35 ms·

New Steam beta replaces Trident/IE with WebKit

34 points by eswat 17y ago

eswat 17y ago
Here's some screenshots of the new client. New games list: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/506504/new_steam_ui_library.jpg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/506504/new_steam_ui_library.jpg New store site: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/506504/new_steam_ui_store.jpg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/506504/new_steam_ui_store.jpg New in-game overlay and browser: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/506504/new_steam_browser.jpg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/506504/new_steam_browser.jpg
jpcx01 17y ago
About time! I always wondered how such a successful product could lag so behind in polish. That embedded IE control steam uses is an absolute pain in the ass.
- jsolson 17y ago
  Precisely because they had such a successful product. Initially that product wasn't Steam, but Half-Life 2. Once other studious picked up on it as a distribution model (because who doesn't want to take advantage of the entire HL2 install-base to market their game?), they were golden. Also, despite its lack of overall polish, occasional crashiness, and the inconsistent and slow UI, for the most part Steam works exactly as advertised. It lets me install my games anywhere as many times as I like for free, I can play them offline if they're single player, and online I get a lovely Xbox-Live style server browser and social management right in the client. The worst I can say about it is that I'd be a little happier with it if it were more polished, and I'd kill a man for a Mac port (including, obviously, the games I care about).
dnorris10 17y ago
Wow, that looks much better! Does anyone know how much better it performs compared to the IE-based client?
- kevingadd 17y ago
  As far as subjective measurements go, it's night and day. Repainting is quicker, pages load faster, content (like images) streams in more quickly onto the screen, and the UI in general pauses less. It helps that they also overhauled the user interface so that it's easier to use, which makes it feel faster even if it actually isn't. I always speculated that a lot of the random pauses/hangs in the Steam UI were caused by IE, and now I'm fairly certain as most of them are gone in the new one.
  - dnorris10 17y ago
    I tried using it earlier and it is a lot quicker. The only downside I've noticed is that an individual game sometimes takes up to 5 seconds to load, but I suspect it's my connection rather than the client itself.
antipax 17y ago
Why is the fact that they're switching to WebKit buried in the document so deeply? That's like the best thing they did.
- kevingadd 17y ago
  Their customers care more about the surface symptoms than the technical details behind why it's an improvement. If you use the new UI, it's immediately obvious why it's a big deal: Because the UI is vastly improved. The fact that WebKit is involved isn't really important (though it is a cool detail).
- houseabsolute 17y ago
  Because it is written for regular people who care about regular things.
mey 17y ago
I wonder if this a step towards multi-platform Steam...
- daniel02216 17y ago
  There's OS X style close buttons and menu layouts in the Steam files now, so I'd guess that multiplatform Steam is a good bet.
  - Flow 17y ago
    I'll send a big bunch of flowers to the good peeps at Valve if they deliver Steam, TF2 and CSS for Mac OS X! I already bought these games, but wouldn't mind paying a bit more again just to cover the port costs.
    - CoryOndrejka 17y ago
      FWIW, I use Wine via Code Weavers' Cross Over Games (http://www.codeweavers.com/ http://www.codeweavers.com/) to play my Steam games on a few different older Mac laptops I have. It works pretty well.
      - Flow 17y ago
        I have CrossOver Game 8.0. I used to play HaloPC a lot in it, despite horrible mouse lag. In TF2 I noticed the performance was quite a lot worse than in Win7. It works though.
- grumpyfart 17y ago
  It doesn't matter how Steam is cross-platform as soon as no one bothers to develop games for other platforms. BTW about 10 years later none-console gaming will be such a niche we'll see less and less games, and only lemonade tycoon quality :)
  - TeHCrAzY 17y ago
    Why do you think the PC gaming industry will die?
kevingadd 17y ago
Specifically, they're using the Chromium Embedded Framework: http://code.google.com/p/chromiumembedded/ http://code.google.com/p/chromiumembedded/ http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Chromium_Embedded_Framework http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Chromium_Embedded_Fr... I'm looking forward to seeing them release the modified source. Always nice to see a game studio participate in the open source community.
- houseabsolute 17y ago
  One more bit of evidence that the GPL may not be the best thing for Open Source software. Think about it: if CEF used GPL, Valve might not have used it fearing that if they built Steam and decided they did not wish to release the source, they would have no choice but to not distribute Steam. With the BSD license, they could put in the work and decide once the project was complete whether or not to release the source code. But now we get a shiny new Steam and the source code. Epic win for everyone involved.
  - jmillikin 17y ago
    The GPL cannot force somebody to release their source code.
    - houseabsolute 17y ago
      You are mistaken if you believe that you can distribute an application built using GPL code and not release the source code (and all derived code) as well. In the event that you were confused by my wording, check again. I have attempted to clarify.
      - jmillikin 17y ago
        That's not what your original post said, and even now that you've edited it, it's still wrong. There is no requirement that Valve release source code for an internal development build, and just because GPL'd code was at one point used in Steam wouldn't prevent them from distributing it without source in the future. The GPL isn't some magical infective uber-license; it's just plain copyright.
malbiniak 17y ago
Great! Maybe now they'll update counter-strike.
- bugs 17y ago
  That will never be done, I played source for many years and for the year that they updated it and ruined many competitive features it wasn't that great and actually made me buy a new computer to even play the game with an HDR update. Now I can see them release a new Counterstrike in a few years that looks and plays tf2 but thats about it.
- houseabsolute 17y ago
  I don't know, it seems like that game is basically done (in the sense of being a complete, finished work of art).
BasicObject 17y ago
Huge win.
dirtbox 17y ago
Semi-related yet off-topic, but in not divulging their sales figures, Valve is hurting the PC as a gaming platform in huge and undeniable ways. They are, in essence, destroying it by making it appear that no one buys games for Windows. All format charts are dominated by console titles and almost all games are initially developed for those and pooly ported to the PC in what seems to be an afterthought. Piracy is then blamed for those apparently falling sales figures and the PC is no longer an attractive platform for development.
Super_Jambo 17y ago
Anyone tell me if this allows you to choose different install directories for different games?

34 points by eswat 17y ago

eswat 17y ago

Here's some screenshots of the new client. New games list: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/506504/new_steam_ui_library.jpg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/506504/new_steam_ui_library.jpg New store site: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/506504/new_steam_ui_store.jpg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/506504/new_steam_ui_store.jpg New in-game overlay and browser: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/506504/new_steam_browser.jpg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/506504/new_steam_browser.jpg

jpcx01 17y ago

About time! I always wondered how such a successful product could lag so behind in polish. That embedded IE control steam uses is an absolute pain in the ass.

jsolson 17y ago
Precisely because they had such a successful product. Initially that product wasn't Steam, but Half-Life 2. Once other studious picked up on it as a distribution model (because who doesn't want to take advantage of the entire HL2 install-base to market their game?), they were golden. Also, despite its lack of overall polish, occasional crashiness, and the inconsistent and slow UI, for the most part Steam works exactly as advertised. It lets me install my games anywhere as many times as I like for free, I can play them offline if they're single player, and online I get a lovely Xbox-Live style server browser and social management right in the client. The worst I can say about it is that I'd be a little happier with it if it were more polished, and I'd kill a man for a Mac port (including, obviously, the games I care about).

dnorris10 17y ago

Wow, that looks much better! Does anyone know how much better it performs compared to the IE-based client?

kevingadd 17y ago
As far as subjective measurements go, it's night and day. Repainting is quicker, pages load faster, content (like images) streams in more quickly onto the screen, and the UI in general pauses less. It helps that they also overhauled the user interface so that it's easier to use, which makes it feel faster even if it actually isn't. I always speculated that a lot of the random pauses/hangs in the Steam UI were caused by IE, and now I'm fairly certain as most of them are gone in the new one.
- dnorris10 17y ago
  I tried using it earlier and it is a lot quicker. The only downside I've noticed is that an individual game sometimes takes up to 5 seconds to load, but I suspect it's my connection rather than the client itself.

antipax 17y ago

Why is the fact that they're switching to WebKit buried in the document so deeply? That's like the best thing they did.

kevingadd 17y ago
Their customers care more about the surface symptoms than the technical details behind why it's an improvement. If you use the new UI, it's immediately obvious why it's a big deal: Because the UI is vastly improved. The fact that WebKit is involved isn't really important (though it is a cool detail).
houseabsolute 17y ago
Because it is written for regular people who care about regular things.

mey 17y ago

I wonder if this a step towards multi-platform Steam...

daniel02216 17y ago
There's OS X style close buttons and menu layouts in the Steam files now, so I'd guess that multiplatform Steam is a good bet.
- Flow 17y ago
  I'll send a big bunch of flowers to the good peeps at Valve if they deliver Steam, TF2 and CSS for Mac OS X! I already bought these games, but wouldn't mind paying a bit more again just to cover the port costs.
  - CoryOndrejka 17y ago
    FWIW, I use Wine via Code Weavers' Cross Over Games (http://www.codeweavers.com/ http://www.codeweavers.com/) to play my Steam games on a few different older Mac laptops I have. It works pretty well.
    - Flow 17y ago
      I have CrossOver Game 8.0. I used to play HaloPC a lot in it, despite horrible mouse lag. In TF2 I noticed the performance was quite a lot worse than in Win7. It works though.
grumpyfart 17y ago
It doesn't matter how Steam is cross-platform as soon as no one bothers to develop games for other platforms. BTW about 10 years later none-console gaming will be such a niche we'll see less and less games, and only lemonade tycoon quality :)
- TeHCrAzY 17y ago
  Why do you think the PC gaming industry will die?

kevingadd 17y ago

Specifically, they're using the Chromium Embedded Framework: http://code.google.com/p/chromiumembedded/ http://code.google.com/p/chromiumembedded/ http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Chromium_Embedded_Framework http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Chromium_Embedded_Fr... I'm looking forward to seeing them release the modified source. Always nice to see a game studio participate in the open source community.

houseabsolute 17y ago
One more bit of evidence that the GPL may not be the best thing for Open Source software. Think about it: if CEF used GPL, Valve might not have used it fearing that if they built Steam and decided they did not wish to release the source, they would have no choice but to not distribute Steam. With the BSD license, they could put in the work and decide once the project was complete whether or not to release the source code. But now we get a shiny new Steam and the source code. Epic win for everyone involved.
- jmillikin 17y ago
  The GPL cannot force somebody to release their source code.
  - houseabsolute 17y ago
    You are mistaken if you believe that you can distribute an application built using GPL code and not release the source code (and all derived code) as well. In the event that you were confused by my wording, check again. I have attempted to clarify.
    - jmillikin 17y ago
      That's not what your original post said, and even now that you've edited it, it's still wrong. There is no requirement that Valve release source code for an internal development build, and just because GPL'd code was at one point used in Steam wouldn't prevent them from distributing it without source in the future. The GPL isn't some magical infective uber-license; it's just plain copyright.

malbiniak 17y ago

Great! Maybe now they'll update counter-strike.

bugs 17y ago
That will never be done, I played source for many years and for the year that they updated it and ruined many competitive features it wasn't that great and actually made me buy a new computer to even play the game with an HDR update. Now I can see them release a new Counterstrike in a few years that looks and plays tf2 but thats about it.
houseabsolute 17y ago
I don't know, it seems like that game is basically done (in the sense of being a complete, finished work of art).

BasicObject 17y ago

Huge win.

dirtbox 17y ago

Semi-related yet off-topic, but in not divulging their sales figures, Valve is hurting the PC as a gaming platform in huge and undeniable ways. They are, in essence, destroying it by making it appear that no one buys games for Windows. All format charts are dominated by console titles and almost all games are initially developed for those and pooly ported to the PC in what seems to be an afterthought. Piracy is then blamed for those apparently falling sales figures and the PC is no longer an attractive platform for development.

Super_Jambo 17y ago

Anyone tell me if this allows you to choose different install directories for different games?