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PSA: You can disable automatic updates in Steam and avoid F4SE breaking.


NorthWolf

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Yet Microsoft, Google, Zenimax etc want FORCED UPDATES to be unstoppable- and Valve does everything possible to force gamers to accept this new (1984-style) reality.

 

More proof that on one side are users, and on the other side are publishers, and that major publishers have ZERO interest in the needs and rights of users. Yet still so many here creep to Bethesda, simply cos they like the game they BOUGHT (here's a clue- spend your money and that eliminates ANY moral obligation to express 'thanks' to the manufacturing/publishing entity).

 

F4SE-like functionality (ie., the user right to modify code on their own computer) is going away in the future if corporations like Zenimax have any say in the matter. The current 'update FO4 every second day' trick of Beth is simply training us to accept this future.

 

Mandatory updates are annoying and I don't agree with them but I'm also willing to admit there's a reason that companies do them: non-technical users who will avoid updating and yet still bring complaints to them when the software breaks. I really don't think that's justification for failing to provide an opt-out feature, though, I agree.

 

The talk about F4SE being blocked, however, is alarmist. I don't really understand how you get from the subject of mandatory updates to the subject of Zenimax going on a crusade against modifying code. No doubt a lot of companies have wanted to do this for ages in the form of DRM, but they've consistently failed. Bethesda owes a lot of its popularity on the PC platform to the modding community and trying to stop projects like F4SE would be both costly and pointless for them. Considering F4SE is just injecting/overwriting functionality through hooking memory addresses in the Fallout 4 process they're going to be hard-pressed to actually stop them. If they wanted to. Which I can't imagine they do.

 

I did what was in the first post. While I was able to launch the game, I couldn't use the Main Menu. Meaning, I couldn't actually play the game.

 

The steps I described to prevent updating shouldn't alter the game in any way. Creating a backup could alter the game only if you did so improperly. You still want to have a "Fallout4.exe" in your Fallout 4 directory and you want to launch using the "f4se_loader.exe" in the same directory. If you give me a step-by-step of what you did I can try to figure out what's going wrong.

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Basically exactly what you said in the last paragraph of the OP.

 

Renamed the new Fallout4.exe to Fallout4.exe1.5307.

Moved my backup of Fallout4.exe to the Fallout 4 Directory.

Launch with F4SE.

 

Could have been a glitch, but I needed to leave for work, so I couldn't get a second chance. Will check in morning.

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I came on the forums today only to notice a lot of frustration that Fallout 4 had updated and as a result broken F4SE. The issue is that F4SE will always break when Fallout 4 updates, that's just an inevitable result of the technique they use. Usually this isn't an issue since the developers of F4SE create a patch to work with the beta that will become the next patch meaning you can just update F4SE alongside Fallout 4, but this will help if your game has updated and F4SE doesn't support the version for any reason. That said...

 

There's a way to stop Steam updating your game:

 

1. Navigate to Fallout 4 in your Steam library.

2. Right click and open "Properties".

3. Go to the "Updates" tab.

4. Under automatic updates, switch to "Only update this game when I launch it".

5. Only ever launch the game through F4SE.

 

The last step is the crucial one. If you launch the game through F4SE then it won't automatically update through Steam. If you ever launch it through Steam or even through Fallout4.exe, it will update automatically.

 

Afraid of accidentally updating? There's a solution to that, too:

 

If you're clumsy (like me) and afraid you'll accidentally open Fallout 4 through a method that will cause an update, copy the "Fallout4.exe" that works with your F4SE installation. You could put the file anywhere but I advise renaming it to reflect what version of Fallout it is. For example: "Fallout_1_5_205.exe" or something similar. Now if Steam forces you to update for whatever reason you can simply go in and copy the new version of "Fallout4.exe" to create a backup, name it similarly according to the new version code (i.e. "Fallout_1_5_307.exe") and then replace "Fallout4.exe" with your backup (in this example "Fallout_1_5_205.exe". I would advise keeping a folder of these backups as it gives you a way to roll back unwanted updates at your leisure.

 

That is really good to know, thankyou! Definitely going to be doing this from now on cause i get super irritated by forced updates.

I'd tried the BPM thing previously but it just kept reverting the setting back, but then again i don't use BPM normally and if i'm understanding that correctly, you have to for it to work.

 

Just to clarify also....

when you move your old Fallout4.exe back into the Fallout directory, do you have to rename it back to just Fallout4.exe or is that not necessary?

I'm a bit dim with things like that so sorry if it's an obvious question ha

 

and a quick side question for anyone....

Are things like this Downpatcher safe to use would you think? http://www.speedrun.com/Fallout_4/thread/fvo80

Had a couple of days holiday to play some Fallout, set up my mods for a new game, loaded it up....and bam....update! I'm getting a bit angsty now so i'm seriously considering using it.

 

But at least i now know how to avoid this in the future so thanks again :D

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That is really good to know, thankyou! Definitely going to be doing this from now on cause i get super irritated by forced updates.

I'd tried the BPM thing previously but it just kept reverting the setting back, but then again i don't use BPM normally and if i'm understanding that correctly, you have to for it to work.

 

Just to clarify also....

when you move your old Fallout4.exe back into the Fallout directory, do you have to rename it back to just Fallout4.exe or is that not necessary?

I'm a bit dim with things like that so sorry if it's an obvious question ha

 

and a quick side question for anyone....

Are things like this Downpatcher safe to use would you think? http://www.speedrun.com/Fallout_4/thread/fvo80

Had a couple of days holiday to play some Fallout, set up my mods for a new game, loaded it up....and bam....update! I'm getting a bit angsty now so i'm seriously considering using it.

 

But at least i now know how to avoid this in the future so thanks again :D

 

Yes, you need to move your old Fallout4.exe back to the Fallout 4 base directory and name it "Fallout4.exe" exactly. F4SE looks for that specific file name to my knowledge. So you might end up renaming "Fallout4_1_5_205.exe" to "Fallout4.exe" in my example.

 

I don't actually know if that specific downpatcher is safe to use. Downpatchers aren't really an uncommon sight in certain modding communities so it's not like the idea alone is suspicious in any way. I would base your choice on whether or not to take the leap based on if that site is reputable (I don't know), if that thread has any complaints of odd behavior among its replies, etc. Ultimately it's up to you to decide if it's worth the risk.

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Yes, you need to move your old Fallout4.exe back to the Fallout 4 base directory and name it "Fallout4.exe" exactly. F4SE looks for that specific file name to my knowledge. So you might end up renaming "Fallout4_1_5_205.exe" to "Fallout4.exe" in my example.

 

Yep, got it :wink: Thanks again

 

 

Hey guys, if you really can't wait for F4SE to update you can always set yourself back to a previous patch using the method outlined on this site https://www.speedrun.com/Fallout_4/thread/fvo80 really helped me out!

 

I was just asking about that a couple of posts up. Have you used it before, or only this time? And do you have DLC?

I don't understand the warning about if you have DLC it can cause problems in the future so i'm like...yeh...dunno.

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I have steam set to only update things at like 3am at the slowest speed possible when I'm asleep and my computer is off. I keep steam in offline mode at all times. I told fallout to only ever update when launched (didn't know this would interact with SE and cause that 'event' to never happen, so yay there). Might seem like a bit of an extreme setup, but I don't want to have to deal with forced updates breaking things. Between working full time, modding, playing video games, my other hobbies, my medical issues, friends/family, other real life stuff, and all etc's I do not have the time to deal with it. If there's an update to a game that I want, I will pick a time to sit down and go through the trouble. Otherwise, I've opened the game because I want to play it not because I want to spend the next few hours troubleshooting and fixing crap that I just finished getting all setup the way I want it yesterday.

 

Thank you for the tip about backing up the fallout 4 exe. And sorry for the minor rant, forced updates for games that I add mods to is something that really gets under my skin.

 

EDIT: Maybe these things should be covered in the how to mod fallout 4 part of the like the nexus wiki or something (or maybe SE's page could ink to something about it?). Because it really is one of those things where you don't know better until is bites you in the butt.

Edited by demonofsarila
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I have read the thread here, make a backup of my fo4 executable, and disabled updates as shown here. I'm tired of Bethesda frequently breaking my game with f4se. Thanks to the modders who keep f4se up-to-date. The mod of all mods.

Thanks for this PSA, NorthWolf.

Edited by ntblood
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