Massive downloads every patch

[Rocktor Dobotnik]

Hi. So, I noticed with some games, this one especially, every patch even if a few mb is always a HUGE download.
I didn't notice it so much before, but since my landlord recently downgraded the internet it has me considering uninstalling the game EVERY patch, as I only play it occasionally and it makes it that my entire night is nothing but waiting for a game to patch because it hogs the entire bandwidth. The devs keep releasing all this paid DLC which is cool, but since I got this they have done nothing meaningful for performance despite constantly mentioning it in patch notes, and the downloads are just messed up. Do they not have software engineers there? Do they entirely outsource code? What is happening?

[Wizard of Woz]

Why not just get your own internet provider instead of depending on someone else?

[easytarget]

I've got fiber so I don't much care about bandwidth with these patches, but I am still puzzled by why it took almost 8GB to do a patch?

Because that looks very much to me like complete incompetence.

[Eminem]

unity engine does that

[mbradtke]

seriously, that is your problem... if u have a bad connection i see but it is normal that you have to download stuff sometimes, people also download full games these days, patches are important..... also i dont think you know anything about the structure of the game, so i dont understand why you even complain about it, i get it your connection is bad but as i have said... devs prolly cant do much about it, if they uptade stuff certain files must be uptaded and if others have to be uptaded as well... is it as it is, why even complain, you are not the first and prolly wont be the last but oh well... whatever lol

[JohnHenry]

a minor patch of a game soudn't be this size

[Shadow]

Originally posted by Rocktor Dobotnik:

So, I noticed with some games, this one especially, every patch even if a few mb is always a HUGE download.

No, it's not. You're not actually downloading 8 GB for a patch that is only a few MB in size.

The file that you download is only a few MB in size and contains a list of changes that need done to the game files. Your computer then makes those changes to those other files, and that process can result in shuffling around 8 GB or more of data around your hard drive. It just depends on what changes need made to what files and how big those existing files are.

The Satisfactory devs touched on this a couple months ago. Relevant section starts at about the eight minute mark:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hdn9tYv_iLw

[AlexMBrennan]

No, it's not. You're not actually downloading 8 GB for a patch that is only a few MB in size.

Do you think we are stupid? Steam is maxing out my bandwidth at 4.5MB/s for a predicted 25 minutes which means that there is another 6.5GB to download. This lines up remarkably well with the 8GB mentioned above, doesn't it?

And for the record, this is an issue with Steam. If Steam didn't force everyone to install all the patches they don't want then this wouldn't be an issue. But since Steam sucks I need to waste 30min of bandwidth every day to update the obnoxious DLC ads which I am never going to buy. Yay.

[blake282]

Originally posted by Rocktor Dobotnik:

Hi. So, I noticed with some games, this one especially, every patch even if a few mb is always a HUGE download.
I didn't notice it so much before, but since my landlord recently downgraded the internet it has me considering uninstalling the game EVERY patch, as I only play it occasionally and it makes it that my entire night is nothing but waiting for a game to patch because it hogs the entire bandwidth. The devs keep releasing all this paid DLC which is cool, but since I got this they have done nothing meaningful for performance despite constantly mentioning it in patch notes, and the downloads are just messed up. Do they not have software engineers there? Do they entirely outsource code? What is happening?

Hey so i understand this wont help you download it quicker but the opposite, if your main issue is the fact its hogging the bandwidth, you can limit your download speed and let it download while doing other things.

[Shadow]

Originally posted by AlexMBrennan:

No, it's not. You're not actually downloading 8 GB for a patch that is only a few MB in size.

Do you think we are stupid? Steam is maxing out my bandwidth at 4.5MB/s for a predicted 25 minutes which means that there is another 6.5GB to download. This lines up remarkably well with the 8GB mentioned above, doesn't it?

No, I don't think you're stupid. Just misinformed. There are two metrics involved here. Network and disk. Your internet transfers are the network bandwidth. Disk is stuff being moved around on your hard drive.

Steam uses delta encoding for patches. This reduces network bandwidth used because the patch files are smaller, but it comes at the cost of increasing the time and resources needed on your local machine to install the patch. The only thing you download is the delta file and any brand new resources that the update adds.

The result is you will see patch files that are ten or twenty megabytes in size get downloaded, but then you will see Steam "downloading" another eight or nine gigabytes while installing the update. But it's not actually downloading all that, it's rebuilding files on your machine.

Path of Exile used to run into this issue with every update they had (not sure if it still does). Patches that were only a few megabytes resulted in 70 or 80 GB being shuffled around.

[RandomDude2018]

I use GOG offline installers. The previous patch was only 19 MB.

The new is only 29 MB.

PS. Fallout 4 GOTY is on GOG now.

[273Kel]

My patch size was 7.5 GB just now. My drive was at 314 GB, now it at 304 GB. So much for it downloading small files and re arranging on your disk. Ridiculous size for the amount of changes this patch had.

[Shadow]

Some of that is temporary files, as I recall Steam makes a backup copy before getting to work rebuilding your game files.

And yes, if you haven't downloaded the new content yet, then of course the patch size is going to be larger.

[tiamats4esgares]

Originally posted by Sooya😎:

The latest patch says 23 GB for me. Why is it so big. I have fast internet so it's not a problem, the problem is storage space since my ssd is not so big

Same same. I guess the solution, for us, is to uninstall the entire game every so often and re-install so that it takes up less space. Seems silly but I think it would help. I do sometimes uninstall the game as I don't always play it that much and then I re-install when I want to play again.

Originally posted by Rocktor Dobotnik:

Hi. So, I noticed with some games, this one especially, every patch even if a few mb is always a HUGE download.
I didn't notice it so much before, but since my landlord recently downgraded the internet it has me considering uninstalling the game EVERY patch, as I only play it occasionally and it makes it that my entire night is nothing but waiting for a game to patch because it hogs the entire bandwidth. The devs keep releasing all this paid DLC which is cool, but since I got this they have done nothing meaningful for performance despite constantly mentioning it in patch notes, and the downloads are just messed up. Do they not have software engineers there? Do they entirely outsource code? What is happening?

One thing that might help you, do you have automatic downloads on? You can have the patch automatically download whenever it's ready and that way if you're asleep or at work (assuming you don't work from home) then it won't bother you downloading at that time. Furthermore, you can pause a download at any time if it's using up too much bandwidth. Unless you have a cap to how much data you can use per month, it still shouldn't be an issue unless you want to actually play the game right then in there, in which case that sucks but it happens to all of us.

[Shadow]

Originally posted by tiamats4esgares:

Originally posted by Sooya😎:

The latest patch says 23 GB for me. Why is it so big. I have fast internet so it's not a problem, the problem is storage space since my ssd is not so big

Same same. I guess the solution, for us, is to uninstall the entire game every so often and re-install so that it takes up less space. Seems silly but I think it would help.

It is silly, because it won't help. You're misdiagnosing what's going on. The patch is not adding on 23 GB of data to your game files. Go ahead. Look at the game folder under /program files (x86)/steam/steamapps/common/Pathfinder Second Adventure. That folder should be ~48 GB is size if you have all the DLC and no mods of any significant size installed. That's why the minimum requirements state you need at least 50 GB of free space.

If the patch is telling you it's 23 GB in size during the second stage of the patch process, that's because it needs to use 23 GB of space on your hard drive to do the install. It does not mean it's permanently inflating how much room the game takes up.

Frankly a simple restart of your machine would be far more beneficial to you than reinstalling the game every time there's a patch.

[Jean-Maurice Nya]

As mentioned above, use GOG offline folders. The problem comes from the Steam client. I'm pretty sure Epic and Galaxy have similar issues (well, Galaxy is worse for other reasons).

Now, studios should learn optimize and compress their games a lot more. Current computers are not as restrictive as they were 20-30.years ago so there's no other incentives than the ecological one as the bigger a game is, the more demanding it'll be for your computer to process things. Which comes with a cost in lifespan and energy use. But that's not your issue here.