Why Is There Not A Way To Opt Out of Game Updates?

[Schrobes]

There needs to be a way to entirely block game updates. Why is this not a thing? What is the reasoning behind forcing updates on people, beyond developer/publisher excuses? Why does Steam feel it necessary that i update in order to play the game?

Previous generation of consoles had the ability to just cancel an update and now that isn't even an option unless you disconnect from the internet entirely. I am hearing stories that auto update options on those platforms are being circumvented. Jesus Christ...

[AustrAlien2010]

So... did any of the Steamers actually tested this solution yet? Or is it all just talk, talk, talk, what they do on these forums without making progress or ever getting closer to an answer?

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย AustrAlien2010:

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย blunus:

This workaround is literally effective for every game (notice how OP doesn't mention any Bethesda game):

Choose the second option from Properties in your library. Go to steamapps folder, find appmanifest_[appid] and set it to read-only. Note that you have to do that again each the Steam client updates, but the second option will keep Steam at bay.

Not all games support mod launchers.

If this works, I think it is a good answer.

You need to cooperate with us, guys. If you do not test this, we will never know if it works or not.

[Pierce Dalton]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Aachen:

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Pierce Dalton:

No, why do you ask?

Because

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Pierce Dalton:

Sorry, I'm not paid for that.

seems to imply you’re unwilling to do so without being paid, and yet you are willing to post. “Curiosity,” I guess.

Well, sorry but you're not making any sense. Conducting a serious survey is hard work, posting here isn't. Anyway, if you're curious you can always create a thread here:

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/30/

Don't expect every new Steam user to reply, though.

[↑↑↓↓←→←→BASelect]

Steam should make devs keep at least one old version when they update the game/software so people can revert to an older version in case the new version screws something up.

[Chompman]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge:

Steam should make devs keep at least one old version when they update the game/software so people can revert to an older version in case the new version screws something up.

You can use the steamdb depot to do just that:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam/comments/611h5e/guide_how_to_download_older_versions_of_a_game_on/

Game companies should never be forced to keep multiple versions of their game on the steam store page as they update it how they wish and older versions would only work for offline only games that don't need the current version to work with other people.

[Pierce Dalton]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Chompman:

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge:

Steam should make devs keep at least one old version when they update the game/software so people can revert to an older version in case the new version screws something up.

You can use the steamdb depot to do just that:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam/comments/611h5e/guide_how_to_download_older_versions_of_a_game_on/

Game companies should never be forced to keep multiple versions of their game on the steam store page as they update it how they wish and older versions would only work for offline only games that don't need the current version to work with other people.

Sort replies by new and read the most recent comment. Keep reading and you'll find this:

"I Downloaded the first version of ETS2 available on Steam because i wanted to see how it looked and ran, after downloading the oldest manifest from this Depot i started the EXE and steam just launched the newest version. how can i fix this?"

Also you mean single player, not offline games, because some single player games require you to be online to play.

[Chompman]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Pierce Dalton:

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Chompman:

You can use the steamdb depot to do just that:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam/comments/611h5e/guide_how_to_download_older_versions_of_a_game_on/

Game companies should never be forced to keep multiple versions of their game on the steam store page as they update it how they wish and older versions would only work for offline only games that don't need the current version to work with other people.

Sort replies by new and read the most recent comment. Keep reading and you'll find this:

"I Downloaded the first version of ETS2 available on Steam because i wanted to see how it looked and ran, after downloading the oldest manifest from this Depot i started the EXE and steam just launched the newest version. how can i fix this?"

Also you mean single player, not offline games, because some single player games require you to be online to play.

This link is about how to get access to a older version of the game if not available in other spots such as the beta branch and many games have ways to bypass it updating again and that's a different discussion as some may require 3rd party programs to do this.

[Pierce Dalton]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Chompman:

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Pierce Dalton:

Sort replies by new and read the most recent comment. Keep reading and you'll find this:

"I Downloaded the first version of ETS2 available on Steam because i wanted to see how it looked and ran, after downloading the oldest manifest from this Depot i started the EXE and steam just launched the newest version. how can i fix this?"

Also you mean single player, not offline games, because some single player games require you to be online to play.

This link is about how to get access to a older version of the game if not available in other spots such as the beta branch and many games have ways to bypass it updating again and that's a different discussion as some may require 3rd party programs to do this.

I know exactly what it is about, the method doesn't work anymore and even if it did it's not user friendly at all.

[Chompman]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Pierce Dalton:

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Chompman:

This link is about how to get access to a older version of the game if not available in other spots such as the beta branch and many games have ways to bypass it updating again and that's a different discussion as some may require 3rd party programs to do this.

I know exactly what it is about, the method doesn't work anymore and even if it did it's not user friendly at all.

It does still work fine as it's how you get older versions of the game for offline games that don't require the current version of the game to be used at all times is what it works for and bypassing the latest steam update is different for each game and falls on the user to know the method for doing this.

Game forums or their reddit or modding page usually have the information on how to do it.

OP is comparing steam to consoles and that's not fair as steam is a online service while consoles do not require that at all times or not at all if they do not want it to be usually.

[Ben Lubar]

The option to not install game updates is the middle one, between normal and high priority.

[Angelus Mortis]

Because game developers demanded it to be this way. Tons of people have complained about it over the years, but ultimately Steam works for the developers more than the users.

[Angelus Mortis]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Pierce Dalton:

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย brian9824:

People always forget that steam has 2 customers, Developers and Users. Forced updates are really good for developers.

Instead of making assumptions, you should ask some game devs if they want to FORCE players to play the last version of their game. Don't forget to share the answers here.

Do you really think a company like Rockstar that is super paranoid about people pirating their games wouldn't want every single copy patched if their beloved DRM is cracked?

[Ben Lubar]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Angelus Mortis:

Because game developers demanded it to be this way. Tons of people have complained about it over the years, but ultimately Steam works for the developers more than the users.

I can definitely see why other game developers wouldn't want to have to support every version of their software ever released simultaneously. I certainly wouldn't want to constantly have bugs reported after a fix was already live for months and have to spend all day tracking down nonexistent regressions.

[AustrAlien2010]

So if I understand this correctly, this thread is not an actual problem for the people of Steam, and it's just a fantasy problem that the people created for the forum, and is not an actual issue for them? And these people do not actually need help with anything?

It's a non-issue for the people of Steam, that they can simply fix by changing a few settings?

[inpurpleshadows]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Schrobes:

There needs to be a way to entirely block game updates. Why is this not a thing? What is the reasoning behind forcing updates on people, beyond developer/publisher excuses? Why does Steam feel it necessary that i update in order to play the game?

Previous generation of consoles had the ability to just cancel an update and now that isn't even an option unless you disconnect from the internet entirely. I am hearing stories that auto update options on those platforms are being circumvented. Jesus Christ...

Games constantly getting updated is normal, it's been happening ever since patches were a thing. If I remember correctly, some games on Steam actually allow people to play previous major versions via the Beta branch. It's not supported for all games, but it is convenient for those who want to play legacy builds.

[Coinkydink]

The continuous auto-update culture has nothing to do with user "convenience".

"Up-to-date" with the corporation's budget projections is the accurate description.

It is about captive markets- quite literally; in other words: forced obsolescence.

There is a chain of updates that the world of digital media (essentially apple and microsoft) enforces and browbeats people into accepting by constantly using the "security" scare tactic.
This chain gradually forces you to buy new hardware long before your "legacy" hardware has given up, which in turn gradually forces you to by new software and peripherals (those USB ports, they keep a-changin'), and the cycle of profit via dribble-down technology keeps going.