Every time there is even a miniscule patch to the game, Steam goes through and updates all 19.6 GB. I’ve never had any other game on steam do this. Is this on purpose or is there another issue at play here? It takes upwards of 20 minutes after the patch is downloaded to even play the game. It is quite the annoying issue to deal with. Attached below is an example of what I mean. The patch is downloaded, but the update is still 9.8 GB/19.6 GB
The game is compressed on install. It is done this way to greatly improve load times.
Because of the compression, patches have to be applied to the compressed version of the game. This process takes a bit of time, but the pros outway the con by miles.
Here’s a detailed breakdown on it:
We use compressed PAK files for the game content. Because of this, Steam needs to install the updates to these compressed files. Steam downloads just the diff, so the download size is still small, but the installation process can take a bit, but once it’s done it’s done. We generally do an update a month.
PAK files significantly reduce the loading times of the game.
We tested how long it takes to load into the Plaza from the Main Menu. The test was conducted on a Intel Core i7-5820K, with a Intel 750 Series 400GB PCI-E SSD and a Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 7200 RPM HDD. Of course, keep in mind that your results may vary from our tests.
Hard Drive with PAK File: 24 seconds to load into the plaza.
Hard Drive without PAK File: 2 minutes 45 seconds to load into the plaza.
SSD with PAK File: 7 seconds to load into the plaza.
SSD without PAK File: 43 seconds to load into the plaza.
The PAK file is compressed, which helps reduce the amount of data that is required to be loaded as well.
Without the compressed PAK file, you’d experience extremely long load times and way more disk space usage.