Steam is a good idea but...

burner69

burner69

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They need to get it sorted out!

OK, firstly, the extra time it took when I first bought HL2 was insane. Seriously, it took a good hour and a half from inserting the disc to getting it running. Perhaps an hour of that was 'unlocking files'. Sort it out, not acceptable. Ok ok, servers were busy (I got it the second day) but a) We all knew it would be busy; I gave you £40 Valve, run more servers. b) Did I really need to have so MANY files locked in the first place?

Now, updates.

Restart steam? What's all that about? Why doesn't it just... update? But only a minor annoyance.

BIG annoyance: Updates screwing with my game. Recently, after the DM update (I believe) my HL2 files were... meddled with, it seems.
Altho my saved games were retained, the game seemed to forget I had unlocked all the chapters, and my last proper save was at Ravenholm - THANKS VALVE :thumbs:
I had to reconfig all my controls. Why? Why suddenly is forwards w and back s etc. Leave my controls alone Valve.
Stopping me from playing in offline mode for a few days, unknown why. And becoz Steam servers were busy it took my several attempts over several hours to show my mate the game.

So at the moment I don't like Steam, and it worries me a little that if other games follow suit we'll have dozens of all but useless programs filling up space and resources.

It's a good idea, but please Valve, get it right!
 
Obviously because if it autoupdated they could have a potential of all users updating at the same time.

The restart is a nessecary part of the proces, regardless if automatic or manual.

Loading the savegame should give you the chapters back.

Offline mode had a bug where you had to setup steam to remember passwords to go into offline mode, it's fixed.
 
As annoying as it is, its worth the wait
 
I hated it when i first started using it because it used about 65 megs of ram o_O Im low on ram as it is, so that really made gaming worse. Then i got a new video card and it only uses about fifteen :-/ Go figure.

What bothers me about steam is valiating the files -_-
I hate waiting 20 minutes every other day to play
 
My last save is Ravenholm ;( If anyone's got a savegame of the last level I'd appreciate it.

Cheerz guys!
 
try this in your config file

sv_unlockedchapters "14"
 
yeah, i hate steam, although it is 'helping' people get to there games quicker /rolls eyes it has alot more errors and crap, VALVe like it because it lures gamers into buying more, because if you bought the produck 'you could be playing straight away' -_-'
/ends rant
 
because of steams shittyness, i cant even get into halflife2. and i paid 130 for it :)

*wins*
 
They could solve Steams suckiness if they just removed it from single player! I'm coll with having updating, app type thing to take care of multi cause it's the nature of the beast for for gods sake FREE SINGLE PLAYER!

BTW Did anybody else connect the dots of an all seeing government with flying robots that take your picture and guards who take up your time, confirm your identity and make you play by their rules with Steam. That's all I was thinking the whole game.
 
TrevorGrigg said:
They could solve Steams suckiness if they just removed it from single player! I'm coll with having updating, app type thing to take care of multi cause it's the nature of the beast for for gods sake FREE SINGLE PLAYER!

BTW Did anybody else connect the dots of an all seeing government with flying robots that take your picture and guards who take up your time, confirm your identity and make you play by their rules with Steam. That's all I was thinking the whole game.
Click to expand...


Yes, It was eerie when Alyx walked over to a metrocop and willingly paid him for his continued service.

Next, equate Lombardi to Hitler. They both have hands...
 
CriYam said:
Yes, It was eerie when Alyx walked over to a metrocop and willingly paid him for his continued service.

Next, equate Lombardi to Hitler. They both have hands...
Click to expand...

That sarcasm sounds an awful lot like instinct to me. Consider yourself reported.
 
Yeah, Steam needs to be fixed up. I personally haven't had any issues here but I've heard of lots. I do, however, think that the SP does need to be regulated to cut down on piracy; it's not even close to 100% effective yet but it does help-- TrevorGrigg admitted to finding HL2 too hard to pirate in another thread (edited now though). It doesn't make sense to leave the SP completely open to pirates when you spend so much time/effort/money on it.
 
I edited it cause nobody can take a joke here. Frankly I think steam makes people want to pirate. It's such a pain in the ass for so many people, that a big download with an exe makes life much easier.
 
Steam is the future but it's the first time it's been done. Valve will learn their lessons but it's a necessary feature and one that will reward everyone in the long run.

As long as you're on broadband that is... ;)
 
FISKER_Q said:
Obviously because if it autoupdated they could have a potential of all users updating at the same time.
Click to expand...
Not really a problem ; just get it to do a quick enquiry to the servers at a random time (every 5 minutes or so). More likely they've done it this way because Steam was a one man job and he made some strange design decisions that are now hard to change.

Offline mode had a bug where you had to setup steam to remember passwords to go into offline mode, it's fixed.
Click to expand...
I still want a button on the Steam menu that says 'Go Offline'. It's pretty obvious to me that they don't want casual users doing this, and that worries me.
 
Having to go online, with NO other option of activation, through steam is unacceptable to play a single player game. Steam can get stuffed. Vavle need to stop obsessing with Steam, and give players some flexibility in how they manage and play their games.
 
Took me 25 mins to unlock hl2. Takes me a total of omfg 5 secs to restart steam...... wth are people complaining about now?

Steam = The best.
 
Actually you'll find restarting steam is probably the best way to get updates. If Steam itself isnt up and running you can change config files and stuff without the danger of it messing up. Having an autoupdate functionality also uses a lot of bandwidth with all the steam clients constantly interrogating the servers for info on if theres a new update.

I've had no problems with steam, for me it works fine. I can't wait until you all start complaining about Battlefield 2, as they are going to make having a broadband connection pretty much a requirement :).

They don't want casual users using offline mode? It comes up as an option automatically if you start steam without an internet connection running. and if you have an internet connection up when you start it, whats wrong?
 
Wilco said:
They don't want casual users using offline mode? It comes up as an option automatically if you start steam without an internet connection running. and if you have an internet connection up when you start it, whats wrong?
Click to expand...
There are times when I want to have an internet connection but still run Steam offline. It's dumb that you have to disconnect your Internet for this. It would be so easy for them to add a 'go offline' button - considering some of the other unnecessary junk that's in Steam, how about they give us some of the important stuff?
 
Steam has worked great for me. I like having all of my games right there with each other so I can chose them easily. Also, the automatic updates are great...that way I know my server or my client is up to date with most folks out there.

It hasn't messed up yet with me. I preordered on Steam about two months ahead of release and it's been great since.

Timech
 
i'm a steam fan, didn't have to leave my house to try and find a copy of hl2. got the killer silver package. don't have to pay attention to patch's as it let's me know when new ones come out. etc. etc. good stuff in my book
 
This is getting tedious.

Numero Uno.

You DO NOT have to have steam in online mode to play games.

Numero... er... Two...

Select to NOT automatically update your games in steam for a relaxed gaming experince.

Numero Three-o

Backup all of the downloaded files via a relevant button in... YES!! YOU GUESSED IT! Steam...

Numero Four (oh, bugger it all...)

RTFM!!!

Number five

RTFM!!!

(yes, I know, that technically it was only number four, but it was so important that I thought mentioning it twice would do the trick...)

Number six.

Stop complaining about the game not working, because according to the official VALVe survey (here come the numbers):

- Second place take the nVidia GeForce MX owners
- half of the people, owning PCs have no idea which CPU they have
- 30% of people are "undetermined" on their disc drive
- 40% of people have no idea that their CPU supports SSE 2
- over 30% of people have absolutely no inkling of an idea as to what their resolution is
- over 47% of people are still using 16 bpp (bits per pixel or color depth, 29% unspecified)

Bottom line: if you want intelligent answers - do your homework and ask intelligent questions!
 
Mr.Wotsit said:
I have to say, I wouldn't mind a go offline button.
Click to expand...

DAMNITTTTT!!!! There IS a go offline button!!!!!!!!!!

edit: sorry about that... but there is such a button.
 
it's good to hear someone complain about steam without being a complete douchebag about it. THUMBS UP :thumbs:
 
Actually I don't see what's there to complain about, apart from the horrible times it takes to download (56k modem... bleh). Even here, in backwater Russia I had no problems with it whatsoever...


Just my 2 kopeks...

P.S. Getting 2 Mbit DSL next week = total bliss...
 
Dangher said:
You DO NOT have to have steam in online mode to play games.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure anyone said that you did.

Everybody knows 2/3, 4-5 (what manual?) and 6... only geeks know those things anyway :)

And where is the 'go offline' button? Have I missed it?
 
I am not going to engage in polemics on the subject of right clicking... 'nuff said.

P.S. If you right click on Half-Life 2 in Steam you will have an option of "Read the manual"... And, please, do not exclude people who bought the boxed version from you list - not everybody downloads games...

edit: erm... my bad... Sorry about that, no manual... Damn Valve... But seriously, you have to be in the stone age not to figure out the controls for steam...
 
Dangher said:
I am not going to engage in polemics on the subject of right clicking... 'nuff said.
Click to expand...
What on earth are you referring to?

P.S. If you right click on Half-Life 2 in Steam you will have an option of "Read the manual"
Click to expand...
Yes, but it's a 'cheat sheet', hardly a manual. And it's nothing to do with Steam. Don't fling around 'RTFM's unless it's appropriate.

Guess you did - "Start in offline mode"
Click to expand...
Where is that option? I'm not being ornery, I genuinely haven't seen that.
 
Am I the only one who can't get my Friend list working? It keeps deleting itself and it doesn't show when my friends are online
 
burner69 said:
They need to get it sorted out!

OK, firstly, the extra time it took when I first bought HL2 was insane. Seriously, it took a good hour and a half from inserting the disc to getting it running. Perhaps an hour of that was 'unlocking files'. Sort it out, not acceptable. Ok ok, servers were busy (I got it the second day) but a) We all knew it would be busy; I gave you £40 Valve, run more servers. b) Did I really need to have so MANY files locked in the first place?

Now, updates.

Restart steam? What's all that about? Why doesn't it just... update? But only a minor annoyance.

BIG annoyance: Updates screwing with my game. Recently, after the DM update (I believe) my HL2 files were... meddled with, it seems.
Altho my saved games were retained, the game seemed to forget I had unlocked all the chapters, and my last proper save was at Ravenholm - THANKS VALVE :thumbs:
I had to reconfig all my controls. Why? Why suddenly is forwards w and back s etc. Leave my controls alone Valve.
Stopping me from playing in offline mode for a few days, unknown why. And becoz Steam servers were busy it took my several attempts over several hours to show my mate the game.

So at the moment I don't like Steam, and it worries me a little that if other games follow suit we'll have dozens of all but useless programs filling up space and resources.

It's a good idea, but please Valve, get it right!
Click to expand...
These arent really all that bad, when you consider the benefits.

eg: a world without steam... *wavey lines mode* weeee back in time.

HL2 release, two weeks after some pirate group released it anyway

Valve make a patch for some bugs, nobody can DL it because fileplanet got swamped and they didn't want anyone else to mirror it because they wanted their own ads to make money

week later the update is downloadable by most people.. Only for it to be buggy

Cue another long wait for that to be fixed, in the meantime people are being forced to play HL2DM with newbies kicking anyone who kills them

Update finally released

People confused and don't know which update to get, many threads around the different forums complaining about not being able to play


So basically, steam ain't so bad, if you've got a connection to the net.
 
The Dark Elf said:
eg: a world without steam... *wavey lines mode* weeee back in time.

People confused and don't know which update to get, many threads around the different forums complaining about not being able to play
Click to expand...
Yeah, but they could have done that with an in-game auto-updater. It didn't need some separate application like Steam. I agree Steam isn't so bad, but if it takes off someone like EA will re-implement it in a far more evil way.

(Dangher: DSL line)

(Frank : That's a pretty common problem - see http://steampowered.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/steampowered.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=71 )
 
I do not like STEAM for store bought single player game, period.

What is the next step in controlling gaming?

We will have to call Valve and verify our identity and game code via the phone before we can play and wait on hold for hours before we can play?

Is Microsoft going to follow Valve's lead and have us verify our operating system before we can use our computers?

Communists starts out slow with little things like STEAM for single player store bought and then grows and grows into larger things.

It’s hard for me to believe an “AMERICAN” who believes in freedom like Gabe Newell would allow this to happen.

Gabe Newell needs to do the right thing and take off STEAM for the single player game.
 
johnadaniels said:
I do not like STEAM for store bought single player game, period.

What is the next step in controlling gaming?

We will have to call Valve and verify our identity and game code via the phone before we can play and wait on hold for hours before we can play?

Is Microsoft going to follow Valve's lead and have us verify our operating system before we can use our computers?

Communists starts out slow with little things like STEAM for single player store bought and then grows and grows into larger things.

It’s hard for me to believe an “AMERICAN” who believes in freedom like Gabe Newell would allow this to happen.

Gabe Newell needs to do the right thing and take off STEAM for the single player game.
Click to expand...

Woah, slow down there Billy Bob, why bring in the communist/"true American" bullshit discussion? That was uncalled for.
 
I can understand some complaints if you are still a 56ker, but you can get some higher speed connections for around 20 bucks a month these days. And I don't see much of a delay at all when updating. And like somebody else implied, you don't have to wait for months to get a patch.
 
fredbass said:
I can understand some complaints if you are still a 56ker, but you can get some higher speed connections for around 20 bucks a month these days. And I don't see much of a delay at all when updating. And like somebody else implied, you don't have to wait for months to get a patch.
Click to expand...

I think that is one of the biggest reasons to go to steam. I like not having to got find a patch and then installing it. Steam just checks if I need one and downloads it. I think it is very convenient.
 
I don't like the fact that I can't control what Steam is doing. It
updates just when I want to conc out of the flag room (Team
Fortress) or just when I'm in a melee fight.

I don't like the ads - they seem to be put there 'because they can
be put there'.

I don't like the fact that I can be banned from Steam without any
recourse. What if I'm innocent? What if all I had installed was a
utility that blanks out those ads I didn't want (yeah, its against
the click-through EULA, I know that). What if some virus or worm
just tweaks one or two binaries wrong and the checksums don't
match anymore and VAC decides you've installed a cheat.
There's nowhere to complain, you'll stay banned.


And finally I don't like the fact that Valve can decide to put pay-for-play
in Steam any time they want to. Pff, they could feature fullscreen
ads between each map load on CS, DOD or TFC.

Now, for the patient people who read all the way to here: whether
Valve is likely to do this, is an entirely different story.
Also: Valve is a business, blah blah, rights to a profit, blah blah,
if you are banned then you probably deserve it, etc, etc. I know
all that.

Yes, Valve now, in 2004, is a good company. We generally trust
the people who are in charge of Valve. What if those people
leave? What if it is sold, grows, or goes the way of EA (that is,
zero respect for customers)?

If Steam is shown to be a success (i.e. protests can be ignored)
then other companies will copy this mechanism or join Steam and
one of those companies might be tempted to push the
envelope and hose the customers.

For all of this I think Steam is a bad(tm) thing.

Thank you for reading.
 
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