How do i have a particular game on steam not update at all?

[⎛⎝Duckers McQuack⎠⎞]

It only allows me to set games to update normally, only when i start it, or above all others. But say with skyrim, i rather not update it at all as i see no point in the new update for myself anyways and rather stick to the old update, but steamhas no way to have the game outdated.

As the update only adds useless ♥♥♥♥ i don't want and no actual meaningful updates to fix broken bugs from 10 years ago.

[⎛⎝Duckers McQuack⎠⎞]

Originally posted by Start_Running:

Put steam in offline mode and never connect to steam again.

You could have just said "no, that's not possible".

[Start_Running]

Originally posted by ⎛⎝Duckers McQuack⎠⎞:

Originally posted by Start_Running:

Put steam in offline mode and never connect to steam again.

You could have just said "no, that's not possible".

But it is. I literally just told you how.
That is literally the only sure fire way. Well aside from asking the dev/pubs to create a branch for the current build so you can stay there without updating.

[MoonC A T]

Originally posted by ⎛⎝Duckers McQuack⎠⎞:

Originally posted by Start_Running:

Put steam in offline mode and never connect to steam again.

You could have just said "no, that's not possible".

You could have read the offline part and not construed it to mean "never play the game again"

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

It really sucks that Steam doesn't have a way for users to just decline updates. It's a serious defect of the platform, and also can also mess with mods and other customizations.

It ought to have a feature to just not update a game and not mess with a given existing game installation.

But in the absence of such a feature, here are a few ideas:

1. Set the game to only update when launched, then play the game without running Steam.

2. Set the game to only update when launched, then back up game files manually and swap back in your backup after an update hits.

3. Make Steam think an update has been done or otherwise prohibit it from updating a game.
You can find a guide for modifying appmanifest files; their permissions can also be modified.

4. There used to be ways to download old versions from Steam. Not sure if this still works.

5. Set the game to only update when launched, and then play it only in Steam's Offline Mode. I've heard that this might not work if Steam "knows" there's an update, though.

6. Get the game from some source that doesn't force updates, such as a store that sells it DRM-free.

[HappyHaunt]

Yes this is a big concern for a lot of players. I have to agree with MoonCat, that seems to be the only real way. Only launch Skyrim in offline mode. That way it can't update, but the start button has transformed into an update button so I an not even sure that will work. The update isn't that bad, other than breaking mods. The update bugs me because of that and the fact that I paid for all the Creation Club content that everyone is now getting for free with the update. However I will not be playing the Anniversary edition.

[Kargor]

Originally posted by Quint the Alligator Snapper:

It really sucks that Steam doesn't have a way for users to just decline updates. It's a serious defect of the platform, and also can also mess with mods and other customizations.

It ought to have a feature to just not update a game and not mess with a given existing game installation.

It guarantees that games are up-to-date, and helps cut down the useless support queries caused by people using old versions of the game.

[Carlos100]

Steam was designed for this way and you agreed to this when you started an account.
Get the game from elsewhere (non steam version) that requires you to check for updates...problem solved

[Paratech2008]

GOG is the only store I know where you can download older versions of games but even that is limited, IIRC.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Originally posted by Kargor:

Originally posted by Quint the Alligator Snapper:

It really sucks that Steam doesn't have a way for users to just decline updates. It's a serious defect of the platform, and also can also mess with mods and other customizations.

It ought to have a feature to just not update a game and not mess with a given existing game installation.

It guarantees that games are up-to-date, and helps cut down the useless support queries caused by people using old versions of the game.

Except (1) it doesn't actually guarantee that games are up to date, because there are various ways to circumvent it (by intention or even by accident) which Steam doesn't do anything about because it doesn't actually verify the game files on every launch anyway, and (2) all support queries should already start with asking people to verify the game files, which would bring the game version in line with the latest update anyway.

[Start_Running]

Originally posted by Paratech2008:

GOG is the only store I know where you can download older versions of games but even that is limited, IIRC.

Well kinda. assuming the dev/pubs don't update the installer when they create a new version. You can download the older version. Especioally since GioG has no way for dev/pubs to enforce mandatory updates....which is why it is the way it is. Because when they are one a platform that offers a choice on the matter CDPR (owners of GoG) have a notable preference for mandatory enforced updates.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Originally posted by Start_Running:

Originally posted by Paratech2008:

GOG is the only store I know where you can download older versions of games but even that is limited, IIRC.

Well kinda. assuming the dev/pubs don't update the installer when they create a new version. You can download the older version. Especioally since GioG has no way for dev/pubs to enforce mandatory updates....which is why it is the way it is. Because when they are one a platform that offers a choice on the matter CDPR (owners of GoG) have a notable preference for mandatory enforced updates.

Here you go with that total misconception again.

On the platform that CDPR actually has control over, they make their updates optional. On the platform that CDPR doesn't have control over, namely Steam, they don't have a choice about how updates work. Because, y'know, they aren't Steam devs. So they have to deal with Steam working how it does, which is forcing updates on its users.

[Kargor]

Originally posted by Quint the Alligator Snapper:

it doesn't actually guarantee that games are up to date, because there are various ways to circumvent it (by intention or even by accident) which Steam doesn't do anything about because it doesn't actually verify the game files on every launch anyway,

They are not wasting time on trying to force things no matter what. Joe User gets his updates, which accounts for 99.999% of the users.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Originally posted by Kargor:

Originally posted by Quint the Alligator Snapper:

it doesn't actually guarantee that games are up to date, because there are various ways to circumvent it (by intention or even by accident) which Steam doesn't do anything about because it doesn't actually verify the game files on every launch anyway,

They are not wasting time on trying to force things no matter what. Joe User gets his updates, which accounts for 99.999% of the users.

And you'd get the same result by having an option and defaulting it to updates enabled.

[JellyPuff]

There's not a single good reason to force updates. That being said, this is Skyrim we're talking about. Perhaps the most modded of all PC games after DOOM II and Half-Life, so you can bet your sweet cheeks, that there's a downgrader mod that you can use to retain compatibility.

Didn't even took a day:
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/57618

[Tito Shivan]

Originally posted by JellyPuff:

There's not a single good reason to force updates.

There's a reason why now Windows forces updates unto users.

When given the choice between playing the game and waiting for the game to update, people are always going to default to playing the game. That results in a sizeable portion of the userbase not updating the software ever (Because if there's something people don't like to do is wait).

Originally posted by Quint the Alligator Snapper:

On the platform that CDPR actually has control over, they make their updates optional. On the platform that CDPR doesn't have control over, namely Steam, they don't have a choice about how updates work. Because, y'know, they aren't Steam devs. So they have to deal with Steam working how it does, which is forcing updates on its users.

Except they could have set up their updates as beta branches but they didn't.
They had the tools to have the game update likewise in both platforms, they simply chose the path of less resistance.