Why does ARK says there is an update and it is 166gb. WTF what can I do about it

[mzzmurad]

help

[Sarecho]

read it again, slowly, like you were born in 1980 before IQs started dropping like a rock. try that.

[mzzmurad]

Originally posted by Sarecho:

read it again, slowly, like you were born in 1980 before IQs started dropping like a rock. try that.

still got no idea mate

[Roman81]

same problem, but my update is whopping 768.4 GB. I have 6 hours played on the island, the only map I intend to play.

[Sarecho]

Originally posted by mzzmurad:

Originally posted by Sarecho:

read it again, slowly, like you were born in 1980 before IQs started dropping like a rock. try that.

still got no idea mate

it's not downloading all of that, that's the install size, that's what it's patching, the download may only be a few hundred megabytes but it will still patch the full game and may take a while sometimes, it's steam's patching/updating system and it works fine (something that was a problem with old steam's system) but it's slow as hell sometimes. it doesn't redownload the game every time, but it shows the patching in the same window as the downloading and if you have steam installed in program files like a dummy (a lot of folks still install games in UAC folders even though it's been a bad idea for 10+ years) it may even require a full game's worth of space to patch it. on mine it doesn't but i've seen people claim it does, if you have steam installed in the root of a drive it shouldn't ask

i'd also make sure windows defender is off or an exception for steam is added so it doesn't steal files or slow down the process, same for antivirus, bit defender, etc. if you have win11 you wanna disable one drive too since it has all the power previous windows UAC had plus it has access to places like My Documents where games like to output inis and stuff.

if you do all that and it's slow, it will still be slow but the download itself shouldn't be huge like this wall of text i just posted

[Sarecho]

Originally posted by Roman81:

same problem, but my update is whopping 768.4 GB. I have 6 hours played on the island, the only map I intend to play.

ASE+ASA isn't even 768.4gb, it's probably megabytes and then patching the whole 160gb+ game

[Roman81]

Originally posted by Sarecho:

Originally posted by Roman81:

same problem, but my update is whopping 768.4 GB. I have 6 hours played on the island, the only map I intend to play.

ASE+ASA isn't even 768.4gb, it's probably megabytes and then patching the whole 160gb+ game

I posted a screenshot here: https://www.reddit.com/r/ARK/comments/1ipk7vc/help_they_want_me_to_load_a_7684_gb_update/?

People telling me it's a bug and I have to reinstall the game. Great.

[Sarecho]

Originally posted by Roman81:

Originally posted by Sarecho:

ASE+ASA isn't even 768.4gb, it's probably megabytes and then patching the whole 160gb+ game

I posted a screenshot here: https://www.reddit.com/r/ARK/comments/1ipk7vc/help_they_want_me_to_load_a_7684_gb_update/?

People telling me it's a bug and I have to reinstall the game. Great.

people on reddit are generally idiots though, 60% of the website isn't even actual human beings. where is STEAM installed on your pc and do you have win10 or win11, you might just need to move it and there's a tool to do that that wouldn't require a 200gb download

there's just no situation where steam would need that much space for ASA, if you add those 2 numbers together it's about what's left on a partitioned 1tb drive like it's reading something weird, is that a 1tb drive it's on by chance?

[preston.scopa1]

I'm having the same problem, and I don't know anything about computers and drives and RAM and all that stuff. So, can anyone guide me on what to do in computer noob language? Also, would just deleting the game and redownloading it solve the problem?

[Spectre]

Anyone who denies this problem is delusional or a disabled shill because this is a real issue.
No, its not the same as other games. I have downloaded large updates for other games with less space than the update because the devs were smart enough to work with steam to download the packets in parts.
ASA does not do that, it demands you have 166-180gb of space for even a small update simply because it overwrites parts of many files. Then, there is the bug of it multiplying where when it fails, itll go to 500+ or 700+.

This has nothing to do with the pc system either but, toxic forum spammers will ahve you believe otherwise. It especially doesnt make sense when you consider server systems purposely have minimal components, such as not needing a demanding GPU because servers arent rendering an image. A game update only needs a Hard Drive/SSD, an internet connection, and steam. Other parts can be basic for the sake of updating.

This is further shown to be a developer mistake with the fact its EASIER and doesnt have the ridiculous problem when you reinstall the game, on top of other games large updates not having this issue. Which is a dumb requirement for every update especially when they updated like 4 times in 2 weeks already. ASA demanded I had 166gb, I have 156gb free so it fails itself saying not enough space. Then the update claims I need double, triple, and so on with each fail. ONLY solution is uninstalling the game, which I am now left with over 300gb free, then reinstall the 187gb game.
Reinstalling becomes an even bigger issue for SSD users because it essentially wears down the SSD quicker, as an SSD degrades when writing but, not reading.