Steam for Linux Guide

removing unity analytics for Steam for Linux

removing unity analytics

Overview

some steps to protect your privacy at the cost of not helping unity games.sudo chattr +i will be your friend here, it prevents reading and writing files or folders.note this also prevents deleting the file/folder or making any changes to the file/folder

locations:

the folder we are looking for is called “Analytics”
under that folder is “Analytics/ArchivedEvents”

one simple catch all is to run this at the root ‘~/.config/unity3d’ directory

sudo find . -type d -name “ArchivedEvents” -exec chattr +i ‘s/(.*)/$1/’ {} +

a more advanced approach would be to delete the folders UNDER “ArchivedEvents” first then chattr +i

secondly we can attempt to stop with the config file at: “Analytics/ArchivedEvents”
config should contain this string (one complete line)

{“prefs”:{},”analytics”:{“enabled”:false},”connect”:{“limit_user_tracking”:true,”player_opted_out”:true,”enabled”:false},”performance”:{“enabled”:false}}

after you can chattr +i config to prevent changes

here are some folder locations to be aware of

linux locations:

$USER/.config/unity3d

proton:

$USER/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/$APPID/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/LocalLow

windows/proton:

C:UsersUSERAppDataLocalLow

note for windows, you can make the “ArchivedEvents” folder Read-Only or remove the write permission on security tab. im unsure, i havent tested this in years.
see icacls or cacls if you want to use a command-prompt.

Hosts file blocking ip:

warning about host blocking, it might block cloud saves for some games or other statistics.
block these domains to prevent files from ever reaching unity

Hosts file blocking ip:

0.0.0.0 stats.unity3d.com
0.0.0.0 cdp.cloud.unity3d.com
0.0.0.0 public.cloud.unity3d.com
0.0.0.0 api.uca.cloud.unity3d.com
0.0.0.0 config.uca.cloud.unity3d.com
0.0.0.0 perf-events.cloud.unity3d.com
0.0.0.0 data-optout-service.uca.cloud.unity3d.com

linux hosts file location:

/etc/hosts

windows hosts file

C:WindowsSystem32driversetchosts

why 0.0.0.0 instead of 127.0.0.1
0.0.0.0 is a null ip entirely, it wont go anywhere.
127.0.0.1 is a loopback localhost so it will try to send it to yourself
both will work, one avoids sending data.

thanks to

big thanks goes out to
[link]

for keeping tabs on games contacting the internet and their domain blocking hosts files.
example of what unity gets from your analytics:
[link]

SteamSolo.com