you rly online with W7? omg

I don't see any problems with this Windows. It's looks like mystics rumors about W7 for marketing MS greed.
It's too harsh for me to change OS now, because i have W7 on this comp from 2021 all works fine, except new Unity 2023 games because its isn't works on W7. Steam unsupport W7 for few yraes, but using some tricks it works too.
Look like i'll use unfair WRSR game for W7

Thank you, Silent_Shadow, for answer.

You can download and update games on W7, as Silent_Shadow mentioned thou it cant be done by normal steam client (might bepossible through console but havent tried it).

What you can do however, is install SteamCMD, and update/download from there. (Its an official tool for developers, can get it here: https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/SteamCMD#Downloading_SteamCMD )
The process is a bit complicated, so if you want to play a game that rarely updates, you can use Silent_Shadows method... (or heck, switch steam to Offline mode and run it without patching). But for games that might require more often updates the solution below might be better.

There are some tricks to this SteamCMD method however, at least in my experiance, so take a note that mileage may vary and there might be better ways of doing this.


What you need to do is to close Steam first - can be done normally or if the steam already downloaded some update files go steam->settings->downloads->"clear cache" ... this way steam will clear any files that were used in the update attempt - the clear cache is not mandatory but will save some diskspace.

Then to run on W7 SteamCmd needs an -overrideminos option added - this should be easy, just add it in a shortcut or through a batch file. It should look like this:

C:\SteamCMD\steamcmd.exe -overrideminos

Then, after starting SteamCMD and getting its own prompt in a command window you'll need to first point it in the right direction like this:

force_install_dir "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SovietRepublic\"

If you have game installed on another drive, you have to check where it is and point there. Then you have to log in (in steamcmd). Only dev kits can be downloaded anonymously, games need licenses to download so this is mandatory, like this:

login YourSteamAccountName

It will ask for a password (it should store it for future sessions, and might need authenticating through the phone app if using 2fa). Next step requires file validation so if you have any mods that modified the game files (as sometimes happens in WRSR) make backups or at least take note what will need to be re-applied. So we go:

app_update 784150 validate

784150 is WRSR steam number, if you want to mess with other games you can find their app number on their store page in the address bar (or through steamdb etc)

Last step is to fix the mess SteamCMD did in the folders, as for whatever reason it seems to not follow proper directory structure - it puts the steamapps folder inside the game, which contains the most important file - the "appmanifest_784150.acf" that informs Steam how the game is installed. There is a whole other level of magic one can do by editing this file which ill omit here.

That .acf file needs to be moved from within the steamapps now residing in inside the game few directories up to steamapps folder containing all the other .acf files of game installed on this drive, including the appmanifest_784150.acf steam used last time it ran. (Its prudent to make at least one backup of this file)

Notably if the SteamCMD decided to run full validation you might end up with workshop mods moved to the steamapps folder inside the game. In which case same deal as with .acf file, they need to be moved back to workshop folder few directories up to the real steamapps location.


And there you have it.
There are few more quirks that can happen like issues with steam redistributables which can be fixed if needed but thats for another post if needed.

ling.speed, thank you for this idea. I'll try it next time