Steam while capped

[Raevinn]

So I just got my dsl line this month, and i have a 30gig local cap left to blast. Anyways, was wondering if its possible for me to get steam to update and download css through it. I know theres a local host for steam updates, but it won't let me connect.

 

[Pada]

Both IS (public) & WebAfrica (private) have Steam content servers. You should be able to download from the IS one, but not from the WA one unless you have a WA account.
The problem with Steam is that if you have even the slightest amount of international cap/access, then it would try to update from the international Steam content servers too.

For that reason, you can have a look at SteamWatch 3, which polls for the open Steam TCP connections and close them if they do not match the allowed IP addresses that you've specified.

 

[Raevinn]

I did install Steamwatch 3, but it wont allow my steam to connect at all.

 

[Pada]

Do you still have international cap left? The local Steam servers are only content servers and NOT authentication servers!

 

[fragtion]

In Steam options, you can set your region - set this to Africa - once you've done that, it should download game content (if available) from the local CONTENT servers. This does not mean you will be able to log into Steam with only local bandwidth, though...
The steam network consists of different type of servers: Authentication servers (required to log into steam) are not globally distributed, only content servers are.
Edit: Pada beat me to it

 

[Deleted member 78630]

and even setting your region to Africa, it's not a guarantee that it will connect every time to the local server.

 

[ToAsTeD]

and even setting your region to Africa, it's not a guarantee that it will connect every time to the local server.

Yeah, i think it switches you to intl servers if there is high load on SA content servers. Coz sometimes its local ips other times not.

 

[Techrat]

Imo and experience using the local servers is entirely hit and miss, all you can do is use Steamwatch with the right IPs and Steam region setting and hope for the best.

 

[Pada]

I think you should actually be able to configure Windows 7's firewall to block all the Steam downloads from international servers, by blocking TCP ports 27030-27031 for all IP addresses other than steam.is.co.za & steam.wa.co.za.
I haven't tried this, but this would be better than to use SteamWatch.

 

[HavocXphere]

I did install Steamwatch 3, but it wont allow my steam to connect at all.

You need to config it properly. Go to mygaming.co.za find the tutorial for the webafrica steam server & change the IP to IS server if necessary.