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I don't think this is correct. I use Steam and have a lot of games installed. When it does updates, they are not the size of the original downloads. Usually, mu

I don't think this is correct. I use Steam and have a lot of games installed. When it does updates, they are not the size of the original downloads. Usually, much, much smaller.

Schoolmeister 8y ago
Indeed. I've never needed a full game download just for a patch. Depending on the game and type of patch this is usually ~1GB.
kbenson 8y ago
Same here. I think what's being seen is that some things are easier to diff and update than others. If a game has a large file for map data that's indexed into, and update to any portions of it are delivered the most easily (where easily includes reliably) by updating the whole file. If that file is 2GB, then you have a 2GB download. If a game has lots of relatively little files, you could update multiple maps with a few tens of megabytes of downloads. An actual patch utility that goes in and applies binary diffs would be much more economical in terms of bandwidth, but then that complicates Steam's ability to confirm a game is in a good state with file checksums, and is much more likely to have odd errors as a diff somehow correctly applies to a file with an incorrect starting starting state.
xigency 8y ago
Maybe I should clarify my issues with updates. I know for certain that some games have had massive updates on the order of the original title, including Grand Theft Auto, Metal Gear Solid, and Mortal Kombat (I particularly know the last one because I have a credit in that boondoggle of a game). Secondly, at home I have a modest internet connection and a busy home life that leaves me at most an hour to play games at a time, and usually less than that. If I open Steam infrequently and there are multiple patches on the order of gigabytes, then that eats into my play time and makes my PC gaming experience feel like a PC update experience. When you consider how large some of these games are like The Witcher or Final Fantasy or MGS5, the number of games in my library, and the shortage of time I have, I easily spend more time installing or updating any of my games than playing them. Any way you cut it, it's a bad experience. Steam doesn't allow players to play out-of-date games in online mode and doesn't allow multiplayer games in offline mode. When going between online and offline mode it keeps track of which games are out-of-date as well. Whether using on-demand updates or leaving my computer on with Steam running I'm either wasting my time or wasting power and bandwidth (with a monthly cap). I didn't make my post to complain about the state of things (which I found poor). What I am saying is that I think there are creative engineering solutions to this problem that would make experiences like mine better. Google found a creative way to compress Chrome updates by using disassembly changes rather than file diffs to push small critical updates. I'm sure Valve could spend any amount of resources looking for solutions like that tailored to game assets. What's more, you can get the exact experience I described by playing Fortnite on an iPad on a weekly basis.

I don't think this is correct. I use Steam and have a lot of games installed. When it does updates, they are not the size of the original downloads. Usually, much, much smaller.

Schoolmeister 8y ago

Indeed. I've never needed a full game download just for a patch. Depending on the game and type of patch this is usually ~1GB.

kbenson 8y ago

Same here. I think what's being seen is that some things are easier to diff and update than others. If a game has a large file for map data that's indexed into, and update to any portions of it are delivered the most easily (where easily includes reliably) by updating the whole file. If that file is 2GB, then you have a 2GB download. If a game has lots of relatively little files, you could update multiple maps with a few tens of megabytes of downloads. An actual patch utility that goes in and applies binary diffs would be much more economical in terms of bandwidth, but then that complicates Steam's ability to confirm a game is in a good state with file checksums, and is much more likely to have odd errors as a diff somehow correctly applies to a file with an incorrect starting starting state.

xigency 8y ago

Maybe I should clarify my issues with updates. I know for certain that some games have had massive updates on the order of the original title, including Grand Theft Auto, Metal Gear Solid, and Mortal Kombat (I particularly know the last one because I have a credit in that boondoggle of a game). Secondly, at home I have a modest internet connection and a busy home life that leaves me at most an hour to play games at a time, and usually less than that. If I open Steam infrequently and there are multiple patches on the order of gigabytes, then that eats into my play time and makes my PC gaming experience feel like a PC update experience. When you consider how large some of these games are like The Witcher or Final Fantasy or MGS5, the number of games in my library, and the shortage of time I have, I easily spend more time installing or updating any of my games than playing them. Any way you cut it, it's a bad experience. Steam doesn't allow players to play out-of-date games in online mode and doesn't allow multiplayer games in offline mode. When going between online and offline mode it keeps track of which games are out-of-date as well. Whether using on-demand updates or leaving my computer on with Steam running I'm either wasting my time or wasting power and bandwidth (with a monthly cap). I didn't make my post to complain about the state of things (which I found poor). What I am saying is that I think there are creative engineering solutions to this problem that would make experiences like mine better. Google found a creative way to compress Chrome updates by using disassembly changes rather than file diffs to push small critical updates. I'm sure Valve could spend any amount of resources looking for solutions like that tailored to game assets. What's more, you can get the exact experience I described by playing Fortnite on an iPad on a weekly basis.