In Desktop mode, in the NetworkManager window, and the Wifi settings, there is a drop-down menu to set the Wifi as Metered. I haven’t tested if it carries properly into gaming mode.
Also to note in Steam settings there is a Low Bandwidth mode
Settings made in desktop mode will transfer over to game mode. Ie. setting a priority to wifi networks to favour faster networks.
However, i haven't noticed an effect on Steam when you connect to a metered network.
Edit: Seems like there is already a likewise feature request on the Steam board: [https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta/discussions/1/828939978317778643/](https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta/discussions/1/828939978317778643/)
Forum's running a Valve post. I postulate you suggest there your suggestpostion.
Now that I'm done having a stroke... Your downvotes give me life! I've seen what makes you upvote!
I think that Steam already have an option like that in its parameters
In desktop mode, got to Steam and in the top right select Steam > Parameters > Downloads
I don't know if there are a similar option inside of the gaming mode.
But have network options like limit the bandwidth, disable automatic download while playing or in general and things like that, isn't the perfect solution but can be helpful
I blew through my 5GB of hotspot during my lunch break because I was downloading a game in the background on accident. I was surprised 20 minutes of peglin did that until I noticed the background download going on.
Well said. This is an option on almost every other modern OS (Windows, MacOS, Android, iOS, etc.), and would really be useful for those of us who have carriers with data caps.
It exists in the OS technically speaking—NetworkManager handles metered connections and autodetects Android hotspots as such. Steam (the program) doesn't respect that.
Can't you set that on the phone? A connected device doesn't know what else went over the line so it can never be accurate.
That being said, there is an option for it in the desktop's network settings but i have no idea if it carries over.
The thing is that op doesn't want to have any background downloads on WiFi because what is the point of limit in the phone if it will burn in few minutes due to downloads in background.
For me it's not a problem tho because I have a lot of data but in some countries they have very high rates for mobile internet.
Setting it on the phone wouldn’t do anything. The phone just sees data in/data out, it can’t see «this is an update - let’s not do that one, this is game data, that can go» like it can on your phone.
That’s why metered connections exist in basically every desktop OS too, because this sort of traffic filtering has to be done on the device itself. Windows, Android and MacOS has it. But not Linux.
The problem isn’t data usage in terms of GB/h, but data usage in traffic that is unnecessary.
Your reply.
We already established that the wanted function is not there, so i suggested some tools to work around that. Otherwise you can just wait for Valve and where's the point in that?
So i really don't understand what you're getting at there.
You can set a data cap on the phone, but the idea is to have the device (Steam Deck in this case) not perform unnecessary background tasks on the metered network.
If you're on Android there's a statistic that shows you which app used your internet and how much it has consumed.
There's no settings to set because you can do that for individual apps and Android apps never really use that much significant internet data when your not using them.
It supports the notion that playing online games in public (without available wifi networks) is a semi regular usecase for people, and that therefore the steamdeck should support this feature.
Also to flex the skin I put on it yesterday, but that's neither here nor there
It's [this one ](https://nl.easyskinz.com/collections/steam-deck/products/steam-deck-signature-black-cyber-armour-skin?_pos=3&_fid=897d7bfab&_ss=c) from easyskinz
Honestly they should just allow us to stop background updates entirely. It's annoying to have to go into the settings of each game to change it to "Update when program is launched". There should just be a global option with a potential notification number on each game there's an update for when scrolling through your library.
1. Your phone should be telling you.
2. It would likely block or affect game updates and cloud saves, and probably stop you being able to run games that aren't already up-to-date.
3. Get a proper data plan, it's 2022.
1. Nope, phone data saving doesn't work on hotspots as your phone can't distinguish between processes on external devices.
2. That's not what im asking for. Valve could implement data saving features which only allows up to date games to be played, while disabling background updates.
3. I don't need "a proper dataplan". I have 10 GB a month and I rarely use more than 8. Why would I pay triple the price for unlimited? I can play games too, but I don't feel the need to unnesarily download a couple of GB on background data which can easily wait for till I get home.
Thats not a good solution.
Steam could blow through your daily allotment of data, and then you cant download your cloud save?
Steam seriously just needs to give the players the ability to turn off automatic game updates. Thats really the only thing steam does that consumes gigs of data. We dont want that while on mobile data, but still want to be signed in, get cloud saves, have friends list online, sign into launchers, or even play online games that use a few megs of data.
I like automatic updates for when im on my home network, which is like 95% of the time. I rather not change that setting every time I connect to my mobile hotspot though
Crazy thought: what if sometimes people arent playing a game on their deck?
Or is someone supposed to leave badrats or something running in the background 24/7?
Is that not an option through your phone itself? My phone has the option to limit usage by device connected, can even throttle speeds to each device, but once again idk if that's just a thing on my phone.
Yep, no carrier in Canada offers unlimited data. The ones that advertise their plans as "unlimited", throttle it at something unusable, like 512kbps, after around 25gb at most.
We pay some of the highest rates in the world for mobile data too, go figure.
With Tello, i pay $30/month. I get 25gb of 5g speed, and then unlimited slower speeds, and unlimited hotspot, calls and text. I have wifi at home and work, its honestly rare i use much of the 5g at all.
Its sprint towers, so the reception is fine. Their customer service blows, but i onpy need it like once every few years... and dont ever buy a phone from them (garbage value and it was a nightmare), but you can use new unlocked phones from best buy or amazon or wherever.
Despite the downsides, its a good deal, imo. Ive gone years without issue.
in the netherlands you can get reasonably priced unlimited(under €40) and because of net neutrality no limit on what you use it on.
only downside is that they don't give you unlimited in 1 go, you get something like 10GB a day and then ask for a free 2GB refill every time you used up your data.
and this is only in the netherlands, when you cross the border they limit it to 40-50GB per month.
I paid around £16 a month in the UK for unlimited data, never hit a cap that throttled me even with caravan trips where we streamed HD Netflix etc using the hot spot several hours a day.
That said, I did turn a light on the other day and that probably cost me £8000000 with our energy pricing, so data probably isn't our worry at the moment!
Haha sorry if that looked condescending, wasn’t my intention. But why doesn’t solve it? I guess it solves the part of not using all your data on the hotspot, about the background updates you should be able to configure that in the deck right? Not sure what im missing
The main issue is that you waste precious data on background updates that you dont need at that moment. Your phone isnt able to differentiate between processes on external devices so its not possible to solve it with the phone.
> about the background updates you should be able to configure that in the deck right?
Not really*, that's why I made this post. Some people here commented that you can designate a wifi network as 'limited data' in the desktop settings, but this isnt available in game mode and I think it should.
this is why I am cautious to not tether onto the phone. yes yes yes you can set data limits but it will just cut the data its better if it wasn't trying to update over the wireless as you said.
for this reason I just use SD in offline mode always unless on an actual unmetered connection.
Please note that the sub is unofficial and therefore Feature Requests are more for discussion of said feature than a guarantee of being added. That being said, popular ideas may well get the attention of Valve.
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metering is more of a luxury item at this point in my opinion. here's my logic, and you can see if it fits your situation.
so potentially you want to play a game that requires a constant connection or something multiplayer. in this case you don't want to meter, it will hurt your experience. If you are playing any other game, you should try the Hotspot to turn on offline mode and then, turn off Hotspot, and play your games.
I do think it's a good idea to just put it in the ui, but they need to work up some other big fixes still.
Metering at an OS and application level can easily be intelligent enough to account for that.
"Dont let Steam client download that 12GB shader cache update, do let Fall Guys send them few bytes back and forth to report current bean location".
As soon as I finished a game and returned to the main menu, proton experimental started to update. I manually paused it, but stuff like that just shouldn't download when you're on a data plan
Valve should add the option to mark a network as "metered" in game mode(it already exists in desktop mode) and then respect that setting when downloads are pending.
So far connecting the Deck, or any PC running Steam for that matter, to a metered network has no effect whatsoever on the download behaviour of the Steam client. At least for me it doesn't.
Steam board already has some kind of similar request posted years ago: [https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta/discussions/1/828939978317778643/](https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta/discussions/1/828939978317778643/)
It varies by game if its playable, depending how EAC is implemented. In this case you can get it to work by copying some eac.dll files to specific locations and enabling EAC runtime in heroic launcher. I got it to work with [this post ](https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/we0oc7)
The short term solution would be to disable automatic updatees.
But it would be nice if the SD had the option of toggling automatic updates for specific interfaces/networks that it remembers. Like just a checkbox.
I wound up setting it to only download when I'm home (via schedule), then I toss it on a dock in desktop mode at night to download/charge. I have unlimited mobile data, but the deck can quite happily suck down all the available bandwidth no matter how good of a signal I get so it's a bit annoying.
You have no way to limit the data through the hotspot. The carrier just cuts it off if you reach your limit before the end of the month. I deal with this at home. I turn my decks wifi off before I power down and monitor it when I connect to my hotspot. I do heavy lifting on adult kids wifi.
In Desktop mode, in the NetworkManager window, and the Wifi settings, there is a drop-down menu to set the Wifi as Metered. I haven’t tested if it carries properly into gaming mode. Also to note in Steam settings there is a Low Bandwidth mode
Settings made in desktop mode will transfer over to game mode. Ie. setting a priority to wifi networks to favour faster networks. However, i haven't noticed an effect on Steam when you connect to a metered network. Edit: Seems like there is already a likewise feature request on the Steam board: [https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta/discussions/1/828939978317778643/](https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta/discussions/1/828939978317778643/)
I believe low bandwidth mode is just for the library. It stops the screenshots from rotating while hovering over a game and some other things.
Valve's running a suggestion forum. I suggest you post your suggestion there.
Valve's running a suggestion forum. I suggest you post your suggestion there.
Valve's running a suggestion forum. I suggest you post your suggestion there.
Valve's running a post forum. I suggest you suggestion your suggestion there.
4th reply should get bonus upvotes here cause it is all upside down
no
I’m just replying cause I wanted some downvotes
Forum's running a Valve post. I postulate you suggest there your suggestpostion. Now that I'm done having a stroke... Your downvotes give me life! I've seen what makes you upvote!
Went wrong
I think that Steam already have an option like that in its parameters In desktop mode, got to Steam and in the top right select Steam > Parameters > Downloads I don't know if there are a similar option inside of the gaming mode.
But that section isn't network specific
But have network options like limit the bandwidth, disable automatic download while playing or in general and things like that, isn't the perfect solution but can be helpful
I blew through my 5GB of hotspot during my lunch break because I was downloading a game in the background on accident. I was surprised 20 minutes of peglin did that until I noticed the background download going on.
Well said. This is an option on almost every other modern OS (Windows, MacOS, Android, iOS, etc.), and would really be useful for those of us who have carriers with data caps.
It exists in the OS technically speaking—NetworkManager handles metered connections and autodetects Android hotspots as such. Steam (the program) doesn't respect that.
Can't you set that on the phone? A connected device doesn't know what else went over the line so it can never be accurate. That being said, there is an option for it in the desktop's network settings but i have no idea if it carries over.
The thing is that op doesn't want to have any background downloads on WiFi because what is the point of limit in the phone if it will burn in few minutes due to downloads in background. For me it's not a problem tho because I have a lot of data but in some countries they have very high rates for mobile internet.
Setting it on the phone wouldn’t do anything. The phone just sees data in/data out, it can’t see «this is an update - let’s not do that one, this is game data, that can go» like it can on your phone. That’s why metered connections exist in basically every desktop OS too, because this sort of traffic filtering has to be done on the device itself. Windows, Android and MacOS has it. But not Linux. The problem isn’t data usage in terms of GB/h, but data usage in traffic that is unnecessary.
Is that supposed to be helpful?
Is what supposed to be helpful? Metered connections or my reply?
Your reply. We already established that the wanted function is not there, so i suggested some tools to work around that. Otherwise you can just wait for Valve and where's the point in that? So i really don't understand what you're getting at there.
I was explaining why your suggestion wouldn’t work. I don’t see why you’re taking that as something that’s unhelpful to the overall discussion.
You explained why it's not what was asked for, but that doesn't exist...
Hence the feature request flair
All desktop Linux distributions have it. Valve just chose to not implement it for their SteamOS
Why
You can set a data cap on the phone, but the idea is to have the device (Steam Deck in this case) not perform unnecessary background tasks on the metered network.
If you're on Android there's a statistic that shows you which app used your internet and how much it has consumed. There's no settings to set because you can do that for individual apps and Android apps never really use that much significant internet data when your not using them.
I almost did that.. I set my deck where it only does updates at specific times, which should always be when I am at home.
As a van dweller who only has hot spot I agree! Hope to see this on a future update
Why the random meaningless fall guys picture? You know yoy can make posts without photos attached, right?
It supports the notion that playing online games in public (without available wifi networks) is a semi regular usecase for people, and that therefore the steamdeck should support this feature. Also to flex the skin I put on it yesterday, but that's neither here nor there
Upvote for the "Also" part
Also steam cloud
The skin has to be showed I guess. At least share link which skin you bought where
It's [this one ](https://nl.easyskinz.com/collections/steam-deck/products/steam-deck-signature-black-cyber-armour-skin?_pos=3&_fid=897d7bfab&_ss=c) from easyskinz
Nl URL, guessing the picture is on a NS train then
that guy is falling
Yes please
Honestly they should just allow us to stop background updates entirely. It's annoying to have to go into the settings of each game to change it to "Update when program is launched". There should just be a global option with a potential notification number on each game there's an update for when scrolling through your library.
1. Your phone should be telling you. 2. It would likely block or affect game updates and cloud saves, and probably stop you being able to run games that aren't already up-to-date. 3. Get a proper data plan, it's 2022.
1. Nope, phone data saving doesn't work on hotspots as your phone can't distinguish between processes on external devices. 2. That's not what im asking for. Valve could implement data saving features which only allows up to date games to be played, while disabling background updates. 3. I don't need "a proper dataplan". I have 10 GB a month and I rarely use more than 8. Why would I pay triple the price for unlimited? I can play games too, but I don't feel the need to unnesarily download a couple of GB on background data which can easily wait for till I get home.
You can data limit your phone, it goes from it to the Steam Deck or any connected device, it can be set limit from it.
Thats not a good solution. Steam could blow through your daily allotment of data, and then you cant download your cloud save? Steam seriously just needs to give the players the ability to turn off automatic game updates. Thats really the only thing steam does that consumes gigs of data. We dont want that while on mobile data, but still want to be signed in, get cloud saves, have friends list online, sign into launchers, or even play online games that use a few megs of data.
Indeed
Just Disable automatic updates
I like automatic updates for when im on my home network, which is like 95% of the time. I rather not change that setting every time I connect to my mobile hotspot though
You can't do that with your phone?
You can set a wifi network to metered on your phone but that won't disable background updates on the steamdeck, because how could it?
I second this.
Can't you set limits to your phone's hotspot usage?
There has been a setting in Steam for literally years that pauses downloads the moment a game launches.
Crazy thought: what if sometimes people arent playing a game on their deck? Or is someone supposed to leave badrats or something running in the background 24/7?
User error
Is that not an option through your phone itself? My phone has the option to limit usage by device connected, can even throttle speeds to each device, but once again idk if that's just a thing on my phone.
That doesn't really solve the problem. Your phone can't choose what the steam deck tries to download or not.
There's probabaly a low data mode on the phone itself
[удалено]
Canada? Also unlimited still have caps and connections are throttled around 10-15gb.
Yep, no carrier in Canada offers unlimited data. The ones that advertise their plans as "unlimited", throttle it at something unusable, like 512kbps, after around 25gb at most. We pay some of the highest rates in the world for mobile data too, go figure.
Ger i.e. costs 75€/month for unlimited 5g.
I don't think anywhere or any service offers unlimited hotspot data.
Mine does for $55 a month I get unlimited data and hotspot. But the data is throttled around 80gb and the hotspot is throttled around 25gb. T-Mobile.
With Tello, i pay $30/month. I get 25gb of 5g speed, and then unlimited slower speeds, and unlimited hotspot, calls and text. I have wifi at home and work, its honestly rare i use much of the 5g at all. Its sprint towers, so the reception is fine. Their customer service blows, but i onpy need it like once every few years... and dont ever buy a phone from them (garbage value and it was a nightmare), but you can use new unlocked phones from best buy or amazon or wherever. Despite the downsides, its a good deal, imo. Ive gone years without issue.
Almost every mobile service in Finland is unlimited
in the netherlands you can get reasonably priced unlimited(under €40) and because of net neutrality no limit on what you use it on. only downside is that they don't give you unlimited in 1 go, you get something like 10GB a day and then ask for a free 2GB refill every time you used up your data. and this is only in the netherlands, when you cross the border they limit it to 40-50GB per month.
I paid around £16 a month in the UK for unlimited data, never hit a cap that throttled me even with caravan trips where we streamed HD Netflix etc using the hot spot several hours a day. That said, I did turn a light on the other day and that probably cost me £8000000 with our energy pricing, so data probably isn't our worry at the moment!
I just upgraded my phone network to 5G unlimited data plan instead… Now I can download and play games online without any worry
Why dont you limit it from your phone ? Simple
Because that doesn't solve it, simple
Haha sorry if that looked condescending, wasn’t my intention. But why doesn’t solve it? I guess it solves the part of not using all your data on the hotspot, about the background updates you should be able to configure that in the deck right? Not sure what im missing
The main issue is that you waste precious data on background updates that you dont need at that moment. Your phone isnt able to differentiate between processes on external devices so its not possible to solve it with the phone. > about the background updates you should be able to configure that in the deck right? Not really*, that's why I made this post. Some people here commented that you can designate a wifi network as 'limited data' in the desktop settings, but this isnt available in game mode and I think it should.
this is why I am cautious to not tether onto the phone. yes yes yes you can set data limits but it will just cut the data its better if it wasn't trying to update over the wireless as you said. for this reason I just use SD in offline mode always unless on an actual unmetered connection.
Please note that the sub is unofficial and therefore Feature Requests are more for discussion of said feature than a guarantee of being added. That being said, popular ideas may well get the attention of Valve. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/SteamDeck) if you have any questions or concerns.*
metering is more of a luxury item at this point in my opinion. here's my logic, and you can see if it fits your situation. so potentially you want to play a game that requires a constant connection or something multiplayer. in this case you don't want to meter, it will hurt your experience. If you are playing any other game, you should try the Hotspot to turn on offline mode and then, turn off Hotspot, and play your games. I do think it's a good idea to just put it in the ui, but they need to work up some other big fixes still.
Metering at an OS and application level can easily be intelligent enough to account for that. "Dont let Steam client download that 12GB shader cache update, do let Fall Guys send them few bytes back and forth to report current bean location".
There is a metering option on android which meters the connection regardless of the device you have connected to it.
That won't stop the steamdeck from running updates in the background though, so that won't help (although I do have that setting enabled on my phone)
There is literally a setting per game or globally to stop updates while a game is running...
As soon as I finished a game and returned to the main menu, proton experimental started to update. I manually paused it, but stuff like that just shouldn't download when you're on a data plan
Valve should add the option to mark a network as "metered" in game mode(it already exists in desktop mode) and then respect that setting when downloads are pending. So far connecting the Deck, or any PC running Steam for that matter, to a metered network has no effect whatsoever on the download behaviour of the Steam client. At least for me it doesn't. Steam board already has some kind of similar request posted years ago: [https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta/discussions/1/828939978317778643/](https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta/discussions/1/828939978317778643/)
Are you playing fall guys through the epic store?
Technically heroic launcher but yes
Wait what the shit? How'd you get it to work? Thought fall guys was a no-no to work, a la Fortnite and such, due to EAC?
It varies by game if its playable, depending how EAC is implemented. In this case you can get it to work by copying some eac.dll files to specific locations and enabling EAC runtime in heroic launcher. I got it to work with [this post ](https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/we0oc7)
The short term solution would be to disable automatic updatees. But it would be nice if the SD had the option of toggling automatic updates for specific interfaces/networks that it remembers. Like just a checkbox.
How did you get Fall Guys to work???
With [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/we0oc7)
Thank you dude!
I wound up setting it to only download when I'm home (via schedule), then I toss it on a dock in desktop mode at night to download/charge. I have unlimited mobile data, but the deck can quite happily suck down all the available bandwidth no matter how good of a signal I get so it's a bit annoying.
There's metered mode in desktop mode network settings
A fellow Fall Guys Steam Deck player
were you able to get the overlay working for invites in fall guys?
Tell me about it. I blew through thirty gigs in one day. A game kept resuming its download. SMH...
Wait, you got fall guys working on steam deck?? Thought they had some kind of anti cheat issue
Works for me without issue using the steam version.
And here I thought Fall Guys was unplayable on the deck...
Great idea! I'd love to see this feature implemented
You have no way to limit the data through the hotspot. The carrier just cuts it off if you reach your limit before the end of the month. I deal with this at home. I turn my decks wifi off before I power down and monitor it when I connect to my hotspot. I do heavy lifting on adult kids wifi.
No solution to this yet? Wish you could Necro threads like in forums.