Steam is the public face of PC gaming. Although the Epic Games Store, GOG, and Xbox are all viable choices for purchasing PC games, Steam’s size and well-known seasonal incentives make it a popular online shopping destination.
Steam, on the other hand, is much more than just a marketplace. The desktop client, for example, allows you to manage your collection, stream your playing sessions to an audience, and connect with your friends (we expect Steam Deck will include all of these features as well). Steam has a lot going on, yet many of its most appealing and crucial features may be neglected by new and seasoned users.
With that in mind, we’ve compiled a collection of Steam tips to assist you in making the most of the program.
1. Protect your account using Steam Guard
Security is very important. You don’t want someone who likes Glengarry Glen Ross to be able to get into your Steam account so that they can donate money to a criminal cause. It’s important to use a password that is strong to make sure this doesn’t happen!
When you set up Steam Guard for your account, you must give a unique code to someone who wants to use your account on a new device. For example, if you have set up Steam Guard, you will either get an email with your unique code or get it through the Steam Mobile app on your smartphone. Go to Steam > Settings> Account> Account > Manage Steam Guard Account Security to make it work.
2. Participate in the Steam Beta
By establishing a Steam account, you agree to utilize the features that have been made public. You can, however, participate in the Steam beta if you dare. You’ll get access to features that are still in testing, such as B., the new storage manager that looks to be arriving ahead of Steam Deck. Here’s how you do it.
Select the Beta Participation option from the drop-down menu by going to Steam > Settings > Account. Choose Steam Beta Update, click OK, restart your computer, and finish! Valve will start delivering early features to you right away.
3. Arrange the games on the disk in the order they were downloaded
Detail See is a great method to view your game collection since it provides a lot of information, but GridView is less helpful but still looks lovely.
The list view appears to be a meaningless compromise between the two, except you may rearrange your games by clicking on the top categories rather than being restricted to a fixed layout. The size on the disk filter is handy for determining why your disk is full (Vermintide 2 takes up 49.85 GB for me), but you can also sort by Metacritic Score or if games support cloud saves.
4. Use in-home streaming to play in another room
You may use a Steam Link, which is either a hardware unit or software that comes with select Samsung TVs, to play games on your TV. There is another method to play games on your television. If you want a game to run as smoothly on your computer as it does on your sick gaming rig, but you want to play it on your laptop in a separate room, you may utilize in-home streaming. It can also communicate with two separate operating systems, allowing you to play games on your Macbook from your PC.
In the Steam settings menu, you may activate in-home streaming. Then, on another device on your network, log into your Steam account, and it will display. You can always connect a laptop to a TV if you’re streaming it.
5. Share your games with your family members
Bring back the days when games were tangible thanks to Family Sharing (available in Steam settings under “Family,” which lets each Steam account share a library with up to five others dispersed over up to ten PCs that may be shared (and never complained about).
That means whoever you pick as a family member may install and play all of your games, but only if you’re not playing them; if you do, they’ll be dumped after a few minutes. Nonetheless, this is an excellent method to share your games with your children. It should be mentioned that all Games for Windows Live and Rockstar Social Club games cannot be shared.
6. Construct a steam shelf
Shelves are a variety of ways to browse your game collection. By selecting Add Shelf > Select Shelf, you may convert any collection into a scrolling shelf. There are also several non-collection default options, such as B. All Games and Recent Friend Activity.
7. Hide Steam games
Sometimes all you need to do is hide a video game. It might be a game you seldom play, or it could be a game you adore but don’t want people to know about. Who wants to get roasted because they own I Love You, Colonel Sanders!
It’s simple to conceal a game. You may hide it by right-clicking a game and selecting Manage > Conceal This Game. The only way to find a game in your library right now is to type its name into the search box. To reverse the disappearance, locate the game and select Manage > Remove from hidden.
8. Examine frame rates
We dislike that frame rate counting has become such a prominent part of the conversation regarding internet video games because few gamers are aware of the tradeoffs that must occasionally be made for a game to run at 60 frames per second.
Assume you want to see how your games perform after installing a new GPU on your machine. Enabling the FPS counter is as simple as heading to Steam > Settings > In-Game. When you run your favorite game after that, you will notice a framerate counter on the screen.
You may also activate High Contrast Color to make the counter stand out on the screen and change its placement.
9. Apply the overlay
In most games, hitting Shift + Tab will bring up the Steam overlay, which you may use to check the time, learn about a new accomplishment, or discover a non-Alt-Tab tutorial.
As a result, you can also take a picture when the Steam overlay is on, which is F12. If you have one of those keyboards that make you hold down a different key to get to the function keys, that may change, but F12 is still the default setting. Another good thing about the overlay is that it lets you show your FPS in different colors and places.
10. Play music
Steam may also be used to listen to music. View>Music Details or View>Music Player allows you to listen to individual game soundtracks, which you most likely have more than you realize.
