General Discussions

I would like to control when Steam updates games so it doesn't break a working trainer. The only way I've found is to play offline. But the trainer requires me to be online.

I don't think you can stop it, you cant play the games unless you update them. Some of the games have beta versions where you can find the older versions of the game and roll-back to that, but if a game does not offer it, you will be forced to update the game.

Right-click on the game from your Steam library.
Go to Properties > Updates.
Click on the Automatic Updates dropdown menu.
Select Only Update this game when I launch it.

Load trainer first, then disconnect the internet before pressing play

[Edited by CyPHeR369, 3/2/2021 1:13:15 PM]

or you could do this (may or may not still work)

Close steam, find the appmanifest file that corresponds with the game's appid, open it in notepad++ or another text editing software, change the "StateFlag" to 4, the "BytesToDownload" to 0, and the "UpdateResult" to 0... This will allow you to play the game without updating it, as it forces steam to believe it's fully updated and installed.

Thanks for the helpful tips.

I assume the manifest file should be set to 'read only' to keep Steam from changing it again.

Probably a good idea 😉, haven't use that method for a while and I can't remember at the moment....

Should you be one of the few people out there (including myself) who close the Steam client and shut down their PC when not in use, you can also set the time when the Steam client is allowed to download.

Launch Steam client -> Settings -> Downloads -> Download Restrictions -> tick the box and set a time when your PC is shut down, done.

As this will set any download to this specific time you need to keep an eye on the DOWNLOADS section if you like to install a new game and start the download manually.

[Edited by Taurusplopp, 3/3/2021 5:39:16 AM]

>you can also set the time when the Steam client is allowed to download

I already tried that and it still updated.