Notes

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

Update on September 28, 2021 - Valve responded to claims that Steam might end the ability to download older versions of games.



September 28 - Valve released an official statement to PCGamer clarifying that the company will not be removing the possibility of downloading older games. A Valve spokesperson told PCGamer that they are not planning to prevent users from downloading older versions. "What we're currently working on is an approach to handling edge cases involving materials that are not owned by us, and helping partners remove their models that need to be removed. We'll be sharing more on that work when it's ready to ship." Original story follows.



The most recent Steam beta adds a feature that seemingly removes the ability 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 older versions of games they own and a lot of people are unhappy with this change.



There are many games that are drastically changed between updates - there's an entire fan group dedicated to locating and archiving the various versions of Minecraft over time, for example and games like Counter-Strike update regularly , with significant changes.



It is possible to download older versions of Steam games using SteamDB. All you have to do is locate the version you wish to play. The September 23 beta update to Steam appears to have stopped this practice. This update will be available in Steam's client and nobody will be able to play older versions.



This was discovered by SteamDB creator Pavel Djundik, who confirms that it's now impossible to download earlier game depots of Steam games and play them with the new code in place at least in the event that Steam enforces it for all games. Pavel states that SteamDB will have to "go back in time to track only files it owns" if this is done. You can read the full extensive explanation over on SteamDB.



The previous Steam beta brought a major change to game downloads.
Minecraft servers


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.



- Pavel Djundik (@thexpaw) September 23 2021



Many Steam tinkerers are unhappy with the change and want to reverse it. Whether it will be before the launch date is up to Valve of course.


Here's my website: https://minecraftservers.me/