SteamOS 3.6 Is Now Released With Performance Improvements, Mura Compensation, and Much More

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SteamOS updates are one of the longer cycles for Valve to release into stable due to all of the big changes that come with it, which usually involve tons of fixes, updates, and improvements. Today is no different, since SteamOS 3.6 has made its way to the stable branch! And yes, this comes with some incredible improvements too.

We have an updated graphics driver for some better performance, better UI responsiveness, updated arch linux base, improved uniformity for mura and gamma compensation, support for new controllers (and the ROG Ally), improved VRR frame pacing, updated Desktop mode, support for HDMI CEC features, a new Dock firmware updated for compatibility fixes with VRR displays with high refresh rates, and so many bug fixes. The Steam Deck LCD also has new overclocking controls and improved battery life in lighter situations.

All in all, this is a great update across the board, and should be downloaded immediately. SteamOS updates after this one should also be a lot quicker, which I can really appreciate. You can download the update by going to your System Settings on the Steam Deck and checking for an update.

SteamOS 3.6.19 Update Changelog:

General

• Updated to a more recent Arch Linux base, and updated Linux kernel to version 6.5
  • These updates improve hardware compatibility, system performance, security, and overall system stability
• Improved speed of subsequent OS updates
• Improved reliability of certain microSD card usage scenarios
• Worked around misdetection of some SanDisk microSD cards
• Improved responsiveness of session restart in case of session crashes caused by certain GPU errors
• Fixed an issue where certain games could crash with a 'page allocation failure' after a long play session
• Improved recovery from situations where the Steam installation could get corrupted
• Fixed some connectivity failures with access points supporting WPA3 security
• Fixed a problem where Steam Deck would be unable to connect to certain Wi-Fi 7 access points
• Fixed game session cursor offset alignment
• Fixed an issue where a thin grey line could appear at the bottom of the screen during boot in some situations
• Fixed an issue where the Performance Overlay would spuriously enable itself under certain conditions
• Fixed an issue preventing sleep on some types of aftermarket SSDs
• Fixed an issue preventing update checks from working properly on networks with an invalid IPv6 configuration
• Fixed an issue where touching the left trackpad after sleep could result in a spurious haptic click
• Fixed a general issue affecting OLED units on 3.5, causing a slow memory leak during gameplay
• Fixed an issue causing a "Update Error" message when attempting to interact with the update menu on the 'Preview' update channel.
• Fixed the frame limiter not properly applying in certain situations
• Fixed an issue where block corruption could appear on screen on certain state transitions
• Fixed an issue where updating the built-in controller firmware could result in a blank screen during boot
• Fixed a rare issue where sound output could be corrupted on certain boots
• Fixed a rare issue where 3.5mm headphones could produce elevated background noise on reconnection until next sleep/resume
• Fixed an issue where updates would sometimes be applied incorrectly if the unit was powered off abruptly near the end of an OS update
• Fixed an issue with copy-pasting UTF-8 text across applications
• Fixed a problem where a Game Recording capture failing could cause subsequent captures to also fail
• Fixed a crash when using the magnifier tool while game recording is active
• Fixed colorspace for Game Recording
• Fixed an issue where colors could appear washed out when using Steam Remote Play as a client
• Fixed a possible crash when using Steam Deck as the Remote Play host
• Fixed an issue that could cause videos to stutter in titles such as BlazBlue Centralfiction
• Fixed an issue with a rare session crash during early startup of ELDEN RING
• Fixed display regressions with certain titles such as Warriors All-Stars, Disgaea 5 Complete, Vampire: The Masquerade - Reckoning of New York
• Worked around a bug where HDR couldn't be selected in Halo Infinite
• Fixed an issue causing temporary files to accrue when using Flatpak
• Security fix for Flatpak (CVE-2024-42472)

Graphics and Performance

• Updated graphics driver to Mesa 24.1, with many performance and other improvements
• Improved responsiveness of the Steam UI
• Improved performance and stability in memory pressure situations
• Slightly improved cold boot time

Display

• Improved display uniformity, under some conditions (Mura Compensation)
• Improved display color balance (reduced green tint) at lower brightness levels, under some conditions
• Improved gamma uniformity (yellow tint), under some conditions
• Fixed certain specific refresh rates failing to apply on the OLED Limited Edition model
• Fixed an issue where the internal display could remain blank after disconnecting an external display
• Fixed an issue where internal display could be abnormally limited to a lower frame rate after disconnecting an external display with VRR enabled
• Fixed rare situations where switching to Desktop Mode or back could result in a blank screen, or wrong colors

External Display

• Fixed several issues where an external display could remain blank after resuming
• Fixed an issue where an external display could remain blank if its mode required chroma subsampling
• Fixed an issue where the system could crash on wakeup if an external DisplayPort monitor was connected
• Fixed a system crash when hotplugging a second display in Desktop mode
• Improved frame pacing with VRR on external displays

Bluetooth

• Improved pairing experience with Apple AirPods
• Enabled support for Bluetooth HFP and BAP profiles
• Added mechanism to configure which Bluetooth device categories are allowed to wake the system from suspend
  • By default, controllers are the only devices that can wake the system from sleep
  • Finer-grained UI configuration options will be available as part of a future update
• Improved connection speed of some Bluetooth devices
• Fixed an issue where Bluetooth peripherals would disconnect on session switch

Input

• Added support for extra ROG Ally keys
• Added support for the ASUS ROG Raikiri Pro controller
• Added support for the Machenike G5 Pro controller
• Added support for the Steam Deck motion sensors to the built-in non-Steam kernel driver
• Fixed an issue where scroll wheel Steam Input bindings weren't functional
• Fixed an issue where DualShock 4 and DualSense controllers would sometimes not function properly on their first connection
• Fixed calibration on some third-party DualShock 4 controllers

Desktop Mode

• Updated to KDE Plasma 5.27.10
• Enabled thumbnail previews for videos in the file browser
• Fixed an issue with desktop use that could cause subsequent microSD card auto-mount to fail
• Fixed Zenity dialog boxes
• Fixed nested desktop crashing on launch

BIOS / Firmware

• Adjusted power LED slow charging threshold
• Fixed not being able to set the SDCard as default boot device
• Fixed spurious power LED blinking in S5
• Steam Deck OLED only
  • Added support for the Windows Bluetooth driver (LCD models already have Windows Bluetooth support)
• Steam Deck LCD only
  • Improved battery life by up to 10% in light load situations
  • Added overclocking controls

Steam Deck Docking Station

• Added support for some HDMI CEC features:
  • TV remote input
  • TV wake up
  • TV input switching
• Updated Dock firmware, with compatibility fixes for high-refresh-rate VRR displays, and fixing several issues where displays could remain blank

Development and Modding

• Modified files in /etc are now migrated to new OS versions based on a whitelist
  • Fixes numerous issues with incidentally touched /etc files becoming 'sticky' and persisting unexpectedly
  • Additional whitelist entries can be added via config fragments
  • See /etc/atomic-update.conf.d/example-additional-keep-list.conf
  • Added /etc/previous/ containing modifications from the previous update to prevent unexpected data loss
  • Up to five previous snaphots of /etc modifications will additionally be retained in /var/lib/steamos-atomupd/etc_backup/
• Added support for {ssh,sshd}_config fragments
• Split package reinstallation step out of `steamos-devmode` command and into new `steamos-unminimize` command. `steamos-devmode` now simply enters read-write mode and initializes the pacman keyring for use, and is much quicker.
• openssh: Fix remote code execution bug (CVE-2024-6387)

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