Why Does Steamworks Common Redistributables Defy Download Scheduled Time

[BadBoyBubby]

I have auto downloads set to download between 3am and 5am yet today right in front of my eyes (even though the status on download said Download 3am tomorrow) SWCR ignored the setting and commenced to download. I was actually downloading/reinstalling DayZ for the first time since 2014 due to issues caused by SWCR updates corrupting my SSD making everything DayZ related null in void as the data disappeared. The disk had 65GB of data on it but invisible due to corruption of the SSD.

Every time SWCR appeared as a download on my download page on Steam it crashed my game, (hence changing the times for auto-downloads) this has been happening since a Windows Update in December 2022. I almost lost functionality of my entire system due to all the error checking CHKDSK repairing and finally system restoring to try to recover my SSD. But to no avail and had to reformat the SSD and ended up after 8 years and 10K hrs in DayZ I had to reinstall the game.

So my question is how does this SWCR download circumvent the download time policy we set in the Steam settings menu? Is the whole settings menu a waste of time as from the look of it on the surface the settings are being ignored. For you out there that say "you need to have SWCR updated so why stop it "I get it I understand what it's for but I question the reliability of this 3rd party application being unsupported by the developer and Steam Support unable to decipher actions this application are causing some users. So far I've had no answers from Steam Support to explain why this app is crashing my game each time it appears. My thoughts on it are "are there conflicts between the versions of Net framework that SWCR installs and the versions Windows Update installs?" I have seen 2 different versions being installed on my PC. 1 from SWCR and another from Windows Update in December both are different versions so does this cause a conflict or can they both exist on my system without issues being caused?

[Komarimaru]

Първоначално публикувано от Komarimaru:

Just a heads up, this only happens from two main sources. Steam download cache got corrupted and needs cleaned out with a fresh login after, or faulty storage device.

Top left, click Steam, Settings, Downloads, CLEAR DOWNLOADS CACHE button.

[storkmalork]

Първоначално публикувано от Komarimaru:

Първоначално публикувано от Komarimaru:

Just a heads up, this only happens from two main sources. Steam download cache got corrupted and needs cleaned out with a fresh login after, or faulty storage device.

Top left, click Steam, Settings, Downloads, CLEAR DOWNLOADS CACHE button.

As I stated in my reply to you, I've done this at least twice, maybe 3-4 times since this has been happening as each time it crashed my game I had to go through procedures to try to rectify the problem, none of which seem to be able to stop this happening. I must say though I've been playing for about 12 hours on and off today on 2 of my 3 accounts and no sign of SWCR in my download list.

I'm now going to log in on my 3rd account and see if it's behaving itself as well, fingers crossed.

[Komarimaru]

Първоначално публикувано от storkmalork:

Първоначално публикувано от Komarimaru:

Top left, click Steam, Settings, Downloads, CLEAR DOWNLOADS CACHE button.

As I stated in my reply to you, I've done this at least twice, maybe 3-4 times since this has been happening as each time it crashed my game I had to go through procedures to try to rectify the problem, none of which seem to be able to stop this happening. I must say though I've been playing for about 12 hours on and off today on 2 of my 3 accounts and no sign of SWCR in my download list.

I'm now going to log in on my 3rd account and see if it's behaving itself as well, fingers crossed.

I sure hope you're not logging into multiple accounts on the game PC and client, since have to clear cache each time before you do in most cases.

Why? Because core files are shared for installed media but configurations are different, leading to stability issues etc. If you're doing this, I hope it's with separate windows/Linux user accounts.

[Johnnie_Worker]

I have 3 accounts that all use the same DayZ installation. All 3 subscribe to the same mods. As far as I am aware people have been doing this since Jesus was a cowboy. For one streamers do this to avoid people trying to stream snipe them. To date I have had no issues and I mean nothing akin to this issue. I have around 11K hrs total in DayZ between the 3 accounts. If this was a thing, as in creating massive problems don't you think it would've raised it's ugly head before now?

[Komarimaru]

Първоначално публикувано от Johnny_Worker:

I have 3 accounts that all use the same DayZ installation. All 3 subscribe to the same mods. As far as I am aware people have been doing this since Jesus was a cowboy. For one streamers do this to avoid people trying to stream snipe them. To date I have had no issues and I mean nothing akin to this issue. I have around 11K hrs total in DayZ between the 3 accounts. If this was a thing, as in creating massive problems don't you think it would've raised it's ugly head before now?

Honestly I feel you're just lucky since only one game on your alt accounts.

Which drags it to the only other option, storage device. I'm guessing you just formatted and didn't bother to check for errors, so probably will happen again.

[MonkehMaster]

sounds to me and after seeing it mentioned, seems like the "Steamworks Common Redistributables" isnt installing properly and thats why it keeps showing up? and somehow causing issues?

is the "Steamworks Common Redistributables" installed (ie... showing in your steam games list under "tools? (you can set different things to filter your library and one is tools)

if not, try installing it, if it is... try uninstalling and reinstalling it.

also to mention, that " tool " is a all in one for developers to add their distributables/ect.. instead of having to ship them in each download, now they are all stored in that " tool ".

one thing you may want to check on your pc, is if you have all currently used distributables (ie... runtimes) installed and fully updated, you can google search a "all in one runtime installer" (i usually go with "major geeks" site) and run the installer, it should remove all current ones and reinstalled all currently used ones (something like 22 of them between x86/x64 (32bit/64bit)), ranging from 2005-2015/2022, then check windows update to see if any of them may have updates, plan to restart your pc even if it doesnt ask, its usually a good idea to be sure stuff installed properly.

also you may consider updating your dotnet, you should have framework 4.8 installed already and either "desktop runtime 5.0.12 or 6.0.11" installed.

i would also check your drive for errors and maybe run a SFC (system file checker in cmd with admin priv) while you are at it (usually a good thing to do every few months).

beyond that, i dont know why "Steamworks Common Redistributables" would keep trying to reinstall, aside from it possibly not installing properly and it keeps try to force the install because of the issue.

that all being said, aside from installing a game, "Steamworks Common Redistributables" never shows up for download for me, but like i mentioned above, i have everything that "tool" has already installed and fully updated, some of the stuff in "Steamworks Common Redistributables" isnt up to date ("steam/steamapps/common/steamworks shared", if you want to look into the folder and see what the folder contains) and im sure it checks what you have installed before it does anything to begin with.

hopefully you figure it out and post what happened.

[storkmalork]

Първоначално публикувано от Komarimaru:

Първоначално публикувано от Johnny_Worker:

I have 3 accounts that all use the same DayZ installation. All 3 subscribe to the same mods. As far as I am aware people have been doing this since Jesus was a cowboy. For one streamers do this to avoid people trying to stream snipe them. To date I have had no issues and I mean nothing akin to this issue. I have around 11K hrs total in DayZ between the 3 accounts. If this was a thing, as in creating massive problems don't you think it would've raised it's ugly head before now?

Honestly I feel you're just lucky since only one game on your alt accounts.

Which drags it to the only other option, storage device. I'm guessing you just formatted and didn't bother to check for errors, so probably will happen again.

Each time this crash happened I first ran Error checking which a couple of times found missing files and repaired the drive, when it said after checking there were no errors found I did CHKDSK/r just to be sure the drive was ok, believe me I'm not trying to avoid the fact the SSD could be the problem, I've even ordered another SSD to ensure I have a spare in case it IS the drive at fault.

Honestly I believe this is a conflict issue between Windows Update and SWCR trying to download something (dotnet framework version?) that Windows doesn't want. Does SWCR have to instal the latest version of net framework or does it supply multiple versions to cover older games? I ask as atm SWCR is lagging behind with the version that Windows downloaded 12/1/23 this started to surface around this date and I still don't get why SWCR would keep downloading multiple times after already being installed.

[storkmalork]

Първоначално публикувано от MonkehMaster:

sounds to me and after seeing it mentioned, seems like the "Steamworks Common Redistributables" isnt installing properly and thats why it keeps showing up? and somehow causing issues?

is the "Steamworks Common Redistributables" installed (ie... showing in your steam games list under "tools? (you can set different things to filter your library and one is tools)

if not, try installing it, if it is... try uninstalling and reinstalling it.

also to mention, that " tool " is a all in one for developers to add their distributables/ect.. instead of having to ship them in each download, now they are all stored in that " tool ".

one thing you may want to check on your pc, is if you have all currently used distributables (ie... runtimes) installed and fully updated, you can google search a "all in one runtime installer" (i usually go with "major geeks" site) and run the installer, it should remove all current ones and reinstalled all currently used ones (something like 22 of them between x86/x64 (32bit/64bit)), ranging from 2005-2015/2022, then check windows update to see if any of them may have updates, plan to restart your pc even if it doesnt ask, its usually a good idea to be sure stuff installed properly.

also you may consider updating your dotnet, you should have framework 4.8 installed already and either "desktop runtime 5.0.12 or 6.0.11" installed.

i would also check your drive for errors and maybe run a SFC (system file checker in cmd with admin priv) while you are at it (usually a good thing to do every few months).

beyond that, i dont know why "Steamworks Common Redistributables" would keep trying to reinstall, aside from it possibly not installing properly and it keeps try to force the install because of the issue.

that all being said, aside from installing a game, "Steamworks Common Redistributables" never shows up for download for me, but like i mentioned above, i have everything that "tool" has already installed and fully updated, some of the stuff in "Steamworks Common Redistributables" isnt up to date ("steam/steamapps/common/steamworks shared", if you want to look into the folder and see what the folder contains) and im sure it checks what you have installed before it does anything to begin with.

hopefully you figure it out and post what happened.

I felt the same way about SWCR not downloading completely but it would say "clear list" after it had been installed on my download list. One thing that I feel could be an issue is inside the SW DotNet 4.5.2 Folder Dotnet is 4.5.2 version and another folder under it saying 4.7 but upon opening it shows only a installscript.vdf file? The 4.5.2 version folder had 4 files:

1. installscript.vdf
2. Microsoft.NET Framework 4.5.2.cmd
3.NDP452-KB29019007-X86X64-AIIOS-ENU....
4.noop.cmd

Can't help but feel there's something missing here. I will go to Major Geeks and see if I can find the installer you mentioned.

[BadBoyBubby]

So again I get the crash occurring whilst playing, sure enough guess what was in my download list. After having a fair bit of time ingame yesterday, today I was only in it for 30 mins before it was crashed by SWCR. So I installed the download, only this time I went straight to the SW_commonRedist folder and upon opening DotNet folder, then 4.5.2 sub folder, where yesterday there were 4 files inside:

1. installscript.vdf
2. Microsoft.NET Framework 4.5.2.cmd
3. NDP452-KB29019007-X86X64-AIIOS-ENU....
4. noop.cmd

to now find it empty. Still do people assume this is the SSD (E:) This SW_commonRedist folder is on my (C:) but still it crashes my (E:)

Why would an "UPDATE" remove files from that folder and not replace them another version? So as far as my _commonRedist folder is concerned i have no version of DotNet. version in _commonRedist folder and does this now mean I have to restart my PC to get my (E:) back so I can just sit and wait for the next download from SWCR to replace the crap they just removed, oh and crash my drive in the process?

I yesterday took the advice of "MonkehMaster" and went to Major Geeks and downloaded the "All In One runtime installer" and installed all versions of VisualC++ Distributables so I have all versions of them, but this still hasn't helped the crashing issue. Steam now refuses to admit it has anything to do with them and suggest I go to Microsoft (sure that's going to get me somewhere FFS!) or speak to a local technician about my PC.

I'm uninstalling Steamworks and reinstalling only because I know it's necessary, if not I'd be done with this crap app already and it'd be sitting in my recycle bin.

[BadBoyBubby]

I uninstalled SWCR and restarted my PC my (E:) has returned and after getting the all clear from Error checking I go to open Steam. When I get into Steam I find Steamworks has reinstalled itself and there is an 119mb Update sitting there along with an Update for Hitman. I download the Hitman update but SWCR updates as well even though I didn't touch it. What is bugging me is that the bottom of the page where it says "Downloads" it's showing "1 of 1 items complete" yet SWCR is sitting there displaying it has completed? So WTF is going on here as I just went back to the _commonRedist folder then the 4.5.2 sub folder and low and behold the crap that was taken away by the last Update 20 mins ago has reappeared in the folder!

Are we still going to blame my SSD?? this is the greatest load of BS I've experienced since getting Steam back in 2013. This is self evident it is this app that is creating my problems removing files then replacing them 20 mins later??Is this what has been going on all along? Just an endless loop of this SWCR removing and replacing files? I'm just about done with it all. Steam Support change your name to "Blow it out your..."

[6000 Chipmunks]

You may get off easier than some. I have over a hundred games in my STEAM library, (so they have me by the short-hairs, and they know it.). There is no way anybody is going to walk away from hundreds, perhaps thousands of dollars in games, just because some support person is trying desperately to Gas-light them. There are laws in most countries dealing with fraud that could and should, address our issues, should that become necessary. The ball is firmly in their court. I, for one, am not going to sit here till I die getting bullied by dimwits forever.
I have both the means, and every inclination to see that justice is done for all who have been maligned by this apathetic attitude toward the proper function of their service.
This game of Pass-the-Buck is going to stop.

[Johnnie_Worker]

I've so far had 4 updates today of SWCR and I have finally tracked down what is happening, it is downloading what the previous update is removing in a constant loop, I can watch it now and take screen shots of the DotNet Folder with 4 files inside then after the next update I can show an empty folder from observation I've seen this directly happen twice now.

When this last update arrived and crashed my game my character was driving a truck across a field full of trees so I can probably say goodbye to that character now. Now I have found the problem (or at least what SWCR is doing) I am faced with no response from Steam Support so I'm still going to have to work this out on my own and considering I'm no expert this may break me.