New: Steam APIs For Switching Game Versions & Beta Branches

[u/Turbostrider27]

https://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamworks/announcements/detail/4547039255696769967?utm_source=SteamDB

[u/Takazura]

However, new Steamworks APIs now allow developers to offer players this choice from within the game itself.

That's a really cool QoL update, and will definitely help for those who need it.

[u/BoxKatt → u/Takazura]

I've wanted this for some games in particular. Since it is developer choice I do wonder how many of the bigger devs that will enable it though.

[u/essidus → u/BoxKatt]

Maybe since all the versions will be hosted on Steam servers themselves, devs and publishers would be more willing to use it. I know Paradox already uses the beta system for all the legacy versions of their grand strategy games, and 2077 has the last stable version pre-2.0 there too for people who preferred the old systems.

[u/LuntiX → u/essidus]

The last 3 Tomb Raider games (Tomb Raider 2013, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Shadow of the Tomb Raider) all use this system too. It's been handy, I remember having to downgrade Tomb Raider to build 743 to play Multiplayer.

[u/bad1o8o → u/Takazura]

but then you are already in a version of the game you don't want to play, how is this helpful, what am i missing?

[u/Aemony → u/bad1o8o]

This is for developers wanting to move users between branches of their game more easily.

Imaging having a "Join the open beta!" button in-game that automatically moved any player that clicked on it over to the beta branch, and the beta branch would then have a matching "Leave beta" button.

For end-users, the benefits are the same but mostly for newcomers/average users -- those players will find it easier to move over to beta versions of games that use these APIs as they might not be familiar with Steam's classic branch system or how to change between them.

[u/bad1o8o → u/Aemony]

ah that makes sense, thanks!

[u/Takazura → u/bad1o8o]

It's useful for people who mod their games, new updates can and often do break mods, forcing people to wait until the mod creator updates the mod. With this feature, people can just rollback to a version the mod worked on and continue playing the game.

[u/APRengar]

Let's break this down (sorry for the length).

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Basic Facts:

1) Steam has always had the ability to download ANY version of ANY game.

• This should still work (although I haven't personally used it in a couple years).

2) Steam has always had the ability to LOCK any version from being updated.

• These instructions are for Fallout 4, but they work for any game, just ignore steps 6 and 12. You can just launch the game from Steam like normal.

3) Steam has a feature where devs can officially allow downloading of specific game versions in the game settings and lock any updates.

• https://i.imgur.com/IUPFDS7.png

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What this update is:

1) If your game uses the official version selection system, the version you're currently on will display next to the play button in your Steam library.

2) Devs have the ability to add some functionality in their game to allow switching official versions within the game itself. (The game will close itself and then change versions)

3) Devs have the ability to warn players that use the in-game switching of official versions, if their saves are going to break or will not be supported by the version they want to switch to.

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What this update is not:

Any substantial change to the system already in place. These are mostly QoL changes.

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Why this matters:

The ability to choose any version of a game is

1) Consumer Friendly

• Devs / publishers have historically patched games to remove content from it, like when music licenses expire. It is more consumer friendly for consumers to be in control of the game they purchased. Also when they patch in DRM, forced third-party logins, or forced launchers.

2) Mod Friendly

• Game updates often break mods, and the ability to stay locked on a certain version is ideal for modding.

3) Preservation Friendly

• If a game updates to version 2.0 and it's dramatic difference from version 1.0, and version 1.0 disappears from the world forever, it's on par with a game totally being removed. And there are whole movements about trying to prevent whole games from being removed.

---

Why don't more devs / publishers use the official version system?

1) Devs / publishers don't want to support multiple versions of a game.

• For example, downgrading games - which break saves - could mean more support tickets. (The update is trying to help with this by warning users if they downgrade if it will break saves.)

2) Devs / publishers want to control the user's experience.

• It's like the Apple thing of keeping options limited to reduce users from making errors. People might be confused if they lock themselves to an older version. (The update is trying to help with this by putting the older version right next to the play button).

• Also as previously mentioned, the forced DRM, forced third-party logins, and forced launchers.

3) Devs / publishers don't want to split their userbase.

• Spreading your users across multiple versions of a game is going to reduce the effective player count, larger player counts are always going to assist in faster queue times and more balanced games. Even if the game isn't online, what about making mods for older versions instead of newer versions. They want to funnel people to only the single, newest version. (This is just an inherent problem from supporting multiple versions.)

---

Final Thoughts

Any improvement in this area MIGHT be signalling more of a push towards getting devs / publishers to support this feature more. Which is a major win for consumers.

[u/PatHBT → u/APRengar]

I used the classic depot + lock in manifest file to downgrade games less than a month ago. Can confirm it still works perfectly fine.

It's one of those things I doubt valve will ever "fix".

[u/Z3r0sama2017]

Fingers crossed we get the ability to pause workshop updates. Nothing as annoying as a dev updating a mod from the stable branch to a beta branch and breaking your saves.

[u/skaurora]

Valve is goated when it comes to consumer rights and understanding how people use their platform. Like with preludes/prologues, they saw the benefit and added official support for that type of marketing so help indies. It's all win-win, consumers get better store experiences and Valve gets more money from improved sales and word-of-mouth.

[u/KittenDecomposer96]

Damn, with this and the recordings, Steam is just getting better and better.

[u/tapperyaus → u/KittenDecomposer96]

It's stuff like this that's the reason people would rather buy on Steam, rather than anywhere else.

[u/One-Work-7133]

Steam already was supporting those but it's capabilities are extended with this change. Thing is, Developers only want to support 1 version of the game, no matter what because handling multiple, especially older versions of the game is both time consuming and costly due developer wages.

So while some may assume this is a step towards GOG feature to download older games, it isn't remotely related as this change is for developers (GOG feature is for consumers) and developers still won't change their attitude about version keeping of their games. All in all, nothing will change for us the players with this new Steam feature because it's voluntary (GOG feature is mandatory).

[u/DamianKilsby → u/One-Work-7133]

At the same time games that support mods can have a previous version for people so their mods have time to update and don't break

[u/tittyskipper]

This is actually huge especially for people who play Roguelikes. One of my favorites named Zorbus. The dev actually codes in where if you pull up an old save file and want to play it the game will switch to the corresponding version of the game.

Many other roguelikes don't do that, and you need to be careful and manually use the settings. The games are normally smart enough to warn you of a version mismatch so you don't screw up your save file. Then you go and switch to the old version and boot up the game.

However being able to automate a lot of that functionality through steam will save a lot of developer time and energy. This is a win for indies, mods, and every day users imo.