How to disable/remove gamertag profile images from Steam games.

[neon/drifter]

Hello all,

So I'm posting this because months ago when I started looking for a solution to this issue, I would have LOVED to have just come across a post like this that explains it plain and simple.

I'm certain there are parents or even many users that just wish for some of their gaming experiences to not be tainted by the sometimes lewd and offensive images that some Steam users employ for their Steam avatars.

Some games might allow you to toggle them off, but many don't and so, I wanted to find a way to make it so that my younger relatives could enjoy a game like Rocket League without seeing stuff that would get me in trouble with their parents.

This solution isn't here to change the games for everyone, just for those who'd like a more modest gaming experience at times.

To explain, I learned that the root of the problem was the source of the avatar images. Those don't come from the games themselves, they come from Steam. And so, with a little help from some people with networking expertise (thanks !Juest!), I found that the solution to the problem was to cut off network access to the part of Steam that provides the games with avatar images.

I still don't understand the entirety of this myself but it works and essentially, if you modify your PC's network settings to ignore traffic from a certain part of Steam, you'll have a clean game with no user created offensive avatar images.

THEREFORE, THIS MODIFICATION DOES NOT ALTER ANY GAMES OR STEAM IN ANY WAY. IT ONLY MODIFIES YOUR COMPUTER'S METHOD OF RECEIVING CERTAIN NETWORK TRAFFIC.

So! That said, here are the instructions for how I did this using Windows 10... If you're willing to try it out, let me know what happens for you.

• Press Windows Key, start typing "Notepad" When Notepad comes up, right click it, run as Administrator.
  
• While inside the Notepad application, click "File" then "Open..."
  
• The file you want to open and modify is here: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts
  
• Within this file, you'll see a lot of examples and notes teaching you how to use it. Read that if you want. But from here, the instructions are simple...
  
• Beneath all the text in this file, simply paste the following...
  0.0.0.0 cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com
  0.0.0.0 media.steamcommunity.com
  0.0.0.0 community.akamai.steamstatic.com.edgesuite.net
  
• Save the notepad file. If you ever want to undo any of this, simply go back to the file and put a "#" before each line OR remove these additions altogether. It'll be back to normal.
  
• Now, hit Windows Key, start typing cmd, right click Command Prompt and run as Administrator.
  
• Within the Command Prompt, simply type this exactly and hit enter: ipconfig/flushdns

Now you should be able to go play a Steam game, everyone should just have a question mark where their avatar image normally would be.

To elaborate, all this method does is block all incoming traffic from the IP's and aliases we listed. From what I've tested so far, the only things that this method disables are...

1. Gamer profile images won't show up in game.
2. When installing a new game on Steam, Steam won't receive the game icon or game banner. It'll still download the games though.
3. This does NOT affect the networking behind achievements and you'll still receive in game achievements.

So if anyone wants to suggest tweaking this or possibly mention why something might go wrong with this method, that'd be great. I've only tested two games thus far, those being Armello and Rocket League and they both meet the goal completely.

Hope this helps someone else out.

[HasKoKo]

Escrito originalmente por PixelTechnician:

Escrito originalmente por G-Starrkiller:

I played a few rounds of Rocket League now and it worked perfectly! Awesome!

Thank you for the time and effort you put into this!

Glad it's working for you! I'm also noticing it's got some side effects for me, they must have paired avatar pics and game album art on the same domain together. Just wondering, does your steam library look blank and imageless as well?

I wish I could find a way to block just this:

steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/avatars

Because that's the direct url all avatars come from. Unfortunately, the methods we're using only block this:

steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/

which is more encompassing than the url and blocks a lot more stuff than necessary. Still, online gameplay is possible with it so... Until then, I'm going to be looking for a better solution. Do let me know if there are any other side effects you're finding, i appreciate the feedback.

Thank you so much, the avatars inside of RL matches and in the friends list outside of any games are blocked now.
But those in my friends list *ingame* still remain (Epic Games friends list etc.), perhaps you could find a way to block those as well? I appreciate any help.
As for the Steam library, then some games are missing some pictures.
But I don't care about them so no problem for me personally.

[S.T.A.L.K.E.R.]

Escrito originalmente por cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Report offensive avatars through the users profille. Ask the developer of the game to incorporate that in their game.

:qr:

LOL Epic and Steam won't do sh*t unless it is related to rasicm or really huge harassement.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Escrito originalmente por Marty MacParty:

Escrito originalmente por cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Report offensive avatars through the users profille. Ask the developer of the game to incorporate that in their game.

LOL Epic and Steam won't do sh*t unless it is related to rasicm or really huge harassement.

They now remove advertising skin sites in names and avatars. So, you are incorrect.

[QuantumClick]

Hey, I could not find the text to copy and paste, the links failed to work

[76561199418627359]

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