Stop scheduling updates

[shak59]

Steam just scheduled an update to my favourite most played game.

Just download it, this does not need to be scheduled.

And before you say it's to limit server usage, this is at the quiet server time so that is not correct.

There is literally no reason this update should have been queued/scheduled and not just downloaded.

Give me an option - TURN OFF SCHEDULED DOWNLOADING. I want to turn this off.

[Crashed]

While the public health emergency is over, the way people use the Internet has forever changed, and forcing updates would come in conflict with these use cases more often than pre-pandemic.

If you've played a Steam game recently enough then it should be prioritized for updates.

[shak59]

Originally posted by Nakashi22:

Originally posted by shak59:

Steam just scheduled an update to my favourite most played game.

Just download it, this does not need to be scheduled.

And before you say it's to limit server usage, this is at the quiet server time so that is not correct.

There is literally no reason this update should have been queued/scheduled and not just downloaded.

Give me an option - TURN OFF SCHEDULED DOWNLOADING. I want to turn this off.

I also want this, while they don't put it, I solve it by setting to update on a time when I'm not on steam, it seems to work. If you are talking about automatic updating of games.

EDITED:
They added this option
https://imgur.com/yzNQ8tI

My "schedule auto updates" is off and has always been set to off, so that must be for the Steam client updates only and not game updates?

They need to add exactly that option for game updates.

[rawWwRrr]

Originally posted by shak59:

Steam just scheduled an update to my favourite most played game.

Just download it, this does not need to be scheduled.

And before you say it's to limit server usage, this is at the quiet server time so that is not correct.

There is literally no reason this update should have been queued/scheduled and not just downloaded.

Give me an option - TURN OFF SCHEDULED DOWNLOADING. I want to turn this off.

There is but it is not a single click option. Right click on a game that you don't want scheduled updates, Properties > Updates >> Automatic Updates > change this to High Priority. This will apply an update immediately upon its release bypassing the scheduling process.

[shak59]

Originally posted by rawWwRrr:

Originally posted by shak59:

Steam just scheduled an update to my favourite most played game.

Just download it, this does not need to be scheduled.

And before you say it's to limit server usage, this is at the quiet server time so that is not correct.

There is literally no reason this update should have been queued/scheduled and not just downloaded.

Give me an option - TURN OFF SCHEDULED DOWNLOADING. I want to turn this off.

There is but it is not a single click option. Right click on a game that you don't want scheduled updates, Properties > Updates >> Automatic Updates > change this to High Priority. This will apply an update immediately upon its release bypassing the scheduling process.

I can't do this for every game, it's just too many.

Instant download should be the default unless for some special reason it must be scheduled (server load for example).

[KriKitBoNeZ]

I have over 1000 games and this isn't a problem at all. More manufactured first world problems.

[shak59]

Originally posted by KriKitBoNeZ:

I have over 1000 games and this isn't a problem at all. More manufactured first world problems.

And for some it is a problem.

[rawWwRrr]

Originally posted by shak59:

Originally posted by rawWwRrr:

There is but it is not a single click option. Right click on a game that you don't want scheduled updates, Properties > Updates >> Automatic Updates > change this to High Priority. This will apply an update immediately upon its release bypassing the scheduling process.

I can't do this for every game, it's just too many.

I've got 1700+ games installed and nearly all of them are now set to High Priority. Most games don't get regular updates so if you're just changing that setting as the updates arrive you'll eventually get all of the ones you really need to change. You can access the game settings from the update screen when the game is there waiting to be updated.

There is a way to mass change that setting for each game. I did it with Notepad++. You can also do it with the PowerShell if you know the right syntax for the command. You basically need to change

"AutoUpdateBehavior" "0"

to

"AutoUpdateBehavior" "2"

in each of the manifest files. I describe the process I took with Notepad++ here in another topic last year. If you're up to try it could help save you some time and effort.

Originally posted by shak59:

Instant download should be the default unless for some special reason it must be scheduled (server load for example).

Well, it used to be that way until the lockdowns began with COVID. But even before then there were a lot of people that would complain about how every time they started their client they would have to wait for all their games to finish updating. At the time the solution was to change the update setting to update on launch, but that wasn't a solution for everyone. COVID really allowed the compromise between the two to evolve which brought about the scheduling. The scheduling worked out really well and I don't see Valve changing it back to the old way any time soon.

The scheduling is based on how often you are playing a game, though. The update gets progressively scheduled out the less likely you are to play that game. If you're not planning to play that game right away then what's the difference if it updates now or later? And the update will still start when you attempt to play the game regardless of when the update got scheduled.

But I get it. I don't have any problem with having all of my games being updated when I start Steam like the old behavior which is why I set all of mine to High Priority. You can do the same. If I can do it with 1700+, you can do it with how ever many you have.

[shak59]

A 65.7MB update to Railroad corporation was scheduled today. Yes, that's MB. Please just download this. It does not need to be scheduled. I am on gigabit internet. I do not need a notification about this.

What are we doing here Valve?

[❤ Sly Succubus ❤]

Originally posted by shak59:

A 65.7MB update to Railroad corporation was scheduled today. Yes, that's MB. Please just download this. It does not need to be scheduled. I am on gigabit internet. I do not need a notification about this.

What are we doing here Valve?

Its not valve, those are pre-deployments. Some games oddly give you the download of whatever patch or update their GOING to do before they actually DO IT. For example I play Tower of Fantasy, and their 3.0 update is not planned till the end of this month and I was given the pre-deployment chance to download it NOW instead of LATER, but you don't have to at all, its just a situational thing.

This is not really valves fault, its more of just a general issue related to pre-downloading stuff now rather then later, a few single player games even do it, its odd sure but this is not on valves head for once, at least a vast majority of the time because the actual updates are downloaded off the bat usually, otherwise you may be looking at what are pre-patch downloads before the actual patch goes live

[RiO]

Originally posted by shak59:

Originally posted by rawWwRrr:

There is but it is not a single click option. Right click on a game that you don't want scheduled updates, Properties > Updates >> Automatic Updates > change this to High Priority. This will apply an update immediately upon its release bypassing the scheduling process.

I can't do this for every game, it's just too many.

Instant download should be the default unless for some special reason it must be scheduled (server load for example).

Instant download can't be the default. It's technically not legally allowed to be the default any more in the EU due to the new 2019/770 directive on digital content. Article 19 regarding modification of content states that updates must be announced in advance.

Article 19 only treats updates that contain changes beyond what is needed to maintain conformance to contract, i.e. beyond basic bug fixes; stability and compatibility improvements; and security patches; etc.

However, as updates are published by publishers themselves and Valve doesn't vet or gate them in any way and just directly pushes them on to all consumers, they also won't know what an update contains. So they can't know whether it contains anything beyond the scope of conformance to contract, that would make it the domain of article 19.

So: better safe than sorry.

If you opt to configure a title as 'high priority' yourself, then you basically have acknowledged that you're OK with receiving it immediately; and that ameliorates the problem. Hopefully enough to comply with legislation, or the French or Germans are going to start suing again at some point ...


(Never wondered why Microsoft started warning users about upcoming Windows 10/11 milestone - i.e. new feature - updates in advance a few years ago? Odds are it was to ensure they had everything in order to comply with this legislation in advance. Because the EU has given them hell over the auto-updating thing before.)

[shak59]

A 7.1MB update to Gladius relics of war has just been scheduled, on a Gigabit internet connection, latest stable Steam client.

Look like this is still broken.

[madskater5]

Such an annoying problem. At least give us a "Download all now" button.

[ARGH!!]

Originally posted by RiO:

Article 19 only treats updates that contain changes beyond what is needed to maintain conformance to contract, i.e. beyond basic bug fixes; stability and compatibility improvements; and security patches; etc.

However, as updates are published by publishers themselves and Valve doesn't vet or gate them in any way and just directly pushes them on to all consumers, they also won't know what an update contains. So they can't know whether it contains anything beyond the scope of conformance to contract, that would make it the domain of article 19.

That doesn't mean they're not liable as it's steam we buy from and it's steam that forces these updates on us.

[p0zz]

I feel you OP!

[NorthWestTrees]

I agree with the poster, I am not sure if the devs of these games "schedule updates" at a later date but it's annoying. There needs to be an option to allow people the freedom to allow the games to just push out patches right once they become available, I have unlimited data so it's not like I am being billed and I suspect there are other people out there that just find this "feature" if you want to call it that pointless. At the very least we should have an option to enable auto downloads to bypass game devs scheduling updates. It's not like people are on the PC 24-7 and always on Steam I have many hours when I watch YouTube or do other tasks on my PC not on Steam can simply use the resources for my computer. It just feels pointless to not have this as an option for people who wish to enable it.