Steam Big Picture mode is absolutely horrible

[Deleted member 26156]

I'm baffled this ever got approved for release, its practically sickening to use. Everything has this weird blurriness to it, as if its super low res, and the sound effects they use are incredibly obnoxious. Not to mention it runs much slower than the normal UI, and is often unresponsive. It gives me a headache using it, which is impressively awful.

Spoiler: Found out this isn't true but the rest of my point still stands

It wouldn't be an issue if it was an option (besides the whole idea this was approved), but as far as I can tell, its mandatory to use if you want to connect a controller.

There really is no reason for it to exist as far as I can see. It's just so bad in every way.

 

[Jangowuzhere]

The sound effects are terrible. I agree.

Big Picture mode feels super underbaked. I'm surprised how little it has changed since release.

 

[Theswweet]

I definitely don't think it's blurry, and you absolutely don't have to use it if you have a controller. You can even get to controller config without entering big picture.

 

[Lant_War]

It works perfectly fine for me?

 

[Richietto]

I'm baffled this ever got approved for release, its practically sickening to use. Everything has this weird blurriness to it, as if its super low res, and the sound effects they use are incredibly obnoxious. Not to mention it runs much slower than the normal UI, and is often unresponsive.

It wouldn't be an issue if it was an option (besides the whole idea this was approved), but as far as I can tell, its mandatory to use if you want to connect a controller. There really is no reason for it to exist as far as I can see. It's just so bad in every way.

Click to shrink...

You can change it in the settings so big picture doesn't start with a controller.

 

[MechaJackie]

but as far as I can tell, its mandatory to use if you want to connect a controller

Click to shrink...

I constantly play steam games with a controller and I never used this mode.

Edit: I do wish though that Big Picture Mode was better, like having a proper browser and some apps like youtube, I really wanted to try using my computer just with a controller, but my attempts haven't been super successful at that.

 

[Brandino]

You can exit out of BP at anytime I think. Use the mouse to start your game and away you go

 

[ghostcrew]

Definitely don't have to use it if you want to connect a controller. I also dislike it so just never use it and I use a controller a lot.

 

[collige]

I agree that it's not great, especially as far as responsiveness goes. It's not mandatory at all though afaik except for maybe custom controller configurations. If you're just using an Xbox controller, it's not needed at all.

 

[TaterTots]

Just loaded it up out of curiosity. I'm not seeing this bluriness outside of the intro thing.

You don't have to be in Big Picture to use a controller either. I never use it.

 

[Iced_Eagle]

Definitely check out the big picture resolution. Last I used it, Big Picture didn't support anything above 1080p by default. You need to edit config files and use launch arguments to force it to go higher. That may explain why it looks blurry to you. In some cases, it has issues and defaults to 720p as well.

It is an incredibly underbaked feature overall, and hasn't gotten any real love since it launched basically, which is disappointing. I haven't used it in a long while because of the issues I'd run into with it.

 

[Deleted member 26156]

Thanks for the help, a friend told me you had to be in BPM, I just rolled with that. Thank god I never have to use BPM again.

My point that it is a trash fire still stands.

 

[pswii60]

You can set BPM to output native 2160p so it looks pin sharp. You just need to add "-fulldesktopres" to its command line/shortcut and then it'll render at whatever your desktop resolution is.

Not sure what you mean about it being slow, it's super responsive for me. Make sure you have NULL enabled as that makes a huge difference when browsing the library.

Check out Playnite for an alternative controller friendly launcher which lets you import your games from Steam, EGS, UWP and more.

 

[Flappy Pannus]

It definitely is in need of an overhaul, especially with the new cover art. Afaik the Friends feature has not been integrated as well. Not sure if they're still even working on it, I would hope that they would just update the new Library UI to have a fullscreen mode that's not a wholly separate rendering backend and just works better with controllers, but considering their rate of progress who the heck knows.

That being said, for controlling from a TV with a joypad, it's usually a far better experience than the desktop UI.

 

[KayonXaikyre]

Thanks for the help, a friend told me you had to be in BPM, I just rolled with that. Thank god I never have to use BPM again.

My point that it is a trash fire still stands.

Click to shrink...

I thought you needed big picture mode too to mess with controllers. I also hate big picture mode lol.

 

[Chief Malik]

They will continue working on it when the rest of the desktop steam is transitioned over to the new technology(as seen in library and chat).

 

[fl1ppyB]

My setup wouldn't work without BPM. Computer in second bedroom but also hooked up to 4kTV around the wall in the living room. All I have to do in the living room is hit the middle button on my controller and BPM mode launches and auto-switches my TV to the primary monitor (necessary to set games to higher than 1080p resolutions). I can do everything steam related from BPM in the other room no problem. Closing BPM switches everything back to my dual monitor setup in the other room.

The only issue I've had with it is that it doesn't auto-switch audio output, so I have to use another small app that does it on BPM launch.

 

[NattyBo]

It's not blurry at all on my TV, but the sound effects do suck

 

[MythicReclaimer]

It's not blurry at all on my TV, but the sound effects do suck

Click to shrink...

I haven't used it in quite some time but can't you turn off the sound effects in the settings menu?

 

[Bomblord]

Everytime I've used it it's been easy and straightforward (also high res) I have no strong opinions on the sfx. Booting straight to it seems the definitive way to interact with your PC via a controller for "comfy couch" style gaming.

My issue is everytime I use a non 360 controller on it it seems to go horribly wrong really quickly.

 

[Jawmuncher]

Yeah, it needs a rehaul. Even when it came out and I had my PC hooked up to my TV I preferred just using the regular desktop view.
You have that long splash intro and everything just looks really ugly and cluttered.

 

[senj]

It's not at all slow for me? This is a long shot but make sure you don't have your desktop set to some super-low refresh rate. I had mine set to 24 hz to test something, and forgot about it and launched Steam, and BPM was laggy as all hell at such a low frame rate. But at 4K 60hz it's very responsive on my computer. Very very slightly fuzzy only in that the maximum resolution I can set it to is apparently 1080p, but it's not a big deal.

The sound effects are...ok I guess. They don't really bother me, and I'm 99% sure you can turn them off.

 

[sredgrin]

I imagine you must have had some weird bugs or something because low res and blurry are not how I'd describe it.

Does need an update or two though, probably to align with the new library update. Features like stickying games and categories would be nice (if they are there, I haven't found them).

 

[Rodney McKay]

I have the worst luck getting controllers to work with it in remote play.

Like on my phone and iPad I can get Moonlight streaming to work perfectly with my XB1 controller, but using the Steam app the controller will work in the app itself, but when I launch Steam it just stops.

Closest I've come to getting it to work was doing a full Windows 10 reinstall and even that only made it work occasionally.