How to stop Diablo 3 background download in game?

I have a somewhat slow internet (2MBs), but the real problem is that I have a really small data cap during the day.

I'm currently downloading the game (at night) but since I have a slow connection this will take a while.

I've reached the playable level in the download in the launcher, but even though I've paused the download, whenever I go in game, the background download goes back to full speed as soon as I hit the hero selection screen. Is there any way to stop it or limit it to only essential things instead of it resuming downloading everything in game?

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3 Answers

You can't. AIUI When it reaches the "playable" stage it has the game code downloaded, but not all of the assets. As you play, it streams levels, textures, sound effects, etc as (or before) they are needed. As such, it is only playable by downloading stuff as it goes. If you want to play without this happening, you will need to wait for the download to finish first.

While you could try to Check to make sure "Pause updates when I launch game" in Battle.net settings like in this screenshot

or you could create a shortcut to "Diablo III.exe" and add -launch in target field in properties of the shortcut to bypass battle.net software. Example: (Replace the path with your own)

I would recommend finding a way to finish the download however, because "playable" only means you have enough for the first act or maybe two, there's still information required to be downloaded to play the full game.

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Click the Installation & Updates Options then Settings. That should let you change how its downloading when you are playing. I've had to do this because mine continued to download (much like yours).

There is not a way to download only "essential" things. Or better yet there is only a way to download "essential" things.

Background Download