By The Steam Deck, Steam Machine and Steam Frame have just received a big SteamOS update. SteamOS 3.8.28 is now out on the stable channel for all users, and it rolls up every change since the previous 3.8.16 stable release. There’s a lot here, from graphics driver improvements to new firmware for the Steam Machine, so I’m going to break down the parts that matter most.
Mesa update brings ray tracing and VRAM improvements
The headline change is a new major release of the Mesa graphics driver, which Valve says contains many ray tracing performance improvements as well as other performance and functionality gains. This is huge if you’ve been struggling to use ray tracing on something like the Steam Machine. I’ve been testing it, and ray tracing does seem somewhat improved, along with some small performance improvements across the board.
On top of that, VRAM management has improved greatly, which should help performance and stability in games with limited VRAM.
Faster Steam Machine startup and new controller support
The Steam Machine splash screen and logo now appear much more quickly after startup. I tested this one out, and it’s true: the Steam Machine does feel quicker to boot now.
There’s also some nice controller and accessory news. SteamOS now supports waking the system from the original Steam Controller Wireless Adapter (2015), and it adds preliminary support for the Steam Frame Wireless Adapter, which is a big one for Steam Frame owners. The new Steam Controller (2026) has also been added to the built-in hid_steam controller driver, so it can be used with native controller applications even when Steam isn’t running.
Valve has also improved battery indications for when a device is plugged in but drawing more power than the charger can provide.
A long list of general fixes
This update also tackles many annoying bugs. Some of the highlights include:
- Fixed a 20-30 second startup delay in some games on non-Valve devices with no audio sources
- Fixed delayed start times for some games under Proton when no capture device is present
- Fixed black screens in certain launchers, including Zenless Zone Zero and Final Fantasy XIV Online
- Fixed hotplugging HDMI displays causing lockups in Desktop Mode
- Fixed TVs with an HDMI “Game Mode” showing the boot logo before switching into that mode, which caused extra delay and flashing
- Fixed some cases of slow or stuck Wi-Fi connections with certain adapters
- Fixed a rare Steam Deck issue where fan speed would revert to BIOS control until a reboot
- Fixed degraded game performance after sleep/resume on systems with AMD discrete GPUs
There are more fixes beyond these, including a fix for previous SteamOS updates failing to apply for some users and a workaround for Unreal Engine 5 VR games showing a blank right eye.
Steam Machine firmware 108
It doesn’t stop there. The Steam Machine also gets firmware 108, which fixes an issue where the system could occasionally wake up immediately after going to sleep, plus a rare issue where CPU performance could stay degraded until a reboot after waking from sleep. I’ve run into some of these issues myself, so this fix is very welcome.
Audio improvements
Audio gets some attention too. There’s a new option under Settings > Audio to reset all audio configuration and settings to system defaults, a fix for HDMI audio dropouts with some game and TV combinations, more reliable HDMI hotplug detection, and a new option to prefer lower-latency audio codecs for Bluetooth devices.
Non-Valve devices and developer changes
While we are mostly about Valve hardware, there’s great news for other handhelds as well. This update improves support for MSI Claw and OneXPlayer variants, adds initial gamepad support for the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+, Konkr FIT and AYANEO Pocket S2, and fixes several regressions and battery display issues on Lenovo Legion Go models. For developers, the Linux kernel has been updated to 6.18.50.
Final thoughts
SteamOS 3.8.28 is a huge update that fixes a lot of issues across the Steam Deck, Steam Machine and Steam Frame, with the Mesa driver update and the Steam Machine firmware fixes being the standouts for me. I’m excited about it. Let me know in the comments below what you think, and whether you’re using any of the non-Valve devices getting improvements here.