Forced Update of 15+ GB!?

[darkdexter]

What is that? We can't even have the choice to skip the update? I just bought the DVD game Fall of the Samurai from Future Shop. I bought the physical because i thought it will save me the time and money. Since I have an average internet speed, a 4-6 GB usually takes me 4-5 hours to download, so i refrain from downloading stuff from the internet unless i absolutely have to. That means leaving my PC on overnight if i want to download updates,mods,patches and all that. That is a waste of energy,time and my patience.

Anyway after a long day of stressed out work, I was so stoked that i can finally play this, hell i wasn't even 100% sure if my PC rig can handle this game but i bought it anyway so i can have a fun night. Now after the install, Steam automatically updates this game, at first I was like ok with it but then I realize it is about 7-8 hours of update. WHYY!!?? I'm not even interested in the multiplayer or the fixes, I just want to start the game and play the campaign so what the hell is up with this 15+ Gb download! I mean sure I will probably have to download the update sooner or later to be able to download mods but come on.
What happened to the old polite procedure of giving the customers an option to choose?
Is there even a workaround with this or are we really suppose to be forced to download that huge chunk of data?
If CA keep collaborating with Steam and allow this kind of things to happen then man i will know what to expect in future releases, and it wont be a fun thought.

ok i learned that it is only about 5-6 Gb of update,Steam mislead me, yet another reason why steam sucks. But still this is unacceptable, we should have an option to skip the update or install the game with out Steam at all.
What will happen if I do not have internet connection for a month or so, does that i mean i can not play this game, a game which i bought the disc yet still considered a digitally bought?

[kyloc]

yea steam sucks ... you gotta live with it

[BullGod]

ok i learned that it is only about 5-6 Gb of update,Steam mislead me, yet another reason why steam sucks. But still this is unacceptable, we should have an option to skip the update or install the game with out Steam at all.
What will happen if I do not have internet connection for a month or so, does that i mean i can not play this game, a game which i bought the disc yet still considered a digitally bought?

After the game is installed and patched, you can switch steam to offline mode. Run the game then, and if it works, always choose offline mode when it starts. You don't need internet connection then. The trick is to go offline in the right moment though, because sometimes something will not update fully, and game will be "unavailable". But if done right, you can forget internet.

[hermpes]

you know you can turn auto updates off, right? right click the game in steam, then properties, updates, turn off the auto update. pie.

[last_name_left]

But turning off updates is only possible once you are up to date?.....meaning it doesn't help the OP at all (initially).

A large part of what is being D/L is the DLC - which you can't use but other peeps whom bought it might use against you in MP - and so CA insist you must have it all too. You might never see a pixel of any of it, but you gotta download it all anyway. No choice. Version-control gone mad.

It's really dumb to force-feed patches to people as soon as they install. Certainly when they're 5Gb - or more. People want to try the game as soon as they install it.....there's no need to be completely up to date to just try a quick run-through. Just keep telling the user to go update and that they don't yet have all the game content. Huge patches (for everyone) every time there's new DLC released is ridiculous - it's hugely wasteful and a total encumbrance to those who don't want it. La dee dah.

[Gorhaax]

Was there a new patch today? I mostly just leave steam in offline mode now so that I can't get sneaky patches. Also turning off Auto updates only works if you never shut down steam, otherwise it just resets, which is incredibly dumb.

[Humble Warrior]

Was there a new patch today? I mostly just leave steam in offline mode now so that I can't get sneaky patches. Also turning off Auto updates only works if you never shut down steam, otherwise it just resets, which is incredibly dumb.

So that explains it!

Thankyou for that. But once again, this further makes me distrust such a program. Why make it reset every time you restart? Why not program it to stay off when set to off?

Are we expected to stay on Steam 24\7? I know some do, but we should never be expected to.

This is similar to CA`s `Drop in` that for some strange reason resets every campaign while nothing else does. All suspicious.
And why should I be forced ONLINE to just take a screenshot of my game in progress? I cannot take any screenshots in my Offline Campaign because of this. CA tries to force people to love Steam- Well they can`t, not everyone is so easily led.

The sneaky, crafty shenanigans of things like Steam and now CA\SEGA associating themselves in this way just makes them as bad.

[Gorhaax]

So that explains it!

Thankyou for that. But once again, this further makes me distrust such a program. Why make it reset every time you restart? Why not program it to stay off when set to off?

Are we expected to stay on Steam 24\7? I know some do, but we should never be expected to.

This is similar to CA`s `Drop in` that for some strange reason resets every campaign while nothing else does. All suspicious.
And why should I be forced ONLINE to just take a screenshot of my game in progress? I cannot take any screenshots in my Offline Campaign because of this. CA tries to force people to love Steam- Well they can`t, not everyone is so easily led.

The sneaky, crafty shenanigans of things like Steam and now CA\SEGA associating themselves in this way just makes them as bad.

I never really noticed this behaviour until a few weeks ago. Every other game that i've owned has allways had patch every few months so i never noticed, until FOTS. Makes me wish that steam would offer proper content control rather than the all or nothing updating crap.

A good example of this is that I want to download and play Tropico 4 but ever since kalypso release modern time expansion and a patch to tropico 4 there have been numerous patch bugs in there forums which give me pause on installing the game. Not fun without rollback feature.

[Humble Warrior]

I never really noticed this behaviour until a few weeks ago. Every other game that i've owned has allways had patch every few months so i never noticed, until FOTS. Makes me wish that steam would offer proper content control rather than the all or nothing updating crap.

A good example of this is that I want to download and play Tropico 4 but ever since kalypso release modern time expansion and a patch to tropico 4 there have been numerous patch bugs in there forums which give me pause on installing the game. Not fun without rollback feature.

I got the non-Steam version of Tropico 4, no problems at all. A pleasure to use. The good things about those Devs for Tropico is they made Steam optional.

If only CA would stop being so stubborn and do the same. If they did this 70% of my unhappiness with CA would fade away.

[Forward Observer]

Somebody post this as a sticky, but once and for all here is how it works:

This is a cut and paste from Steam support:

Hello X,

Thank you for contacting Steam Support.

The option to disable automatic updates does not disable the requirement for Steam to install the latest updates before launching your game. This option will only allow you to delay the update until you next choose to launch the game.

There are no options for running Steam games without all necessary updates.

If you have any further questions, please let us know.

I admit that it is a bit misleading, but the bottom line is that the option has nothing to do with a choice of whether to update your game or not. The purpose is to let you sign on to Steam and not have to contend with a lengthy download for a game you are not intending to play. This means that you can sign on and play an older game that has no patches impending or simply do other things on Steam like check stats or or whatever.

However, if you go to launch a game that does have a patch or update available, you should not be able to play that game until the patch downloads and is applied.

The only other alternative is to make sure everything you intend to play is up to date, and go into off line mode. However, this also requires that you disconnect your PC from the INTERNET.

This means that you do not simply close INTERNET explorer, but that you have to either physically disconnect from your modem, or at least disable your network connection in your control panel if you are wireless.

Off-line mode really means totally disconnected. It is mostly intended for laptop users who want to play when they know they will be without an INTERNET connection for a period of time.

If you re-connect your PC and launch a Steam game, you run the risk of Steam checking for a client update. If this happens you will most likely be back to square one and may be faced with downloading the most recent updates to play your game.


Now, I'm off to hopefully pass 1500 hours of playtime in Shogun II/FOTS by the end of the day---1500 hours of largely uninterrupted, no hassle, Steam endorsed fun.

For those of you with problems I'm am sorry, and it could happen to me today or tomorrow. It has before.

However, the big difference is that instead of raging about it on a fan forum, I will spend the time to research the issue, see if other people have it, post the problem to the proper area, and then try to find a way to resolve it.

This has worked well for me in over 13 years of PC gaming, and has probably helped to keep me from having to return to prison. (OK, that last is a joke, I only did a weekend in jail for a bar fight about 35 years ago. Sadly, my opponent went Scot free--however, I think I still got the best of her!)

Cheers

[Humble Warrior]

The only other alternative is to make sure everything you intend to play is up to date, and go into off line mode. However, this also requires that you disconnect your PC from the internet (physically).

I figured this out years ago and have been doing this EVERY TIME I play a Steam game. I`ve also tried to tell others this. And it`s wrong we have to do this, totally wrong, to prevent unauthorised access to our paid for games. However, the rest of your comments show you care just about as much as CA and SEGA about this issue and so nothing has improved because of that like-minded, non-caring, non-thinking attitude from others.

All you`ve done is confirmed what I`ve been trying to tell everyone for the past 5 years, aside from that you`ve been no use at all with that post.