Multiple users, one steam library over network

[Solid.Disaster-]

Hi there! And thanks a lot for your time!
I've searched a lot for this but didn't get a clear answer.
So I am building a rather powerful nas at home, (even though I don't have a lot of knowledge on this, so it's been a challenge) so I could have a fast and centralized access to multiple files at both my girlfriend's pc and mine (mostly work stuff and multimedia, no big deal here).
I wanted to centralize our steam library as well.
I work with vfx, I needed speed, and also wanted a third pc to help in rendering, so the nas have two 10gbe ports and multiple 1tb ssds on raid 5 so speed is definitely not a problem.
The problem is also not if we play different games, but the same (we are not talking about one account, I have mine, she has hers, and we have games in common that we play together).
To minimize issues and keep all games updated, the idea I had was to create a new steam account, add our libraries as family sharing to it, and disabling auto update on our PC's, this way the server, running 24/7 would keep the games updated without risking conflicts.
But what if we played the same game at the same time? The risk of conflicts are huge, is there any way to get around this?
Thanks a lot!!

[Muppet among Puppets]

The computer playing the game needs to run the updated game

[Solid.Disaster-]

I don't think you understood the question

[Brujeira]

Look, I can see what you’re trying to do there but I think that you’re approaching it from the wrong angle.

Even if you were to get libraries set up that way without issues there’d still be no guarantee that your favourite game would be fully updated as and when you want to play it. The client delays downloading updates to spread out the load on the servers, so sometimes you’d still have to kick off the update manually on the NAS and wait for it to complete.

It would probably be a better option to set up a local Steam download cache on the NAS if it won’t interfere with things. Yes, you’d still need to download game updates to your account or hers but you’d only have to download once - the other account can update at light speed from the cache.

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/01/building-a-local-steam-caching-server-to-ease-the-bandwidth-blues/

[AmsterdamHeavy]

Youd need a cafe license for what youre trying to do, so the cost is likely restrictive.
https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/sitelicense/licensees

That would allow you to do what you want. Otherwise, youd still only be family sharing and only 1 person could use the library at a time.

A better setup for you might be this, where you use a server to download the games from Steam, and then the local network for each gaming machine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk1eKPRLaJA&ab_channel=LinusTechTips

Edit: Same thing as Brujeira says above

[Solid.Disaster-]

Originally posted by Brujeira:

Look, I can see what you’re trying to do there but I think that you’re approaching it from the wrong angle.

Even if you were to get libraries set up that way without issues there’d still be no guarantee that your favourite game would be fully updated as and when you want to play it. The client delays downloading updates to spread out the load on the servers, so sometimes you’d still have to kick off the update manually on the NAS and wait for it to complete.

It would probably be a better option to set up a local Steam download cache on the NAS if it won’t interfere with things. Yes, you’d still need to download game updates to your account or hers but you’d only have to download once - the other account can update at light speed from the cache.

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/01/building-a-local-steam-caching-server-to-ease-the-bandwidth-blues/

Thanks! That was going to be a second option, but I didn't want to have the same game occupying 3x the space. One thing that I am going to try is deduplication in a supported file system. It will increase the overhead and duplicate some files, but not the really large ones that are game assets. I am still waiting some hardware components to fully test the system, once I test this I will report back.

[Solid.Disaster-]

Originally posted by AmsterdamHeavy:

Youd need a cafe license for what youre trying to do, so the cost is likely restrictive.
https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/sitelicense/licensees

That would allow you to do what you want. Otherwise, youd still only be family sharing and only 1 person could use the library at a time.

A better setup for you might be this, where you use a server to download the games from Steam, and then the local network for each gaming machine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk1eKPRLaJA&ab_channel=LinusTechTips

Edit: Same thing as Brujeira says above

Originally posted by AmsterdamHeavy:

Youd need a cafe license for what youre trying to do, so the cost is likely restrictive.
https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/sitelicense/licensees

That would allow you to do what you want. Otherwise, youd still only be family sharing and only 1 person could use the library at a time.

A better setup for you might be this, where you use a server to download the games from Steam, and then the local network for each gaming machine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk1eKPRLaJA&ab_channel=LinusTechTips

Edit: Same thing as Brujeira says above

Hi there! Thanks!
But I am not doing family sharing, I have two accounts, the problem is that if both PC's access and try to write to the same location conflicts could arise. I will try to implement deduplication to try and solve this.