How to stop Fallout 4 from updating (Steam/GOG/Xbox)

[artthurlima]

3 hours ago, agentj3di said:

This was a little confusing at first, but I think I figured it out. After everything was said and done, Fallout 4 is no longer asking to update, so I thought I would share my method for anyone else who might have also been confused. I wasn't sure if you were supposed to change the manifest ID for all of the Depots, or just the last one until I went to the SteamDB page and clicked around a bit.

Here's what I did:

1) Yesterday I set the appmanifest_377160.acf file to Read Only (and changed Updates frequency to Only when launching) as directed in the OP.

Today, Fallout 4 showed [  Update Required ].

2) Since I don't want the update (at least, not now) - using the Depot ID and Manifest ID for -each- row from my .acf file, I changed the Manifest ID to the new one.
(If you click on the Manifest ID link on the right of your matching Depot ID, you will see:

Example for Depot ID 377161 from the SteamDB page: https://steamdb.info/app/377160/depots/?branch=public (as directed)

Depots

ID	Configuration	Manifest ID	Size	DL.
228984	Windows Shared InstallDepot from 228980 VC 2012 Redist		No size
228990	Windows Shared InstallDepot from 228980 DirectX Jun 2010 Redist		No size
377161	Fallout 4 content_a	7332110922360867314	5.67 GiB	5.21 GiB

3) So for the first Depot 377161: the link on the left will take you to a page that has the following on the bottom:

 Manifest ID changed – 7497069378349273908 › 7332110922360867314

Aha, now I could see that my (original) file matched the OLD ID: 7497069378349273908

"InstalledDepots"
    {
        "377161"
        {
            "manifest"        "7497069378349273908"
            "size"        "6092666130"
        }

4) So I changed the "manifest" in the file (with Notepad) to the NEW ID from the website:  7332110922360867314

It now reads:

{
        "377161"
        {
            "manifest"        "7332110922360867314"
            "size"        "6092666130"
        }

5) I then did the same steps for each of the remaining Depots and Manifest IDs. I only have VANILLA (NO DLC), so there were only 4 matching Depot Manifest IDs to change.
6) I exited Steam, Unset the Read Only for the appmanifest_377160.acf file, and then SAVED the changes in Notepad.

7) After saving -- I RESET the Read Only on appmanifest_377160.acf --- otherwise, Steam might try and get the 'real' update.

Upon launching Steam, Fallout 4 now shows [  Play ] -- so I believe Steam thinks FO4 is current, and I'm set. 

Hope this helps someone! 

 

 

Thank you, your instruction worked for me, now Steam identifies the game as "updated", I was even able to install the DLC, which previously required updating the game first to install them
Of course, following the OP's instructions helped too!

Edited April 25 by artthurlima

[agentj3di]

1 hour ago, alyfoxlp said:

Its unfortunate that the original thread-poster hasn't edited the original post to be more clear, given some of the comments that have come up through this thread, but I want to extend thanks to   agentj3d1   for clarifying the confusion I was having.   Thanks agentj3d1!    However, I do also want to thank Pickysaurus for the original work - even if it was confusing at first, it *did* provide a base to work out the rest from. Thank you Pickysaurus

Word up ! I just tried to clarify it and wanted to share. I haven't even had a chance to launch the game again, yet - but AFAICT nothing has changed in my game dir.

[agentj3di]

2 hours ago, H3Nutcracker said:

Thank you for breaking this down, I didn´t know if I should change all the rows. I did it and follow the rest of the steps. However upon launching steam, Fallout 4 still shows Update Required

Hmm. I would make sure that you exit Steam, make the changes, set the file back to Read Only, and then re-launch Steam.

This is what mine looks like after I updated it -- I have no DLCs just a modded base game:

"ScheduledAutoUpdate"        "0"
    "InstalledDepots"
    {
        "377161"
        {
            "manifest"        "7332110922360867314"
            "size"        "6092666130"
        }
        "377162"
        {
            "manifest"        "3747866029627240371"
            "size"        "65503104"
        }
        "377163"
        {
            "manifest"        "3876298980394425306"
            "size"        "19539383766"
        }
        "377164"
        {
            "manifest"        "8492427313392140315"
            "size"        "3815537394"
        }
    }

[agentj3di]

53 minutes ago, theArcangel said:

Just wanted to chime in to say that I followed the instructions, changed the manfest IDs (?unsure if correct name) of the existing InstalledDepots as pointed out and it worked for me, Steam is no longer asking to update any more.

What I did specifically:

- yesterday, I set Steam to only update on launch and set the appmanifest_377160.acf file to read only.
- just now, Steam asked me to update.
- I closed Steam
- I unset read only for the appmanifest_377160.acf file
- I overwrote all manifest IDs with the ones provided here: https://steamdb.info/app/377160/depots/?branch=public (only the first 7 actually changed)
- save, set read only again, start Steam -> Steam no longer asks to update.

For reference, this is my Installed Depots section. Please note that from the file descriptions, this will ONLY be valid for and english Fallout 4 with Automatron DLC (no other DLC files had their manifests changed)

 

  Hide contents

    "InstalledDepots"
    {
        "377161"
        {
            "manifest"        "7332110922360867314"
            "size"        "6092666130"
        }
        "377162"
        {
            "manifest"        "3747866029627240371"
            "size"        "65503104"
        }
        "377163"
        {
            "manifest"        "3876298980394425306"
            "size"        "19539383766"
        }
        "377164"
        {
            "manifest"        "8492427313392140315"
            "size"        "3815537394"
        }
        "435870"
        {
            "manifest"        "1213339795579796878"
            "size"        "615585599"
            "dlcappid"        "435870"
        }
        "435871"
        {
            "manifest"        "7785009542965564688"
            "size"        "130989066"
            "dlcappid"        "435870"
        }
        "435880"
        {
            "manifest"        "366079256218893805"
            "size"        "79345533"
            "dlcappid"        "435880"
        }
        "435881"
        {
            "manifest"        "1207717296920736193"
            "size"        "2890058024"
            "dlcappid"        "435881"
        }
        "435882"
        {
            "manifest"        "8482181819175811242"
            "size"        "599590846"
            "dlcappid"        "435881"
        }
        "480630"
        {
            "manifest"        "5527412439359349504"
            "size"        "265010956"
            "dlcappid"        "480630"
        }
        "480631"
        {
            "manifest"        "6588493486198824788"
            "size"        "432439632"
            "dlcappid"        "480631"
        }
        "393885"
        {
            "manifest"        "5000262035721758737"
            "size"        "54722008"
            "dlcappid"        "480631"
        }
        "490650"
        {
            "manifest"        "4873048792354485093"
            "size"        "3946502119"
            "dlcappid"        "490650"
        }
        "393895"
        {
            "manifest"        "7677765994120765493"
            "size"        "374503550"
            "dlcappid"        "490650"
        }
    }

 

Bingo! That's exactly what I did. I didn't click anything in Steam, to be clear: it just changed from Update Required back to Play once I re-started Steam after everything.

Thanks for adding the whole manifest and DLC numbers, I don't have DLC at this time. :X

 

[H3Nutcracker]

1 hour ago, agentj3di said:

Hmm. I would make sure that you exit Steam, make the changes, set the file back to Read Only, and then re-launch Steam.

This is what mine looks like after I updated it -- I have no DLCs just a modded base game:

"ScheduledAutoUpdate"        "0"
    "InstalledDepots"
    {
        "377161"
        {
            "manifest"        "7332110922360867314"
            "size"        "6092666130"
        }
        "377162"
        {
            "manifest"        "3747866029627240371"
            "size"        "65503104"
        }
        "377163"
        {
            "manifest"        "3876298980394425306"
            "size"        "19539383766"
        }
        "377164"
        {
            "manifest"        "8492427313392140315"
            "size"        "3815537394"
        }
    }

I´m almost sure I did it that way, but to be completely sure, I´ll try again. I don´t know if it will work now cause I have de manifest ids already changed, but it´s worth another try. If not then It´ll have to do with not launching it and the complete game files backup I have just in case. But really, thank you for explaining it with detail.

[butthau5]

Is there any way to make this playable through steam? I followed all the steps and I can play the game but only if not opened through steam, steam still says it needs to update even though I changed all the manifest ids. The issue is I have been playing via steamlink to play in my living room, I had to replace the default launcher with the f4se launcher and rename it so steam thinks its opening the default launcher and up until now that has worked. Until today I couldnt care less about this next gen update but now im just frustrated.

[butthau5]

15 minutes ago, butthau5 said:

Is there any way to make this playable through steam?

Yes, I found my own answer incase anyone else has this situation, all I had to do was go into steam and "add a non-steam game" and select my f4se launcher found in steams fallout4 foolder. Boom worked like a charm.

[agentj3di]

28 minutes ago, H3Nutcracker said:

I´m almost sure I did it that way, but to be completely sure, I´ll try again. I don´t know if it will work now cause I have de manifest ids already changed, but it´s worth another try. If not then It´ll have to do with not launching it and the complete game files backup I have just in case. But really, thank you for explaining it with detail.

If your game already updated, you'd see your Data/Fallout4 -*.ba2 type files have a new date as a bunch of them were updated. That might make the manifest/locking frivolous. Mine still say 10/01/2008

My Fallout4.exe shows 4/21/24 (as I installed the other night) -- and the Properties/Details shows it is version 1.10.163.0

[Travlizard]

I followed the steps and my game still had already queued the update. So it just said "Update queued" even after editing the manifest numbers and restarting steam multiple times.

I fixed it by changing the BytesDownloaded (was 0) to the same number as BytesToDownload, same thing for BytesToStage, had a large number so I copied it onto the BytesStaged. Also, changed the ScheduledAutoUpdate to 0. Forgot to change the file to read only and opened Steam but the game no longer had any sign of update needed and now says Play. I notice steam now changed all values of BytesDownloaded/BytesToDownload/BytesStaged/BytesToStage all to 0. And my game still just says Play. No update.

[Marnaz]

9 hours ago, CRCerror said:

For steam users, who have are struggling with manually updating the app manifest the following workaround works too:
1: backup your entire Fallout4 folder from \steamapps\common\Fallout 4
2: let steam do the update
3: set the \steamapps\appmanifest_377160.acf file to read-only
4: delete the whole Fallout 4 folder from \steamapps\common\Fallout 4
5: restore your backup (you did make a backup in step 1 right?)
6: launch vortex, it will tell you that mod deployment is needed, do so, but choose "Use newer files"
7: welcome to the caveman club and have fun playing your old, outdated, un-updated, non-nextGen version of Fallout4

This is the easiest way to do it, but make sure you select "Only update this game when I launch it" before making the appmanifest file Read Only as that file is where it saves that info to.

Edit:

Here's updated steps

1: rename Fallout4 folder from \steamapps\common\Fallout 4 to "Fallout 4 - old"
2: rename \Documents\My Games\Fallout 4 to "Fallout 4 - old"
3: reinstall Fallout 4
4: open steam and right click Fallout 4 > Properties > Updates > Automatic Updates:
"Only update this game when I launch it"
5: set the \steamapps\appmanifest_377160.acf file to read-only
6: name new Fallout 4 folders in common and My Games to "Fallout 4 - new"
7: copy and paste "Fallout 4 - old" in common and My Games so it makes a copy
8. rename the "Fallout 4 - old" folders in common and My Games to "Fallout 4" so steam recognizes them
9: continue playing as if nothing changed (this might only work if launching from F4SE?)

Now you should have a regular one, a "new" one, and an "old" one that's a copy incase anything breaks.

Edited April 26 by Marnaz