Steam: verify cache results in 48 files and 11.9 gigs DL?!

[Dimhenion]

So after some random glitches with Steam thinking that LOTRO is still open when it is in fact closed when I try to quit Steam, I decided to verify the game cache of LOTRO.

Well...I did this and it said 48 files needed to updated. Okay, no big deal - then I looked at the download and the total was 11.9 gigs! That's a lot of space for 48 files!

I wonder if there was anything truly wrong with my client (I've had no issues, no mods, nothing - just a vanilla Steam install running happily for months) or if I'm getting newer content that wasn't DLed from the standard launcher already?

Any ideas?

[Valamar]

So after some random glitches with Steam thinking that LOTRO is still open when it is in fact closed when I try to quit Steam, I decided to verify the game cache of LOTRO.

Well...I did this and it said 48 files needed to updated. Okay, no big deal - then I looked at the download and the total was 11.9 gigs! That's a lot of space for 48 files!

I wonder if there was anything truly wrong with my client (I've had no issues, no mods, nothing - just a vanilla Steam install running happily for months) or if I'm getting newer content that wasn't DLed from the standard launcher already?

From what I have been told, "Verify Cache" is one of the biggest "mis-named" functions on Steam, especially as far as LOTRO is concerned. It has nothing to do with Cache.

What it does is to COMPLETELY re-download the client!

The reason why the verify wants to replace 48 files is quite simple -- they have all been patched and no longer have the same checksums as they had when downloaded! (I.e. they don't match.)

As for Steam itself... the Steam Overlay is "problematic." I have occasionally had it constantly cause problems, and other times work fine. Others report similar issues.

Unless you want to track your login hours via the Steam interface, the next time you launch the client, simply right-click on the Ring in the Dock; Select Options- Keep in Dock. Then in the future when you wish to play, simply click on that ring to launch the Mac Client.

Steam is totally unrelated/unnecessary for the LOTRO Mac Client. The Mac Client is completely self-contained. Steam simply provided a distribution mechanism. All updating is handled by Turbine once the client is launched.

So in short, I doubt you had any problem with your client. In fact, I haven't seen any problems with the Mac Client which require re-downloading. 99% of the problem I have seen are in some way "communications" related. The FAQs for LOTRO were written for the PC Client under XP! By and large, they are no longer valid for the current PC Client under Windows 7 or 8.... they just inject "time" -- as in "Try again later" into the equation.

[Grimdi]

The problem is that Steam is only used for the initial install of Lotro, it doesn't handle, or even knows of subsequent updates. So the verification step will effectively downgrade your Lotro install to the originally installed version (which I think is U7), and when you then start the Lotro Launcher it will upgrade it again to the current state.
Would be nice if Lotro could be integrated properly into Steam, but I guess it's too much effort on Turbines part.

[light487]

Just had same issue.. the game wouldn't launch.. got stuck at the launcher.. no errors.. just got stuck downloading the splash screens.. so, as a steam user using the game through a Steam initiated install, I ran the "Verify Cache".. as you do because it's a Steam game that was installed and is launched from Steam..

So of course now I get this...

If Turbine is too lazy to synch with Steam then I am too lazy to bother with this game.

Some of us actually have quotas and speed limits. This has sullied Turbine's name and I will not touch any other game they ever make.

[Valamar]

If Turbine is too lazy to synch with Steam then I am too lazy to bother with this game.

Some of us actually have quotas and speed limits. This has sullied Turbine's name and I will not touch any other game they ever make.

No, you have it backwards.

Valve, i.e. Steam is the one refusing to update their copy of LOTRO to the current version.

The problem is Steam's NOT Turbine's.

Steam's Technical Support is far worse than Turbine's. In the 2+ years that I have been "supporting" LOTRO on the Steam Forums, I have never gotten a response to a single question I have put to Steam Support. And I find it incredible that Steam Support can't be accessed with your Steam Account.

The only good thing I have to say about Steam is -- it's not Pando! At least Valve has its own servers to provide downloads with.