We are going to bring you today a different text, but as useful as the most. Today we’re talking about four hidden Steam features that will make your life easier if you’re a PC gamer. Here we go!
File transfer
One of Steam’s best new features is local file transfer. Steam quietly launched it a few months ago, and it’s something you have to manually enable to use.
The local file transfer option allows you to transfer game files over your local network instead of re-downloading them. For example, if you have Cyberpunk 2077 installed on your PC and want to play it on your Steam Deck as well, you can simply copy the files from your PC instead of re-downloading them.
This is usually much faster, especially if you don’t have a good Internet connection. You can even set it up so that your Steam friends can transfer games, which is especially useful if you want to set up a LAN party like it’s the last century.
To enable it, click the Steam button at the top left and select Settings. Scroll down to the Downloads tab and enable the Game file transfer over local network option.
You will need to have it enabled for the PC you are transferring from and the one you are transferring to. After that, select whether you want to share your connection with others – you shouldn’t in most cases – and you’re done.
After that, Steam will automatically transfer files it finds on the local network, as long as the PC you are transferring from is turned on and Steam is running. You can stop the transfer at any time from the download screen, and if the local transfer is too slow, Steam will revert to a normal download.
Organize your cluttered library
For years, Steam has allowed you to organize your library into collections. You can find them by selecting the Library tab and choosing Collections. You can name it anything you want and drag the games you want into it, but my favorite way to do it is to create a Dynamic Collection.
Dynamic collections will automatically find the games in your library that meet the criteria you set. You can filter games by their genre, whether they support single player and/or multiplayer, and even by their store tags.
Steam goes further and allows you to select controller support, Steam Deck verification, features like Steam Workshop and achievements, and even if a friend owns the same game.
For example, I could instantly create a collection of verified multiplayer games on Steam Deck that support achievements and that one of my Steam friends also owns. This is a great way to quickly filter your library, especially if you are looking for a particular type of game to play.
Make your games run better
Steam includes a feature called Shader Pre-Caching, and I would bet that most Steam users are not even aware of it.
This feature allows Steam to find shaders for your current hardware configuration from similar configurations and automatically cache them, usually taking up only a few megabytes of space on your hard drive.
Why would you want to do this? Every time you start a new game, your CPU needs to prepare a bunch of shaders for your graphics card. These are basically little programs that tell the graphics card what to do.
However, this only happens when you first start a game, which can cause stuttering and long load times while all the shaders are gathered. The Shader Pre-Caching feature gathers them before starting the game and caches them so you can avoid the initial launch problems.
To enable it, select Steam and go to Settings. Scroll down to the Downloads tab and check the Enable Shader Pre-caching option. After that, you’re good to go. Unfortunately, this feature only works with games that use Vulkan or OpenGL. DirectX shaders cannot be precompiled through Steam.
Start in Big Picture
After launching Steam Deck, Valve gave its Steam Big Picture mode a much-needed update. If you’re not familiar, Big Picture is a controller-based interface for Steam, and now, it basically looks identical to Steam Deck. And if you play primarily with a controller, you can launch Steam in Big Picture mode automatically.
Select the Steam button in the upper left corner and go to Settings. From there, select Interface and check the box next to Launch Steam in Big Picture mode. This is a great option, especially if you have your PC connected to a TV and don’t want to mess with the keyboard and mouse.
In this same menu, you can configure a bunch of other options, such as the default location where Steam starts and the tabs you want to see at the top of the Steam interface.
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