Data loss when restarting steam.

Post » Tue May 15, 2012 2:51 am

Yesterday, I decided to restart my computer to give it a rest from downloading. Well, I paused my Skyrim download on steam, and simply exited steam. Then, I turned off my computer for about 15 minutes.
After turning it back on, everything seemed fine, until I noticed that my download % went down by 2%. It was 20% before restart, and 18% after restart. I checked to see if I actually lost data, and I did. I even checked the size of the folder.
Today the same thing happened. I restarted my computer, not expecting this to happen again, and after it starting up I lost 6% now (44%-38%)! This is a massive amount for me because my download speed is 30kb/sec.

I submitted a steam support ticket yesterday, no reply yet.

Has anyone else had this problem? I'm afraid of simply not being able to ever download it.

EDIT: I just lost 5% and I neither paused or restarted steam.
User avatar
Jessica Thomson
 
Posts: 3337
Joined: Fri Jul 21, 2006 5:10 am

Post » Tue May 15, 2012 10:33 am

stop restarting your computer?
Since its not downloading one big file - It is probably because it is deleting the datafile its currently downloading. And restarting on that particular file when resuming.

If you have a really bad connection I can understand the 30kb/s. But if not, try changing download server through steam settings, it might help on your speed.
User avatar
Daniel Brown
 
Posts: 3463
Joined: Fri May 04, 2007 11:21 am

Post » Tue May 15, 2012 5:55 am

One solution would be to simply leave your PC on overnight to download the game.


However, in my experience the Steam percentage counter can sometimes be a bit bugged. In one instance my download counter had reset allt he way to 0% and it had to start over again, but when it got to 80% it was suddenly finished and ready to please. In an earlier example, it also restarted at 0% but percentage progression was much faster because it already had a good chunk of data.

You said the folder size also decreased, which is odd and may indicate that you're actually losing data. In my personal experience, though, the data SHOULD be there, it just isn't counted for some reason.
User avatar
Kevin Jay
 
Posts: 3431
Joined: Sun Apr 29, 2007 4:29 am

Post » Tue May 15, 2012 10:15 am

One solution would be to simply leave your PC on overnight to download the game.


However, in my experience the Steam percentage counter can sometimes be a bit bugged. In one instance my download counter had reset allt he way to 0% and it had to start over again, but when it got to 80% it was suddenly finished and ready to please. In an earlier example, it also restarted at 0% but percentage progression was much faster because it already had a good chunk of data.

You said the folder size also decreased, which is odd and may indicate that you're actually losing data. In my personal experience, though, the data SHOULD be there, it just isn't counted for some reason.

My Steam DL's have been doing that a lot also lately. I nearly freaked when my Bloodbowl legendary did it after it had been DL'ing for 3
hours. :bonk:

It could be due to the amount of traffic on it or something?
User avatar
kelly thomson
 
Posts: 3380
Joined: Thu Jun 22, 2006 12:18 pm

Post » Tue May 15, 2012 7:26 am

Then I guess I'll stop restarting my computer, maybe it won't overheat if turned on for about 2 days straight.
I wonder if it's because I pause the download and restart steam, or is it because I restart my whole computer?
Steam starts to freeze up from time to time when it's on for too long.
User avatar
emma sweeney
 
Posts: 3396
Joined: Fri Sep 22, 2006 7:02 pm

Post » Tue May 15, 2012 1:29 pm

Steam will detect downloaded files but it will not resume files that are incomplete by the time your download is suspended. If you're in the middle of a particularly sizeable BSA, you will see a setback in the progress bar. If you're running into some other kind of problem where Steam resets your download to zero, you can always backup your Skyrim folder from the /steamapps/common folder before you switch off your computer. If for some reason the whole progress bar resets, you can paste it back and Steam will resume from where it stopped.
User avatar
Alexis Acevedo
 
Posts: 3330
Joined: Sat Oct 27, 2007 8:58 pm

Post » Tue May 15, 2012 4:39 am

Then I guess I'll stop restarting my computer, maybe it won't overheat if turned on for about 2 days straight.
I wonder if it's because I pause the download and restart steam, or is it because I restart my whole computer?
Steam starts to freeze up from time to time when it's on for too long.

Unless your computer is really old or badly built, it will take much longer than 2 days to overheat.
User avatar
Danielle Brown
 
Posts: 3380
Joined: Wed Sep 27, 2006 6:03 am

Post » Tue May 15, 2012 4:21 am

Steam will detect downloaded files but it will not resume files that are incomplete by the time your download is suspended. If you're in the middle of a particularly sizeable BSA, you will see a setback in the progress bar. If you're running into some other kind of problem where Steam resets your download to zero, you can always backup your Skyrim folder from the /steamapps/common folder before you switch off your computer. If for some reason the whole progress bar resets, you can paste it back and Steam will resume from where it stopped.
Why would it go back to 0? Would that be from a HUGE file?
User avatar
Daniel Holgate
 
Posts: 3538
Joined: Tue May 29, 2007 1:02 am

Post » Tue May 15, 2012 1:02 am

Why would it go back to 0? Would that be from a HUGE file?
The archives are large, if you disconnect whlie it's part way through an archive you will lose the progress on that archive.
User avatar
Lexy Corpsey
 
Posts: 3448
Joined: Tue Jun 27, 2006 12:39 am

Post » Tue May 15, 2012 9:29 am

What the hell? I just lost 5% and I neither paused or restarted steam.

I have no idea what is going on.
User avatar
Sherry Speakman
 
Posts: 3487
Joined: Fri Oct 20, 2006 1:00 pm

Post » Tue May 15, 2012 2:30 pm

This is happening purely because for example you are downloading only 4 files from which you already downloaded 3 completely, so when you start downloading the 4th one if its not finished by the time you turn off your PC, then the file itself delete's and has to be redownloaded.

Simple as that.
User avatar
Rebecca Clare Smith
 
Posts: 3508
Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2006 4:13 pm

Post » Tue May 15, 2012 8:05 am

If you are downloading at 30 kb/s, perhaps you should powercycle your router and internet adapter. =/
User avatar
Inol Wakhid
 
Posts: 3403
Joined: Wed Jun 27, 2007 5:47 am

Post » Tue May 15, 2012 1:35 am

This is happening purely because for example you are downloading only 4 files from which you already downloaded 3 completely, so when you start downloading the 4th one if its not finished by the time you turn off your PC, then the file itself delete's and has to be redownloaded.

Simple as that.
Yes, but how do you explain me losing 5% with steam being on the whole time?
User avatar
Chris BEvan
 
Posts: 3359
Joined: Mon Jul 02, 2007 4:40 pm

Post » Tue May 15, 2012 2:32 am

If you are downloading at 30 kb/s, perhaps you should powercycle your router and internet adapter. =/
This is the fastest internet I can get where I live.
User avatar
Cameron Wood
 
Posts: 3384
Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2007 3:01 pm

Post » Tue May 15, 2012 6:50 am

This is the fastest internet I can get where I live.
I'm sorry. :o
User avatar
Taylor Thompson
 
Posts: 3350
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2007 5:19 am

Post » Tue May 15, 2012 4:59 am

I'm sorry. :o
Yeah, it's pretty horrible. I'd be okay with it ,though, if steam wasn't technologically disabled.
User avatar
Chantelle Walker
 
Posts: 3385
Joined: Mon Oct 16, 2006 5:56 am

Post » Tue May 15, 2012 9:25 am

I had 4GB downloaded. It began to decrypt data, and steam froze and just didn't unfreeze, I had to end it. Well, when I launched it again, I found that 600MB~ was downloaded in total. So, steam just nuked 4GB to 600MB that I have been downloading for 2 days straight.
Luckily, I have 4GB of encrypted data backed up (the whole Skyrim folder).
When I put it in, it does not decrypt it. It just keeps downloading more.
Should I continue to download?
I tried verifying cache with the backed up data replaced, but it just brang it down to 13MB.
User avatar
Harry Leon
 
Posts: 3381
Joined: Tue Jun 12, 2007 3:53 am

Post » Tue May 15, 2012 3:41 am

Something weird is happening. In the folder, there is around 3.7GB of data (the amount I had backed up). Now, on steam it says I have 14% downloaded (831MB), but it says 831MB/5735MB even though when I right click on the folder it still says 3.7GB.
User avatar
MARLON JOHNSON
 
Posts: 3377
Joined: Sun May 20, 2007 7:12 pm

Post » Tue May 15, 2012 4:58 am

BUMP. Anyone can help me?
The only way I can thing of replacing with 4GB is to decrypt the 4GB of data, but steam won't do it. :( It just deletes some and leaved around 800MB of data.
User avatar
jenny goodwin
 
Posts: 3461
Joined: Wed Sep 13, 2006 4:57 am


Return to V - Skyrim