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Did they restore the ability to download old depots from the client?

4
Supersamus (talkcontribs)

According to this section: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Store:Steam#Download_older_game_versions

> As of February 12, 2020 it is not longer possible to use the Steam client to download older game versions.

However, I tried doing it myself, and it worked as expected. Is the info outdated?


Here's what I've done:

- I typed `steam://nav/console` on the browser to open Steam's console

- I typed the command to download the first version of Brawlhalla (needs to be on the library):

`download_depot 291550 291551 6492858552396319232`

- I moved the files

- Brawlhalla launched, and it was the first version


I'm on Linux, using Steam's beta client.

Dribbleondo (talkcontribs)

AFAIK the functionality never really left.

Aemony (talkcontribs)

> AFAIK the functionality never really left.

It absolutely did as I was the one that wrote and later updated the PCGW section after Valve had removed the built-in option. Data _was_ downloaded, but despite the manifest being specified, the Steam client would always download the latest manifest so it was functionally useless.

It's possible they fixed that at one point or another though -- I'll verify it as well today.

Aemony (talkcontribs)

Yeah, can confirm as well now that the ability download older manifests was restored to the desktop client :)

New big picture mode has released

1
Sbritorodr (talkcontribs)

This page is locked, so I can't add the change myself.

The new steam big picture, that resembles the steamdeck has been replaced to the old one in Feb 1 2023 at least on steam beta. https://store.steampowered.com/oldnews/189167

The thing is you can use -oldbigpicture launch parameter in steam to switch to the old one. It's important to point this out since I'm very sure it will keep tthis launch parameter for a long time.

Summary by Dave247

A fixbox with instructions on how to download older game versions was updated thanks to Aemony to include instructions on how to use the third-party program DepotDownoloader with a disclaimer, due to the feature being removed from the Steam client.

Dave247 (talkcontribs)

In December 2019 Valve seemed to have changed something so that you can't download depots through the client anymore, making it the only method to download older versions a program called DepotDownloader.

The fixbox is going to need to be rewritten to account for having to use the program.

Aemony (talkcontribs)

I have updated the instructions to match DepotDownloader, and added a disclaimer about it requiring the username, password, and Steam Guard authentication token to function.

Basically PCGamingWiki cannot make any guarantees about the tool's use, and users have to use it at their own risk.

Dave247 (talkcontribs)

Thanks for that Aemony. Due to the sheer length of the fixbox I left it for another day to tackle and kinda forgot about it, though I wouldn't have been able to write something up as fancy as you did, disclaimer and all.

The only other alternative would of been to remove it entirely, but it's still a valid thing so it's worth a mention.

Steam can be run on windows xp

3
212.96.80.51 (talkcontribs)

Search youtube: windows xp steam

Aemony (talkcontribs)

Only existing workarounds so far that I've found involves using an almost one year old copy of the Steam client and effectively prevent it from detecting an update is available.

Mirh (talkcontribs)

Sounds legit and something we should mention to me.

Aemony (talkcontribs)

So I've gone through the whole thing multiple times and have thrown out the garbage, added additional information here and there, consolidated and combined as much as possible wherever possible. I've also replaced all issue fixboxes with the support articles from the official knowledgebase where applicable (which was basically everywhere).

The Other Information section might still benefit from some time put into it here and there, and maybe I'll do so eventually. For example the "Change the language of a game" section could almost certainly be moved to a more appropriate section.

I am a bit uncertain about my change to the "Use Native Steam runtime mode" section (basically separated the existing info into an 'Advanced' subsection and added a new called 'Basic' with reference to Linux Steam Integration). If any Linux user could just check that it seems correct then I'd be grateful.

In-home streaming issues

1
Mirh (talkcontribs)

Just some things may worth to be mentioned in the article:

  • Random lag spikes on wi-fi could be resolved by disabling Windows automatic network scan possibly no more valid
  • Streaming can just handle stereo sound [WIP][ADDED] [ADDED2] ["improved"]
  • Linux systems might have rumble issues

And then the biggest annoyance for me is not being able to use the host computer for something else whilst it's streaming (it's not just me that would like to play on a netbook).
I read several workarounds (like Virtual Machines and Multiseat desktop). Though these are still far from simplicity
some "benchmarks"


Albeit in-home streaming by itself isn't API limited, Steam Link only works with XInput (this indirectly means there's a 4 controllers hard limit)

Other trivia: DXVA2 is used for hardware decoding in Windows. This means basically any GPU since 2006-2007 (but some special cases) and ideally no XP support. There seems to be a specific W8+ decoder (ICodecAPI ?)

Linux side supports both VAAPI and VDAPU (again with exceptions)

Intriguingly Windows XP host support was a thing in the past.
And intriguingly, it seems Broadcasting doesn't share the same "platform"\API than this.


AMD&INTEL WINDOWS HARDWARE DECODING IS BROKEN.
The flickering problem gets more apparent when I use amd VCE encoding, but it's still slightly there regardless.
Fixed.


I guess like "discovery" should go first, but we go by finding order here, so..

Example of edge case. Broadcast network address must be unfiltered (in both directions preferably, otherwise you need to force the "sending capable" machine to re-advertise itself by toggling repeatedly the checkbox in steam options), in addition to port 27036.

p.s. protocol has been partially documented

Steam Console Run Command

1
RaTcHeT302 (talkcontribs)

DRM and Family Share Stuff

5
RaTcHeT302 (talkcontribs)

Could someone clear up the whole Family Sharing stuff as to how it works? I'm not sure what else should be added back, there was a ref but it was dead, so I'm not sure which infos are accurate.

RaTcHeT302 (talkcontribs)
Anonymous (talkcontribs)

Sure. To get it working you log into Steam with each account you want to share, go to Settings->Family and click "Authorize this computer" and make sure "Share" is selected for each account you want under "Eligible accounts". It sounds easy but it's kind of a delicate process in practice that's easy to screw up.

Functionally it works as if you own the game with separate saves and such.

As for DRM... the FAQ is kind of out of date and is a bit ambiguous. It says:"No, due to technical limitations, some Steam games may be unavailable for sharing. For example, titles that require an additional third-party key, account, or subscription in order to play cannot be shared between accounts.".

With the newer versions it works with various types of 3rd party key and account DRM now and most MMOs (which it didn't previously due to account DRM being flagged). The main offenders are primarily uPlay games now with DLC account keys. Most others can be shared, even reality pump DRM stuff like Two Worlds and EA account stuff like Alice Madness returns. On release it didn't work with basically anything flagged with 3rd party DRM, which is probably the cause of a bit of a confusion with some people.

EDIT: Of course, the DRM itself is shared and not separated.

EDIT2: As for how it functionally works with someone else using it: if the account's main owner is playing a different game than the one you want to play, or someone else is using a shared game, you are presented the "buy" option instead of install/play.

Marioysikax (talkcontribs)

For some reason I feel like mentioning about VAC banning should be noted. If user playing shared game gets VAC banned, ban will automatically go to the account who shared the game for the player. That's why it's good to know only using family share with - well - family and really really close friends. Family share is huge step up from sharing account logins to share the game with friend, but it's still risky.

Big Picture Speed Up Thing

10
RaTcHeT302 (talkcontribs)

Is this another placebo effect? Also I'm thinking that this is only going to potentially break some other stuff, unless you really need to fiddle around with this. Please add it back if it's a valid solution, unless it breaks stuff of course, I honestly doubt this will make Steam any better anyway, I'd rather leave the checkbox on for the most part. http://pcgamingwiki.com/w/index.php?title=Steam&oldid=182733#Speed_up_Big_Picture_web_browser

What does this actually do anyway? It's kinda unclear to me.

Blackbird (talkcontribs)

I recall seeing this ages ago and it really helped a bit since that default setting does something stupid I don't remember now.

Anonymous (talkcontribs)

Basically, this prevents Windows from attempting to detect proxy settings for your currently-connected LAN. Despite most modern LANs not using proxies, if you don't use this fix, Windows will, for compatibility reasons, attempt to determine if your LAN requires a proxy every time you go to a new webpage. That's what the "Automatically Detect Settings" checkbox in the LAN Settings of the Connections tab controls, that is, it controls whether or not Windows attempts to detect your LAN's proxy settings (or lack thereof).

If your network happens to use a proxy, performing this fix will break your network connection unless you've manually specified the proxy used...so that's a good reason for a disclaimer note. Otherwise, as already stated, most modern LANs don't use proxies anymore, so this is a safe fix.

Oh, and in my personal experience, it does work as advertised. All my browsers, not just the Steam browser, are significantly faster - and I know because I've been experiencing significant lag for quite a few months now despite the physical connection and hardware on my end being fine, and I haven't been able to pin down the reason why. I've also noticed Steam runs faster in general when it displays web-based content (like Community Hubs, your profile, the store page, etc.), much snappier.

RaTcHeT302 (talkcontribs)

I'll add it back then. Thanks.

RaTcHeT302 (talkcontribs)

It all still kinda feels the same to me, I'm not really seeing the difference, but whatever.

Anonymous (talkcontribs)

Yeah...unlike what the original poster in the ref claims, this isn't a cure-all for Internet speed - heck, he's even playing salesman by quoting satisfied 'customers'. Not everyone's gonna need this fix, and there will still be users who need to let Windows auto-detect proxy settings. That's why I added "in my personal experience" in my initial response - it works for me, but just because it does for me doesn't mean it will work for you.

RaTcHeT302 (talkcontribs)

I'll probably add the note you mentioned and this thing you said now as a note, I can't be bothered right now though, thanks however again.

Anonymous (talkcontribs)
RaTcHeT302 (talkcontribs)

I mean the whole Steam page is a mess, and the only reason I started cleaning it up is Steam broke on me, I stumbled on some issues but I figured out what was going on so I felt like noting this stuff down. I should probably mention the appmanifest stuff somewhere, and how to backup these games properly, along with the savegames, I've lost my GTA V savegame seeing as I thought it was stored on Steam Cloud, blah.

RaTcHeT302 (talkcontribs)

Oh and sorry if I keep swearing in the history thingy, I never mean any of that in a bad way, but cleaning messy pages is a pain in the butt, it's nice to see the end result though.

In order to run Steam properly in this version of Windows, the Steam service component must be installed. The service installation process requires administrative privileges.

2
RaTcHeT302 (talkcontribs)
RaTcHeT302 (talkcontribs)

I just realized, you might as well just do a clean install in order to solve all these problems once in for all. Proper clean install though. I never encountered this ever again anyway, I'm not sure what triggered it.