Forced Updates on Steam

- Always keep this game up to date

- Only update this game when I launch it

- Don't update this game, SSD space is precious

- High Priority, Always auto update this game before others

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So I just just started playing " life is strange" Since it had good reviews and I got it for like $2.50, doesn't really seam like my cup of tea but I'll try anything with overwhelmingly positive reviews on Steam.

Today I notice the game is receiving a 4.1 Gig Update. ( An hour long video of the devs talking about the game, and some new sub titles for other languages )

4.1 gigs of SSD space since I don't run a traditional HD is kind of a lot. The very concept of forcing updates for a single player experience in order to play the game you've already bought is clearly BS.

I see it as nothing more than a malicious attack on my PC.

Damn...LOL! Uninstall, chalk it up as a $2.50 loss is my take.

Thanks for the info!

EDIT: So, to be clear, there isn't an option to disable updates on this game?? Weird.

Any game. This is a Steam issue, and it's not the first time. I had an $8.00 Resident Evil game that I had barely started when an auto update totally destroyed it's functionality, I was never able to get it to work after the update.

But this is really about the issue that Steam can basically Nuke software that you have previously purchased through them, destroying your investment, if you can call a game that.

Really.. hmm, I don't have many steam games. I will check my settings and see what happens when I try to play something...

If you are that short on space you could move it to a secondary drive (assuming you have one) with an app like steamtool.

Steam at one point gave you the option to toggle updates. No idea anymore as it hasn't been an issue for me.

I googled "Steam forced Updates" and there is like a million page thread with people ranting and raving about this BS. I also had this issue with an Origin game, Crysis 3 now that I recall, I had like 50 hours into that game between me and my buddy playing it through, no issues whatsoever, and I also played some multiplayer, never so much as a crash, then one day Origin jumped in with a bizzare auto-update to Crysis 3 years after it's release, after that I wasn't able to get past the menu without it crashing, consistently without fail.

A complete re install fixed it but it was only temporary, once it crashes once, nothing short of a complete reinstall fixes it. I'm not certain that Origin forces Updates like Steam because I only have a few games on Origin.

This is not ok, the concept that Steam can sell you a license, and then reach in and totally botch your experience at any time. Forced Updates. This is about as anti consumer as it gets.

It's unfortunate that you and some others have had issues with automatic updates in the clients. I personally haven't been negatively affected by it, and am super thankful that I no longer need to scour a dozen different file hosting sites to download the latest patches for my game(s). I have very strong memories of needing to wait in a download queue on file planet (and others) to get my latest TFC patch before they nights clan match. Needless to say it was a mess.

I admit, though, that it should be an option to disable (and at least used to be, possibly has since been deprecated). But I imagine they would have far more support tickets for people trying to figure out why their game isn't updating than the smaller % that would know why they disabled the feature and would remember to turn it back on.

I had no problem waiting in que in fileplanet and finding the correct patch, but I understand that's a hurdle for many casual users and a small aggravation for others. The issue though is that they cannot be disabled, and you are "Not Allowed" to play "Your" game without them.

Just imagine your playing your favorite Single player game, 3 years after release when suddenly out of nowhere an unexpected and huge patch prevents you from launching your game., then after forgoing the use of the game today and setting the download, you return the next day and find that your Campaign now has the new automatic easy mode applied for all players, an extra $1,000,000 in game dollars to purchase gear, loads of fancy overpowered weapons scattered everywhere, and also all your custom skins and mods don't work anymore, oh and your saves are broken but don't worry you won't need to do it all over again because you can't get past the loading screen without crashing.

This is a combination of the experiences we have seen, and will continue to see with this Forced Update policy. The principle is this, what if you simply don't want the change to your software??

By the way you'll all be upgrading to Windows 11 right now or your PC won't boot. Get it?

Origin has never forced an update on me... for the record. At least not in BF4 or Crysis 3 (the only games I play through there)... It will let me know there is a patch and I cannot play, but, I have zero problems with that. In fact, it makes complete sense to me. It doesn't blow my saved games, etc.

I forgot to check Steam last night... heh...

Back when I used steam a few years ago there was an option to halt/hold updates. Did they get rid of that?

EarthDog said:

Origin has never forced an update on me... for the record. At least not in BF4 or Crysis 3 (the only games I play through there)... It will let me know there is a patch and I cannot play, but, I have zero problems with that. In fact, it makes complete sense to me. It doesn't blow my saved games, etc.

I forgot to check Steam last night... heh...

Click to expand...

Ya I think your right, Origin doesn't force updates, but the point was the patch gave me trouble, if it was a Steam game, it would have been forced

saturn said:

Back when I used steam a few years ago there was an option to halt/hold updates. Did they get rid of that?

Click to expand...

You can Halt the update, but you can't play your game until it's finished. In fact, if there is an update available, you can't launch your game until you've installed it. The only options are in the Original Post.

motherboard1 said:

You can Halt the update, but you can't play your game until it's finished. In fact, if there is an update available, you can't launch your game until you've installed it. The only options are in the Original Post.

Click to expand...

Not sure I see a problem there... particularly with online titles or titles with an online element.

And what happens if you put your steam into offline mode?

Janus67 said:

And what happens if you put your steam into offline mode?

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I'm yet to test this, Steam has caught me by surprise a couple of times now. I assume that once the game begins updating it's files that it will be unplayable, and their is no reverse option, just pause the download.

I'm going to put all my Steam games on "Only update this game when I launch it". One at a time of course because I can't find a Global option and assume their is none. Next time I become aware of an update I'll try to Launch the game in Offline mode and see if it lets me through, or demands the update. When in Online mode, you have no option to proceed without the update if one is available so I'm not too hopeful that running in Offline mode will let me through, I think STEAM has all the exits covered. Short of running in offline mode permanently so that my STEAM client is unaware of any updates.

motherboard1 said:

You can Halt the update, but you can't play your game until it's finished. In fact, if there is an update available, you can't launch your game until you've installed it. The only options are in the Original Post.

Click to expand...

wow! Back when I used steam it would still let you play the game if you did not start the update. Try right clicking on the game and looking around on its setting. I recall back when I used steam there being a options to ask you to update and not do so automatically. I think it was something like "keep this game up to date" or something.

Janus67 said:

And what happens if you put your steam into offline mode?

Click to expand...

This.

Also you could keep an back up of your games.
You could also try setting your game files to read only. But that may cause problems.

saturn said:

wow! Back when I used steam it would still let you play the game if you did not start the update. Try right clicking on the game and looking around on its setting. I recall back when I used steam there being a options to ask you to update and not do so automatically. I think it was something like "keep this game up to date" or something.


This.




Also you could keep an back up of your games.
You could also try setting your game files to read only. But that may cause problems.

Click to expand...

This, unfortunately is the dirty truth nobody is ready to accept.

All updates to games on Steam, are absolutely forced. No patch, no play, even in Offline mode.

Don't like how the patch broke your game, or changed game balance ? etc Too bad. (True story)

Poor bandwidth or bandwidth limits and don't want to download 4GB worth of foreign subtitles? So Sad. (true story)

Would you like to finish your game without having your save files corrupted ? Start over ! (True story)

You pay for one piece of software, tomorrow it becomes unrecognizable. How is this not anti consumer.

And this is why I buy my games on disks and not though steam.

saturn said:

And this is why I buy my games on disks and not though steam.

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That's great for you, but there are many games these days that if you can even find the physical pc copy it is literally nothing more than a license key and a link to or a cd with the steam installer on it.

Do they need to update the security of all the games, when people find out ways to cheat in the games?

Depends on the game and the type of cheating. If it is a glitch of sort in a multiplayer game they update the game with patches to remove glitches or rebalance the game. If it is a hacker of sorts that is generally done through third party hacker detection like punk buster or VAC in most valve games.