What does pre-loading actually do?

[Skwug]

This is the first game I've pre-loaded, and I did it pretty much as soon as it was possible I think, but now I'm still sitting on a 5 hour download time.

[KSweeley]

Pre-loading is a feature of Steam that is optional for publishers/developers to use that allows you to download the game files in a special compressed and encrypted format that won't decrypt and unpack until the unlock time that Steam has for the game, thus in theory, saving you time on release-day taking out the step of downloading the entire game.

[James]

If you pre-loaded you probnbly aren't actually downloading anything on release. It might SAY you have an item downloading.. but it is actually unpacking and will give you bad download rate/estimated time results.

Originally posted by Jonezy:

Darn Im late its at 96 % and has been released for 16 mins. FAIL!

I can't tell if you are being sarcastic or not...

[ThePatient]

Too bad it hasnt been released. Steam is always late on their releases and its honestly sad for such a big company.

[Stilla-Killa]

Pre laoding my ass. I did the prelaoding and now I am still having to download the game.

[James]

Originally posted by Stilla-Killa:

Pre laoding my ass. I did the prelaoding and now I am still having to download the game.

... are you being serious right now? Because I am honestly surprised as to the number of people who don't understand the basics of how pre-loading works...

[em_t_hed]

allows me to sit and stare at a bunch of blue bars marqueeing across my screen whilst crying in depression of my slow internet and raging at the thought that i wont get to play as soon as its unlocked....

[Skwug]

Originally posted by James:

Originally posted by Stilla-Killa:

Pre laoding my ass. I did the prelaoding and now I am still having to download the game.

... are you being serious right now? Because I am honestly surprised as to the number of people who don't understand the basics of how pre-loading works...

This was my first time pre-loading a game, so I thank your for your earlier post. If it is indeed unpacking, it seems to be taking its sweet time doing so. Although, it does say 18.6 GB...

[James]

Originally posted by Sex Master Plex:

Originally posted by James:

... are you being serious right now? Because I am honestly surprised as to the number of people who don't understand the basics of how pre-loading works...

This was my first time pre-loading a game, so I thank your for your earlier post. If it is indeed unpacking, it seems to be taking its sweet time doing so. Although, it does say 18.6 GB...

The important thing is that (while the process takes time) it is relatively independant of steams servers (your computer is the one doing most/all of the work). It can still take 10-20 minutes depending on the game... but that is generally MUCH better than the server load ****storm that will occur when a game releases and EVERYONE begins a 5-15 gig download at the same time.

[Decius09]

The pre-load was ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up.... I pre-loaded last night and now im also having to download 18.6 GB of the game.. i guess the pre-load wasnt the entire game... What a load of crap

[Not Ok]

Upload is complete but not released yet ? anyone experiencing the same issue?

[James]

Originally posted by Jon Snow:

The pre-load was ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up.... I pre-loaded last night and now im also having to download 18.6 GB of the game.. i guess the pre-load wasnt the entire game... What a load of crap

odds are you had to UNPACK 18.6 gigs of the game.. not download it again.

[NoMercy]

Hi. I was wondering if we can change the directory the game pre-loads to? I´m low on the C drive, which it wants to pre-load to, but got plenty on D drive

[James]

Originally posted by NoMercy:

Hi. I was wondering if we can change the directory the game pre-loads to? I´m low on the C drive, which it wants to pre-load to, but got plenty on D drive

I know that you can go into Steam>Settings>Downloads and there will be a button to create/manage steam library folders.. I assume you can do something with that to determine where steam files go when you download games, but I haven't used it.