why are the games in my library being "validated"

[jinko]

the last 2 days i'v logged in, steam has been validating several of the games in my library. they are games that i still play but they are older (eg FTL, DEAD CELLS, Bastion). i have never seen steam validate a game like this. its looks almost like an update but obviously isn't. this happens whether i play them or not. it isn't validating them as i play them. its preemptively (and seemingly randomly) validating games on my playing list. is there something i should know? are people playing invalid copys of games on steam in epidemic numbers? is there a cyber attack going on against steam or something? is my library secure? whats going on with this?

[karl-police2025[GER]]

Originally posted by jinko:

the last 2 days i'v logged in, steam has been validating several of the games in my library. they are games that i still play but they are older (eg FTL, DEAD CELLS, Bastion). i have never seen steam validate a game like this. its looks almost like an update but obviously isn't. this happens whether i play them or not. it isn't validating them as i play them. its preemptively (and seemingly randomly) validating games on my playing list. is there something i should know? are people playing invalid copys of games on steam in epidemic numbers? is there a cyber attack going on against steam or something? is my library secure? whats going on with this?

When I finish playing a game, sometimes it shows "validating game" for a few seconds. Not sure, if this has to do with the Steam Cloud.

[Agent24]

I've noticed the same behaviour recently, too.

Often at launch, Steam decides to "validate" a few games for no apparent reason, does nothing else, and never downloads any files.

It happens as soon as I load Steam and does it to games I may not have played for days or weeks or maybe ones I played yesterday. It seems completely random.

Some days it doesn't do it at all.

[jinko]

@ agent24. yeah that is what i'm experiencing. what i want to know is well...why?

[Wayrest]

Yes, why?

Steam feels more and more like Windows: increasingly bloated, controlling and opaque.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

I wanna suggest a little experiment: Check what Steam does with the game files.

For example, mess with some of the game files. Change a DLL filename so it's no longer correct.

See if Steam redownloads the correct file, or reverts the change, or just leaves it alone.

(Caution: be very careful if you're doing this with a game that is VAC-protected. I would only recommend doing this with single-player games.)

[Tea Master]

Originally posted by Wayrest:

Steam feels more and more like Windows: increasingly bloated, controlling and opaque.

Linux user detected

[Dieter]

This thread was quite old before the recent post, so we're locking it to prevent confusion.

[John]

This thread was quite old before the recent post, so we're locking it to prevent confusion.