Cloud Server as Game Storage

[Zielloos]

I've been thinking, might seem a bit unrealistic, yet I think could be possible, I might be wrong. Steam should provide an online storage allowing users to install their games without requiring storage directly from your PC. Storage size being what you can afford based on the options give as a subscription on Steam connected to the Steam Account.

As example, say I want to install GTAV but my PC has only 500GB with the storage on my PC being almost full from software that are not games such as work applications for varies jobs, movies, videos, etc. When I want to install a game to play on my PC, there should be the option of installing the game to a steam cloud as storage for the game itself, instead of installing the game onto the PC.

Basically having an online space for installing your games without effecting your storage could be beneficial to those that want to keep buying games without having to worry of purchasing a license for authority to play streamed games from clouds because if every game was in a cloud for streaming then there won't be an offline option anymore for any games that are offline single player because then you'll need constant internet to play even the games meant to be played offline, and most people cannot afford paying for good internet anymore because the cost of having internet can be expensive.

Yes, streaming games and owning a cloud server as game storage both would need internet, but only a cloud server for streaming games will need the internet to constantly play the games because the storage access to the games you already installed will only need internet access for the games you're going to install from a server to the cloud but once they are installed you can just play the installed games with an offline mode for accessing the steam cloud offline to play what's already in the steam online that has been installed.

Even better, being able to access it from your steam app will allow anyone on their steam app to download their games to their steam cloud then just enough internet to update the steam cloud on their PC for access to the game without need to download the game to the PC with access to offline mode available and no fear of high traffic from other players like when playing a streamed game since each player will have their own steam cloud library of their games.

This whole idea is basically to make the games you own require no storage on any computer using Steam.

[Ben Lubar]

So instead of loading the data from your hard drive, you want the game to repeatedly download the data and then discard it?

[Zielloos]

More of like, the game will be playable through an online storage owned by steam that each player will have on their steam account provided they pay for a subscription to access each of their own steam cloud. Simply just a way of having their games without having the game files installed on computer locally for the purpose of having games installed without the need of storage, since the games are getting installed into a steam cloud for games instead of being installed locally in a directory on the computer itself. Knowing the steam cloud will also provide a offline mode for accessing the steam cloud offline for the games to be played without access to the internet. Starting the game, files of the game will appear temporarily in the steam directory until closing the game which then discards the files of the game from the PC without it effecting to much of the storage, which of course there could be a setup for the temp files to be sent to a external flash drive of 100GB then discarded after the game is closed, either way, it does not do much to the storage compared to the amount of storage taken by having a few games installed all at once.

[ุ]

Originally posted by Zielloos:

More of like, the game will be playable through an online storage owned by steam that each player will have on their steam account provided they pay for a subscription to access the steam cloud. Simply just a way of having their games without having the game files installed on computer locally for the purpose of having games installed without the need of storage.

So Streaming. Given the cost of everything needed to allow that, they'd likely need to charge a monthly fee for Bandwidth/storage costs. Meaning you'd need to buy the game, then pay a monthly/yearly fee to be able to stream it.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

You basically need to use GeForce NOW.

Ark alone can be over 300GB with its DLC and storage ain't cheap.

[ุ]

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

You basically need to use GeForce NOW.

Ark alone can be over 300GB with its DLC and storage ain't cheap.

This, OP. GeForce Now is a program that allows you to stream certain games made available on their platform, including some (not all) Steam games.

[AmsterdamHeavy]

Just use an external SSD, it would be way more efficient and cheaper.

Ya, it isnt "recommended" but with a tiny bit of attention it works just fine.

[Ben Lubar]

Originally posted by Zielloos:

More of like, the game will be playable through an online storage owned by steam that each player will have on their steam account provided they pay for a subscription to access each of their own steam cloud. Simply just a way of having their games without having the game files installed on computer locally for the purpose of having games installed without the need of storage, since the games are getting installed into a steam cloud for games instead of being installed locally in a directory on the computer itself. Knowing the steam cloud will also provide a offline mode for accessing the steam cloud offline for the games to be played without access to the internet. Starting the game, files of the game will appear temporarily in the steam directory until closing the game which then discards the files of the game from the PC without it effecting to much of the storage, which of course there could be a setup for the temp files to be sent to a external flash drive of 100GB then discarded after the game is closed, either way, it does not do much to the storage compared to the amount of storage taken by having a few games installed all at once.

How does the data get from Steam's servers to your processor and graphics card in this scenario?

[Zielloos]

Originally posted by Leonardo Da Pinchi:

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

You basically need to use GeForce NOW.

Ark alone can be over 300GB with its DLC and storage ain't cheap.

:winterbunny2023:

This, OP. GeForce Now is a program that allows you to stream certain games made available on their platform, including some (not all) Steam games.

No, since streaming requires constant internet connection, a steam cloud wouldn't because you'll be accessing the games you own that you bought on your steam account, what you are referring to doesn't involving owning the games being played because you're just owning a license to the games getting streamed. An online storage of the games you own there's no need for constant stream, only internet for installing the games to the storage which then can be played offline on the PC.

[ุ]

Originally posted by Zielloos:

Originally posted by Leonardo Da Pinchi:

This, OP. GeForce Now is a program that allows you to stream certain games made available on their platform, including some (not all) Steam games.

No, since streaming requires constant internet connection, a steam cloud wouldn't because you'll be accessing the games you own that you bought on your steam account, what you are referring to doesn't involving owning the games being played because you're just owning a license to the games getting streamed. An online storage of the games you own there's no need for constant stream, only internet for installing the games to the storage which then can be played offline on the PC.

...that's no different than how you use Steam to download a game, then just use Offline Mode.

Downloading games from the cloud, to your physical storage, still takes the same amount of storage on your device as downloading directly from Steam.

The cloud isn't some magical ethereal storage medium that just has infinite storage...

[Zielloos]

Originally posted by Ben Lubar:

Originally posted by Zielloos:

More of like, the game will be playable through an online storage owned by steam that each player will have on their steam account provided they pay for a subscription to access each of their own steam cloud. Simply just a way of having their games without having the game files installed on computer locally for the purpose of having games installed without the need of storage, since the games are getting installed into a steam cloud for games instead of being installed locally in a directory on the computer itself. Knowing the steam cloud will also provide a offline mode for accessing the steam cloud offline for the games to be played without access to the internet. Starting the game, files of the game will appear temporarily in the steam directory until closing the game which then discards the files of the game from the PC without it effecting to much of the storage, which of course there could be a setup for the temp files to be sent to a external flash drive of 100GB then discarded after the game is closed, either way, it does not do much to the storage compared to the amount of storage taken by having a few games installed all at once.

How does the data get from Steam's servers to your processor and graphics card in this scenario?

In this scenario the games you have access to inside the steam cloud will still use your hardware, it's just a method of having games installed outside of the PC within a software instead of a hardware. Basically instead of using a large external drive, you'll be using a steam cloud as storage for all the games you want to have installed on the steam account for playing offline, with the exception you will still need to use a bit of space when the game is played for temporary files which get discarded when the game is closed.

[Ben Lubar]

Originally posted by Zielloos:

Originally posted by Ben Lubar:

How does the data get from Steam's servers to your processor and graphics card in this scenario?

In this scenario the games you have access to inside the steam cloud will still use your hardware, it's just a method of having games installed outside of the PC within a software instead of a hardware. Basically instead of using a large external drive, you'll be using a steam cloud as storage for all the games you want to have installed on the steam account for playing offline, with the exception you will still need to use a bit of space when the game is played for temporary files which get discarded when the game is closed.

Steam Cloud is just a folder on your computer named userdata that gets backed up by Steam.

[ุ]

Worked 20 years in IT...not sure OP knows how Cloud, downloads, or connectivity work...

[Mad Scientist]

Honestly people that want large games really need to buy large HDDs, most games don't even need an SSD especially if you have adequate memory & don't needlessly utilize virtual memory if you have more RAM than you'll need.

The only game I've tested that needs an SSD/NVME is Starfield. Even RUST loads fine due to preloading assets before you play on a server.

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

You basically need to use GeForce NOW.

Ark alone can be over 300GB with its DLC and storage ain't cheap.

6TB drives constantly go on sale for 89-105 depending on the store, which is extremely affordable for the amount of storage. Storage is not as expensive or unaffordable as it used to be, even good SSDs and NVMEs are affordable and tend to go on good sales.

[Zielloos]

Originally posted by Leonardo Da Pinchi:

Originally posted by Zielloos:

No, since streaming requires constant internet connection, a steam cloud wouldn't because you'll be accessing the games you own that you bought on your steam account, what you are referring to doesn't involving owning the games being played because you're just owning a license to the games getting streamed. An online storage of the games you own there's no need for constant stream, only internet for installing the games to the storage which then can be played offline on the PC.

...that's no different than how you use Steam to download a game, then just use Offline Mode.

Downloading games from the cloud, to your physical storage, still takes the same amount of storage on your device as downloading directly from Steam.

There is a difference because the difference is that you have to download the game to the PC which puts a constant reduction in storage, my method doesn't require you to install any games to the PC, because all the games will be playable through a steam cloud with a single exception which is temporary files in the steam directory if accessing the game in offline mode, between each game getting played the temporary files are replaced with each game getting played.

[ุ]

Originally posted by Zielloos:

Originally posted by Leonardo Da Pinchi:

...that's no different than how you use Steam to download a game, then just use Offline Mode.

Downloading games from the cloud, to your physical storage, still takes the same amount of storage on your device as downloading directly from Steam.

There is a difference because the difference is that you have to download the game to the PC which puts a constant reduction in storage, my method doesn't require you to install any games to the PC, because all the games will be playable through a steam cloud with a single exception which is temporary files in the steam directory if accessing the game in offline mode, between each game getting played the temporary files are replaced with each game getting played.

Which requires constant internet connection to access the cloud to play the game. And even then, they'd use the host specs for the games. So the PC holding the cloud, would NEED to be able to play games.

At which then, you're just streaming.

You...don't know how cloud storage works.