Valve pushes Steam Frame VR forward with Half-Life 2 mod upgrade and Half-Life: Alyx SteamDB branch

The community team behind the Half-Life 2: VR Mod released a major update that earned Steam Frame verification. The patch, dated 16 September 2022, adds eye‑tracked foveated rendering, performance boosts for lower‑end CPUs, new controller bindings, and fixes numerous bugs, making the mod more stable on Valve’s upcoming standalone VR headset.

Separately, Valve created a public "previous_release" branch for Half-Life: Alyx in the SteamDB database. The branch preserves the current build to protect thousands of user‑generated Workshop mods while the company prepares a substantial engine overhaul for the Steam Frame (codenamed Deckard). This move signals upcoming low‑level changes to the Source 2 engine and further optimization for the new hardware.

Both actions aim to ensure a smoother transition for VR titles to the Steam Frame platform and maintain compatibility for the Half‑Life community.