How does the validation of steam files work?

[Reeva!]

I've noticed in a game like 7 Days To Die, if you edit an .xml file to bend the game to your will and you want to revert your changes without really knowing what you changed, you can validate the game's files with steam, and it will revert all changes back to default.

I've bought Dark Souls III recently and the intro when you create a new character starts with "Yes, Indeed" and there's audio so you can hear what the woman is saying. My friend who also bought DS III can NOT hear the intro, even from his very first new game that he created. When he validates DS III files with steam, nothing changes. Steam does not change or retrieve any files at all. Here's the question:

If steam does not download all files when buying a game (such as audio files for speech) and you validate the files with steam, does it retrieve ALL the files for the game, or does it only retrieve the files that you had when downloading the game, in other words: If you downloaded Subnautica, but your computor failed to download the Water Textures, will verifying your game files retrieve the water textures directly from steam, or will it only reset your game to the state it was when you finished downloading it (a.k.a. no water textures will be retrieved, because you never had that file)

I'm asking because he's still missing those audio files and Steam does not properly validate his files. Thanks in advance!

[Reeva!]

I know this will be hard to answer unless you're directly involved with Steam and you know how their system works to the letter. If you don't know, please don't guess, we're trying to properly fix this and we don't want to experiment in any way shape or form, because at this point we've basically tried everything.

[berend]

I hope you are aware that not being able to hear certain dialog or audio doesn't necessary mean your game is missing files?

Anyway It keeps a list of all the game files required to play, when you first install it all those files will be downloaded. If you somehow delete one, it is missing from the list and will be re-acquired. As far as I know changing (text, config) file and pressing verify doesn't re-acquire that file unless you delete it first.

I was unable to hear certain dialog and audio in the Witcher 3, only after I made some changes to my audio device I was able to hear it - nothing to do with missing files or anything.

[demo]

If you have verified the game files you can be sure you have a complete set of gamefiles. The verification system works by comparing checksums for each file to confirm the datas integrity. If any file fails the checksum then steam redownloads that file. It only downloads the files that fail. (i.e. don`t match the originals).

[Reeva!]

Originally posted by demo:

If you have verified the game files you can be sure you have a complete set of gamefiles. The verification system works by comparing checksums for each file to confirm the datas integrity. If any file fails the checksum then steam redownloads that file. It only downloads the files that fail. (i.e. don`t match the originals).

So if the game failed to download required files and I validate the files, it will retrieve all files present in the correctly downloaded version of the game? If so I will look into other posibilities that are not steam related. Simply checking down possiblities, this was simply the easiest sollution.

[Washell]

Not hearing dialog is usually the result of the game being set to surround (5.1) sound while playing on stereo speakers/headphones. The sound is being routed to a non-existent center speaker.

[demo]

Originally posted by Naomi Roval:

Originally posted by demo:

If you have verified the game files you can be sure you have a complete set of gamefiles. The verification system works by comparing checksums for each file to confirm the datas integrity. If any file fails the checksum then steam redownloads that file. It only downloads the files that fail. (i.e. don`t match the originals).

So if the game failed to download required files and I validate the files, it will retrieve all files present in the correctly downloaded version of the game?

Yes. but just the files that fail the checksum. The end result is the same though, you end up with a complete set.

[Reeva!]

Originally posted by Washell:

Not hearing dialog is usually the result of the game being set to surround (5.1) sound while playing on stereo speakers/headphones. The sound is being routed to a non-existent center speaker.

We both use Realtek sound system but I'll check if his settings are the same as mine (functional) becuase his does have problems sometimes. Drivers might also be the culprit. Will look into that in a second. Thanks for everyone's help, should be sorted after this post. Will mark an answer when it's done.