[Snap] HEADS UP: Snap no longer has a Steam cache

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › [Snap] HEADS UP: Snap no longer has a Steam cache

hagfish

23 posts

Geek

#138777 16-Jan-2014 13:07

Last time I checked, the Snap server was still there as an option in Steam's Downloads tab, but data now counts towards your cap. Not sure if this is a new thing, but it was new to me.

As you can see, I rebuilt a games PC on the weekend :)

Data usage

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135 posts

Master Geek

#968124 16-Jan-2014 13:12

hmmm, thinks I might not be buying as many steam specials as I used to :P

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sidefx

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#968125 16-Jan-2014 13:14

A bit sad but not all that surprising. TBH though the free 1am-7am period means it doesn't bother me much - I have steam set to auto update during this period and I also do new game downloads at that time. I have been wondering if Steam Limiter has options to limit steam only to certain times of day though... Haven't had time to check.

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Poll

342 posts

Ultimate Geek

#968131 16-Jan-2014 13:18

About a year ago Steam changed the way that they deliver content and my understanding is since then it is not possible to limit steam to just a single download server so all of the kiwi isp's no longer state that they provide unlimited steam downloads.
I had this same issue on Telstra cable last year around the time of the Vodafone switchover which I initially blamed on the Vodafone buyout.

NonprayingMantis

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#968132 16-Jan-2014 13:21

Yeah, either use your unlimited nights for steam, or switch to an unlimited provider if you use steam a lot.

sidefx

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#968133 16-Jan-2014 13:23

@Poll: But I think using something like Steam Limiter you could still (to a decent degree) limit it to your ISPs steam cache?

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charsleysa

597 posts

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#968136 16-Jan-2014 13:23

I don't see how people can cap with steam downloads, my entire library would only cap me twice.

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Stefan Andres Charsley

SamF

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#968138 16-Jan-2014 13:27

If you have to re-download them for some reason it can be a problem. Also, some games are close to 10GB, so that's a significant dent in your monthly cap!

NonprayingMantis

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#968140 16-Jan-2014 13:31

charsleysa: I don't see how people can cap with steam downloads, my entire library would only cap me twice.

Some people have bigger libraries. Mine isn't that big, but is well over 500GB

I only have the games I am currently playing downloaded though, everything else I just download when I want and delete when I've finished

Hard drive space is more of a premium to me than monthly cap :)

sidefx

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#968141 16-Jan-2014 13:31

Yup, I have 4 computers\laptops in the house I occasionally game on, so potentially need to download multiple times without even bring re-downloads into the mix. And yup... some are even upwards of 20GB (TW:shogun comes to mind?) As mentioned above, during the holiday sales it's easy to put a really serious dent in the caps ;-)

(EDIT: Oh, I know it's real easy to copy content between steam libraries on different computers, backup to central server, etc, etc - but I rarely bother)

"I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there." | Octopus Energy | Sharesies
- Richard Feynman

SamF

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#968145 16-Jan-2014 13:34

All that said, you guys know that you can backup & transfer steam game files to different PCs right? :)

hagfish

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#968157 16-Jan-2014 13:56

SamF: All that said, you guys know that you can backup & transfer steam game files to different PCs right? :)

I thought about doing that, but in the end, I just clicked the dozen-or-so co-op games we usually play, and walked away.

hagfish

23 posts

Geek

#968159 16-Jan-2014 13:57

charsleysa: I don't see how people can cap with steam downloads, my entire library would only cap me twice.

True - this may be why I never noticed before. Since they bumped my cap up to 300GB, I've never used more than half of it. However, Steam download speeds have gone from a solid 1.4MB/s to more like ~1MB/s recently. It's probably completely unrelated, and hardly a complaint in any case.

Lias

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#968208 16-Jan-2014 14:47

As far as I'm aware, Vodafone/TCL is the only ISP that has a steam cache working with the new steam content system, and they have gone out of their way to NOT confirm that's it unmetered (it was for me over the xmas break, using the latest version of steamlimiter to lock it down, YMMV.. test a few gb's first before going to town!)

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Lias

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#968213 16-Jan-2014 14:50

charsleysa: I don't see how people can cap with steam downloads, my entire library would only cap me twice.

Currently I have a dedicated 2TB drive for Steam. Reinstalling my library would be a non trivial exercise in time and bandwidth :-P

From my steamgauge profile:

Over the last 4 years, you've spent 4231.1 hours playing this selection, which includes 499 items, is valued at $6839.3, and requires 1824.8 GB

SamF

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#968303 16-Jan-2014 16:23

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