Nova feels consistent
Clearer Hosts and Library navigation, a rebuilt Stage view, usable Settings search, and separate text and control sizes. Text starts at 80% on a fresh installation; saved preferences remain yours.
Polaris and Nova 1.4.14-beta.1
1.4.14-beta.1 makes Nova easier to navigate and makes Polaris clearer about the stream it is actually running. Choose this prerelease explicitly if you want to test it; stable updates remain 1.4.13.
The changes you will notice first
Section titled “The changes you will notice first”A native Linux home
A landscape-first Deck and desktop interface with narrower-window layouts, controller navigation, themes, Wake PC and a more useful Command Center. The standard x86_64 bundle includes the optional PyroWave decoder.
The stream explains itself
Device-gated codec choices and named launch refusals make unsupported paths visible. Capture copies, selected encoders and current stream health are explained separately.
Advice with boundaries
Calibrated handheld PyroWave advice, explicit bitrate units and manual limits keep a saved request distinct from the encoder’s current output.
Read the Nova beta player notes and Polaris beta player notes for the full changes.
Pick the guide for your device
Section titled “Pick the guide for your device”- Nova Linux: installation identity, new controls and the move from the separate PyroWave bundle.
- Steam Deck: Desktop Mode installation, Game Mode and trackpad choices.
- PyroWave in beta.1: Android/Linux differences, calibrated advice and real capture evidence.
- Steam Frame preview: experimental native 2D work, current physical evidence and the qualification that is still unfinished.
- Nova updates and betas: separate Android apps and opt-in prereleases, including this beta.
Keep these limits in view
Section titled “Keep these limits in view”The Linux client remains Alpha. PyroWave remains experimental, manually selected, and unsuitable for Spaces; Linux’s path is SDR 8-bit 4:2:0. Steam Frame is development/preview work, with no public ARM64 package, XR claim or validated all-codec 90 fps target.
End Session is a request to the host, not a guarantee that an external launcher’s whole process tree has exited. A shared Heroic Flatpak game can keep running when Host Virtual Display ends; use Private Stream for that case. Wider Heroic shutdown support is a separate follow-up.
Use the SHA-256 files attached to the selected release. A successful capability probe establishes readiness; it does not measure live capture, network quality or physical device performance.