Examples: diablo 4 on blizzard client will let you play it before the full game is installed. The ps5 also let’s you do this when installing a new game. But I’ve never seen this option on steam games.
88·1 year ago- the launcher starts with updating itself and grabbing the most recent file manifest
- launcher then prioritizes the game engine itself before starting on the data files
- data files (textures, models, maps, etc.) are then prioritized by what the developer thinks you are most likely to encounter first (ie. starter towns, main cities, new content, etc.)
- once the game engine is ready and some certain amount of base data is downloaded, the game will be marked as playable
- most likely you will never notice anything but if you zone into an area where the data hasn’t been downloaded yet then you’ll get some lag and texture flickering as the game tries to shove that content to the front of the queue