Game keeps downloading "workshop content" ! Suspicious.

[gogogadgetdicc]

Unable to play online without the game downloading "workshop content", even when I host. And I've noticed it downloads this even when I'm not playing the game. Unable to play online smoothly due to this.

What the hell is this game downloading? How much more will it download? And how do I turn it off?

[Sir Oswald]

Are you subscribed to any community levels?
It only sounds wierd if you only play the levels that are included with the base game.
Even if you host a workshop level, you will still need to download it if you've not subscribed to it before.
Also, all levels that you've subscribed to will re-download if they are updated.
If the automatic updates is a huge bother, you could either unsubscribe to levels you don't play anymore, or go to the game's settings menu in steam and turn off automatic updates, I believe it's called something like "Keep this game up to date", and can be changed to "Update this game when I start it", unsure if this affects workshop items though.

As for what it's downloading and how much: It's most likely anything subscribed to in the workshop, and how much is entirely dependent on how many items you've subscribed to.

Hope this helps.

[gogogadgetdicc]

Thanks for the detailed reply. I have yet to try that option; and have tried the other 2 options regarding updates. Also, not subscribed to any community levels. I found a thread on reddit of a person experiencing the same issue, and oddly, just like them, the "Workshop Content" downloads seem to have stopped ... atleast for now. Will update if something changes.

[gogogadgetdicc]

Ok, they're back! I have just confirmed, after multiple tests, that steam starts downloading "Workshop Content" as soon as I lay my cursor on ANY online lobby. For the sake of simplicity, we shall now refer to "Workshop Content" as WC. I also tried out the options you suggested regarding updates, and unfortunately, they did not work.

There should be a way to disable WC downloads and also an in-game option to show only non-WC servers and/or only servers that don't require any extra WC downloads, i.e., servers of maps you are already subscribed to. On top of that it would be nice to have an option to disable downloading cosmetic WC (if there is any), as they should not be required to play the game.

For some reason, I believe that the game already implements some of these, but poorly, which is why I am here.

[Sir Oswald]

Sorry to hear that. Unfortunatly I am out of ideas, as I cannot find anything to filter public servers in the GUI.
I was, however, able to replicate the WC downloading when you mouse over a server, and considering the small size of the download my best guess is that this is simply a download of the thumbnail.
I wish you well and hope someone finds this thread that is able to provide a solution for you.

[gogogadgetdicc]

Ah, well. I appreciate all the ideas! You sound very professional, like a developer. Nice meetin ya