Notes

Valve is "not Planning to Block Downloading of Old Builds" on Steam.

Update 28 September 2021 - Valve replied to claims that Steam may end up removing the option to download older versions of games.



September 28 - Valve issued a statement to PCGamer saying that the studio is not planning to eliminate the possibility of downloading older games. "We don't actually have plans to disable downloading old builds," a spokesperson tells the site. "What we're currently working on is a method to handle edge cases involving materials that are not owned by us and helping partners more easily remove the builds that are no longer needed. We'll have more to share about this project when it's complete and ready to go." Original story follows.



The most recent Steam beta has added an option that appears to remove the possibility for gamers to roll back game updates or play older versions of games on Steam. With the new version, players are unable to download depots of Steam games to play earlier versions of games they own - and many are dissatisfied with this change.



There are a variety of games that are drastically changed between updates - there's an entire fan collective dedicated to finding and archiving all the different versions of Minecraft through the years such as, for instance and other games like Counter-Strike update frequently with major changes.



It is possible to download older versions of Steam games with SteamDB. All you have to do is locate the version you want to play. However, the 23rd September beta update of Steam has seemingly ended this practice. Once this update goes live in Steam in its entirety, there will be no way to play older versions on Steam's client.



Pavel Djundik, creator of SteamDB has confirmed that it would be impossible to download the older Steam game depots and then play them with the new code in place. This is at a minimum in the event that Steam makes it mandatory across all games. Pavel also says that this means SteamDB must "go back to the times in which it was able to keep track of files that it owns" in the event that it is implemented. You can read Pavel's full thorough explanation on SteamDB.



The previous Steam beta brought a significant change to game downloads.



With this change, it is no longer possible to download older game versions, because client asks for a code (GetManifestRequestCode) that rotates every five minutes.
Jack


- Pavel Djundik (@thexpaw) September 23, 2021



A lot of Steam tinkerers are unhappy with this change and are calling for it to be reversed. Valve will decide if this will be before the live release.


Website: https://ejac.org/