Who Has Had Valve Acknowledge They Exist?

[Sickmind]

It would seem with all the glitches that plague the game from release date forward, Valve would be doing its humble best to help those that reach out to them for support.

I have written them countless times, and to various e-mail addresses never to hear even one response, other than an automated one verifying they got my mail.

They have in essense given me the finger. Is there anyone out there that had a serious issue and actually heard back from them with a remedy???

If you have, please let me know how you did it, and what the issue was before the fix

Thx.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

What are we going to let you know? What issue?? .......

 

[Sickmind]

Let me know if you had an issue such as stuttering, memory errors, various forms of crashes, etc...let me know if you wrote to Valve, and if they responded in any genuine way.

I'm looking for someone out there that has been acknowledged and given support. From what I can tell so far, Valve's support is non-existant and they have sold us a piece of software that doen't work out of the box for everyone, yet don't offer help in any meaningful way to their customers.

I'm curious to know just who they respond to and under what circumstances.

This info will really help me determine if I should ever buy any product Valve puts out in the future. For now, they are frauds in my mind, but I am open to hearing that they have done right by others, even if not to me.

Thanks

 

[Ranga]

Let me know if you had an issue such as stuttering, memory errors, various forms of crashes, etc...let me know if you wrote to Valve, and if they responded in any genuine way.

I'm looking for someone out there that has been acknowledged and given support. From what I can tell so far, Valve's support is non-existant and they have sold us a piece of software that doen't work out of the box for everyone, yet don't offer help in any meaningful way to their customers.

I'm curious to know just who they respond to and under what circumstances.

This info will really help me determine if I should ever buy any product Valve puts out in the future. For now, they are frauds in my mind, but I am open to hearing that they have done right by others, even if not to me.

Thanks

www.steampowered.com

look in the forums, and ask for a solution there... or try here.

 

[Sickmind]

Thanks, I know where I should be writing for help, its just that I've never heard back from anyone for any reason.

I'm looking for someone to respond in this forum that they actually got personalized help! I'd like to know what the circumstances were in getting this help.

I've been writting to Valve since the game came out, and have never gotten any feedback directly from Valve.

It's great that the online community is able to use our collective heads in trying to prop each other up, but I want the maker of the game, the one that offers qualified technical support to respond and offer solutions to me for my issues, and to date they have not.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

Have you had any game developer who answered such an e-mail?

 

[v1p3r]

I sent an email to gabe back in the 'OMG THE SHIELD SUX LOL WTF' days sugesting some comprimises and he replied personaly

 

[Ferroque]

Apart from occasional stuttering at high/medium settings, I've had no problems, and the game has never crashed. This is on a GF4 Ti4600, mind.

EDIT: And the last time I bothered updating my drivers was in 2003, for ****s sake.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

I've actually gotten replies from VALVe, just not about a technical problem. So have many people. Very few developing companies will do that.

 

[No-live 2]

Problem: My computer wouldnt run the game
Fix: Bought me all brand new computer.

 

[Sickmind]

I think I'm being reasonable

I guess I'm frustrated by their offers of help...but no actual action. They made their support addresses, and steam forum an easy way to access them but they don't seem to actually follow through with any real help. Anything I've ever learned about improving my game experience has come from the gamers in the forums so thank God for them...but really they can only go so far. I'm technically saavy and need advanced technical help beyond what the forums can offer. Otherwise my problems would be fixed, right?

So many many many people have various technical issues one of two things must be true: Either there are deep problems with the source engine and Valve is unable to help, or Valve hasn't been effective in communicating the needed support to run the game on various "off the shelf" componants.

I'm not looking for special attention, I just want my game to run...I did pay good money for it after all (and waited a few years) .

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

So many many many people have various technical issues one of two things must be true: Either there are deep problems with the source engine and Valve is unable to help, or Valve hasn't been effective in communicating the needed support to run the game on various "off the shelf" componants.

Funny you say these "problems" because most of the time people have an issue its either thier hardware or how their windows is configured. VALVe cannot know everyones pc specs, so thats why when you fill out a support ticket you need to give detail about your whole computer etc. They aren't going to be able to help you if you don't. Most issues I've seen on steam are really easy to solve but the people won't do what the community tells them to do, to fix it.

 

[Sickmind]

Well I think you are generalizing quite a bit. There are still thousands of people out there that can't enjoy the game they paid for, and I am one of them...and I know how to follow directions. I've done EVERTHING the forums have suggested and nothing has worked. I would follow Valve's direction too if only they would offer me some.

Why are you attacking me anyway? I'm just asking if anyone out there has ever had Valve offer a solution to a technical problem. So far no one can say they have...hmmm

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

Well I think you are generalizing quite a bit. There are still thousands of people out there that can't enjoy the game they paid for, and I am one of them...and I know how to follow directions. I've done EVERTHING the forums have suggested and nothing has worked. I would follow Valve's direction too if only they would offer me some.

Why are you attacking me anyway? I'm just asking if anyone out there has ever had Valve offer a solution to a technical problem. So far no one can say they have...hmmm

Like I said some of those thousands are just not filling out a support ticket with enough information so VALVe could help them out. For the most part when support tickets get answered it fixes their problem.

Sorry I didn't mean to make it seem like I was attacking you, please don't take it that way, I was just giving out another side of the issue too.

 

[Sickmind]

Have you had any game developer who answered such an e-mail?

I've never had issues such as these with another game. Ever.

Back in the early '90's I did have some issues with a Blizzard title and they were able to help me by offering a telephone number to call for support within the game manual.

Imagine that...person to person communication! Ah, the good old days.

 

[ToeCutter]

Funny you say these "problems" because most of the time people have an issue its either thier hardware or how their windows is configured. VALVe cannot know everyones pc specs, so thats why when you fill out a support ticket you need to give detail about your whole computer etc. They aren't going to be able to help you if you don't. Most issues I've seen on steam are really easy to solve but the people won't do what the community tells them to do, to fix it.

I was just waiting for someone to drop the "Valve doesn't have time to test every <whatever>".

Some of the polls on the web show this probem afflicting as many as 80% of those who voted. So, let's say considering that half of those are full of it for various reasons (don't know what "defrag" means, trying to run @ 1600x1200 with a Radeon 8500, playing HL2 while compressing DivX, whatever..). That still leaves 40% of Valve's customers (this is important, we'll come back to it later) with a game that is essentially UNPLAYABLE.

Would anyone argue that Valve has no obligation to offer some help with the issue? If your system meets the minimum system requirements (specs described my none other than....VALVE!), shouldn't one expect the game to at least be playable ? This is to say nothing of those who are using considerably high-end rigs (mine included).

Most issues I've seen on steam are really easy to solve but the people won't do what the community tells them to do, to fix it.

Yeah. Right. That's what were doing here. Trying to find answers to ignore. Gimme a break, man.

My system specs FAR exceed the minimum, and I've even gone so far as to provide HL2 with a dedicated, fresh WinXP SP2 install, eliminating the system variables you feel Valve shouldn't be held accountable for. There is nothing else on my system to conflict with HL2, unless you consider Windows XP and the neccessary drivers to run the hardware the culprits that are the cause of the stuttering.

Too many consider this problem to be a case of low FPS. It's not. The game litterally stops COLD for anywhere from 5-10 seconds. accompanied by the annoying looped sound bite. This ain't right, bubba. There's no other way to slice it.

Valve will not answer emails. Period. I'm not even sure why they provide an email link. It seems that Valve is just going through the motions with this problem. They are quite literally ignoring paying customers who feel they've purchased a defective product. It's unfortunate. Valve once held "darling" status among the vast majority of gamers. Now, everyone's asking hard questions about how dedicated Valve really are to the gaming community. Don't take my word for it. Take a trip around town and read some other forums. There's venomous talk about Valve and how they're dealing with this issue. Perhaps Valve will eventually take note, perhaps they won't. But these things always have a way of working themselves out. Ask John Romero.

Our PCs are fine. Half Life 2 is broken ...