Fix STEAMWORKSHOP bugs and rant

[Valken 622]

First, I have had a problem with subscribed Steam Workshop mods hanging my system and closing Steam when it becomes REMOVED or HIDDEN by the authors, with no way for the USER to know which mods were affected and then not have the ability to unsubscribe. This occurred and annoyed the eff out of me for a very long time, almost 2 years or more. Many users who have had this problem are also affected. 

 

The solution I finally thought up was for Steam Workshop to stop being stupid and actually just blacklist the mod ID so it SKIPS it during the auto update process and move ON. This worked up to last year when I reported it. See many threads below in this same forum by searching my name.

 

This year, I was too busy to play any games for nearly 3 months so finally logged into Steam and the bug comes back (because MORE mods where hidden, deleted, but NOT added the blacklist). So I emailed Steam tech support to recheck the blacklist or auto enable it, and after back and forth this is what those effing idiots said:

 

"Message from you on Apr 2 @ 8:31am | 6 days ago

Hi Steam,

The issue is not the mods.

The issue is STEAM CLIENT is unable to proceed when it encounters a mod that is no longer available on the STEAM WORKSHOP and goes into a infinite loop of trying to update the existing workshop mod, but cannot because it is flagged as hidden or unavailable anymore within the workshop!!!

Can you ask an experienced tech to look into this?

Thank you.

Message from Steam Support on Apr 3 @ 5:26am | 5 days ago

Hello again. 

Like Alan mentioned, we do not offer assistance with third-party mods. If Arma 3 successfully installed on your machine and the client is locking up while installing workshop content, this sounds like there are issues or conflictions within the mods that may be causing the client to become unresponsive. We can only suggest clearing your subscribed workshop content and adding workshop content one by one to ensure that you can identify which workshop content is causing the confliction. 

To clear your subscribed items, please do the following:
 

Open Steam

Hover over 'Community' then select 'Workshop'

On the right-hand side, select 'Your Files'

From there, select "Subscribed Items'

On the right-hand side, select "Unsubscribe From All"

If your issue remains, you will need to reach out to the mod creators to see if they are aware of a catalyst for the issue you are experiencing. 

I'm sorry we can't be of more help with this.  

Steam Support
Franky

Message from you on Apr 3 @ 6:04am | 5 days ago

If I unsubscribe from ALL, I lose ALL MY MODS!

I just want workshop to do its job - update the mods that are allowed and skip the ones that were removed or hidden!

The issue is WORKSHOP trying to update a mod that is hidden but it should SKIP it so it can goto the next mod that is ACTIVE on the workshop...

This was fixed in the past from your tech team and it is not the mod issue. 

Its just a bunch of files that your workshop is trying to update but for some reason is not flagging it as to leave it alone.

Dig into my past and you will see this was fixed and yet now broken again. It affects ALL ARMA 3 users and not sure why this is a user issue.

Message from Steam Support on Apr 4 @ 5:01am | 4 days ago

We value feedback from the Steam community and I'll be forwarding your comments regarding how Steam updates workshop content on to the appropriate department. However, I am sorry, but I do not have a fix for you at this time.

Additionally, if you wish to share an opinion, suggestion, or idea with the community as well, please visit the Suggestions/Ideas section of the Steam Discussion forums.

We have provided all the available information with this particular issue, I am going to close this help request. If you have questions on an unrelated issue, please create a new help request and we will be happy to help you. 

Steam Support
Preston"

 

The idiots basically told me to unsubscribe everything when I actually gave them the solution to fix their stupid backend under my profile from last year and instead of doing the basic thing of THEIR JOB, they closed my case.

 

So I spent the weekend figuring how to fix their shit on my own and sharing with my fellow ARMA users who are fed up with Steam's "Wonderful and professional" support team:

 

1) Goto your main x:\Steam\logs\ directory, find the file workshop_log.txt and open it in a text editor.

2) There will be a bunch of text and shows something like this:

 

[AppID 107410] Detected workshop change : added subscribed item 1356440034

.

[AppID 107410] Get details for item 1356440034 failed : Access Denied

.

[AppID 107410] Detected workshop change : removing unknown item 1356440034 

.
The dots present other lines with different mod id numbers but you get the point. The mods that are HIDDEN or DELETED from the workshop BY the AUTHORS, but NOT YET unsubscribed by the USERS will look like the above

Move this to a window so you can keep track of these ID numbers such as 1356440034 .

 

3) Close the STEAM client and log into your Steam account with your web browser.

4) Goto the ARMA 3 Workshop via webbrowser https://steamcommunity.com/app/107410/workshop/

and click on YOUR FILES dropdown under Your Workshop Files on the right, then select subscribed items. 

5) Click on 30 items per page ON THE BOTTOM to ease finding things.

6) At this point, you should see a list of mods and multiple pages of 30 mods if you have a lot.

7) Here is where all the real work comes in where STEAM support could have fixed with a single script from their backend:

 

Right click anywhere on the 1st page and select VIEW PAGE SOURCE. Do control F to find one of the mods from the hidden or deleted mods such as 1356440034.

8) Paste 1356440034 into the FIND BOX and search. If you do not find it on the first page, then goto the NEXT page on the browser, view source and do a control F again.

 

9) Finally once you have found the mod, go back to the main web screen, not the source screen and click unsubscribe.

 

Do this for all the mod IDs you can find from the Workshop_log.txt.

 

10) Now you are going to ask,  are you flipping kidding me I have to work so damn hard to fix something that STEAM SHOULD have fixed and automated the process in the first place?

 

You mean as easy as to log a mod ID into a daughter blacklist when an author hides or deletes a mod off the workshop, then just skip updating it for said parent games? Or maybe have a filter to list mods that are no longer available for updates but still subscribed under your profile, so you can like UN-subscribe from them?!

 

No freaking way it can be that simple.... Right? /s

 

I plowed through over 175 pages due to Steam's incompetent support team to fix their problem over the weekend.

 

I am not suggesting BIS drop Steam for their game, but make sure you guys test and fix the mod system for the next game instead of inheriting this crap or consider another launcher service that actually works.

 

Before anyone say its easier said than done, think about the system wide effects of this bug across all games and then their tech support's answer is to delete all the mods because they can't be arsed to do their frigging  job and patch it in the first place.

[stanhope 411]

You know this is the troubleshooting subforum right?  And it doesn't look like you've got a problem that needs troubleshooting.