Download Sizes

[HunterTwoOneOne]

My drive keeps filling up despite the game not actually being completely downloaded. Was there a change in the last few months with how Steam downloads games where it needs twice the file size of the game to actually install or is this an issue I shouldn't be having?

The drive has more than the size it needs but Steam starts the download, says space is allocated and begins downloading, then runs out of space when its only half way downloaded. The issue happens mainly with games over 100 GB but it can happen to me with anything if there isn't at least twice the size of the game available.

I'm not talking about compression; it's not an issue of packed vs unpacked size. For example: GTA V is 106 GB and Steam fills my 180 GB of free space while only having downloaded 70 GB of the game. This only started happening recently.

If anybody knows any solutions I really want to get this fixed, its obnoxious.

[Mad Scientist]

Once it completed the download you'll notice the space will be available, minus the installed size of the game. Nothing has changed. Encrypted/compressed packages unpack, when its fully downloaded and installed as stated; original size minus the fully installed size.

Start completing your downloads.

[Cathulhu]

The download system hasn't changed in years since the introduction of SteamPipe.

1. Steam reserves the space needed for the final installation of the game.
2. Steam downloads compressed chunks.
3. Steam decompresses and processes those chunks.
4. Steam deletes the temporary files after everything is done.

So, yes. Steam does require more space than the game itself needs after install, although only temporary.

[HunterTwoOneOne]

Originally posted by Mr. Gentlebot:

Once it completed the download you'll notice the space will be available, minus the installed size of the game. Nothing has changed. Encrypted/compressed packages unpack, when its fully downloaded and installed as stated; original size minus the fully installed size.

Start completing your downloads.

It isn't even getting through the download; it seems to allocate the space, then download the entirety of the game into somehow a different space. It needs for some reason double the size of anything I download. Compression wouldn't be the issue.

[Cathulhu]

Actually it is.

Part A, the compressed downloaded chunk.
Part B, the partially processed files
Part C, the empty reserved space waiting to be filled.

[Mad Scientist]

Originally posted by N4TH4N:

Originally posted by Mr. Gentlebot:

Once it completed the download you'll notice the space will be available, minus the installed size of the game. Nothing has changed. Encrypted/compressed packages unpack, when its fully downloaded and installed as stated; original size minus the fully installed size.

Start completing your downloads.

It isn't even getting through the download; it seems to allocate the space, then download the entirety of the game into somehow a different space. It needs for some reason double the size of anything I download. Compression wouldn't be the issue.

Compression is entirely part of it. Basically it all goes into temporary, and depending on how the Devs made it; it'll unpack in chunks (pieces) or entirely once fully downloaded. Either way, there's no reason for it to fail getting pas allocation unless you lack the space or something is blocking the download itself; if that's the scenario, you would receive an error in the client.

I've downloaded small to huge games, this is definitely not a general issue if you have about double the size free on the disk as is needed for a full install.

[HunterTwoOneOne]

Originally posted by Cathulhu:

Actually it is.

Part A, the compressed downloaded chunk.
Part B, the partially processed files
Part C, the empty reserved space waiting to be filled.

So you mean to tell me somehow Steam is downloading the entire file size of GTA V in chunks that total twice the total file size of GTA V when comressed?

[Cathulhu]

Not downloading twice. But it downloads it once, processes it in a second part and then saves the final part in the already reserved space.

[HunterTwoOneOne]

Originally posted by Mr. Gentlebot:

Originally posted by N4TH4N:

It isn't even getting through the download; it seems to allocate the space, then download the entirety of the game into somehow a different space. It needs for some reason double the size of anything I download. Compression wouldn't be the issue.

Compression is entirely part of it. Basically it all goes into temporary, and depending on how the Devs made it; it'll unpack in chunks (pieces) or entirely once fully downloaded. Either way, there's no reason for it to fail getting pas allocation unless you lack the space or something is blocking the download itself; if that's the scenario, you would receive an error in the client.

I've downloaded small to huge games, this is definitely not a general issue if you have about double the size free on the disk as is needed for a full install.

See; that's what I thought. I was well aware Steam has it's own special compression thing going on for downloads but I had this happen with any game on various sizes of drives and it never seems to download the way it was doing even a few months ago.

[Cathulhu]

Again, the download system hasn't changed in years.

[HunterTwoOneOne]

Originally posted by Cathulhu:

Again, the download system hasn't changed in years.

I was asking to see if it had; the fact that it hasn't and I have this issue is the problem. Steam never was needing twice the file size in space, if not more in some cases before recently for me.

[westraaros1]

155gb game(final fantasy 7 rebirth)
do i download 155gb or is it compressed files and its 155gb when its installed?

i mean when i download programs many times they are in winrar and i need to unzip n install them(some are in iso or install files like from gog) and they are smaller then the finished installed game!

So how is it with steam?
are the 155gb the download or the finished install?

I hope u all know whjat i try to ask u all?
"never before checked how it is on steam downloads" ....

Thanks

[HunterTwoOneOne]

Originally posted by westraaros1:

155gb game(final fantasy 7 rebirth)
do i download 155gb or is it compressed files and its 155gb when its installed?

i mean when i download programs many times they are in winrar and i need to unzip n install them(some are in iso or install files like from gog) and they are smaller then the finished installed game!

So how is it with steam?
are the 155gb the download or the finished install?

I hope u all know whjat i try to ask u all?
"never before checked how it is on steam downloads" ....

Thanks

So I ended up doing a LOT of testing since I asked about this two years ago. Some games download compressed and get unpacked when they finish, or sometimes while downloading. I've had mixed results with when that all happens. I have found that nomatter what testing I did or how I messed with the settings, Steam has SOMETHING wonky going on with how it downloads things. It reserves space, but twice what's needed and then clears that duplicate space back up when the download ends. Clearing the download cache doesn't stop that from happening. A literal brand new out of the box computer with a fresh Steam install doesn't change that. It doesn't even happen with every game or even when downloading the same game more than once. A fully deleted and uninstalled copy of GTA V for example may or may not still reserve twice the space that's needed.

Long and short of it, Final Fantasy 7 Remake Rebirth is 153Gb when finished downloading and unpacking. That is not the case all the time, but I'd say sometimes that's the case. I see the unpacking more often with games from like 2005-2018, and usually it's not a massive amount of unpacking. Like, 9.1Gb for Black Ops 1 download but it's 10Gb when unpacked for example.

Steam has some quirky nonsense and over time, I've come to accept that nobody can actually explain what's going on and Valve wont give any response to it either. But, I would say if the store page says a file size, assume it's accurate. That file size does grow if you install things from the Steam Workshop, but the initial file size can be assumed to finish at roughly the size claimed. Most of the time. I've seen it be wrong before, but that's a safe assumption.

Hope that helps.
-Nathan

[Stephanie]

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