Why can't we download while we play games?

[Angelus BR]

I know this is a dumb question, but I've always wondered why can't steam just download a game while i'm playing another one?

[Kargor]

That was an old thing, where Steam assumes you're playing a multiplayer game and the download saturates your connection.

There's a checkbox in the settings to enable Steam to download while you're playing.

[Honey]

Left corner: Steam -> Settings -> Downloads -> Allow downloads during gameplay

[Angelus BR]

Originally posted by Honey:

Left corner: Steam -> Settings -> Downloads -> Allow downloads during gameplay

Thanks a ton!

[Honey]

Originally posted by Angelus BR:

Originally posted by Honey:

Left corner: Steam -> Settings -> Downloads -> Allow downloads during gameplay

Thanks a ton!

You're welcome

[Cerberus]

I know this has been answered, but alternatively, when your game has started, you can alt tab out and start the download again.

[Lil Baby]

or you can launch the game, continue the download, if you dont feel like going into the settings, but the setting is more convinient in the long run, as alt tabbing for games like payday2 and others can lag so hard.

[NetTech]

This isn't working for me. I've got a download running, and I'm trying to start another game; steam insists on trying to update the game I'm trying to run first. Why can't I play the game being updated, _while_ the update is downloading?

Not all of us have gigabit connections; downloads sometimes take a while, and I hate waiting...

[Kargor]

Originally posted by NetTech:

Why can't I play the game being updated, _while_ the update is downloading?

Because Steam doesn't let you run games that have pending updates.

It doesn't matter in most cases -- games usually worked before the update, so they will continue to work a little while longer without getting the update. And if they didn't then people can wait for the update just the same.

But, it's just how Steam rolls, and there are arguments to be made -- like Steam being able to just update the game without having to cache it beforehand, or Steam (more or less) guaranteeing that the newest version is being used, so support cases caused by "we've fixed this already, just install the update" are less likely.

[NetTech]

I get that; I just think it's a bad choice. What is the benefit in forcing players to wait 30 minutes or more for an update to download _before_ playing the game? You guarantee that every game is current to within a few minutes. However, if they download the game during play and install afterward (or even the next time the game is started) and you guarantee the game is up to date to within a day or two, and you don't force users to wait.

The only potential drawback is the cache space, but disk is cheap. Disk is also _very_ easy to check for.