibly can write code, and you’ll even paste pictures. (Copy the picture you need and paste it in utilizing Ctrl + V.)
You’ll be able to then entry Steam Notes exterior of the sport itself. Navigate to the sport in your library, then scroll down and take a look at the right-hand facet of the Steam window. You’ll discover the Notes tab with every part you’ve written and/or pasted there.
Do you ever really feel just like the video games in your Steam library are going to waste, both since you’ve but to play them otherwise you’ve accomplished them and haven’t any intention of ever taking part in them once more? Think about sharing these video games with family and friends so they can play them!
Steam Family is a nifty feature that permits you to share your sport library with as much as 5 different folks. Video games are shareable on a game-to-game foundation (should be enabled by every developer), and a shared sport can solely be performed by one particular person at a time. Every particular person in your Steam Household is designated as both an Grownup or Baby, with particular parental controls that may restrict entry to sure video games and Steam options for Youngsters.
To share Steam video games with somebody, each of you want Steam Guard enabled in your accounts. Then, go to Steam > Settings > Household, allow Activate household library on this gadget, then choose the account you need to share your library with from the listing. To play a shared sport, the borrower should choose Borrow on the sport of their library, after which the proprietor should approve the borrow request.
Use customized controller configs per sport
For those who favor to sport in your PC with a gaming controller as a substitute of keyboard and mouse, it is best to know that you may obtain and use customized controller presets created by the group on a per-game foundation. These presets could also be higher than the defaults.
To make use of these controller configs, go to Steam > View > Huge Image Mode. Then, in your sport library, choose a sport and click on on the controller icon beside it. Click on on the present controller format and also you’ll have the ability to browse each official and community-made configs.
Customise your Steam library artwork
Don’t like the emblem of a selected sport? Want the background wasn’t so ugly and need to tweak it? Or possibly you need to revamp the artwork for each sport in your Steam library as a type of artistic expression? You’ll be able to!
All it’s a must to do is open your Steam library, choose the sport you need to change the artwork for, then right-click the background picture in the principle window and select the picture you need to change it with.
This may be a good way to, say, add your favourite private screenshots as a backdrop or just to customise logos for readability. SteamGridDB has some superb fan-made art work you need to use to exchange the defaults, when you aren’t artistic and/or need one thing professional-looking.
Promote Steam Buying and selling Playing cards for pockets funds
Jon Martindale / IDG
Jon Martindale / IDG
Jon Martindale / IDG
Frankly, I don’t care about Steam Buying and selling Playing cards, and I do know I can’t be the one one. There’s nothing flawed if you like them, after all — and it’s really higher for me that folks need them as a result of it permits me the chance to promote them for cash.
If you wish to eliminate your Steam Buying and selling Playing cards, merely click on in your account title in Steam and choose Stock. Then, choose all the buying and selling playing cards you don’t need (for me, that’s all of them) and hit the Promote button to promote them on the open market at a good value.
They won’t promote right away, however they need to go ultimately — and earlier than you understand it, you’ll have just a few further {dollars} to spend on a brand new sport or DLC that’s sitting in your wishlist.
If you wish to file video of your gameplay, you could have choices so far as what software program to make use of — however why not simply use Steam itself? Earlier this 12 months, Valve launched a helpful sport recording characteristic that’s free to make use of and constructed proper into the Steam consumer for final comfort.
To allow it, you’ll must be working the beta model of Steam (not less than on the time of this writing). To change to the beta model of Steam, you possibly can merely go to Steam > Settings > Interface, then choose one of many beta choices from the drop-down menu.
After Steam restarts within the beta department, navigate to Steam > Settings > Sport Recording, then choose both Background (to file continuously within the background, as much as the bounds you set for time and storage) or On Demand (to solely file whenever you manually toggle it).
You’ll be able to add timeline markers that will help you hold monitor of essential moments, you possibly can clip the footage, and you’ll share these clips, all from inside the Steam interface. Simply open the Steam overlay (once more, that’s Shift + Tab in sport) and begin slicing up your highlights.
Extra on this: Hands-on with Steam’s game recording beta
Examine your FPS in video games
Jon Martindale / IDG
Jon Martindale / IDG
Jon Martindale / IDG
This specific characteristic has been in Steam for some time, however I’ve written sufficient “How to check your in-game FPS” guides to know that it’s nonetheless one thing that many aren’t conscious of. Steam might not be the greatest instrument for checking body charges, nevertheless it is the quickest and most easy.
Navigate to Steam > Settings > In sport, then allow the In-game FPS counter. It’ll show a easy common body price on the prime of your display screen, which is nice sufficient for many instances. (For those who don’t see it, be sure to haven’t disabled the Steam overlay from exhibiting in-game.)
Change Steam’s begin web page
Suppose you end up spending approach an excessive amount of on Steam video games and also you need to remove as many temptations as you possibly can. One factor you are able to do is change Steam’s begin web page so that you aren’t bombarded with gross sales, presents, and new releases.
To vary Steam’s begin web page, go to Steam > Settings > Interface, then choose one of many choices for the way you need Steam to start out up. The choices embrace Information, Library, Neighborhood Dwelling, and (if Steam is an important side of your on-line social life) Buddy exercise.
After Steam’s newest person interface overhaul, Valve launched much more suggestions in your subsequent buy — and this can be a nice solution to discover hidden gems, even you probably have an expansive wishlist already.
All it’s a must to do is navigate to the Retailer web page, scroll down, and simply hold scrolling down. You’ll see the standard particular presents and featured video games on the prime, however hold going and also you’ll enter into the weeds the place you’ll find all kinds of lesser-known titles.
These suggestions are based mostly on numerous elements, together with the video games you really play, the video games your mates have been taking part in recently, video games out of your wishlist that had been just lately up to date, and a few really area of interest picks from area of interest classes that Steam thinks you’d like.
Whereas writing this text, I stored scrolling simply to see what Steam thinks I’d like and ended up discovering a bunch of “underwater video games” and “healthful video games,” which I apparently have a penchant for!
Additional studying: Must-know Steam tips to level up your PC gaming
