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Now that the dust has settled on the new Steam Library design, along with various other UI overhauls like the Properties page for games (and the recent SteamPal console leaks) - Valve will be fixing up the Steam Downloads page now too.

The Downloads page in the Steam client hasn't really been touched for a long time. It does the job, sure but it could be a lot more useful. That's set to change, although we don't know when, you can test it yourself right now if you go to "steam://nav/library/downloads".

It seems it's supposed to look something like this (thanks to Pavel Djundik of SteamDB on Twitter):

Weirdly though, it's not the same for everyone.

Trying it myself sort-of gives me it, but not quite and this was tested across both the Stable and Beta versions of Steam. So they're clearly not quite ready to roll it out just yet. This is what I see which has a few adjustments but not quite the overhaul as seen above:

Hopefully Valve will finally add a "Download All" button, so we don't have to keep pressing download on individual items to queue them up. Although, that might only be an issue for people like me, who set Steam to only download between super-late hours to prevent it just auto updating everything all the time. As that seems like the only way to have a bit of control over downloads.

Apparently they're also working on a new settings page too, although not easily accessed.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Philadelphus May 26, 2021
Oh my word, that waste of vertical space! Unless these shots are from a 480p screen or something. I just fired up Steam to check and I can see (on my 1080p monitor) 6 games at once, twice as many as both of those screenshots show. (Though, strangely, going to that link I see 4 games entirely on screen for me, unlike the 3.1 for Liam. Very strange how it's different for different people. Maybe they're testing different versions based on account number or something?). Granted, I don't spend much time on the Downloads page in general, but the new version is no less annoying to click each update button individually, so I echo the call for an "Update everything" button.
AciD May 26, 2021
The wasted space indeed.
This looks horrible.

Valve could just display the small informations (downloaded, total download size, ETA) below each thumbnails alongside controls like (download / pause, cancel).
That way you could stuff as many game thumbnails close to each other like in the library page.

Those thumbnails could be sorted as above ; active, queued, scheduled, completed.
Scrumplex May 26, 2021
Why are you teasing me with that S&box download :(

Edit: nvm, it's xPaw who's teasing me :D


Last edited by Scrumplex on 26 May 2021 at 9:46 am UTC
Eike May 26, 2021
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Quoting: AciDThe wasted space indeed.
This looks horrible.

Valve could just display the small informations (downloaded, total download size, ETA) below each thumbnails alongside controls like (download / pause, cancel).
That way you could stuff as many game thumbnails close to each other like in the library page.

Those thumbnails could be sorted as above ; active, queued, scheduled, completed.

I never had more than half a dozen games to download, and if I would, I wouldn't care to watch them downloading..
Brisse May 26, 2021
+1 for a "download all" button. Also, I'd like to be able to change the priority by dragging and dropping instead of just using the button that brings a download to the top. They could sort of make it like the Steam wishlist where you can drag and drop to prioritize. And why not make the look a bit more coherent while you're at it?
libgradev May 26, 2021
QuoteAlthough, that might only be an issue for people like me

No, no Liam there are others
dibz May 26, 2021
Complaints about the steam downloader aside, it's still the best downloader among all of the big-name game clients. Frankly these screenshots don't seem all that much different then the old version, just a somewhat boring refresh.

But Epic, Uplay, Origin, EA Desktop, Battlenet, Amazon Games, MS Store + Xbox PC, even GOG Galaxy? I'd say Battlenet is the least awful of those, but we're talking king of the poo-pile among that bunch.

Of all of them together, the only one I never have problems with updating, pausing, stopping, altering queue order at all, installing, verifying, is Steam. Just these basic functions. I could break down my problems with every one of these clients, and it's amazing how the industry has settled where it has.

Honestly I have strong suspicions as to why, being adjacent over the years to a bunch of devs of different ages but not being one myself, and I don't see the trend getting better any time soon; It truly is an industry thing.
Schattenspiegel May 26, 2021
Flat, weird spacing, ghastly colours: good job, Valve!

Maybe one of these days they try to fix something that could actually be useful like the crackling of their build in voice-chat or the resource wastefulness of their new design.
Xpander May 26, 2021
ehh people have different versions.. from the Liams picture he seems to have quite a different one.. i get this:

jrt May 26, 2021
The new download page doesn't show workshop downloads and shader pre-caching. :(
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