Steam game client traffic

I would really appreciate it if someone with actual knowledge of Steam could fill in the appropriate values Last edited by dotpk ; 1 Aug, am. Darren View Profile View Posts. Technically game clients can use any ports they want and while they might typically use specific ones a developer is perfectly allowed to change that for any reason or none at all.

Sure - that seems perfectly reasonable. What I am trying to better understand is the behaviour of the Steam client itself, not the behaviour of the games that are running through it.

In the process of doing so, I keep seeing references to the Steam port forwarding guide. I'd like to start there and make sure that I am properly configured for Steam itself before looking at game-specific configuration. Originally posted by aiusepsi :. Last edited by dotpk ; 2 Aug, am. Advanced Search…. Personal tools Log in.

Navigation Web. Digital Video Broadcast. If you answer to any of these as yes then you are on the right track. If all this is answered in negative, then are you just an admin trying to moral police the workplace? To me internet policing sounds absurd unless its disturbing others in the workplace. Either you are really deluded or have your own company.

Anyways, usually at a company, a high bandwidth line is leased for data traffic and the cost is the amount of bandwidth consumed. Steam games are not small - 5GB is the norm. And if he downloads about several GB a month, its not going to look small on the internet bill. OP would suggest to also look at torrent and cyberlocker traffic. Steam usually does not tax the bandwidth cant say for sure , so there might be some other mischief afoot! If one cannot keep the employees engaged, occupied with meaningful work then the slacking will happen, with or without policing.

Blocking network traffic is rarely a solution. We have not seen anyone abuse bandwidth in the last 3 years. Transparency, practical leadership and good communication goes a long way in achieving this. We are 40 people as of today FYI. OP With staff that small it'll be wiser to have a quite word with the individuals and resolve the issue. Spending valuable time on blocking stuff will only serve to make the guys look for other "options" and if they are smart enough they WILL find options.

Its a weird cycle. I am of the opinion that blocking is not best - its best to keep the internet open. However, not all people are alike. It will also be the final configuration, once you are completely done running your playtest. Playtest is NOT playable, but is accepting new sign-ups. This is the configuration you would likely set up initially to have players sign up prior to your playtest ever being available.

Playtest is playable and accepting new sign-ups. This might be the right setting for when your playtest is live and you plan on adding more playtesters in the future, perhaps you will be expanding server capacity or adding new features, and will need more playtesters to try out a future build. Playtest is playable, but NOT accepting new sign-ups. You may want this configuration if you are not planning on admitting any additional playtesters in the future but still want your current playtesters to have access to the build.

A: The new Steam Playtest feature came out of repeated requests from studios large and small, for a way to run a limited, lower-risk playtest with live customers. Dev teams wanted the freedom to run a playtest without stressing about their user reviews or interfering with their wishlist numbers… but they also wanted the control to start, pause, and end their playtests.

We hope this new set of tools helps developers get closer to their players and make better games as a result. Devs were using whatever tools they could to build community and gather playtesting data.

Those are great problems to solve, so we want to provide an official, well-supported solution that is easier for developers and more consistent for players. Q: What if I want to run a playtest but control access via Steam keys? A: You can request keys for your Steam Playtest too.

In fact, this is now the preferred method of running beta testing for your game if you need more than small group of testers. Remember, you can still test using your game's main App ID, using release override keys.

You can find more information in the Testing On Steam documentation. Q: I have a question or feedback, how do I contact you? A: Please use our contact form here and let us know if you're running into an issue or have feedback on the feature. Q: When can I use Steam Playtest? A: We think the best, and probably most common, time to use this feature is before your game releases.

Your first priority will probably be to put up a coming soon page for your game, to start gathering wishlists and building a community. If you want, you can keep using the Playtest appID as a testing ground for new tools or features… but remember: Steam Playtest is free for customers. Keeping your playtest up after release probably only makes sense if your game is already free-to-play.