Skyrim Anniversary Edition - issues for SE users?

[scipher99]

Go into steam folder and delete the steam manifest for the game and steam will no longer see it as installed and just launch from SKSE. This will keep it from ever updating if that is what you need.

 

Mine looked like this: appmanifest_489830.acf

 

I just cut and pasted it to different location outside of steam folder was all.

[Tlam99]

8 minutes ago, scipher99 said:

delete the steam manifest for the game

steam creates it new. Then you loose the write protect settings.

 

[AngelPhoenix69]

Speaking of Fnis, I ran it today and I got an error, stating I should launch Skyrim SE. The question I have is, I can I ignore this warning? Or is my game borked?

[greenmango12]

I afraid, because MO2 sometimes ask me to launch Steam once,,, (usually I set auto log in when it need)

so is there easy stable way I can confirm to keep steam as off line.  I already buck up, full skyrim special edition directory.. though...

 

After see some new topic, which mention, even though not run  skyrim launcher, or skyrim exe,  when log in steam may start auto-up-date?

(I arelady set, only up-date when I launch game though,, I am afraid if it actually work or not,,)

 

====

OK do not mind,, make off line mode seems easy,, only thing I still do not know clear,, steam seems already downloaded up-date files, but  not installed..

Though usually I only see, steam auto download and install at same time, but with setting, it seems stop to install files. I suppose..

So where is steam game download directory?   (I seldom buy game from steam, so actually do not know these detaill)

eg,, when up-date game,, steam may download zip , then will install? (so with non-up-dae setting, steam may download zip somewhere in my PC?)

 

 

Edited November 12, 2021 by greenmango12

[Subkiky]

Hello , my game is update but mods like Sexlab and Sos is still there but is not work in full and i download skse64 is work but not full

[Tlam99]

Thinking of blocking steam completely via a dummy ip or firewall in and out going.

There is no need to be online to start the game, so blocking should have no impact 

on starting via skse. Whats the opinion of the experts here ?

[pinkfluf]

11 hours ago, Tlam99 said:

Thinking of blocking steam completely via a dummy ip or firewall in and out going.

There is no need to be online to start the game, so blocking should have no impact 

on starting via skse. Whats the opinion of the experts here ?

I'm no expert but I set mine a couple of days ago to update only at a specific time (when I'm asleep) and late yesterday I saw the download notification in steam. It's still not updated

Edited November 12, 2021 by pinkfluf

[FauxFurry]

The only failure proof methods of not updating is to either remain offline or to never boot up Steam at all until one is ready to update. I set updates to only occur when booting the game up through Steam yet it started the auto-update process anyway as soon as Steam was activated. I paused and stopped the process but the fact that it ignored the setting is still irritating. 

[belegost]

11 hours ago, OfDoor13 said:

So, anyone having issues? Just backed up my Skyrim SE folder... launched via SKSE and everything seems to be working fine

 

No. Steam sits on "update required" but does nothing like a good doggy told to wait. Game launches with no problems either via Vortex or directly by SKSE.

 

Should it update though, I have a backup. 

[Vyxenne]

6 hours ago, Tlam99 said:

Thinking of blocking steam completely via a dummy ip or firewall in and out going.

There is no need to be online to start the game, so blocking should have no impact 

on starting via skse. Whats the opinion of the experts here ?

You can set Steam to go offline, which is less drastic than the measures you are contemplating. The only adverse result is that you will get a nag screen every time you start Steam asking if you still want it to stay offline, and of course online features e.g. Friends (etc.) will not work. I played this way for a couple of years and Steam never overrode my Offline setting. A couple of times it asked me to let it go online for a Steam update, and I did, and Steam updated itself but not any games, after which I took it back offline. Easy-Peasy and 100% effective.

[Tlam99]

5 minutes ago, Vyxenne said:

Steam to go offline

It's never complete offline. The so called "image uploader" acts as server and allows access from outside.

This module cannot be set to off. It is part of the main steam exe. 

If I set a program, app, to offline, it should be complete offline and not half baked.

 

[Vyxenne]

6 minutes ago, Tlam99 said:

It's never complete offline. The so called "image uploader" acts as server and allows access from outside.

This module cannot be set to off. It is part of the main steam exe. 

If I set a program, app, to offline, it should be complete offline and not half baked.

 

Yes, obviously, Steam checks for self-updates every time it is launched even when it is offline. I do not mind that; Steam self-updates do not bork my games. However, it does not auto-update itself without my permission. Instead, it asks me to take it online for a self update. I can, and have in the past, declined to let it do so at that time, and there are no adverse consequences to my not letting it self-update when it wants to- games all load and play just fine. At no time, before, during or after the times I let it go online, does it do anything without my permission- in particular, it does not attempt to update any games.

 

So while you're technically correct, I think it doesn't matter from a practical viewpoint. Taking Steam offline completely prevents all updates, self- and games, which is the entire objective of taking it offline.

[Vyxenne]

Just now, Vyxenne said:

Yes, obviously, Steam phones home to check for self-updates every time it is launched even when it is offline. I do not mind that; Steam self-updates do not bork my games. However, it does not auto-update itself without my permission. Instead, it asks me to take it online for a self update. I can, and have in the past, declined to let it do so at that time, and there are no adverse consequences to my not letting it self-update when it wants to- games all load and play just fine. At no time, before, during or after the times I let it go online, does it do anything without my permission- in particular, it does not attempt to update any games.

 

So while you're technically correct, I think it doesn't matter from a practical viewpoint. Taking Steam offline completely prevents all updates, self- and games, which is the entire objective of taking it offline.

 

[Tlam99]

So, blocked outgoing and incoming.

My PC starts and shuts down now faster.

 

Edit:

It works, can start the game. Steam acts now as if I pulled the plug.

All this sh... might be an advantage for the big company and a loss for the depended ones.

Now I got even more hurdles to visit this site and check for games to buy.

Edited November 12, 2021 by Tlam99

[nagothm]

I keep my skyrim install on a separate drive.  I switched the drive letter to a different one than the one steam knew skyrim was installed on, logged on to steam and clicked "uninstall" for skyrimse.  Took half a second as there are no actual files to delete.  Steam is still required to boot the game, but it thinks the game is uninstalled so no more update worries.  Everything works great and is even a tad faster.  Had it this way for a long time when steam had the stream of updates soon after SE was launched.  Now my other games can download updates as needed, but Skyrim avoids the AE debacle.

Edited November 12, 2021 by nagothm

[Tlam99]

17 minutes ago, nagothm said:

I switched the drive letter to a different one

In steam\config\libraryfolders.vdf ?

[YojimboRatchet]

Even though i didn't update the game, and the update is sitting in the queue doing nothing, when i started my game, which was previously stable, now I am getting tons of CTD's and Netscript generated logs, each one being different. Not quite sure what is going on, but I am monitoring this a little more closer. Wondering if anyone else is having issues on their non-updated game with a previously table set-up.

[Tlam99]

4 minutes ago, YojimboRatchet said:

update is sitting in the queue doing nothing

might be network traffic interrupts, constant polling for update. Network has a very high priority. I realized this, when having problems with internet.

Same effect as high res textures and lots of scripts smp-hdt. failures in the save.

[nagothm]

1 hour ago, Tlam99 said:

In steam\config\libraryfolders.vdf ?

No, I didn't want to take a chance of an accident when doing the uninstall, so I went into Computer Management>Disk Management and changed the drive letter for the drive.  After uninstalling in steam, I removed the app manifests from the skyrim installation then switched the drive letter back.  Running skyrim after that still needs steam, but the skyrimse game just has the "INSTALL" button, no updates offered or demanded.  Game runs great with all SKSE and DLLs working as intended, with no worries that my kids are going to accidentally run the update.

Edited November 12, 2021 by nagothm
I am my own grammer nazi

[Beef Cheeks]

3 hours ago, Tlam99 said:

In steam\config\libraryfolders.vdf ?

Pretty sure an easier way is to just delete the game's config file. Steam uses individual .acf files in the outer "steamapps" folder for a particular Steam Library folder to tell itself that the game is installed there. it scans these files every time Steam launches to check for missing/installed games.

 

This was the old method of moving games between drives. You'd close Steam down, move the game's folder to a different Steam Library folder on a separate drive then make sure you also moved its .acf file in /steamapps to the new steamapps location. Once you start Steam up it would automatically treat it as installed in the new location.

 

You can know which acf is for a particular game as it uses the game's Steam ID, which is in the game's store page URL or in the shortcut made by Steam on your desktop.

 

Or you can open them in notepad as they're just text files and look at the game name listed in them. They are unique to the game and don't contain any machine-specific data that is required to be edited. They simply list the game, and any DLC you own. So, you can technically use this to move the games to another person's computer without needing to download the game as well, as long as you login to an account that owns the game.

 

 

So, in short, you can simply close Steam, go to the Steam Library folder you have SSE installed in, and rename/delete the 'appmanifest_489830.acf' file, as 489830 is the ID for SSE. (I recommend renaming it to appmanifest_489830.acf.bak as you can't get it back unless you install the game to a new location)

Edited November 12, 2021 by Beef Cheeks

[PippinTom]

9 hours ago, Tlam99 said:

Now I got even more hurdles to visit this site and check for games to buy.

 

Can't you just do that via standalone web browser? Web interface cannot mess things up with your client app and installed games because cannot crawl outside its sandbox.

[Tlam99]

46 minutes ago, PippinTom said:

Can't you just do that via standalone web browser

I firewalled steam.exe. Everytime on start it contacts steam. As this acts as server, too, Steam will then check and what else. It's open to them, machine privilegs.

[PippinTom]

26 minutes ago, Tlam99 said:

As this acts as server, too

 

Well, then again - you seems technically right, but at the same time - n-level-above-technicalities wrong. Because if as you say - you already have a rogue server running on your machine with capabilities to listen WAN incoming connections despite being blocked(*), then it's already irrelevant if you do anything (like for example use steam's web interface) or not - logical conclusion from your statement is that steam still HAS YOU in his vice and it is The Steam that decides whether or not to do something via its trojan-alike software that is already running on your end.

Right?

So there is no real harm in using web browser to browse and/or buy something new from Steam - separate issue is how to install it later if you've gone offline with client but that also is not something that cannot be circumvent, really. hehe.

 

So don't be so paranoid... or be paranoid at full.

Spoiler

Everything is technically possible, especially with win10+ as this shit was designed that way to compete with iOS and Android - but THEY still do restrain themselves from doing everything they technically could - it may have something to do with the Law and calculation: risk vs profit.

Anyway - if you want to be safe/paranoid then in addition it's good to do as I do - (full) backup with some redundancy of everything you have / is worth anything to you, few times a week. Then even if anything unwanted happens, or I manage to do something stupid, like accidentally clicking "go online" or "update" - I can simply revert anything while in non OS boot - restore whole OS with all-/or selected RAIDs/or even files, to (almost) binary state from before such shit happened, without even bothering to figure out "what it was, actually?" because I simply do not give a shit any more.

 

Anyway, what's the cheapest way of fighting with forced (and often unexpected) updates, including those from M$ is, if not binary restore?

I learned that hard way - days when time spend on manual attempts to sort things out after shitty or failed update could be considered an acceptable cost are long gone for me - that sport is simply too expensive.

 

 

_________

*) blocking incoming for IPs from which steam mothership contacts you server would be probably more effective than blocking "steam.exe" on you machine, but that would require constant monitoring of those IP's as their number is many and list tends to change.

[Tlam99]

8 minutes ago, PippinTom said:

Right?

No.

No communication, in both ways. It cannot listen, as I cut off the the ears, it cannot talk, as I cutoff the tongue.

[belegost]

1 hour ago, Tlam99 said:

It cannot listen, as I cut off the the ears, it cannot talk, as I cutoff the tongue

I like your way of thinking.