You aren't missing much of anything, only a few minor things were changed and unless you knew what to look for you probably wouldn't even notice a difference.
Intel Core i7-5820K 4.2GHz 6-Core Processor G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory EVGA GTX 980 Ti SC 6GB
You aren't missing much of anything, only a few minor things were changed and unless you knew what to look for you probably wouldn't even notice a difference.
The main difference of the steam version is fixing issue which made SE incompatible with steam overlay.
What would happen if you started recording using SE's recorder (without HUD), but then a Steam notification popped up? Would it be visible in the resulting video?
Also, do you know at this point if 0.974 will be the Steam version or will we see two separate releases?
Born too early to explore space... But just in time for Space Engine.
Changelog after 0.974 RC2 (full changelog after 0.973 is in the opening post):
Changes: - Ship refbody, target and autopilot stage are saved to the config - ClipHeight is moved to main.cfg and changed automatically based on reversed depth buffer support at first launch - Docking ports are updated in real-time in the Ship editor - Camera turn smoothing can be adjusted in user.cfg, 0 (disabled) by default - Right side toolbar do not overlap the selected object's info table - Completed patching system for atmosphere model scripts - Automatic creation of directories to save config/script file if they don't exist - Ability to modify default ships in the Ship editor and save changes - Ability to hide structural modules (frames and shield tiles) in the Ship editor - Added alternate designations for some nebulae and clusters, removed duplicates - Completed Messier catalog - Added limit for size of a non-loaded planetary systems (optimization for Sun neighbourhood) - Fixed colorizing of the stars lens flares by orbital path lines (only in reversed/logarithmic depth buffer mode) - Added saving of the pressure unit to the config - Added parameter RadiusSol (= RadSol) to star scripts for backward compatibility - Supporting of the reversed floating point z-buffer buffer via GL_ARB_clip_control for OpenGL 4.5+ drivers (including Intel HD 4600+) - Improved precision of warp autopilot by using thrusters constantly to correct the warp vector - Better algorithm for "Fly to" autopilot - Switch between impostor and fullscreen FBO is occurred at matched resolution - Binary/multiple asteroids are moved into separate catalog file - Integrated community catalog of binary asteroids - Fictional barycenter of planetary system is not displayed in the Solar system browser - Added ability to show planetary barycenter in the Solar system browser - Active navigation buttons with number of satellites info in the Solar system browser - Added ambient lighting to the Solar system browser in a rogue planet and solitary black hole system - Changed colors of orbits, labels and markers of barycenters, suns and comets - Added rotational parameters of the Sun - Added moon of Makemake - Updated GUI textures - Implemented planemo (rogue planets), updates in the Map mode, Star browser and Solar system browser - Wormholes are ignored when counting number of stars in a system - Localized interface of the Planet editor and the Ship editor - Exponential values of a parameters in the Planet editor are converted to the scientific notation when click for edit (like "1.23e4") - Added limit to mass of a catalog exoplanets to fix absurdly high densities - Updated exoplanet catalog (13 May 2016) - Updated textures of Mercury - Binary planets can have outer moons - New volcanos - New gas giants texture and cyclones - New terrestral planets cyclones - Implemented multi-sampling anti-aliasing (MSAA) - Updated Graphics setting menu - VSync control is moved to the Graphics setting menu - New styles of the drop-down menus - Compact list of the modules in the Ship editor with ability to hide structural modules
Bugfixes: - Fixed locked ship model orientation while in warp - Fixed flipping of the ship warp effect - Fixed ship thrusters firing while docked - Fixed bugs with engine effects in editor - Fixed lens flares checkbox - Fixed docking port of the Shuttle spacecraft - Fixed initialization of the sound effects volume - Fixed bug with selection of the Sun and Earth with Shift-H on some localizations - Fixed bug with message box buttons - Fixed detail textures on planets with real textures - Fixed bug with non-loading of a galaxy/nebula model mods if they are packed into pak file - Fixed duplicated Sagittarius dSph galaxy - Fixed bug with procedural stars in IC 3094 and other dwarf catalog galaxies - Fixed bug with reading coordinates of Mintaka and other stars in DMS format with D between -1 and 0 - Fixed bug with invisible Capella - Disabled luminosity calculation from IR apparent magnitude for catalog red dwarfs, which leads to unrealistically small radius - Fixed multiple errors in catalogs - Fixed ' character typed in the console when it opened - Fixed changing of the camera velocity then typing + or - character into any edit box - Fixed surface animation of a solitary white dwarfs and neutron stars - Fixed bug with solar eclipses not affecting planet brightness in "Super" Planet shine - Fixed NGC 604 nebula in M33 galaxy - Fixed planet shine and solar eclipses in the Solar system - Fixed bug with loading/generating of incorrect galaxy sprite model - Fixed seams in nebula skybox - Fixed bugs with patching/modding of a catalog binary stars - Fixed selection pointer arrow - Fixed diffraction spikes enable/disable message - Fixed crash on autopilot command "fly to target ship" - Fixed infinite mass and luminosity of a barycenter of a catalog star system with accretion disk - Fixed a bug with rendering of a black squares instead of star sprites on Intel HD in stars style mode "points" - Fixed black sphere in the preview of black hole, neutron star or white dwarf - Fixed instability in autopilot rotation at hight time speed - Fixed blinking of ship star-like particles - Fixed bug with galaxy/nebula model cutoff in reversed depth buffer mode - Fixed bug with Map mode if camera tracked some object before entering the Map Mode - Fixed disappearing of the value labels near sliders in the Planet editor - Fixed camera offset in the Chart mode while animation is in progress - Fixed a bug with incorrect star/planet counter in the Star browser table - Fixed M16 model - Fixed scorched asteroid moon bug - Fixed missing OpenGL version check and crash on initialization on systems with no graphics driver (generic Windows driver) - Fixed precision issues with zero-phase glare, detail textures and water specular then camera is close to the planet surface - Fixed brightening of the planet surface then camera is close to it - Fixed autoexposure then sun is occluded by a planet - Fixed sun particle shining through the planet surface
This is great! The gas giants look fantastic and you have no idea how happy I am that the interface bugs are gone! In RC2 I had to click up to 5-6 times on something to open the related window, now it always works, and the pause bug (which showed a bunch of scan lines instead of the menu) is gone, too. So amazing work on the bugfixing side of things.
However, it seems that the the recording menu now only shows "start" instead of "stop", even when you are already recording (like it used to do before in RC2). It would also be nice if the recorder remembered the last fps number, so that you don't have to re-set it every time.
Born too early to explore space... But just in time for Space Engine.
ENG
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I thought it is then a beta version will be available on Steam only. This is great. Thanks! 
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