Thread: Fuming on Steam

Where exactly? Inside a folder in Steam? I've been doing that all my life inside a folder named Games on C:

In the steam games list. Not that I'm saying a well organized game folder structure is bad though.

Err... I don't get it. You trust your HD to the point of not making CD/DVD backups of software you buy online? And if space is the issue... well, with only a few exceptions where I want to keep the box when I think it will become a valuable asset later (did you know for instance that someone once offered me 2,000 USD for my Eye of the Beholder trilogy originals? Can you get that from a download?), I trash boxes and even jewel cases. I keep the CD/DVDs on a rather convenient and easily storable multi-CD briefcase.

Obviously I meant you don't need to have a CD/DVD in the CD/DVD Rom to play it as most games today requires. Luckily there seems to be a trend to remove this (thanks Blizzard for your latest SC/War3 patches ). As for the actual game data you can redownload from Steam any time you want on any computer you like so you're not screwed if your computer dies. I've also seen a backup option on Steam. Never tried it so I'm not sure what it does but my guess is it backs up savegames and similar.

Ah! As if I would trust game patches the day they were launched. As if we all didn't quickly learn the word "rollback" at least once in our lives. No, thank you. I want to take control of my machine and the software I have inside. That means manual patching. But, most important, you are right. It may mean something to some people who simply don't want to bother and just see their games update automatically. But offline distribution can also guarantee auto-patching. No news there.

If that's the case you can disable autopatching

Subjective to say the least. 4 GBs, 5 minutes later? In your dreams on the vast majority of the world. A 15 minute drive gets me a game that takes 4 days to download on the vast majority of people computers and, on most cases, may break their connection downstream limit and gift them with an interesting internet bill come the end of the month.

It took at most 20 mins from when I first heard of ID's super pack (all quake/doom/wolfenstein/keen/hexen games in one chunk) to when I started playing Quake1. If that's a good thing can be discussed .

err... And? You can't do that otherwise?

I definitely wouldn't bring my game CD's to work, that's for sure...

Originally Posted by Magos

I've also seen a backup option on Steam. Never tried it so I'm not sure what it does but my guess is it backs up savegames and similar.

It backups the entire game (including settings and saved games) allowing you to burn to cd/dvd and reinstall later. Can I deny this to be an excellent feature? Of course not.

Look Magos, the issue is that for the most part Steam offers no features that couldn't be offered some other way. Games under the same Menu? Give me a break. What's the Start Menu for?

Despite that, my gripe is not if Steam is good or bad. I don't really care if some people are willing to suffer through it in order to play games. My issue is simply that I spent money and I ended up resorting to an illegal copy because their system, for all that really matters to me, isn't installable on anyone with poor internet connection even when that person just wants to play offline. That, means Steam blows.

Yet another plus in favor of consoles vs. PC's for games. Until a console decides to require a broadband connection to play the single player side of a game for some reason

to require a broadband connection to play the single player side of a game for some reason

It's to reduce piracy. And it's only the first time that's required. After that you can play in "offline mode" if you want (though you won't have access to online features, obviously).

You can't without an internet connection.

Ah. You mean non steam games.

So... just out of curiosity... then what? What's so special about non steam games on steam? They run faster? You get the cheat codes? You hardware is suddenly more responsive? The get a discount? A voucher perhaps? No... I remember now, You get to have all your games shortcuts inside Steam.

Man, that's just awesome!

There is nothing wrong in offering broadband services to people who have it. It can, indeed, be a quality service.
However, just as there is one side of the coin, there must be another. Some do not have broadband or sufficient speeds. Therefore, it must allow for non-Internet play easily, without complication.

My experiences with Steam a long time ago was... poor at best. I don't know how it has evolved, mainly because noone of the things I want are Steam-tied.

Thats why I use this littel section of the task bar called quick launch.

Organize stuff in folders is possible too. I tend to do that.
Like Stuff -> Games
Or Stuff -> Videos
Stuff -> Music
(In case you have stuff spread out a little everywhere, this is perfect.)
Otherwise it's possible to group stuff in the start-menu, such as a Games subfolder.