Steam Client Update Fixes Linux Shortcuts, Adds Vulkan Pre-Compiled Shaders

Five years and one day after Steam for Linux going public, there's a notable Steam client beta update coming down the wire.

A Steam client beta update just became available and it's interesting for Linux gamers because:

- It finally fixes the Steam shortcut behavior that broke months ago. Trying to launch Steam Linux games via desktop shortcuts has been broken for a while but now it's reported to be fixed.

- Steam now supports automatically downloading pre-compiled GPU shaders for Vulkan games. This should reduce first-load times and stuttering for some Vulkan games on Windows and Linux. Valve is now distributing automatically the Vulkan on-disk shader caches for popular games to speed up the initial load times rather than client systems needing to compile the Vulkan shaders on first-load. It will be interesting to see how well this works out for Linux, especially on the Mesa front where the cache may go cold frequently if being a habitual Mesa upgrader.

- A variety of Steam Input updates including configuration updates, support for new Xbox controllers, support for more PlayStation 4 controllers, a variety of fixes, and other updates.

More details at SteamCommunity.com.