How to prevent automatic update

[skodkim]

How do you prevent Steam from updating Civ when the next patch is rolled out?

Last update really messed up the good game I was playing (lots of mods were broken) despite me trying to prevent the game from updating.

I'm sorry for asking cause I know it has been discussed many time before. I've never seen a really good answer that matched the current Steam interface though.

\Skodkim

 

[Leyrann]

You can go into offline mode, but I believe there's also an option somewhere to turn off updates. At the very least, you could turn off automatic updates (right click the game, go to properties, go to updates tab) and then go into offline mode or turn off internet only for when you're playing the game. It's a workaround, and I think there should be a direct option somewhere, but I don't know where it is and I don't have time to look for it.

 

[Katakanja]

The only way to block an update for Civ VI for an indefinite period of time is, as Leyrann says, to put Steam into offline mode.

Note that this is not that same as opening up the friends window and toggling it to"offline" - that only an appearance based thing and wont stop updates. Instead, make sure you go to Steam in the top left corner, and select "Go Offline..." which should be the second option down.

From this point on, when you start Steam you will be prompted whether you want to continue playing offline or not - obviously you keep picking play offline until you change your mind

There are a few other things to keep in mind however. Turning off automatic updates is not a solution. Lots of people fall into this trap because the settings are kind of vaguely worded. Turning off automatic updates does not stop Steam from queuing the update in your Download List, it just stops the patch from being downloaded without an active input from you. What this means is that the first time you start the game after the patch is released it will begin downloading/installing and you will be back to square one again.

The only way to stop Civ VI from updating is to stay in Offline Mode for as long as you want to play without the patch. This has the added side effect of preventing you from updating any of your other games on Steam as the moment you go online to update one of them, Civ VI will queue its patch and you will have to install it before you can play again regardless of whether automatic updates is toggled on or off.

Obviously if you don't have many other games on Steam or don't care about keeping them updated, this isn't a problem

 

[c4c6]

Great explanation, thanks.

Obviously if you don't have many other games on Steam or don't care about keeping them updated, this isn't a problem

I suppose, having fun while wearing a straitjacket also helps ... (to think, this isn't a problem )

 

[Esperr]

Just go into steam and revert the game to the previous version..

 

[Katakanja]

Just go into steam and revert the game to the previous version..

Not an option for Civ VI, that's only possible for certain games, at the developers discretion.

Paradox is good for this - you can roll back games like Crusader Kings and Stellaris to patch versions from years ago if you like.

 

[skodkim]

The only way to block an update for Civ VI for an indefinite period of time is, as Leyrann says, to put Steam into offline mode.

Note that this is not that same as opening up the friends window and toggling it to"offline" - that only an appearance based thing and wont stop updates. Instead, make sure you go to Steam in the top left corner, and select "Go Offline..." which should be the second option down.

From this point on, when you start Steam you will be prompted whether you want to continue playing offline or not - obviously you keep picking play offline until you change your mind

There are a few other things to keep in mind however. Turning off automatic updates is not a solution. Lots of people fall into this trap because the settings are kind of vaguely worded. Turning off automatic updates does not stop Steam from queuing the update in your Download List, it just stops the patch from being downloaded without an active input from you. What this means is that the first time you start the game after the patch is released it will begin downloading/installing and you will be back to square one again.

The only way to stop Civ VI from updating is to stay in Offline Mode for as long as you want to play without the patch. This has the added side effect of preventing you from updating any of your other games on Steam as the moment you go online to update one of them, Civ VI will queue its patch and you will have to install it before you can play again regardless of whether automatic updates is toggled on or off.

Obviously if you don't have many other games on Steam or don't care about keeping them updated, this isn't a problem

Thanks for this! I've turned on Offline mode now.

Last time I tried turning off automatic updates but as you said I couldn't start the game without updating - which was really frustrating.

\Skodkim

 

[standingwolf]

What this means is that the first time you start the game after the patch is released it will begin downloading/installing and you will be back to square one again.

The only way to stop Civ VI from updating is to stay in Offline Mode for as long as you want to play without the patch.

i'm not sure this is true because i went into offline mode prior to the patch being released, and when i went to try and play today it had the update queued up and won't let me start the game or disable automatic updates. it currently says "update paused," so even though i was in offline mode i think i'm screwed.

 

[Katakanja]

i'm not sure this is true because i went into offline mode prior to the patch being released, and when i went to try and play today it had the update queued up and won't let me start the game or disable automatic updates. it currently says "update paused," so even though i was in offline mode i think i'm screwed.

You must have stopped being in offline mode at some point. Steam cannot queue updates while you remain in offline mode.

From this point on, when you start Steam you will be prompted whether you want to continue playing offline or not - obviously you keep picking play offline until you change your mind

You didn't miss this prompt and accidentally revert back to online mode? If you have Steam set to require you to do the full sign in (input username/password) every time you start it up, that may have caused you to miss the online/offline mode choice at startup.

 

[c4c6]

"Offline Mode":
- setting in the STEAM application
- state of the connection to the internet

 

[standingwolf]

You must have stopped being in offline mode at some point. Steam cannot queue updates while you remain in offline mode.

You didn't miss this prompt and accidentally revert back to online mode? If you have Steam set to require you to do the full sign in (input username/password) every time you start it up, that may have caused you to miss the online/offline mode choice at startup.

i was offline for at least 2-3 days before the patch dropped, so unless it somehow entered the queue before it was actually released, steam did in fact do this. i don't require a sign in when i start steam. and every time i started civ 6 it would pop up to remind me that steam was in offline mode and would only let me continue by acknowledging this.

now i didn't disable the "keep this application updated" option, although it appears that the only option to do so it "only update this game when i launch it," which hardly seems like a disable to me.

 

[Katakanja]

i was offline for at least 2-3 days before the patch dropped, so unless it somehow entered the queue before it was actually released, steam did in fact do this. i don't require a sign in when i start steam. and every time i started civ 6 it would pop up to remind me that steam was in offline mode and would only let me continue by acknowledging this.

I'm sorry, I honestly have no idea how it happened then

I've had offline mode break down on me before and force me to go online before Steam would run, but that's only happened when I've had to use it for excessively long periods of time (2+ months) and its been pretty blatant about what is happening. I've never seen it initiate a patch whilst in offline mode though.

You don't share your Steam library with someone else using the home sharing feature? Or even literally share the computer itself with someone else? That's really the only other thing I can think of that might affect it, other than that I can't think of any other explanation

 

[standingwolf]

You don't share your Steam library with someone else using the home sharing feature? Or even literally share the computer itself with someone else? That's really the only other thing I can think of that might affect it, other than that I can't think of any other explanation

thanks for trying to figure this out!

but no, i don't share my steam library with any kind of network, and no one else uses my computer but me. so it's all a mystery.

oh well: i just went ahead and updated and started a new game.