What does Steam think its doing?

[red1776]

I went on Steam tonight and it seems it tried to invoke its new feature of downloading the latest ATI,...er Radeon drivers...one problem...actually two. I already had the 10.9 installed, and whatever it downloaded was 115MB file, the current drivers are only about 75MB. So just a word to the wise, if Steam's update and install program works as well as its hardware detection for its survey...you may want to pass and install the drivers yourself.

 

[Zilpha]

Why is Steam installing drivers at all? Stay off my computer with that nonsense Steam! I have my reasons for running specific versions of drivers!

I haven't noticed this *feature* yet - is there a way to turn it off?

 

[Relic]

When they first implemented this I tried it out and definitely noticed the larger size file =/, but everything worked fine without incident not sure why it's larger then necessary though. Since then I haven't been bothered and it never tried to auto-update itself.

I haven't noticed this *feature* yet - is there a way to turn it off?

Don't believe so but it shouldn't be auto-updating itself like how Steam does its own software.

 

[red1776]

When they first implemented this I tried it out and definitely noticed the larger size file =/, but everything worked fine without incident not sure why it's larger then necessary though. Since then I haven't been bothered and it never tried to auto-update itself.



Don't believe so but it shouldn't be auto-updating itself like how Steam does its own software.

Oh I didn't mean to imply that it automatically installs the drivers, you have to hit the "check for updates" button. I just wondered about the larger size file, and why it downloaded the drivers when I had the latest ones already. You have the choice to install or not.

 

[en0nym0us]

I have had nothing but bad experiences with Steam. When relying on Steam to install games, it takes twice as long. Not to mention it takes at least two attempts to connect to its servers. For them to implement a new feature where it involves downloading is a bad decision for me. I would never rely on the application to determine when new drivers are available for download. 50% of the time I can not connect. I won't even get into issues with Modern Warfare 2.

 

[ramonsterns]

I have had nothing but bad experiences with Steam. When relying on Steam to install games, it takes twice as long. Not to mention it takes at least two attempts to connect to its servers. For them to implement a new feature where it involves downloading is a bad decision for me. I would never rely on the application to determine when new drivers are available for download. 50% of the time I can not connect. I won't even get into issues with Modern Warfare 2.

I never have problems with it.

 

[Relic]

Oh I didn't mean to imply that it automatically installs the drivers, you have to hit the "check for updates" button. I just wondered about the larger size file, and why it downloaded the drivers when I had the latest ones already. You have the choice to install or not.

Ah okay that makes more sense, but ya I agree the larger size is strange.

I have had nothing but bad experiences with Steam. When relying on Steam to install games, it takes twice as long. Not to mention it takes at least two attempts to connect to its servers. For them to implement a new feature where it involves downloading is a bad decision for me. I would never rely on the application to determine when new drivers are available for download. 50% of the time I can not connect. I won't even get into issues with Modern Warfare 2.

Sorry to hear , I have a friend like that who just can't get Steam games/updates to download at a reasonable speed. Always assumed his ISP was just giving him a hard time /shurg.

But ya I don't think driver updates are really targeted at us PC enthusiasts, considering most of us probably switch around drivers often. It is however great for the mainstream gamer who might not get the latest drivers or even know new ones were released.

 

[sH1fty1985]

That's odd, I've never had a problem with steam asking me to install drivers... I believe it has a option for you to check for updates for your computer/game you play?

The only problem I have with the Steam client is when I'm playing and it happens to start updating another one of my games. My ping instantly spikes to over 700 !

 

[bmaytum]

@ Red1776:
I'm not an ATi user, but perhaps the driver file size difference is that you may have downloaded an international 10.9 driver package rather than a localized (US English) set of drivers? I use nVidia and their international (multi-language) driver files are always larger than English-specific driver files. Just a guess...........