Family Sharing Free DLC Restriction

[Drone456]

So upon the urging of Steam support (and my ticket being closed), I am now continuing my one man crusade against this bizarre restriction here as well .

In the interest of full transparency, and because I've already said everything before. I will just be posting pictures of all the pictures/proof that I shared with Steam support. Also yes I'm lazy, and don't want to type all of this again haha.

The general gist for anybody not wanting to see the entire discussion explosion below, is that basically. Even though you can share games with somebody through Family Sharing including paid DLC, you cannot for some very odd reason share free DLC. It just won't download. Which leaves no alternative if you want it, but to buy the game for free DLC. Which is obviously asinine as hell.

Be warned: These pictures contain text, and lots of it. If you or a loved one are squeamish at the sight of a wall of text. Look away now. You have been warned.

https://imgur.com/a/0h48F7B

I made an album with all the images there should you wish to see what I'm fully talking about. And best case scenario, get empassioned and contact Steam as well to get this ridiculous restriction removed.

Thanks again to the support and Obsidian that tried to help me with this. And not to attack the support saying it's not possible, but as you can see. It very much is possible for Steam to remove this restriction. So here's hoping something comes of this.

Thanks for your time everyone, and especially to those that go through all the images. Hopefully the developers really do frequent here, and they are willing to do something about this.

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OTHER THREADS
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This is a spot to list recent threads that are also dealing with this issue. I will update this as I can find any. If anyone finds one that isn't listed here, then please let me know and I'll add it.

Going to try and limit it to about a month or so old threads at the time of posting. Not going to delete threads that become over a month old.

The intent is for people to potentially post on these threads, so that they gain visibility and activity. Because the more people talking about this feature the better.

Total War: Warhammer 2 thread: https://forums.totalwar.com/discussion/237303/free-dlc-in-total-war-warhammer-2-still-does-not-work-with-family-share#latest

Another Total War: Warhammer 2 thread: https://steamcommunity.com/app/594570/discussions/0/1850323802587172453/

Monster Hunter: World thread:https://steamcommunity.com/app/582010/discussions/0/1814296273128472471/

Another Monster Hunter: World thread:https://steamcommunity.com/app/582010/discussions/0/1814296273125457684/

Dead Cells thread:https://steamcommunity.com/app/588650/discussions/2/3726075043723871554/

ARK: Survival Evolved thread: https://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/1675812484336267437/

Another ARK: Survival Evolved thread: https://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/1735463620096552878/

Sonic Forces thread:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/637100/discussions/0/2577697615751477034/

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CHECK IF FAMILY SHARING'S ENABLED
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Since this is relevant to this thread, I figured I would add a spot to let people know how to actually check whether a game has Family Sharing functionality or not. As this can be a deciding factor in purchasing the game. Even though the free DLC won't be shareable.

1) Go to https://steamdb.info/
2) Find a game you're curious about (the game has to be released)
3) Click its App ID
4) On the left side, find the tab "Information" (Should be under "Prices" and "Screenshots")
5) Click "Information"
6) Ctrl+F "exfgls" (I wasn't able to find a consistent spot it shows up)
7) If it exists, it wil say "yes" to the right of it, and the game cannot be Family Shared
8) If it does not exist, then the game can be Family Shared. Huzzah!

In case you're someone like me who likes knowing what acronyms stand for. "exfgls" means "excluded from game library sharing".

Thanks a lot to @lukaself for providing this information. Hopefully this helps anybody who wanted to know about availability, and couldn't find it out.

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POTENTIAL SOLUTION FOR DEVELOPERS
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Apparently, this tag is set to yes by default on DLC, and by setting it to no the free DLC can be made shareable. That is if I'm understanding this correctly. So this could be something that you may bring up to support on any game you want this on. Or even pester Steam about it if you so wish. At least something to possibly direct a developer towards a solution hopefully, instead of having to give an entire story about what it is, and hoping vaguely for a solution. Thanks to @CZI & @★Kawasaky for discovering this possible insight!

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POTENTIAL FIX
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So! Good news everyone! I tried @DarkStarSword's idea, and at least for Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, it seems to be working. Thankfully PoEII seems to land in the first column of games, and not the second; I hope that others are as lucky.

And it just goes to show that this isn't a deliberate decision on Valve's part, as it doesn't show that I have the DLC. But the game inside does. I even tried quitting Steam and re-launching it, and it still worked.

For anyone wondering how to exactly do it. This is what I did:

1) Logged onto owner's account and downloaded all free DLC, and launched the game (just to make sure entitlements are applied).

2) Copied the whole game folder (e.g. Pillars of Eternity II)

3) Pasted the whole game folder away from Steam's directory (e.g. from "D:\Steam Games\steamapps\common" to "D:\")

4) Logged onto borrower's account (me)

5) Deleted game folder from "D:\Steam Games\steamapps\common" (replacing takes longer than just pasting)

6) Copied the game folder from 2 (D:\)

7) Pasted that game folder into "D:\Steam Games\steamapps\common"

8) Launched Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire. Success!

So things seem to be working, as I had access to the Drunk stance, Critical Role portraits, and the game itself said they were installed (little icon in bottom left). Hopefully this is actually a way to "fix" what I consider a bug with Steam's Family Sharing. Unfortunately I assume that any future free DLC, will require this whole process again. But at least it's something.

Thanks again to @DarkStarSword for this find. Once the turn-based update fully releases for PoEII, I'll be able to play with all the free DLC available seemingly. Which is nice.

At least there's a partial light at the end of a tunnel that shouldn't have been dug.

Hopefully this helps others who read this.

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GAMES IT WORKS FOR
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• Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
  
• Project Hospital
  
• House Party
  
• House Flipper

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GAMES IT DOES NOT WORK FOR
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• Monster Hunter: World
  
• Resident Evil 2 / Biohazard RE:2
  
• Total War: Warhammer 2
  
• NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139 (Actually got patched by devs!)
  
• Imperator: Rome
  
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance
  
• Resident Evil 7
  
• Prison Architect
  
• Dying Light (or Dying Light: Enchanted Edition)
  
• Ride 4
  
• Portal Knights
  
• Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous
  
• MELTY BLOOD: Type Lumina
  
• Evil Genius 2
  
• Slime Rancher 1
  
• Dead Cells

If anyone learns of other games this fix does, or does not work for. Please let me know in the comments, and I'll add it to the list.

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CHANGE.ORG PETITION
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http://chng.it/b8xmxn6Dkr

Please share that petition around to anyone you feel comfortable doing so. Thank you!

[AmandaBear]

Does not work with Kingdom Come Deliverance Free HD Textures DLC and HD audio DLC

[Goku-PM]

Doesn't work for Imperator: Rome.

[Indo_Monkey]

This works for house flipper (if nobody said it before)

[GogoVan]

Come on Valve, that's clearly a problem that needs to be fixed.

[Jannik]

Първоначално публикувано от Xite >X< 👁️👁 🇦🇺:

It does seem to go against logic that the free dlc is restricted and the paid ones are not.

Perhaps it is a deliberate incentive to purchase the game or it was simply never coded in in the first place, an oversight?

Either way it's odd.

miese wild

[Lukas]

I personally find it very frustrating. I play Total war Warhammer II via family sharing but I cant play any of the free legendary lords. It is ironic that for Total war Warhammer I this issue was fixed when someone asked about it on reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/totalwar/comments/5vqgqy/steam_family_sharing_regarding_total_war/de48aba/

I work part-time for a software company and we have to fix/change almost anything in our programs if a customer asks us. So it is a pure laziness from Valve that this has not been fixed yet.

[pedro_vf]

Първоначално публикувано от Lukas:

I personally find it very frustrating. I play Total war Warhammer II via family sharing but I cant play any of the free legendary lords. It is ironic that for Total war Warhammer I this issue was fixed when someone asked about it on reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/totalwar/comments/5vqgqy/steam_family_sharing_regarding_total_war/de48aba/

I work part-time for a software company and we have to fix/change almost anything in our programs if a customer asks us. So it is a pure laziness from Valve that this has not been fixed yet.

Completely agree with you.

Please support us by signing this petition and share it with anyone you feel comfortable doing so with. Thanks a lot!.
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CHANGE.ORG PETITION
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http://chng.it/b8xmxn6Dkr

[Bro-J Simpson]

I absolutely agree. Free DLC should allow achievements just like everything else.

[CZI]

It seems NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139 is one of not working case with workaround steps.

[Drone456]

Sorry for the long absence, just haven't been on Steam at all lately. Thanks to everyone that's kept this thread going, so that it maintains visibility. Appreciate it.

@uzim & Indo_Monkey: Glad to hear, will add those to the list. Thanks for letting me know.

@AmandaBear, CZI & Ante Semitic: That sucks. Will add them to the list. Thanks for letting me know.

@pedro_vf: Thanks again man for sharing that petition. Good news is it's still growing. Just got to 100 signatures! Not a whole lot in the grand scheme of things, but the fact it's still gaining traction is a good thing. And hopefully some influencer somewhere stumbles upon it, and it takes off and Valve takes notice.

[un]

yup, I'm sure this will gain a lot more light with nier replicant, I can't access the free yorha wardrobe dlc because of the restriction so maybe this will get more light in that sense. I honestly just don't even see the point in this.

[pedro_vf]

Първоначално публикувано от MainframeMouse:

Sorry, you're wasting your time

That flat out ignored this petition
https://www.change.org/p/valve-corporation-allow-steam-family-sharing-users-to-access-different-games-at-the-same-time-and-stop-actively-punishing-loyal-consumers-for-purchasing-more-product

And the thousands of post from people wanting SFS to be usable.

You want Valve to Change, STOP USING STEAM

Use their competition, complain to devs when they don't release outside of Steam.

Tell your mates to Stop using Steam

Because Valve has near total dominance here and absolutely don't care about your consumer rights.

[FauxFalsetto]

Does anyone know if this method works for the free DLC on Resident Evil 7?

[pedro_vf]

Първоначално публикувано от FauxFalsetto:

Does anyone know if this method works for the free DLC on Resident Evil 7?

it doesn't work

[lcheng28]

Method did not work for prison architect,maybe i did it wrongly,i doubt it tho.