play older versions of the game (such as pre-space update)

we all know that some updates (such as the space update) sometimes can "break the game" or lesser the fun experience in some ways, and if youre bit like me, perhaps youd like to go back, and play the game in some of its previous older versions. i figured out a way to get older versions of the game, so you can do just that- play older versions of the game, and i will explain that process in this guide.

open the console tab in your steam client

first thing you need to do, is enable the console tab of your steam client

you do that by pressing win+r , while you have your steam client running
then, in the run prompt, you enter this: steam://nav/console and press enter
that will add the console tab into your steam client

look up the version of the game you want to go back to

now you need to find the exact version of the game you want to go back to,

you find that on steam depot, here https://steamdb.info/app/573090/

that is the stormworks page, for the list of updates you need to click on the "patches" button, or click the following link https://steamdb.info/app/573090/patchnotes/

on that page, you scroll and find the patch/version of the game you desire

when you find your desired version, click on it
(for example i chosen the oil disaster update, but you can choose any different one)
youll get a page that looks like this https://steamdb.info/patchnotes/11523791/

on that page you scroll down until you see a table titled CHANGED FILES IN THIS UPDATE

you scroll down that table all the way down and look for the "manifest id change", there will be two long numbers, one red and crossed out, and one green. youre interested in the green one, so copy it into clipboard
example for the oil disaster version 2381893181224848388

downloading the version

now you put the command to download the desired version into your steam console tab

again, i will be using the oil disaster update version as an example

it will look like this
download_depot 573090 573091 2381893181224848388

and you press enter

wait for the steam console to do its thing

now you wait a minute (or an hour) for steam to download the depot version you asked for
itll take a while, and it will seem as if nothing is happening, but steam is doing its thing in the background, so no worry
when its done youll see a line in the steam console saying "donwload complete" and it will also show you the path to your download

???

PROFIT/ENJOY

now, if you done everything correctly, and steam also did everything correctly youll be able to play the game in its former versions, such as before the space update and all its pesky air physics and annoying vacuum and all that nonsense

open the folder from the path the console showed you when it completed the download, and run the .exe file

HAVE FUN

(i think this should go without saying, but ill say it anyways, this will be just for solo experience, im pretty sure you wont be able to play with your friends, as youd be on different versions. but perhaps if your friends did the same thing u did, maybe you could play together, that i dont know, as i havent tried it yet. maybe if anyone tries to get older versions with their friends, they can post they experience in the comments down bellow)

[M109A3 Howitzer]

i have to admit, this is very hard to look at, understand at, for most people, i got all of them correcct but it just said "download failed", i only succeeded by using the example the guy used.

[silverservice]

how do I tell if it has worked? will the version at the bottom be different?

[Arazul708]

What the fuck is a Clipboard how do i enter the Client i dont understand anything what the fuck is this shit!?

[forthegallows]

how do I integrate workshop subscriptions?

[idkwhattoputhere12]

do we need to have stormworks installed to use this?

[Dr who]

First time using this so am curious how it works.

Are the changes permanent? Like would I have to go back and download the current version of Stormworks?

[lemonlime171]

I've tried to do a few different versions now and every time I try and run it, it goes to a black screen for a second a crashes any advice. I'm mainly trying to play the update before the new fluid and gasses update.

[Democracy Superspreader]

its possible some versions are not working, try a bit older or newer one. also, your saves wont work either way, you have to start a new game if youre going into older versions. so if you were trying to load a save, that will never work.

[mmglaister]

im using 1.0 and it crashes when i run it on 64 and just normal 32, can you tell me why that is? would appreciate it since fluid and gasses update ruined 80% of every ship model that can sink

[mmglaister]

crashes when it starts, why?