Does playing an online game slow my download?

[Panda]

Let's say I'm downloading a game, and I go play Overwatch or For Honor online while doing so, will it take longer to download that game, and will I get lag online?

[Seamus Brailey Productions]

it stops the download, or at least pauses it

[Seamus Brailey Productions]

Originally posted by Panda:

Originally posted by Beef JERKy Productions:

it stops the download, or at least pauses it

You can just alt tab out and start it again, or change a setting to where it doesn't do that

well all it does is just pause your download no matter what

[Seamus Brailey Productions]

Originally posted by Beef JERKy Productions:

Originally posted by Panda:

You can just alt tab out and start it again, or change a setting to where it doesn't do that

well all it does is just pause your download no matter what

you cant stop it from pausing, so just wait out the download without playing a game

[Seamus Brailey Productions]

Originally posted by Panda:

Originally posted by Beef JERKy Productions:

well all it does is just pause your download no matter what

No it doesn't, it continues the download.

no it doesnt, i was downloading a game, i tried that doesnt wotk, tried again. it doesnt

[s]

it will lag ur game and probably slow ur download at the same time

[Seamus Brailey Productions]

Originally posted by dasdasdasd:

it will lag ur game and probably slow ur download at the same time

no it just pauses the download

[chiefputsa☒lag]

steam client default setting is stop background downloads while playing a steam game.

as for non-steam games and general, yes as the internet bandwidth is shared by all active programs and games that use internet

[hedy]

Hm. I think just the download part. I've done it. I was playing, the ping was fine but the download speed went downhill.

[Seamus Brailey Productions]

Originally posted by Panda:

Originally posted by dasdasdasd:

it will lag ur game and probably slow ur download at the same time

What if it's an offline game like Skyrim?

still pauses it, i was playing bioshock and it pused

[s]

Originally posted by Panda:

Originally posted by dasdasdasd:

it will lag ur game and probably slow ur download at the same time

What if it's an offline game like Skyrim?

it wont slow becuz bandwidth isnt being used by skyrim

[s]

Originally posted by Beef JERKy Productions:

Originally posted by Panda:

What if it's an offline game like Skyrim?

still pauses it, i was playing bioshock and it pused

oh I didnt know steam pauses downloads if ur ingame nvm i was thinking about download in general

[Borklesnort]

Yes and yes. Depends on how strong your internet is though.

[SpicyPepperoni]

Indeed it does op.

[Nil]

Its all depends on your internet. by default games will stop downloading when you start playing a game unless changed. if they still continue to download then it all depends on your bandwidth. for someone like myself i have a gig internet connection speed and i am also hooked up vai ethernet cable straight to my router so background downloads dont make much of a difference. while downloading games i get a 21 ping in most servers in my area, when i am not downloading that ping is 7. before i had gig internet i was on copper lines getting 15mb/s, my ping was 30 in servers in my area while download my ping was around 90.

In short: Yes you will get lag, and Yes downloads could get slowler though steam does seem to take priority when downloading.

Hope this helps.

[L7vanmatre]

Originally posted by Beef JERKy Productions:

it stops the download, or at least pauses it

Only when you have that option enabled. Also, Overwatch is a non-Steam game, so it won't detect it anyway even if it's enabled, so...

But yes, OP, you will get some more lag while you are downloading. It'll be worse towards your online play more than your download, AFAIK, since online play actually doesn't need a massive amount of bandwidth.

And if you play an Offline Game, then no. It won't affect the download.