Steam/Suggestions

This page contains suggestions for the Steam client.

Video playback enhancement

Videos that are streamed from the store shows a trackbar. However, the trackbar only shows information related to time and offers a play/pause button. A simple enhancement to the videoplayer, would be something like a trackbar where the user can go back and forth in the timeline to rewatch something in a video, without watching the video from the start. Downloaded videos also lack this feature. --K4emic

Better management for files outside of GCFs

Some files (e.g. EXEs and DLLs) need to be extracted from the GCFs to work. This is currently done by extracting the specific files into SteamApps/<account>/<gamedir>. And that's quite inefficient as it's done for every game and every account even if it's a file like hl2/media/valve.avi, which is the same for all Source games. This process consumes time (when first starting a game) and disk space (as long as the game is installed).
In my opinion there should be a directory like SteamApps/shared that contains files which are needed by multiple games and/or accounts. This maybe even a good place to store custom content (e.g. maps) so that multiple accounts can use already downloaded maps. --Koraktor

- Seconded. Duplicated files are a waste of disk space. Especially if the files are big. Also, games that use same engine (such as Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Counter-Strike: Source and Half-Life: Source) can use the same files (game exe, and some materials). -- Oon

NCF for media files

Red Orchestra uses a new system called NCF. This enables Steam to manage RO's files, which are now saved outside of the usual GCFs. This should also be used for Steam's media, because in the moment disk space is absolutely wasted by extracting the videos from the GCFs and saving them in SteamApps/media.
At least that's the most obvious way, but maybe there's even a way to enable Windows Media Player to use the Steam API. --Koraktor

Universal Game Saves

Have steam track and upload the most recent game save to the steam servers so that in the future when you decide to start playing a game again, or play a game on a different computer, you are able to pick up where you last left off in the game.--bugmenot

Seeing as steam is used by nearly 1.15 million users, theese savegames could quickly consume a lot of harddisk space. Especially by people why doesn't care about how many savegames they have. Restricting the amount of space available for each account could solve this issue and limit the costs to a few small harddisks. --K4emic

Steam for Linux and Mac

Current Steam games are already cross-platform compatible:

• Half-Life and Source Engine Server (Windows, Linux)
• Darwinia (Windows, Linux, Mac OS X)
• Red Orchestra (based on Unreal Engine Technology which is available for Windows, Linux, Macintosh)
• Jagged Alliance 2 (Windows, Linux)
• X2: The Threat (Windows, Linux, Mac)

so people [1] including myself, think the Steam platform should follow. -- Matthias 09:57, 3 Aug 2006 (PDT)

Linux might just be on the way. :-) --TomEdwards 10:15, 3 Aug 2006 (PDT)

Steam "E-Mail"

I actually use the Steam client as one of my primary methods of communication with friends, as of course do my friends. It is inconvenient when a friend is logged out, as there is no way to leave them a message. I suggest that you add an offline message queue, or a "Steam-mail" apparatus in which to send long-term messages. You could even set up an integrated email server, giving people something like username@steam.com which would send directly to their Steam client.

Companies to Assimilate

These companies would make excellent content for the Steam platform:

• Blizzard Entertainment (Starcraft, Warcraft, WoW, etc.)
• EA Games (Battlefield Series, Command and Conquer Series, and more.. This would involve convincing them to abandon EA Link, their inferior platform for digital distribution.)

Personally, I would re-buy games I already own from both of these companies just to have them on Steam, and I know this to be true for many others.

Minor UI Change

When you use items in the properties menu for a game, for example "Verify Integrity of Game Cache" (in order to fix the bug where 0% Updating is displayed), the properties window remains open in the background. I propose that a simple change be made in which when an option in this menu is clicked, the properties menu is automatically closed. This way when a number of games display this glitch, the user is not forced to close so many properties windows. Alternatively, you could fix the glitch, but it doesn't seem likely as this has been present since the dawn of Steam.