Modding is do at your own risk, always has been on Steam since meant to easily update games for publishers/developers.

If modding is my own risk, then managing the game version should also be my own risk.
And the term 'risk' does not cut it when a publisher designs his update specifically that way to destroy all mods currently available.

Plus performance problems and broken thousand-hour savegames from non-modded games are also in the mix, which equals deliberatly destroying a game people paid for.

You completely and utterly destroyed the credibility of your own post as soon as you mentioned mods being broken by new versions of a game.

Originally posted by Eagle_of_Fire:

You completely and utterly destroyed the credibility of your own post as soon as you mentioned mods being broken by new versions of a game.

Not really. 99% of the mods have been working for close to 10 years, past countless updates. Yet this one broke the entire game. If we had to fix mods normally on every update\big release, sure. But we haven't had to. That's the difference. Plus, AFAIK, the game was officially dropped or something? Don't remember exact phrasing, but it was made to push people to the new game.

You can cancel the update in the downloads section.

But that only stops the auto download I think, you still won't be able to play the game thought steam without updating so that's still a problem.

You have two options: Encourage the dev to make use of the branch options whilst disabling public online play for older branches of the game. Or encourage mod makers to update their mods.

Developers already have the option to enable version choice BUT it is not mandatory.

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/groups/steamworks/announcements/detail/4547039255696769967

New: Steam APIs For Switching Game Versions & Beta Branches making it easier to manage game updates, and move audience in or out of beta branches

Recently released Steamworks APIs help solve some common challenges to switching game versions on Steam. With these new tools, developers can now offer players a choice in-game to join a beta branch for testing or to switch back to an older version of the game.

For released games that make frequent updates, these tools can give players more clear choices in how they want to engage with the game. Some players want to be part of your beta branch where you are testing out the latest updates, while others may want to play on an older stable build that they know works well with their save file.

New version support:

Many games on Steam already have multiple build branches available to players; different builds of the game, either historical versions or forward-facing test builds with the latest pending updates. Previously, accessing these alternative build branches has been fairly obscure, done by players through the Steam 'settings' panel for a game. However, new Steamworks APIs now allow developers to offer players this choice from within the game itself.

^ Branch versions of the game is already available, it's up to Devs to use them. Most never do outside to have a public version vs a test version.

It is not mandatory.
Exactly hats the problem.

Originally posted by Tessrana:

It is not mandatory.
Exactly hats the problem.

Nor should it be since one of Steam's selling points is the ability to have devs control release states of their games.

Especially ones with online connectivity. Players would at least have to wait for official server end of life before branch options be readily available to them, or devs would need to weak it so servers deny connection from older game builds.

Steam's not going to force this decision on developers, players should demand it of said Devs.

Originally posted by Teratus:

You can cancel the update in the downloads section.

But that only stops the auto download I think, you still won't be able to play the game thought steam without updating so that's still a problem.

Yes you can. You launch Steam in offline mode, which will not prompt the downloads to happen.

Originally posted by Eagle_of_Fire:

Yes you can. You launch Steam in offline mode, which will not prompt the downloads to happen.

I completely forgot about that XD

Do the workshop mods work in offline mode?
I checked if, it works, but I has the scary experience that steam would not let me back online until a complete relog of my account.

I can't say for certain.

But if you didn't update your game then it would make sense that they would still work.since you'd be running the same version of the game you have been previously in offline mode.

Originally posted by Tessrana:

Do the workshop mods work in offline mode?
I checked if, it works, but I has the scary experience that steam would not let me back online until a complete relog of my account.

Workshop mods work offline, but they update the moment you come online.