How to stop a Steam Update

[Nebor]

I need some help in cancelling some Steam updates. I have 5 games that Steam has listed as "Update paused." I do not have the internet connection to support updating. I do have all of my Steam games backed up on an external hard drive from before they started updating.

So how the heck do I get Steam to forget about updating them? I tried uninstalling the games, then restoring the game folders and .ncf files in the Steam directory, deleting clientregistry.glob and letting Steam rebuild (which took about 2 hours, that's how slow my internet connection is.) But the games went right back to "Update paused" status! Maddening.

Any ideas?

 

[M0rphz0r]

Try right-clicking the game in your library, select 'Properties' -> Updates -> 'Do not automatically update this game'.

 

[SonicIce]

welcome to steam lol . i'd love to play unpatched versions of my steam games

 

[Nebor]

Try right-clicking the game in your library, select 'Properties' -> Updates -> 'Do not automatically update this game'.

I set them that way after they'd started updating. But somehow Steam "remembered" that they were updating, even after uninstalling them and restoring the folders\.nfc files from an external drive.

 

[SonicIce]

though pretty sure if you download a steam-less pirated copy you won't have to update but you're on your own there

 

[Nebor]

though pretty sure if you download a steam-less pirated copy you won't have to update but you're on your own there

If I had the bandwidth to pirate a game, I'd be able to update my steam games. I'm on a 153kbps connection.

 

[BFG10K]

So how the heck do I get Steam to forget about updating them?

You can’t stop it now. Even if you’d selected not to update the games beforehand, Steam would refuse to launch them until they’re updated.

That setting is the most useless setting ever made. It only works when there’s nothing to update. :awe:

 

[Nebor]

So I've lost Trine 2, The Witcher, and Saints Row the Third, Serious Sam HD the Second Encounter, and Magika for the next 8 months. Awesome.

EDIT: I don't blame Steam for this, I blame the nation of Afghanistan for having such shitty internet connectivity.

 

[BFG10K]

EDIT: I don't blame Steam for this, I blame the nation of Afghanistan for having such shitty internet connectivity.

I do. Steam’s cloud-based DRM is stopping you from accessing your legitimate purchases.

 

[Powermoloch]

When DRM is good? It hurts legitimate purchasers than the yarrrrrrgggghh

 

[PowerYoga]

can't you play offline mode?

 

[Atomic Playboy]

For most games, even setting Steam to "Never update this game" doesn't actually prevent the game from being updated; that only seems to work on Valve titles, and even then, it won't let you launch games that aren't fully patched. Some games have mods released for them which disables Steam updating (GTA IV and Skyrim, for example), but you have to find them and sometimes they can be a pain in the ass to install. Once a game has started updating on Steam, it's unavailable until the update is complete, which is the one major complaint I have with Steam.

 

[Nebor]

I do. Steam’s cloud-based DRM is stopping you from accessing your legitimate purchases.

Yeah, but you know that's a possibility when you buy in. And the cloud gives you so much (when you're not in a remote area of the world) that it's worth it IMO. This doesn't turn me off Steam, it turns me off Afghanistan. I guess I won't be pursuing that vacation home purchase here after all.

 

[isekii]

I stopped playing a game, because the auto updated screwed up all my settings.

 

[patticrook33]

can't you play offline mode?

I think steam update and game update is different.

 

[DaveSimmons]

> So I've lost Trine 2, The Witcher, and Saints Row the Third, Serious Sam HD the Second Encounter, and Magika for the next 8 months. Awesome.

Unpause just the smallest one, let it run all night or for days in a row if needed.

Even at 135K you should have at least one game to play sooner than 8 months from now.

 

[CuriousMike]

Side note sorta:
Our limited household bandwidth has been the victim of Steam updates sucking bandwidth many times.

Using my router, I could determine the offending computer.
It took another utility on said machine to point to Steam eating all the bandwidth -- even though I had "Pause Updating" on a few games, and none others showed themselves being updated. Steam was still updating *something.*

 

[greenhawk]

if 8 months and the updates are large, just get a friend back home to send you the game directory (not backed up as that will need a online connection to extract and still take a long time).

at least then you will get around any issues of large updates. Can send a backup as well but a directory copy is far far better in terms of getting it working again.

 

[KMFJD]

This is my biggest gripe about Steam, updates are needed definitely, but should not be mandatory for single player stuff, buying a brand new boxed game on a slow ass connection means you aren't playing any time soon

 

[Arglebargle]

My experiance was that Steam will not update your games just fine....until the next Steam update, at which point they change all the games settings to 'keep updated'. That happens at least weekly, so not much help.

If you can get them to where you want them, just set Steam to offline and stick with that.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

The funny thing is DRM doesn't stop the pirates. Most of the time the game is already on the pirate sites before it is offically released. It takes them a few hours to crack the DRM at this point.

 

[Nebor]

So having given up on those 5 games in exasperation, I set Steam back to offline mode. Then I go to play Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, and it sits at the launching screen forever. I hit cancel, and the title in the library turns to yellow and says "Updating paused."

WTF. It found an update while I was in offline mode?! AND all the games were set to Do not update?!