Another Steam Update, Another "How To Get Rid Of What's New" Thread (UPDATED 8TH MAY 24)

[🦊 Hermit]

EDIT 8th May 2024: Another update has brought back the shelf, and broken the earlier method of removing it once more. However there is still a workaround. If anybody is having issues getting the solutions in this thread to work, please check post #72 for the most recent method.

Alternatively, the script linked in post #62 seems to still work too. I have not tested nor verified this personally, however the script author has posted that it should still do the job.

Linux users, someone else has made a script for that platform too. Again I haven't tested it myself, but if you are interested, check post #83.

-----

OLDER POSTS


EDIT 22nd Dec 23: Somebody has made a script which automates the current fixing process, a link to it can be found in post #62.

I have not tried this script myself, so hold no responsibility if you decide to use it and it doesn't work for you. However a couple of other users in this thread have stated it does for them.

OLD EDIT: June 15th update has brought the What's New shelf back again, and the old method of blocking it now no longer works. A new solution can be found in post numbers 19 and 22 of this thread, thanks to all who have helped figure this issue out once more.

Old post below:

So the old method of adjusting the CSS files to remove the What's New shelf in the library has failed again, after just a month and a half. And this time Steam stopped me signing in and kept throwing errors until I deleted the file which I had edited and let the thing redownload, that's nice.

But once again, the shelf is showing up in my library, so any tips and tricks how to remove it until the next Steam update would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.

[Ionic_Flux]

you have just to repeat this:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam/comments/10r753g/whats_new_section_came_back/
with the update, steam overwrite this file.

[🦊 Hermit]

Thanks for the tip, but sadly that didn't work for me.

I didn't delete the old file straight away after the update, I renamed it to 'OLD' in order to make Steam download a new one, and then when I had logged in without errors I deleted the new one and renamed the OLD back to it's original name. So if that solution still worked, swapping that file with the fix back in would have removed the shelf.

But when I did that, my library stopped showing at all and threw an error, rendering it unusable. I had to remove the OLD file again and allow Steam to replace it with a new one in order to use my library at all.

EDIT: Additionally, out of desperation, I decided I would try doing that fix afresh once more just for the sake of it. So I opened the file as instructed in that post and searched for the element it says to find. But that phrase no longer appears the the file at all. It seems the text in it has been changed completely.

[SotiCoto]

libraryhome_UpdatesContainer_17uEB definitely does still exist in the file specified on Reddit... but setting it to display:none and fixing the checksum doesn't seem to have any immediate effect any more. Y'know, it used to be immediate when you saved the CSS file.

Well, it does seem to get rid of it if you close down Steam and re-open it....

... and by "you" I mean "I" ... sorry. Can't speak for anyone else here.


Now I think about it, didn't I post in your previous post on this subject a month or so ago, Hermit?

[🦊 Hermit]

Originally posted by SotiCoto:

libraryhome_UpdatesContainer_17uEB definitely does still exist in the file specified on Reddit...

Thanks for mentioning that, I rechecked my file again and noticed I was using the wrong search options to find it. I adjusted that and now it is showing up in there for me too.

However, the Reddit solution still does not fix the problem for me. I did as it said and edited the lines between the brackets, filling in the extra space with blanks, however now when I go to my Steam library page I just get a completely blank window. Sure, the What's New shelf has gone...but so have all my games and everything else on that screen as well. Needless to say that can't work as a solution.

Anybody any ideas what I might be doing wrong?

Originally posted by SotiCoto:

Now I think about it, didn't I post in your previous post on this subject a month or so ago, Hermit?

Indeed you did, and thanks for your continued contribution, I do deeply appreciate the assistance. It's just a shame that the topic keeps resurfacing because Valve refuse to give us a legitimate option to turn this element off...

EDIT: Okay, after some more fiddling, I've managed to enter the line without my entire library screen going blank. What I did was, instead of editing everything within the brackets as the Reddit post said, I just edited the bit between the quotation marks after the 'UpdatesContainer:' line...basically only erasing the 'libraryhome_UpdatesContainer_17uEB' entry itself and nothing more.

Before all this editing I had already removed all of the entries in my What's New shelf, so it was not displaying anything currently because there was no new articles to show. So I can't say for sure whether this edit has worked in banishing the thing - I'll have to wait until some new info attempts to pop up on the shelf before I see whether it has actually gone or whether it reappears. But hopefully that will have done it for now, idk.

[HaikenEdge]

EDIT: Okay, after some more fiddling, I've managed to enter the line without my entire library screen going blank. What I did was, instead of editing everything within the brackets as the Reddit post said, I just edited the bit between the quotation marks after the 'UpdatesContainer:' line...basically only erasing the 'libraryhome_UpdatesContainer_17uEB' entry itself and nothing more.

Unfortunately, doesn't seem to work.

[🦊 Hermit]

Are you still getting the shelf in your library? I haven't seen it yet myself, but as I said above I don't know whether that is because the edit worked for me or because there just haven't been any news updates since I did it. If it doesn't work for you that's concerning though...

[HaikenEdge]

Originally posted by 🦊 Hermit:

Are you still getting the shelf in your library? I haven't seen it yet myself, but as I said above I don't know whether that is because the edit worked for me or because there just haven't been any news updates since I did it. If it doesn't work for you that's concerning though...

I was getting the shelf after I tried your edit, which is why I said it doesn't work.

[HaikenEdge]

@Hermit: This solution works.[github.com]

[🦊 Hermit]

Tyvm for the tip. I still haven't had the shelf pop back up in my own library, but if it does turn out that the edit I used is broken and it shows up again at some point, I may try that one instead.

[🦊 Hermit]

Yep, it's back - yet again.

So after the latest Steam patch where everything looks different, sadly the one thing that hasn't changed is the 'What's New' shelf still forcing itself down our throats.

And now, it seems the fix above does not work, as that fix requires us to adjust the file chunk~547eb3232.css located at steamui\css\, but after the update that file no longer exists in the specified folder for us to edit.

So this topic is relevant once again, as we need a new fix to get rid of this infuriating nuisance from our libraries. Any assistance would be much appreciated, thank you in advance.

[davidb11]

What is wrong with the What's New section?!
It's small, and doesn't take up enough space to complain about.

And it doesn't do anything annoying.

[🦊 Hermit]

I respect if you feel it doesn't take up enough space to complain about, that's fine. However I'm afraid many users would disagree, as proven by the topics about it here, in the 'Steam discussion' section, on Reddit, Github, and many other discussion sites. Not to mention, if you search it on Google, there are even Youtube videos and gaming journalism sites offering tutorials on how to get rid of it. So many do find it intrusive and annoying.

Personally, I'm on the Autism spectrum so I need to keep my library relatively clutter-free to avoid sensory discomfort and overload. I much preferred the old Steam library we had years ago which just allowed us to have a simple list of our games and their small icons, nothing more. But that was removed without giving us an option to revert to it, and the new version was added which whenever you click on a game it fills the screen with lots of NEWS!, ACHIEVEMENTS!, GAME ACTIVITY!, SCREENSHOTS!, GUIDES! which is just a morass of colour and visual noise which I really do not want.

After some adjustments like sorting my games into particular folders and adjusting settings, I did get it back to just a simple list, and all that extra noise only comes up when I click on a game directly, which I can mostly avoid doing. But the one thing there isn't an option to remove is that darned 'What's New' shelf, which takes up acres of realestate in my library, is full of bright pictures, and forces news and info down my throat whether I ask for it or not. If I want to see new information about my games I'll go to their individual news sections, I don't need advertisements shoved at me in the personal space of my library, nor can I handle the extra clutter.

[SotiCoto]

I've been trying to find relevant sections of the current "chunk" file, but there is only one section with the words "WhatsNew" and that doesn't do anything.
Also that chunk file has a huge syntax error in it... so I'm not sure how it is supposed to work at all.

I'd also like to figure a way to hide Developer Broadcast boxes as well, since those are downright cancerous.

For the time being, it would probably be good to find out whether editing any of the CSS files can have any effect at all.

Originally posted by davidb11:

What is wrong with the What's New section?!
It's small, and doesn't take up enough space to complain about.

And it doesn't do anything annoying.

We want it gone. WHY we want it gone isn't open to discussion.

[davidb11]

Hermit, I have Autism too, part of the Asperger's side.
Also, Soticodo, I don't see why you think it's not allowed to discuss why, because that doesn't make any sense.

THat being said, this doesn't bother me, and I really don't know how it can, but if it bothers someone, that's fair.

[🦊 Hermit]

Thank you very much for looking into this Soti. I wish I could help with figuring out the files, however sadly I'm completely clueless with regard to CSS, so I don't believe there's any assistance I could provide.

EDIT: @David, we posted at the same time - Hey, fellow neuro-divergent! *Hi five* And thank you very much for your understanding...so many people nowadays when asking about matters such as this, they would just start making fun of people who ask for options. I appreciate and respect your level-headedness^^