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A new Steam Deck Beta Client update was released recently with some great new improvements, especially for Remote Play. The new Pyrowave codec had a bunch of fixes and improvements, including increasing the manual bitrate limit and improved calculation for better visual quality.

There was also new Steam Controller firmware, which improves the time needed to fully connect the controller in Steam, Bluetooth connections disconnecting repeatedly, and fixes an issue where pairing via the puck could fail.

You can download the update yourself in the System Settings on the Steam Deck. Make sure your update channel is set to Beta or Preview.

Steam Deck Beta Client 10/1/26 Update Changelog:

General

  • Fixed a bug that sometimes caused an empty "Steam Family Activity" group to appear in notification settings

Remote Play

  • Improved the automatic Pyrowave bitrate calculation to improve visual quality
  • Added convars @PyrowavePSNR and @PyrowaveHeightFactor to tune automatic bitrate calculation (see https://github.com/Themaister/pyrowave/blob/master/eval-results/objective-bitrate-evaluation.md for details)
  • Pyrowave manual bitrates can be increased up to 1 Gbit/s (more bandwidth increases latency!)
  • Pyrowave bitrate has been reset to the automatic default
  • Fixed gradually increasing video latency when using Pyrowave on slow network links
  • Reduced audio dropouts when using Pyrowave
  • Added a dialog to recover if your network isn't able to handle current streaming settings
  • Added a Steam menu option to stop desktop streaming

Steam Input

  • On Linux switch to reshuffling gamepad input when the last running game exits instead of on game launch to avoid issues when running multiple apps at the same time

Game Overlay

  • Fixed crash when Vulkan games recreate their swapchain

Steam Controller Firmware

  • Fixed an issue where some Bluetooth BLE connections could disconnect repeatedly, especially on Steam Deck
  • Improve the time needed to fully connect the device in Steam
  • Fixed an issue where pairing via a puck connection could fail

If you enjoyed this article, check out the rest of the content on SteamDeckHQ! We have a wide variety of game reviews and news that will help your gaming experience. Whether you're looking for news, tips and tutorials, game settings and reviews, or just want to stay up-to-date on the latest trends, we've got you covered!

Noah Kupetsky
A lover of gaming since 4, Noah has grown up with a love and passion for the industry. From there, he started to travel a lot and develop a joy for handheld and PC gaming. When the Steam Deck released, it just all clicked.
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