Steam Download Improvements

[Hectic Glenn]

For a long time people have requested more options for download management through Steam. A whole load of these will be coming shortly but there are larger changes ahead too.

The new content system is designed to do two things: deliver better download rates in more places around the world, and also to simply streamline the publishing process on Steam, ultimately making it possible to ship more games than we would have been able to with the old system.

• The maximum aggregate bandwidth of the system will be greater than the current system.[br]
• All the content on the new system is sent via HTTP; this is more firewall-friendly than the current system, and will automatically take advantage of web-caching proxies installed at ISPs.[br]
• The new content system improves the bandwidth picture is by requiring each user to download less data - entire files are not redownloaded, purely alterations to your existing files.[br]
• Improved uploading tools - Simplifying the publishing process means it takes the partner and Valve less time to ship each product, and so ship more stuff to more users.[br]
• Download scheduling, bandwidth throttling, and prioritizing which games get downloaded first. You?ll also be able to download an update to a game while you?re playing that game; Steam will apply the update after you exit the game.

Not all games & media on Steam support the changes yet however more will over time, including Dota 2, which will be delivered using it. Steam News.

 

[Quixoticism]

These changes should be interesting. The biggest change I want from downloads is for me to be able to play a game and download another. I feel hopeful in that regard.

 

[staticprimer]

These changes should be interesting. The biggest change I want from downloads is for me to be able to play a game and download another. I feel hopeful in that regard.

You can do that now. You just have to alt-tab once the game is running, pause and then resume the game you're downloading. Still, it's a pain in the ass and I would like to see that improved as well.

 

[Vegeta897]

The new content system improves the bandwidth picture is by requiring each user to download less data - entire files are not redownloaded, purely alterations to your existing files.

Now this is interesting. I wonder if it'll work with Arma, for example.

 

[Quixoticism]

You can do that now. You just have to alt-tab once the game is running, pause and then resume the game you're downloading. Still, it's a pain in the ass and I would like to see that improved as well.

I've tried that several times and it has never worked once for me... :|

 

[Ennui]

I've tried that several times and it has never worked once for me... :|

Works for me.

 

[taviow]

Works here too. I'm not sure why it wouldn't work for anyone.

 

[StarBob]

Works for me too, you just suck. I would like to see more bandwidth so these sales don't involve buying games and waiting for a download slot.

 

[hool10]

It's about time. This has been long overdue for many years. I got a 15/5 FiOS internet connection without throttling so I'm interested how fast I can go. Now all Valve needs to do is buyout OnLive and we can stream the games. *I d/l usually at 2.5MB/S actually but if I can go faster then great especially during sales.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

Of the couple FIOS different connections I've been on in college, the maximum download rates I've gotten have always been on Steam.

 

[Omnomnick]

Recently, downloading Empire Total War I had pathetic download speeds, but every other time downloading a game on Steam I get around 2-4MB/S. Hopefully these updates will make the download times more reliable and efficient at peak times.

 

[Warped]

I can max out at 2MB/s which is fine because most of my games are ready within an hour or less. Hopefully they increase soon because I constantly download more and more games onto my new laptop which is actually faster than my 5 year old desktop

 

[DreamThrall]

Now this is interesting. I wonder if it'll work with Arma, for example.

This is really cool - it's what Google does with their Chrome updates to make them so ridiculously tiny. They wrote their own binary diff algorithm, but from what I hear, doing something like that effectively requires the algorithm to have access to the source code so it can be effective. Really cool stuff.

 

[Epsi]

This is really cool - it's what Google does with their Chrome updates to make them so ridiculously tiny. They wrote their own binary diff algorithm, but from what I hear, doing something like that effectively requires the algorithm to have access to the source code so it can be effective. Really cool stuff.

It's called Courgette, and it is indeed pretty awesome.

http://dev.chromium.org/developers/design-documents/software-updates-courgette

Doesn't need source code, though; it works by doing a disassembly of the compiled executable. It'd be a smart idea if Valve incorporated this algorithm, as it works really, really well for reducing the sizes of patches to code. Doesn't help you at all over and above standard bsdiff for things like textures and maps, though.

Although, Google got sued for patent infringement over Courgette, so it may not actually be available for anyone to use.