10 Features On Steam You Probably Distatic.aayyy.com/topic/dn/'t Know Existed

Two decades ago, Steam was released to the public. In the 20 years since then, Valve's storefront has revolutionized digital distribution and redefined the way that games are played on PC.

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Features such as early access, the Steam Workshop, and cloud support for save files and screenshots are just a few of the capabilities that Steam offers, and there are many more that you may not be as familiar with. Steam is continuously updated to make life easier when managing your library of games. Let's take a look at some of the lesser-known features on Steam that, perhaps, you may not have heard about.

10 Storage Manager

One lesser known but still quite useful feature of Steam is the Storage Manager. This feature can be accessed by navigating to Steam's settings, then clicking on the Storage tab. The Storage Manager lets you see exactly how much space each game you have installed is taking up on your drives, including Workshop content.

The sum total of all your games is displayed as a clear visual representation of the space they take up, as well as the installation size of each individual game and how much free space remains.

9 Download Queue

When installing or updating games, Steam allows you to organize the order in which they are downloaded. Steam offers the ability to intuitively drag and drop the game icons within the Downloads section, and by doing this you can curate your download queue on the fly, or schedule the order of downloads for later.

Games can also be right-clicked to be removed from the queue altogether. Steam also offers the auto-updating of games, as well as the functionality to pause updates altogether until the game is next launched.

8 Small Mode

By clicking on 'View' at the top of Steam, you can access the option to launch Steam in Small Mode. Small Mode is a paired down version of the Steam program, essentially just being your Library without the addition of the storefront and the community.

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This paired down, minimalist version of Steam is perfect for those who are not interested in the community features that Steam has on offer, and only wish to access their games.

7 Dynamic Collections

When creating a new collection on Steam, you will have the opportunity to create a dynamic collection instead. By selecting specific groups of tags, dynamic collections will automatically populate with games that fulfill the criteria you have selected. You might, for example, sort by multiplayer, co-op, and survival.

By clicking the Snapshot option, the dynamic collection will then be converted into a regular collection. This can be used in a variety of ways, by sorting your library into genres or keeping track of unplayed games.

6 External Storage

Through use of the Storage Manager, it's possible to transfer your Steam installations to external drives. When an individual game is highlighted in the Storage Manager, there will be the option to move the game's files.

Any external drives connected to your computer can be accessed via the Storage Manager by clicking the 'Add Drive' option. From there, the external drive can be selected. Once transferred, the games installed on the external drive can be played like any other as long as the drive is connected to your computer.

5 Steam Labs

Occasionally, Valve opens access to experiments in Steam's development through a program called Steam Labs. These encompass things such as game recommendations, search functionality, and new ways to browse the storefront.

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Several of these experiments have resulted in full additions to the program, such as word filtering in text chats, the news hub, an expanded search, and more. The current batch of opt in experiments include DLC recommendations, a new discovery queue, and micro trailers. Steam Labs can be accessed from the top of the storefront.

4 Steam Input

Aside from Valve's own controller, the Steam Controller, Steam features full functionality with a variety of third-party gamepads. Steam supports plug-and-play compatibility with Xbox controllers, DualShock 4, DualSense, and even Switch Pro controllers, among many others.

Users can also explore community-created layouts for games without native controller support, allowing older games to be played with a gamepad as well. Of course, you can also create your own bindings as well, with the option of uploading these custom configurations to the library of community layouts.

3 Steam Overlay

The Steam Overlay is a commonly used long time feature of Steam, but more recent updates have expanded its uses. Most notable is the ability to pin messages to the screen using the Notepad app, which can continue to be viewed even while the overlay is closed.

These notes are organized by game, sync to the cloud, and even work offline. Other overlay functions, such as guides, discussions, and even the web browser can similarly be pinned, with each having an adjustable opacity level to boot.

2 Betas

Some games on Steam offer access to betas and other miscellaneous game builds. Simply right click on any given game, choose properties, then click the 'betas' section. In a drop-down menu you'll be able to see what builds, if any, are available.

These may be earlier versions of a game, or new versions available for testing. Additionally, Steam itself offers the ability to opt into a client beta. After navigating to the setting menu, go to 'Interface' and there will be the option to enable beta builds for the Steam client.

1 Remote Play Together

Remote Play Together is the ability to essentially share your games with one of your friends and play local multiplayer games over the internet. As long as one person owns the game, up to four of their friends can join in as easily as clicking an invitation.

While in a game, if you open to Steam overlay or otherwise navigate to your friends list, you will be presented with the option to invite people on your Steam friends list to join. Players can use their individual controllers, or virtually share a keyboard and mouse.

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