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There’s a new SteamOS Beta in town. The new 3.9.6 Beta comes with some much-appreciated upgrades, not to mention everyone’s favorite “Security and stability updates”. If you’re sticking to the Stable channel, you’ll have to wait for a follow-up Stable patch, but you can always switch to the Beta in Settings > System > System Update Channel if you wish to experience the slightly more bleeding-edge version.
The stand-out change is an improvement to frame timing, with or without Variable Refresh Rate (VRR). It’s important to mention that the Steam Deck does not support VRR on either of its (LCD or OLED) models, but it is supported in SteamOS as long as you have an external monitor with the feature. Valve describes a specific situation that could cause a game running at 30 FPS to drop to 24 FPS when the frame limiter was turned on and set to 60 FPS while using a 120Hz display. This sort of issue is now fixed thanks to frame timing improvements.
In the case of fixed refresh rates, Valve has also pushed a fix that will reduce the number of dropped frames due to “slow wakeups from deep CPU idle states”. Other fixes include better support for 240Hz or higher displays, a fix to address black screen issues in RPG Maker games, and green screen issues on Steam Remote Play with Nvidia GPUs. For the full 3.9.6 Beta patch notes, see below.
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SteamOS 3.9.6 Beta patch notes
General
- Security and stability updates.
- Improved frame timing when using the framerate limiter with VRR.
- Improved frame timing when using the framerate limiter without VRR. A capped game whose framerate is a multiple of the limit no longer drops below it, e.g. a 30 FPS game with a 60 FPS limit at 120 Hz running at 24 FPS.
- Reduced missed frames on fixed refresh caused by slow wakeups from deep CPU idle states.
- Fixed a black screen in RPG Maker games using Fullscreen++, such as Waste Walkers.
- Fixed games running below the refresh rate on 240 Hz and higher displays.
- Fixed Steam Remote Play showing a green screen on NVIDIA GPUs.
- Fixed left click getting stuck after a two-finger tap on the touchscreen.
- Fixed SDR content looking oversaturated on HDR10 output on displays that are not wide gamut.
- Fixed gamemode and other LD_PRELOAD libraries breaking when launched through gamescope.
- Fixed several rare crashes and memory errors on shutdown and when clients exit.
Desktop Mode
SteamOS 3.9.6 Beta patch notes, via Steam
- Fixed a regression where scripts couldn’t be added using “Add to Steam”
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