For each Steam game, you can change your update settings (right click game > properties) to one of three options: automatically update (default), automatically update (high priority), and only update when you launch your game.
My internet download limit is very low, and hence I do not want my games to update unless absolutely necessary (I usually leave updates till I'm using free WiFi). This is why I have all my games set to the second option (Only update this game when I launch it
).
However, every time the Steam client updates, it resets all my settings to the first option, automatic updates. If I don't stop them in time, they cost me money in excess download fees.
Is there a way I can stop Steam from resetting my preferences? Alternatively, is there an easy way that I can change all my settings at once?
Note that this is not a dupe of Is there any way to stop Steam downloading updates?. That question is about stopping Steam updating (which I know how to do), whereas my question is about Steam resetting my preferences.
Best Answer
As others said in comments, this may happen because of corrupted files. You can try deleting everything from Steam directory except
steam.exe
andsteamapps
dir. If problem still occurs after another Steam client update, you can use one of these methods. They don't answer your question, but solve your problem.1. Limit auto-updating shedule
Steam -> Settings -> Downloads -> Download Restrictions
Here you can set Steam to update only at desired time.
2. Running Steam in Offline Mode
Steam -> Go Offline.../Go Online...
I wrote some automation script that helps switching mode with Steam closed.
3. Use some scripting
For this script you will need Python and vdf module. Just save it anywhere and run to set
Only update this game when I launch it
for each game.This works similar to method one with two exceptions: