SteamOS 3.6.19 update has been released today for the Steam Deck with a huge amount of fixes and changes. Take a look below to read the full changelog.
SteamOS 3.6.19 Steam Deck Update
SteamOS 3.6.19 has been released to the Stable channel for Deck with the following changes:
General
- Updated to a more recent Arch Linux base, and updated Linux kernel to version 6.5
- These updates improve hardware compatibility, system performance, security, and overall system stability
- Improved speed of subsequent OS updates
- Improved reliability of certain microSD card usage scenarios
- Worked around misdetection of some SanDisk microSD cards
- Improved responsiveness of session restart in case of session crashes caused by certain GPU errors
- Fixed an issue where certain games could crash with a ‘page allocation failure’ after a long play session
- Improved recovery from situations where the Steam installation could get corrupted
- Fixed some connectivity failures with access points supporting WPA3 security
- Fixed a problem where Steam Deck would be unable to connect to certain Wi-Fi 7 access points
- Fixed game session cursor offset alignment
- Fixed an issue where a thin grey line could appear at the bottom of the screen during boot in some situations
- Fixed an issue where the Performance Overlay would spuriously enable itself under certain conditions
- Fixed an issue preventing sleep on some types of aftermarket SSDs
- Fixed an issue preventing update checks from working properly on networks with an invalid IPv6 configuration
- Fixed an issue where touching the left trackpad after sleep could result in a spurious haptic click
- Fixed a general issue affecting OLED units on 3.5, causing a slow memory leak during gameplay
- Fixed an issue causing a “Update Error” message when attempting to interact with the update menu on the ‘Preview’ update channel.
- Fixed the frame limiter not properly applying in certain situations
- Fixed an issue where block corruption could appear on screen on certain state transitions
- Fixed an issue where updating the built-in controller firmware could result in a blank screen during boot
- Fixed a rare issue where sound output could be corrupted on certain boots
- Fixed a rare issue where 3.5mm headphones could produce elevated background noise on reconnection until next sleep/resume
- Fixed an issue where updates would sometimes be applied incorrectly if the unit was powered off abruptly near the end of an OS update
- Fixed an issue with copy-pasting UTF-8 text across applications
- Fixed a problem where a Game Recording capture failing could cause subsequent captures to also fail
- Fixed a crash when using the magnifier tool while game recording is active
- Fixed colorspace for Game Recording
- Fixed an issue where colors could appear washed out when using Steam Remote Play as a client
- Fixed a possible crash when using Steam Deck as the Remote Play host
- Fixed an issue that could cause videos to stutter in titles such as BlazBlue Centralfiction
- Fixed an issue with a rare session crash during early startup of ELDEN RING
- Fixed display regressions with certain titles such as Warriors All-Stars, Disgaea 5 Complete, Vampire: The Masquerade – Reckoning of New York
- Worked around a bug where HDR couldn’t be selected in Halo Infinite
- Fixed an issue causing temporary files to accrue when using Flatpak
- Security fix for Flatpak (CVE-2024-42472)
Graphics and Performance
- Updated graphics driver to Mesa 24.1, with many performance and other improvements
- Improved responsiveness of the Steam UI
- Improved performance and stability in memory pressure situations
- Slightly improved cold boot time
Display
- Improved display uniformity, under some conditions (Mura Compensation)
- Improved display color balance (reduced green tint) at lower brightness levels, under some conditions
- Improved gamma uniformity (yellow tint), under some conditions
- Fixed certain specific refresh rates failing to apply on the OLED Limited Edition model
- Fixed an issue where the internal display could remain blank after disconnecting an external display
- Fixed an issue where internal display could be abnormally limited to a lower frame rate after disconnecting an external display with VRR enabled
- Fixed rare situations where switching to Desktop Mode or back could result in a blank screen, or wrong colors
External Display
- Fixed several issues where an external display could remain blank after resuming
- Fixed an issue where an external display could remain blank if its mode required chroma subsampling
- Fixed an issue where the system could crash on wakeup if an external DisplayPort monitor was connected
- Fixed a system crash when hotplugging a second display in Desktop mode
- Improved frame pacing with VRR on external displays
Bluetooth
- Improved pairing experience with Apple AirPods
- Enabled support for Bluetooth HFP and BAP profiles
- Added mechanism to configure which Bluetooth device categories are allowed to wake the system from suspend
- By default, controllers are the only devices that can wake the system from sleep
- Finer-grained UI configuration options will be available as part of a future update
- Improved connection speed of some Bluetooth devices
- Fixed an issue where Bluetooth peripherals would disconnect on session switch
Input
- Added support for extra ROG Ally keys
- Added support for the ASUS ROG Raikiri Pro controller
- Added support for the Machenike G5 Pro controller
- Added support for the Steam Deck motion sensors to the built-in non-Steam kernel driver
- Fixed an issue where scroll wheel Steam Input bindings weren’t functional
- Fixed an issue where DualShock 4 and DualSense controllers would sometimes not function properly on their first connection
- Fixed calibration on some third-party DualShock 4 controllers
Desktop Mode
- Updated to KDE Plasma 5.27.10
- Enabled thumbnail previews for videos in the file browser
- Fixed an issue with desktop use that could cause subsequent microSD card auto-mount to fail
- Fixed Zenity dialog boxes
- Fixed nested desktop crashing on launch
BIOS / Firmware
- Adjusted power LED slow charging threshold
- Fixed not being able to set the SDCard as default boot device
- Fixed spurious power LED blinking in S5
- Steam Deck OLED only
- Added support for the Windows Bluetooth driver (LCD models already have Windows Bluetooth support)
- Steam Deck LCD only
- Improved battery life by up to 10% in light load situations
- Added overclocking controls
Steam Deck Docking Station
- Added support for some HDMI CEC features:
- TV remote input
- TV wake up
- TV input switching
- Updated Dock firmware, with compatibility fixes for high-refresh-rate VRR displays, and fixing several issues where displays could remain blank
Development and Modding
- Modified files in /etc are now migrated to new OS versions based on a whitelist
- Fixes numerous issues with incidentally touched /etc files becoming ‘sticky’ and persisting unexpectedly
- Additional whitelist entries can be added via config fragments
- See /etc/atomic-update.conf.d/example-additional-keep-list.conf
- Added /etc/previous/ containing modifications from the previous update to prevent unexpected data loss
- Up to five previous snaphots of /etc modifications will additionally be retained in /var/lib/steamos-atomupd/etc_backup/
- Added support for {ssh,sshd}_config fragments
- Split package reinstallation step out of `steamos-devmode` command and into new `steamos-unminimize` command. `steamos-devmode` now simply enters read-write mode and initializes the pacman keyring for use, and is much quicker.
- openssh: Fix remote code execution bug (CVE-2024-6387)
