Steam grid view images SLOW! Why aren't they cached?

[mutiny]

I have over 500 games in my Steam library. When scrolling in grid view it looks terrible. Every image takes 5-10 seconds to load, meaning scrolling shows no banners unless I sit on the page for a bit. What's worse is when I scroll down (so the images are offscreen) then scroll back up to the same images that just loaded THEY'RE NOT LOADED! So they aren't caching AT ALL.

Why is this? I imagine Valve doesn't want to waste the bandwidth and I don't like my library looking like sh*t. What is the solution? Can the end user do anything to fix it because I highly doubt Valve is going to.

Thanks.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Don't know why they are not stored anymore. You are not the first to notice this.

[SkEyE]

This is pretty severe. Combined with relatively slow internet connection this means browsing in grid view is almost pointless now as it is all blank boxes. I have to sit there waiting almost a minute for a page of them to load even when the images are set to such large size that there's only a few on screen at once. the the second I scroll past them and back they have to re-load with no acceleration due to apparently no caching. If the internet goes out as it often does they are totally gone too as again, no caching. It didn't used to be like this. I'm not sure when it changed but it must have been fairly recently. I hope this is a bug that will be resolved and is not the new way of doing things because those of us in the USA stuck in places where there is only total garbage internet despite being in large metropolitan areas are currently stuck with useless grid view.

[mutiny]

Originally posted by SkEyE:

This is pretty severe. Combined with relatively slow internet connection this means browsing in grid view is almost pointless now as it is all blank boxes. I have to sit there waiting almost a minute for a page of them to load even when the images are set to such large size that there's only a few on screen at once. the the second I scroll past them and back they have to re-load with no acceleration due to apparently no caching. If the internet goes out as it often does they are totally gone too as again, no caching. It didn't used to be like this. I'm not sure when it changed but it must have been fairly recently. I hope this is a bug that will be resolved and is not the new way of doing things because those of us in the USA stuck in places where there is only total garbage internet despite being in large metropolitan areas are currently stuck with useless grid view.

I agree. It's extremely jarring and I'm surprised it's not fixed by now.

[sanorin01]

I have the same problem, I thought it was only me. "Glad" to know I'm not alone!

I may try the workaround suggested by yangnw, but this is something that Valve should fix as soon as possible.

[the kind ilyich]

Valve does know that Big Picture Mode is pretty much useless now for anyone with slow connection speeds right? You can't even see the titles until the icons finish loading and scrolling down causes previously loaded images to disappear, requiring them to be loaded again when you scroll back up to them.

I can see how this would help performance but please at least give us the option to cache game images if we want to.

[ShaDoW]

They need to fix this.

[RowdyRocket]

yangnw you are my hero!

Thanks for the help. All images are loaded instantly, no more waiting on my slow internet!

Steam should really make a fix for this. An option in settings? They need to realize that not everyone has the option of blazing fast or even medium speed internet. I'm basically in the Bermuda Triangle where I'm located and fast internet is not a luxury.

Originally posted by yangnw:

oh I actually found a fix

1. get https://github.com/boppreh/steamgrid
2. set all your games to a category, etc. "overlay"
3. create an empty, transparent overlay file etc. "overlay.png" and place it in "overlays by category" folder
4. run "steamgrid.exe"

your images will be replaced by custom images that are actually downloaded from steam

[JohnnyCiocca]

Originally posted by yangnw:

oh I actually found a fix

OH MAN that's beautiful! Thanks!!! <3

[Kree]

This is also making it impossible to browse the steam sales, so that’s lost revenue as well, since I’m less likely to buy anything if I can’t actually SEE the titles. At least put plain text in the black boxes or something!

[Sarge]

Originally posted by yangnw:

oh I actually found a fix

1. get https://github.com/boppreh/steamgrid
2. set all your games to a category, etc. "overlay"
3. create an empty, transparent overlay file etc. "overlay.png" and place it in "overlays by category" folder
4. run "steamgrid.exe"

your images will be replaced by custom images that are actually downloaded from steam

I just created a pull request to boppreh with an update: Every game found will now always get a 'default' tag attached. Thus, the 'default.png' overlay will always get applied to every game found.

As 'default.png' is an empty file right now, this will just "force" caching of images in Steam.

I created a quick release ZIP (windows only) if somebody wants to give it a try: https://github.com/Sgt-Nukem/steamgrid/releases

[Angel]

Originally posted by yangnw:

oh I actually found a fix

Thanks!! Hero! Valve!!!! Fix this!!!!

[Rampaging Cookie]

this still not fixed

[¿Carlo?]

Originally posted by Sarge:

Originally posted by yangnw:

oh I actually found a fix

1. get https://github.com/boppreh/steamgrid
2. set all your games to a category, etc. "overlay"
3. create an empty, transparent overlay file etc. "overlay.png" and place it in "overlays by category" folder
4. run "steamgrid.exe"

your images will be replaced by custom images that are actually downloaded from steam

I just created a pull request to boppreh with an update: Every game found will now always get a 'default' tag attached. Thus, the 'default.png' overlay will always get applied to every game found.

As 'default.png' is an empty file right now, this will just "force" caching of images in Steam.

I created a quick release ZIP (windows only) if somebody wants to give it a try: https://github.com/Sgt-Nukem/steamgrid/releases

Hey Sarge i tried both you version and the original but i cant get it to work.
The program tells me that it cant find the Steam installation folder and that i should drag and drop it in there but after doing that nothing happens. I tried hiting enter which closed the programm and i tried doning nothing.
Do you have any idea what i am doing wrong.

[Sarge]

Originally posted by ¿Carlo?:

Hey Sarge i tried both you version and the original but i cant get it to work.
The program tells me that it cant find the Steam installation folder and that i should drag and drop it in there but after doing that nothing happens. I tried hiting enter which closed the programm and i tried doning nothing.
Do you have any idea what i am doing wrong.

Is THIS the error you get? (line 154) -> https://github.com/Sgt-Nukem/steamgrid/blob/master/users.go#L154

As it seems SteamGrid just scans the regular installation directory "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam" and bails out if not found.

However you can provide the Steam install dir as a command line argument.

Or just drag'n'drop the "Steam folder" onto the EXE file (which eventually does the same) like so: https://i.imgur.com/XwaakHo.gif

Let me know if this helps.

If you still cannot get it to work, please provide a screenshot or the exact errors that pop up, and your Steam installation folder. When I get some spare time, I'd like to investigate and help out.

[Gabriel]

Still not fixed, Valve! I'm forced to detail view because of this. Scrolling in Grid view this way, it is unbearable. Why aren't they cached? It's beyond me.