Steam updates and extreme disk usage.

OK so this has been bugging me for some time. Why is the disk usage for updates on Steam so high? Sustained 30-50 MB/s (Megabytes per second) for a duration of several minutes (at least 4 minutes) for (using the latest update as an example) a 270.9 MB update (image below). Doing some quick math assuming an average on the low end of 30 MB/s for even 3 minutes equates to 5.4 GB of "Disk Usage" when installing an update that is reported to be 270.9 MB. That is almost 20 times the size of the update that was downloaded. I've seen some impressive compression ratios before but I'm pretty sure 20:1 is way outside the realm of possibility. I see 2 possible explanations for this discrepancy.

1. The information displayed by Steam is wrong. Based on the amount of time taken to download the update and the time to actually install it I find this to be the least likely.

2. The method used by Steam to update the files (for example Content.ggpk) is horribly inefficient (almost as if it is unpacking and then repacking the Content.ggpk for each file that is being updated instead of unpacking it once, updating all the files, then repacking it. Based on the long Preallocation time, short download time, and extremely long install time this seems the likely culprit.

Ask steam? it's their platform and their method of patching, GGG only provide the with the patch.

I did and their responses were about as useful/helpful as a nail in the foot.

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Hello,

Depending on the game in question, It is possible for certain games that you will need double the amount of space shown for the updates to fit. It ultimately depends on the method in which the developer packages the updates, and then how they are sent over the Steam Client, but it is not uncommon for an update to require double the space shown. Most of the time this occurs, in small updates like you presented above, it goes unnoticed. Usually this is noticed in much larger games, like the Total War game series, for example.

In general, it is a good idea to keep a decent amount of free space available on your hard drives, as this is a relatively standard practice of many game developers in how they publish game updates. I hope this helps!

If you have any further questions, please let us know, we will be happy to help!

Best Regards,
Colin

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Delays with preallocating space and installing your games on Steam may vary depending various machine configurations.

Unfortunately, without direct access to your machine, it's impossible for us to accurately determine the cause of this issue or provide accurate troubleshooting steps towards resolving it.

We recommend reaching out to a local PC technician to further assist you investigating and troubleshooting the cause of this issue.

You might also consider visiting the active Steam Community hubs as others may have experienced the same issue and have shared their advice.

Official Steam Help
Steam Subreddit

I am sorry we do not have any further information about this particular issue.

Please let us know if there is anything else we can help you with.

Best Regards,
Isaac

The problem is how steam works, when you update a game the steam client creates a backup of the core game files on a temporary folder till it's done patching. Steam does this for any random game update regardless of the real patch size, which can be annoying if you are low on disk space and steam keep asking for like 50 gb to just download a random 1 mb patch for a some random game for example.

But it doesn't do this for every game. Just a few. This is the one I notice most often because of the large number of small patches. I've had a less than 10 MB patch for POE take over 10 minutes. 2-3 minutes of preallocation. A few seconds to actually download it. Then several more minutes to actually apply the patch. Then there are other games like PUBG, Far Cry 5, or Streets of Rogue that have larger updates (100's of MB to a GB or two) that take the same amount of time or less. In all of these examples the disk activity is usually no more that twice the amount of data downloaded whereas POE can have 20 times the amount of disk activity compared to the size of the download. While writing this a patch went out for DayZ. 10 MB patch. Took a grand total of 20 seconds to preallocate, download, and install the patch. If that had been for POE it would take at least 5 minutes. Probably closer to 10. POE is not the only game that has these issues with very long install times. It is as I said the one I tend to notice because of frequent updates. Also just to test things I just uninstalled POE and reinstalled it. For the 9.5 GB install it took 3 minutes and 15 seconds to preallocate the disk space and a total of 9 minutes and 58 seconds to complete the entire install. That said I would love it if someone can explain to me why it takes the same amount of time to install the entire 9.5 GB game as it does to apply a 270 MB patch for the game. Or a 10 MB one for that matter. Also this issue is unique to the Steam version as I've been on Discord with my brother when a patch came out and he isn't using the Steam version. His patch took a matter of seconds to apply (however long the actual download took) while mine was still preallocating.

Also the only reason I'm making such an issue of this is that while it's patching my CPU is running full tilt and my system slows down quite a bit not to mention the excessive work load being placed on the HDD during each update. A 270 MB update shouldn't max out my CPU and HDD for 10 minutes straight.

Just another example PUBG had a 30 MB update that took seconds to apply. I literally clicked the button and it was done. No 3 minutes of preallocating. No 10 minutes spent installing a minuscule patch. It seems less an issue with how patches are handled on Steam and more so how PoE's patches are handled on Steam.