Steam's weakness is actually browsing games, and the new Beta is actually worse for doing this. They really need to sort out the simple nuts and bolts of finding a decent game to buy first, and then go fix all the community stuff.
I like the store but fail to see how it's any better its better in some ways but worse in others. The thing bugging me the most is I have nearly 200 games on steam and there still isnt a good way to manage it and the big image grid thing is just a joke the list inst much better so detail view is all there is and its the same as the old list just with no icons.
Originally Posted by wuyanxu may i ask have they fixed the MW2 overlay bug?
it looks awesome, been hold off because of possible problem with MW2.
AFAIK it was a bug with the overlay in general, not just with MW2. In any case they fixed most problems with memory leaks the overlay crashing in the first week after it was released, although it will still randomly start using 50% of my CPU at times, causing stuttering in games.
I really like the new UI, the categories were great for organising your game library, you could assign a game to multiple categories (for example, Borderlands for example could be assigned to FPS, RPG, Multiplayer). A couple of updates ago though the functionality of categories was stripped down to 1 category per game which just doesn't work as well. I'm hoping they'll bring it back at some point.
Didn't take me much more than 2 minutes of using the new STEAM UI before finding some gripes. They've practically scrapped the mini games list and also the handy filtering of installed and available games. They should just have left that functionality as it is now and merely have added the new look.
I was also quite annoyed at seeing the Friends list sans avatars being completely illegible in the style of "<user name> <game>", i.e. "azrael Half-Life 2". It works fine if you display avatars.
Went back to the old UI after about 5 minutes. Otherwise I might probably have found even more niggles.
Oh, and when I wanted to report/vent on the STEAM forums I noticed my forum account had gone AWOL. Very nice...
I hope they include an option to keep it looking like it does at the moment. I hate change; for example, I've made Win 7 look like 95 and have reverted back to Office 2003 :| .
Steam has long needed a more powerful advanced search in the store (e.g. "SELECT * FROM games WHERE price < $5 AND own_it_already = FALSE AND metacritic_rating > 85 AND 3rdPartyDRM = FALSE;", but probably without the SQL syntax =]).
After they get that, maybe they can pull some of those features into the local display of your already-owned games.
Last time I looked (early beta) catergories was a totally broken concept. Only being able to put games individually into categories one at a time was a total deal breaker. I have over 100 games listed on steam I will not go throu' each one popping it into a category (s). I would like to be able to create a Category (eg. FPS games) and add all the games in that category by selecting them from a big check box list.
Another interesting feature, anyone tried leaving a group in the new BETA UI?? I couldn't find a way at all of leaving groups, it appears the link is missing from the page where it should be. In the end I went back to old steam ui to do it.
I fear change, bigger isn't better, and it has the feel of M$ Xbox UI where it tries to sell you stuff first and then let you get to the social aspects (your games list, friends list, etc.).
The only thing they need to do with achievements is to get rid of them. It kills the game when players are just trying to get there achievements instead of playing the game.
On topic I haven't tried the beta yet but I think they need to change what ever they use as a browser in-game and for steam in general.
Well, I'm glad I don't have any of the problems that everyone else seems to be having (except jrr, but then sometimes I want a SQL interface to everything as well).
Personally, my favourite bit of the new UI is the new browser, instead of being based on the IE engine, it's now webkit based, and loads faster, and just more pleasant to use.
Originally Posted by jrr Steam has long needed a more powerful advanced search in the store (e.g. "SELECT * FROM games WHERE price < $5 AND own_it_already = FALSE AND metacritic_rating > 85 AND 3rdPartyDRM = FALSE;", but probably without the SQL syntax =]).
After they get that, maybe they can pull some of those features into the local display of your already-owned games.
May I suggest GamersGate? It's based in a browser and even has a search filter for "DRM free".
Originally Posted by phuzz Well, I'm glad I don't have any of the problems that everyone else seems to be having (except jrr, but then sometimes I want a SQL interface to everything as well).
Personally, my favourite bit of the new UI is the new browser, instead of being based on the IE engine, it's now webkit based, and loads faster, and just more pleasant to use.
I was wondering when that would be mentioned. To me that's the most important change. I don't browse the steam store, and only buy games on it when I know exactly what I want. I don't use the community stuff too much either. I haven't even been able to see the store recently because I don't have flash installed in IE, so the games they are advertising don't show up. Moving away from ie can only be a good thing. They may have only done this because they had to however, because they are moving to OSX, and basing steam on ie wouldn't have worked well with that change. I can't wait until I don't have to boot into windows to play TF2 and other games, especially when my i7 based hackintosh is completed this summer. (Hope this doesn't start the whole anti Apple thing, just mentioning that it is a large part of the new steam)
Originally Posted by Pete J I hope they include an option to keep it looking like it does at the moment.
In the more recent betas, they've included an option in the view menu where you're able to switch between small and large mode. Small mode being very much like the previous steam menu. Which is good, as I'm not a fan of the large library mode, which takes up 60% of your screen, either.
I personally think the new UI is great now that they have ironed out the initial large bugs. The mini list is still there, the detail list serves it's purpose and the grid view is pretty in that itunes-dukebox kind of way but not very practical. The categories are very handy and all your choices are stored on the steam cloud so they carry over between machines. I do wish you could assign a game to multiple categories though (action/co-op/fps/etc.)
The best part of the new UI though is the ingame interface. As many have pointed out, the new browser - based on webkit rather than IE - is a marked improvement and it is even possible to watch youtube videos, ingame should you so wish. You are also treated to the much needed clock as well as friends, news specific to your current game as well as relevant links and current achievment progress.
All in all there isn't much not to like as you can customise pretty much all of it to your tastes.
If anyone was put off by their first couple of tries when the UI first launch, I'd suggest giving it another shot.
The new mini list is a pale shadow of itself. I've never really understood why there's a need to remove existing functionality when updating a feature set.
Tried the beta when it appeared a couple of months back, not sure if i liked it, and went back to the old version. Just seems simple and uncluttered compared to the new version. Only change i made was to change to the 'flat obsidian' colour-scheme, much better than the default 'dirty green' :)
Originally Posted by pbryanw In the more recent betas, they've included an option in the view menu where you're able to switch between small and large mode. Small mode being very much like the previous steam menu. Which is good, as I'm not a fan of the large library mode, which takes up 60% of your screen, either.
Ah, good to hear, I hate the idea of the library system too. What's wrong with the list format at the moment?!
Quote:
Originally Posted by MajorTom The best part of the new UI though is the ingame interface. As many have pointed out, the new browser - based on webkit rather than IE - is a marked improvement and it is even possible to watch youtube videos, ingame should you so wish.
Good. I use Chrome and prefer it over IE by a long way.
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Replyit looks awesome, been hold off because of possible problem with MW2.
The best feature for me is the clock when you shift-tab... I'm always staying on too long, not realising how late it is!
AFAIK it was a bug with the overlay in general, not just with MW2. In any case they fixed most problems with memory leaks the overlay crashing in the first week after it was released, although it will still randomly start using 50% of my CPU at times, causing stuttering in games.
I was also quite annoyed at seeing the Friends list sans avatars being completely illegible in the style of "<user name> <game>", i.e. "azrael Half-Life 2". It works fine if you display avatars.
Went back to the old UI after about 5 minutes. Otherwise I might probably have found even more niggles.
Oh, and when I wanted to report/vent on the STEAM forums I noticed my forum account had gone AWOL. Very nice...
After they get that, maybe they can pull some of those features into the local display of your already-owned games.
Another interesting feature, anyone tried leaving a group in the new BETA UI?? I couldn't find a way at all of leaving groups, it appears the link is missing from the page where it should be. In the end I went back to old steam ui to do it.
I fear change, bigger isn't better, and it has the feel of M$ Xbox UI where it tries to sell you stuff first and then let you get to the social aspects (your games list, friends list, etc.).
i enjoy re-downloading 50GB of data on a regular basis.
That bug was fixed a month ago.
On topic I haven't tried the beta yet but I think they need to change what ever they use as a browser in-game and for steam in general.
Personally, my favourite bit of the new UI is the new browser, instead of being based on the IE engine, it's now webkit based, and loads faster, and just more pleasant to use.
May I suggest GamersGate? It's based in a browser and even has a search filter for "DRM free".
I was wondering when that would be mentioned. To me that's the most important change. I don't browse the steam store, and only buy games on it when I know exactly what I want. I don't use the community stuff too much either. I haven't even been able to see the store recently because I don't have flash installed in IE, so the games they are advertising don't show up. Moving away from ie can only be a good thing. They may have only done this because they had to however, because they are moving to OSX, and basing steam on ie wouldn't have worked well with that change. I can't wait until I don't have to boot into windows to play TF2 and other games, especially when my i7 based hackintosh is completed this summer. (Hope this doesn't start the whole anti Apple thing, just mentioning that it is a large part of the new steam)
The best part of the new UI though is the ingame interface. As many have pointed out, the new browser - based on webkit rather than IE - is a marked improvement and it is even possible to watch youtube videos, ingame should you so wish. You are also treated to the much needed clock as well as friends, news specific to your current game as well as relevant links and current achievment progress.
All in all there isn't much not to like as you can customise pretty much all of it to your tastes.
If anyone was put off by their first couple of tries when the UI first launch, I'd suggest giving it another shot.
There is no life without Steam.
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