Steam Error - Fails to Publish mod -- Solved

[sman1975]

Anyone every seen an error message like this while attempting to upload a mod to the Steam workshop?

Failed to published
Steam Workshop Result: Timeout


The odd thing - this error message pops up within a second of this "update" window shows up. Hard to believe anything times out so quickly.

The mod is about 2 MB in size, and the mod image is 344kb.

Thanks for any suggestions on how to publish the mod.

 

[LeeS]

As a first step try shortening the mod title name. There's a limit as I recall to how long the name of the mod can be.

The other big killers of mod uploading and downloading are special characters in the name of a mod like & # @ ! etc. () and [] are ok as are _
You aren't violating any of the undocumented killer character rules so I would try truncating the name of the mod first.

I don't remember what the thumbnail image size limits are but as I recall modbuddy specifies this in the uploader part of the utility, so check you aren't out of bounds for image dimensions or total KB size.

Otherwise, well, welcome to Steam Workshop Intransigence. Sometimes you just have to retry because Steam is having a meltdown that day.

 

[sman1975]

Thanks, @LeeS for the info. I tried a very short name length, along with a thumbnail that had previously worked on a different mod. Still getting the same error...

So, the problem must be in that "intransigence" area you mentioned... Odd, I've uploaded many a mod, with nary an issue until now. It's also odd, that a "timeout" error usually shows up (as in the photo in Post #1) at the same time the text above it does in the "Status" window - simultaneously - Like it's made up its mind before it even attempts to publish.

The only other thing even closely related, according to google-fu, was a post by FramedArchitect quite a while ago (2013): https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/discussions/-1/864975026752302688/?appid=8930

Looks like their solution was to pester Steam enough, reattempting to upload until Steam gets tired of dealing with you and allows the upload to finish.

My, what progress we've made in the past 8 years...

Thanks!

 

[whoward69]

Never had a problem uploading to Steam ... oh wait, I don't use Steam

 

[sman1975]

So, I created a new Steam account, and associated my SDK with the new account through the Steam client. Opened the mod, went thru the "Publish to Steam" process, and "viola!" is published, no problem...

So, the error is tied to my normal development account. Is there a limit to how much one can publish to Steam? I think I have about 42 mods published, but haven't done the census to see how much memory they consume.

 

[sman1975]

As expected, Steam customer service promptly replied this afternoon to inform me it wasn't their problem, that I needed to contact 2K or Firaxis...

But contacting Firaxis takes you to 2k's support site...

 

[whoward69]

My guess, 2K will say it's Firaxis' problem, Firaxis will say it's Steam's problem and Steam will say it's 2K's problem

 

[sman1975]

My guess, 2K will say it's Firaxis' problem, Firaxis will say it's Steam's problem and Steam will say it's 2K's problem

You've done this before!

 

[sman1975]

Well, Steam finally solved my problem. Here is what they said about it:

Thanks for following up with us.

This was a known issue that has since been fixed. If you're still seeing it, please restart Steam before testing again.

If this seems to still be occurring, please let us know.

Steam Support
Ari

Absolutely no idea what the problem was, but at this point I don't care...

A note: if you contact Steam customer support, they generally respond within a day. They will ask some questions. You will respond quickly, but they only seem to respond to you the next day, usually will more questions or suggestions on what to try. You'll attempt to fix the problem then respond immediately. They will respond the next day, and so on...

I guess that's quite good compared for Firaxis. The respond within a day, telling you they've escalated the problem to the appropriate team. And at that point, they're gone...

At any rate, my problem is fixed, but I have no idea what it was or what they did to fix it. I guess, for a 10 year old game, it's actually not to bad, no?

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!