Steam Desktop icons Blurry

[iconical]

We are an award winning games company based in London, we are trying to get our game up on steam and are currently having a problem getting the desktop icon for the game looking crisp. When we download the game on our steam testbuild account, the icon for the desktop shortcut is incredibly blurry. We have tried uploading a 32x32 ico file (based on a 1024x1024 png file), we have also tried png format and jpeg format.

We've looked around the forums and found similar developers with the same problem... the client icon says 32x32 pixels for desktop shortcut, and were currently running a screen resolution of 1920x1080.

Any advice from you fellow devs would be much appreciated.

Kind regards,

iconical.

[Wooden Ladle]

I don't think Steam has a fix for that. I have 1920x1080 resolution too and my TF2 icon is blurry.
I found something here though, but I didn't try it : http://www.askvg.com/fix-bold-blurry-or-hard-to-read-font-problem-in-windows-8-1/

[BlauwPrint]

Hey! I have no idea whether you're still curious about this, but I found this thread while I was also puzzling it out.

I'm one step closer to the solution. Unfamiliar with how ICO files work, we had made 5 ICO files (16x16, 32x32, 64x64, etc.) and had uploaded the 32px one because that's what they asked for.

However, the cool thing about an ICO file is that it supports multiple resolutions in one file. With GIMP, you can create one of those files -- there are also online converters but those didn't work for me.

When you upload a multi-resolution ICO file it looks like this in the SteamWorks interface: http://blauwprintgames.com/images/steam-ico.png

Anyway, it doesn't show up in the right resolution when I make a desktop icon, but I'm pretty sure it now recognizes the different resolutions. Maybe that works for you.

[Deckerz]

Might just be res messing up

[illusioNack]

I don't think Steam has a fix for that. I have 1920x1080 resolution too and my TF2 icon is blurry.
I found something here though, but I didn't try it : http://www.askvg.com/fix-bold-blurry-or-hard-to-read-font-problem-in-windows-8-1/

[BlauwPrint]

DeckerzMc님이 먼저 게시:

Might just be res messing up

Could be, but I have the ico file next to the Steam icon, so Windows clearly knows which one to use... http://blauwprintgames.com/images/desktop-ico.png

[BlauwPrint]

I can now confirm that what I described in post #2 is the solution to this problem! After a day or so to update its cache, it displays the 256x256 icon on my desktop.

[Nolex]

BlauwPrint님이 먼저 게시:

I can now confirm that what I described in post #2 is the solution to this problem! After a day or so to update its cache, it displays the 256x256 icon on my desktop.

Thanks! It helps me. And this:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4354617/how-to-make-get-a-multi-size-ico-file

[Rascal]

I don´t think is a problem of steam, maybe you can try differents pixels. If that doesn´t work you should write a direct e-mail to steam, that how you can fix it.

[raditz]

BlauwPrint님이 먼저 게시:

I can now confirm that what I described in post #2 is the solution to this problem! After a day or so to update its cache, it displays the 256x256 icon on my desktop.

Saving the day since "1 Feb, 2016 @ 4:37pm" ;) Thanks champ!

For those who are a bit confused how to create that GIMP .ico file, here's the easy way:
1, Have your .ico files ready, in all resolutions you want to use. MUST have a 32x32 for steam! I used 16, 32, 48, 128, 256, 512 and 1024, just to be sure
2, Open GIMP, create a new project (File -> New...) and set the image size to be the largest of your .ico files (in my case it was 1024x1024)
3, Grab your .ico files and drag&drop them to GIMP's "Layers" window (if you can't see it: "Windows -> Layers - Brushes" in the menu), white area (all .ico files will be added to their own layer)
4, Delete the "Background" layer (right click, "Delete Layer")
5, (unsure if needed but I did it) reorder the layers (simple drag&drop) so the smallest resolution will be on top, highest on bottom
6, CTRL+SHIFT+E and set the export format "Microsoft Windows icon", as well as the file extension to .ico
7, Upload it on Steamworks app admin page in "Installation -> Client Images" (steam will find the 32x32 res. in the file, as well as the rest of the resolutions, just like BlauwPrint described)
8, PROFIT