Valve just released a new update for Steam Frame that improves battery lifetime, steaming quality, connectivity issues, and more.
Steam Frame launched last month, bringing with it the ability for users to not only stream PC and PC VR games to the headset, but also play those games locally, albeit at a lower quality since content is rendered on the standalone headset’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 mobile chipset.
Now, the SteamOS 0.4 update is available for all Frame users, bringing with it some of the most crucial features.
One of the biggest complaints about Steam Frame is its middling battery life; now Valve says it’s bumped power efficiency and battery lifetime during both streaming and local gameplay, with gains of up to 12%.
Before the update, users could expect around 1 and 1.5 hours of battery life with mixed use. Check out our review of Steam Frame to learn more.
Steaming quality has also improved with SteamOS 0.4, including Improved color clarity during VR streaming.
It also comes with a fix to VR streaming reliability that reduces ‘Error 17’, which indicates an incompatible protocol settings or connection issue during PC VR streaming between the headset and the host PC. To get that specific streaming issue fixed, users must op into SteamVR 2.18.2 or later, which is available on the SteamVR beta branch.
Additionally, Valve says it’s fixed Wireless Adapter connectivity issues that affected users in some countries; manual configuration also now shows the correct list of Wi-Fi channels in all regions.
You can check out the full SteamOS 0.4 changelog here.
Notably, Valve has also now made Steam Frame CAD files and electrical interface information available for non-commercial use, allowing users to more easily create hardware mods.
