What's New in The Steam Deck Client, Proton Experimental, and Lutris Updates.

If you’re like me and tried to catch up on all the cool Steam Next Fest demos you missed last week, you’ll be happy to hear Valve released a Steam Deck Client update last Friday, February 10th. The update brings some of the changes from the Beta update along with numerous fixes to the new Big Picture Mode and a fast jump by letter feature to the library. Here’s the full update notes:

General
*Reduced startup time for users with tens of thousands of games in their > library
*The Virtual Keyboard in the Overlay now remembers its last position
*Added settings for initial location to show keyboard on desktop and in Steam overlay
*Added fast jump by letter to library
*Fixed Chord Hint Screen remaining shown after holding the guide button to turn off a controller in some scenarios
*Fixed small movement of Virtual Keyboard when pressing shift in some themes

Steam Input
*Fixed some inputs not showing up for the Steam Link App Touchscreen controller
*Fixed several instances of Left Bumper/Trigger glyphs having the wrong background image
*Fixed issue where a Team Fortress 2 Steam Controller startup sound was missing
*Fixed some issues with Nintendo switch gyro drift calibration

Desktop Mode
*Reverted back to old Game Info dialog that is accessible from the Friends List
*Added alt-enter as a hotkey to exit Big Picture Mode
*Fixed Big Picture Mode window not re-opening from double-clicking or selecting system tray menu options
*Fixed Big Picture Mode window not displaying properly due to web GPU acceleration being disabled
*Fixed issue where exiting Big Picture Mode would log out of Steam Chat
*Fixed crash when opening Steam store
*Fixed Steam library becoming unusable after applying a controller configuration

Along with that we’ve got a new Proton Experimental release bringing us new playable games including Forspoken, Gungrave G.O.R.E., and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (a next-gen update broke compatibility previously). We got some big changelogs this week so I’ll just get straight to it:

*All changes from Proton 7.0-6.
*Now playable: One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4, Atelier Meruru, ToGather:Island, WARRIORS OROCHI 3 Ultimate Definitive Edition, Exceed - Gun Bullet Children, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Gungrave G.O.R.E., Forspoken, Samurai Maiden.
*Fix 2K launcher failure caused by launcher update.
*Fix Arabic fonts in FIFA 21 and 22.
*Improve sleep/resume functionality on Steam Deck for Tiny Tina's Wonderland.
*Improve multi-touch support.
*Fix native scrollbar being always visible in Final Fantasy XIV Online launcher.
*Fix A Plague Tale: Innocence showing on-screen keyboard when starting the game on the Steam Deck.
*Fix rendering issues during cutscenes in Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell.
*Fix Japanese keyboard input in Final Fantasy XIV Online.
*Fix Football manager 2023 crashing when trying to return from a player profile.
*Fix experimental regression: Fall in Labyrinth started crashing on some setups.
*Improve CJK characters rendering in many games including NOBUNAGA'S AMBITION: Souzou with Power Up Kit.
*Fix Life is Strange Remastered crashing at the end of chapter 2.
*Fix Alt+Tab not working on Gnome 43.
*Improve force feedback compatibility for BeamNG and Forza Horizon 5.
*Fix regression with Mortal Combat X performance.
*Fix OpenGL launch option for Youropa.
*Fix video playback speed/stutter in METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN.
*Halo Infinite now gets in-game. Many graphical artifacts still known on NVIDIA, minor artifacts expected on Deck and AMD Desktop.
*Fix raytracing in Crysis Remastered.
*Enable nvapi for many games.
*Update file distribution method to save disk space.
*Update dxvk to include the latest development work.
*Update vkd3d-proton to include the latest development work.

To finish off our block of changelogs, Lutris v0.5.13-beta1 is available as a pre-release which adds Itch.io and Battle.net integration but adds a workaround for the Humble Bundle launcher authentication issue. Previously it was possible but a real headache to get the Humble Bundle app working on Deck so I’m glad to see this addition for all my Humble Bundle Choice members out there. All of the changes are below:

*Add support for Proton
*Add drag and drop on the main window. Dropped files will be matched
*No-Intro, Redump and TOSEC checksums.
*Add support for ModDB links in installers (moddb python module required)
*Added "Missing" sidebar option for games whose directory is missing
*Re-style the configuration, preferences, installer and add-games windows
*Group configuration options into sections
*Added checkbox to stop asking for the launch config for a game
*Support for launch-configs in shortcuts and the command line
*The add-games window can now create 32-bit WINE prefixes
*Add filter field to runner list
*Show game count in search bar
*Workaround Humble Bundle authentication issues by allowing importing cookies from Firefox
*Add Itch.io integration
*Add Battle.net integration (protobuf dependency required)
*Improve detection of DOSBox games on GOG
*Added "Unspecified" Vulkan ICD option
*Removed ResidualVM (now merged into ScummVM)

Wow what a weekend for updates. So what do you folks thing, going to try some Itch.io games on Deck? Were you a Humble Bundle Choice subscriber looking for a way to access your Humble Games? Is this just another excuse to dive back into The Witcher 3? Let us know your thoughts down below in the comments!