redownloading entire game every patch or update

[cfruge26]

why do we have to do that

[Hiei]

Steam sucks.

[christof]

It's a Steam issue with the updates. Though I believe it usually won't actually download the whole game. It will however go over every single file, checking it and replacing it if something changed. And that process is what you see happening (and can take quite a bit of time, depending on your internet connection and type of hard-disc).

[CRCGamer]

Usually you are only on the hook for a few gigabytes of downloading and then delta patching. Though if you are using mods you may well find yourself hit because of how Steam checks which files need attention. And it only can easily patch between official release versions. If it find a modded file that is older than a newly updated file but it doesn't match the checksum for a direct patch it will re-download the entire file instead.

[Jackson]

Please use the search function. I'm not sure why, but pretty much every month we have at least one new thread asking the same thing.

Short version: As they said above, Steam sucks for updating. Which is weird, considering how big it is - but that's the problem. You can easily get around that by using Wargaming's launcher. But then you can't use Steam Funds and won't get Steam Achievements if those matter to you. As you may know, the game has it's own achievements, and far more of them.

Originally posted by christof:

It's a Steam issue with the updates. Though I believe it usually won't actually download the whole game. It will however go over every single file, checking it and replacing it if something changed. And that process is what you see happening (and can take quite a bit of time, depending on your internet connection and type of hard-disc).

Yes, that's true. It's a bit misleading. Fortunately now Valve has added good information telling you how much is just disk usage and how much you're actually downloading. Before this, it was rather hard to make people understand what was going on - but now you can see it when you click downloads.

[R[e]venge®-uk*]

you do NOT have to RE Download it .... if you use the Official launcher ... Steam however downloads all modded files and replaces the odd few .... but at the same time makes room for a (I wanna say a backup) but yeah it makes room ........ then tells you it is downloading X amounts of gigs of x amount of more .... When this is all a lie!

SO

Say the Download is 500MB
but the game is 10GB it needs 10 GB Space (STEAM again being STEAM!!!)

so wows is now like 80GB ??
Todays was 1.1GB But it needs the game plus the update to "update" So thats like 81GB Free Space and it kinda makes out it is doing it all when no ..... it is downloading 1.1GB but patching the 80GB game!! ARGH!!!!!

Someone who runs Dayz and ARMA servers trust .. Steam is terrible for updates via space and time ...... BUT it does tend to make sure it works .... kinda a trade off!

Personally, have the Steam Version for Personal use and the Launcher Version for all the Comps I do and yeah you can see the difference quite a bit!!

Either way ... get disk space and let Steam do it's thing if you like .. if not ... use official Launcher!

[Starseer]

I'll gladly keep my Steam version and all its funny hassles,
if just for the exclusive DLCs, be they free or fairly cheap several times a year.

[Jackson]

Originally posted by Starseer:

I'll gladly keep my Steam version and all its funny hassles,
if just for the exclusive DLCs, be they free or fairly cheap several times a year.

As long as you created your account with Steam, you'd still be able to get those. Your account is a Steam account even if you don't use Steam to launch it.

[Jackson]

Ok, here's a screenshot. On Steam it's only downloading 1.8 GB. The rest is disk usage.
https://prnt.sc/kgpjDuHJ9IU2