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STEAM announcements & updates 2012 Thread 2 - Bad Rats Daily Deal for next 6 months
- Thread starter MRORANGE
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Glass Rebel
Member
Oh shit, I gotta remember to revoke my activations for the Arkham games, thanks!
Rawket Lawnchair
Member
Check these horror stories here.
I double dipped on Arkham Asylum on both PS3 and PC, but since my PC version is pretty much mint (installed only once, I have it in my PC atm but haven't played it yet), I'll try to get rid of it soon. Same with Arkham City, GOTY PS3 version only.
If SecuROM is removed, I'll have no problem to double and triple dip, but now it's just not worth the effort. There are also topics in the WB forum where people ask for keys and a clarification on the matter, and their reply is pretty much "well, if people use up their installs, too bad for them".
jediyoshi
Member
I take it people are just mad at the idea of it, which is fine. Realistically it probably doesn't affect a majority of people, would love to see numbers on average how many activations people have used up.
let's paint you a pretty scenario.
You buy the game and you install it on your computer. Great, I used one out of the 10 installations I have.
I'm happily playing the game and BAM, my HDD starts to give up. For some reason, the windows installation is fucked and i need to reinstall the OS. It just died, I didn't have time to "release" my prior installation with the Revoking tool. You install another copy of windows. You want to keep playing the game (which didn't die, because it was on another partition/physical drive). You have to use another one of your activation. That first one? You can only revoke it from the machine it was installed.
Aw, screw it. I still have 8 left. So you keep playing the game. A couple months pass through and you get a nice bonus, or a Christmas gift. It's another video card! Oh, you're so pumped, now you'll be able to turn on all those Physics/tessellation options on the game... but the game detects the new video card as being part of another computer, and you have to use another activation. As it's a new computer, you can't revoke the prior authentication (unless you put your card back on - and even then it's not an exact science).
That's 1 activation used, 2 activations wasted by no fault of yours. Now translate that through a couple years. Or to a game that only gives you 4 or 5 activations. It's really fucked up.
You can work around the fact on GFWL saves. You can backup your profile information ONCE and you're safe for life (on all games, including ones that encrypt the save). On some cases, you can hex edit the saves back into submission after the fact, even if your HDD dies and you can't get your profile information back (like in GTA IV, which is non-encrypted). Some games even allow you to just copy the save into the different profile folder without any major tinkering (like Street Fighter IV, which doesn't even check the save against the profile). You can "fix" it if it's important enough.
Specially since there are utilities like GameSave Manager, which will automate and backup all your saves directly to DropBox (or other cloud storage solutions if you tinker with it), including your Games for Windows Profile, and restore them when needed.
Installation limits after the fact that you can't go back to the "other computer" (as it's the same fucking computer!) and "revoke" installations can't be dealt with.
Yeah this happened to a friend of mine with SFIV a bunch of times and he ended up having to email Capcom support until he got them back.
It's sad that my biggest concern about SecuROM is having games in my library I can't play, and thus would want to delete and forget about.
Install limits need to go away fast. I get the feeling that the companies don't give a damn, though, and will leave SecuROM in until it no longer works and no one can play.
Install limits need to go away fast. I get the feeling that the companies don't give a damn, though, and will leave SecuROM in until it no longer works and no one can play.
I was recently installing a game on a friend's laptop. Montecristo's D-Day, a RTS from 2004. It comes with StarForce, a copy protection that simply DOESN'T RUN on Windows 7, let alone the 64 bit version.
I had to acquire a NO-CD .exe with StarForce removed from it, by the community.
It's ridiculous.
Doesn't matter. Eventually it won't work. And if the community didn't manage to remove it from the games, you're screwed. But you'll probably use up all your installations before that. So it's even worse.
The problem with that argument is, it applies to Steam too. For games with SecuROM but no install limits, the only way it would stop working would be if the auth server goes down, and the same applies to Steam (or any other game that requires an initial online check).
And Steam would presumably be even worse than SecuROM's initial online check for people that have problems with Steam offline mode, since SecuROM supports offline play, doesn't it?
Except Valve said it will press the red button (liberating all games from the Authentication Servers) if it ever goes bankrupt. Offline mode works perfectly for me, despise what other people say in this thread.
SecuROM can't even give you extra installs today, while they're alive and kicking.
yellow submarine
Member
Ok guys, I need recommendations on which Men of War game to get. I already have the original title "Men of War" (Released: May 6, 2009) from the previous sale.
It took me a while to get around to playing it, and initially I didn't like how kludgy the interface seemed to be on first impression. Then I read about the repeated praise on GAF, and once I forced myself into it, I now like it more than I liked CoH. It still get a little repetitive/derivative, but the new maps in the campaign have kept me going (except the allies spy missions, fuck that shit, I just gave up about 3 missions into the campaign).
There seem to be a few more titles on sale, with DLC. So, should I get MoW: Assault Squad, Red Tide, Vietnam or Condemned Heroes. Or all of them? Or some of them? I ask since I remember everyone shitting on one of them saying it sucked compared to the others, but I can't remember which one it was.
It took me a while to get around to playing it, and initially I didn't like how kludgy the interface seemed to be on first impression. Then I read about the repeated praise on GAF, and once I forced myself into it, I now like it more than I liked CoH. It still get a little repetitive/derivative, but the new maps in the campaign have kept me going (except the allies spy missions, fuck that shit, I just gave up about 3 missions into the campaign).
There seem to be a few more titles on sale, with DLC. So, should I get MoW: Assault Squad, Red Tide, Vietnam or Condemned Heroes. Or all of them? Or some of them? I ask since I remember everyone shitting on one of them saying it sucked compared to the others, but I can't remember which one it was.
The thing with this is that it gets quoted a lot and apparently it comes from the Steam forums (Gabe), but no one can pin point where this claim originally comes from or find a source.
A friend of mine who somewhat cares about that franchise tells me the good ones are Men of War 1, Red Tide and Assault Squad.
She also said she would probably buy Assault Squad, as it's the newest one.
I don't like DRMs or limited installs and I like Steam! But there are even more problems with your arguments here:
1. "Steam" (Valve in particular) has never said that about the red button in a provable sense. We used to have arguments back in the days when Twig was around. As far as I know, the only time anyone had said something like that was a forum post by someone that has since been deleted. I think I personally sent Gabe an email or two about it, and of course I never got a response (even though I did get a response from a more recent email to him on a different subject).
There would presumably be huge license problems with Steam liberating games from the auth servers. Plus, if their assets were seized, or they were locked out of buildings, there's no guarantee an employee could try to do it anyway. If all their servers were shut down, they wouldn't have a WAY to send a patch out to everyone that would disable authentication. They would need to know ahead of time, have some legal way to do it, and send out their "red button" patch for say, a month or something to give everyone time to download it.
And as far as I'm aware, the Steam license agreement just says you have licenses to games, you don't "own" them, and they have no obligation to do any of the above.
2. Saying offline works perfectly for you "despise what other people say in this thread" is a problem because many people might say the same for SecuROM. Well, despite what people might say in that Steam forums thread, I don't think I've had problems with SecuROM. Does that mean there aren't problems with it? No, it just means I'm one of the majority, as is statistically to be expected.
3. Saying SecuROM can't give you additional installs may be true, if you are saying that it's the publisher's responsibility, but otherwise it's flat out wrong. Stallion Free, for example, was able to contact EA and get additional installs for Crysis 1 (an old SecuROM game with install limits but no revoke license option). That game MIGHT have even had the limits patched since I think Stallion was able to install again more recently without asking for another license, but I don't know for sure, or if there's a difference between Crysis 1 on Steam and Crysis 1 on Origin.
And if you're saying the publisher's (or whatever the right term is, EA in this case) responsibility, then yes, but the same is true for Steam. Valve can't give out additional keys in those cases where they have run out of keys for games during sales, and people have apparently had to wait a week or more because of it.
The post was deleted, but even if it still existed it'd be unreasonable to think it still applied given the wealth of third-party titles on the service. You can be sure Valve would remove the Steam DRM that permeates their own titles should the company ever find itself in a black hole, but anything else, I imagine, would require permission from the appropriate publisher -- something Valve can't assure.
Edit: Holy grammar, Batman.
yellow submarine
Member
Based on this, shintoki and the discussion from a couple of pages ago, I've got Red Tide and Assault Squad GOTY for now. Thanks guys!
True, I think the games which will have the most problems would be Steam title's with deep steamworks integration especially if they integrated into mp.
I agree with pretty much everything you said, except 2 points:
1) For me, Steam Offline mode works. I can switch to offline mode now and it works. I don't see how it will stop working if I do it properly (launch the game once while online). I tried it many times and it always worked. I will eventually run out of SecuROM installations and, from what I read most of the times, will be a pain in the ass to get new ones. For instance: I'll have to call EA to get new activations. But I live in Brazil. Which EA do I have to call? The Brazillian one or the US one? I bought my game on Steam, so I guess the US one? What if I didn't speak English?
Edit: I guess the answer to that argument is what happens when I change computers? I wouldn't be able to get online to re-register my games if the Authentication Servers went away. See argument number 2.
2) I agree that any kind of "DRM" is bad in the long run. For now, I can live with Valve's one, because it has never been a hassle for me, as opposed to every single other DRM solution out there, with the exception of one-use serial keys. Sure, they might not make the "red button" argument a reality. I believe they will.
The reality is that it's down to personal preference/opinions. And this is not the place to be discussed.
Yes, it says specifically that you don't own them:
http://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement/
You rent it. There's no ownership involved.
Am I understanding this right: If Steam goes down you can't start a title that hasn't been started before, because it requires an initial authentication to servers that no longer are there?
But every game ever produced states that you don't own the game, you just own a license to play whatever is inside the disc.
That's not new.
That's how offline mode works. Offline mode works as long as you run the game online once and authenticate your copy on Valve Servers.
Theoretically, if a Authentication Server goes down, but you already authenticated with the server before, if you go to offline mode, that game would work.
The disc isn't terminable*(to use a word from Valve's EULA.). When I read on Gaf that users that bought Sonic 4 Episode 2 had their game removed, because it was released too early, it says to me that Valve can remove games that are already downloaded at their discretion. Then I understand "terminable".
But if my game stops working for any reason, I can't reinstall it if I understand it correctly, because the authentication servers are gone.
*By the company that sold it, anyway. It's obviously not indestructable.
Dog Problems
Banned
DRM use to drive me crazy until I realized I play most games once and I'm done. If I like something enough to play through it again at a later point in time then I'll buy it again if I have to.
I game on a MBP with a 750GB hard-drive that is partitioned with about 280GB for Windows. Because I own far more games than I could actually fit in the ~250GB of free space I have for games, and I have a fairly fast internet connection, I uninstall and reinstall games on a very regular basis (and Steam is incredibly convenient in allowing me to do that with only a couple of clicks). I don't think there are any games I've uninstalled and reinstalled ten times yet, but I'm sure at some point there will be.
Adam Prime
hates soccer, is Mexican
oh yeah cool I wanted to buy bittrip runner anyway. I have no idea what those other games are though
JetBlackPanda
Member
So I just purchased Civ V for 6.74 from gamefly. Do I need to download via the gamefly installer?? how do I get it on steam?
I H8 Memes
Member
In Steam click on games tab at the top then click on "activate a product on steam".
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
I should really go back to Champions Online. It's been a while since I played there and they have added some new stuff.
JetBlackPanda
Member
Thanks! You do have to install the gamefly installer first then in your purchase history you click Get product key.
thanks again.
faceless007
Member
Man, I am really tempted by Batman AC on that Gamefly sale, but I'm a little wary to trust another DD service whose future is uncertain when I already got burned when D2D shut down (still don't have my Civ IV bundle). Plus Securom.
jediyoshi
Member
It's tied to GFWL. You'll just technically only ever need the installer again.
Dog Problems
Banned
Do the Quantum Conudrum TF2 items have any real world value?
jaundicejuice
Member
Well they've definitely made Civ V more unstable with the update just before Gods & Kings came out. Second time in nearly as many nights I've got this crash where the audio starts to stall while the A.I. turns are being processed, when the audio stops completely Civ V freezes and becomes unresponsive. The mouse icon alternates between the turn processing spinning globe and the standard mouse arrow. I have to call up task manager to kill the application. kinda lame.
It's kind of hard to judge the impact of religion and espionage with so little play time (roughly four hours). Religion definitely nudges me out of the fairly routine policy selection, now there's a definite reason to adopt Piety now given the advantages that religion can provide up until the modern era. Even if religion doesn't alter the behaviour of the A.I. Civ's (and it doesn't look like the A.I. is any less conflict-happy), depending on what you choose your beliefs can provide monetary, happiness, cultural and/or even scientific bonuses.
Espionage is harder to gauge since it takes until the Renaissance to activate and even then it takes reaching another era to gain more than one spy. You can use that spy to steal technology/research, gain early warning of an impending attack (which is pretty much always?) or plant a spy in one of your own cities to counter any ongoing espionage there (pretty much your capitol). I didn't plant any spies in city states and try to rig elections or anything like that.
It's kind of hard to judge the impact of religion and espionage with so little play time (roughly four hours). Religion definitely nudges me out of the fairly routine policy selection, now there's a definite reason to adopt Piety now given the advantages that religion can provide up until the modern era. Even if religion doesn't alter the behaviour of the A.I. Civ's (and it doesn't look like the A.I. is any less conflict-happy), depending on what you choose your beliefs can provide monetary, happiness, cultural and/or even scientific bonuses.
Espionage is harder to gauge since it takes until the Renaissance to activate and even then it takes reaching another era to gain more than one spy. You can use that spy to steal technology/research, gain early warning of an impending attack (which is pretty much always?) or plant a spy in one of your own cities to counter any ongoing espionage there (pretty much your capitol). I didn't plant any spies in city states and try to rig elections or anything like that.
Koroviev
Member
Do they only provide a key if it's a Steamworks game? I bought Civ V for my sister through Gamefly and registered the game on her Steam account.
Edit: Eh, doesn't look as though the game can be registered on Steam. Looks like I'll pass for the time being.
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Oh god, I was watching this video but I heard GABEN instead of Kevin
Fray still not working. The dev team said they'll throw in a free soundtrack and maybe something more (an extra achievement apparently) for the ones who already bought the game to make up for the launch mess.
Also: If you bought the game, you got a message saying that you'll receive a second free key to give to a friend. That is apparently wrong and only worked during the Preorder phase leading up to yesterdays launch of the alpha.
Quite a messy launch. Launching on steam and not expecting to have more than 40-50 concurrent players.
Also: If you bought the game, you got a message saying that you'll receive a second free key to give to a friend. That is apparently wrong and only worked during the Preorder phase leading up to yesterdays launch of the alpha.
Quite a messy launch. Launching on steam and not expecting to have more than 40-50 concurrent players.
Disappointing to hear the GOTY edition of Batman:AA doesn't automatically restore activations monthly if true. Bought it thinking that still applied. Was gonna pick up AC on the summer sale but now I'm not so sure.
As for the software itself from what I could tell it's not as intrusive as the old Bioshock version, no system service installed and none of those file names Windows explorer can't understand. GFWL was quite a headache though, took me two months to get my account working.
As for the software itself from what I could tell it's not as intrusive as the old Bioshock version, no system service installed and none of those file names Windows explorer can't understand. GFWL was quite a headache though, took me two months to get my account working.
http://tf2spreadsheet.blogspot.co.uk/
someone kept begging for my Quantum Conudrum items in tf2 last night, really annoying.
People actually added me on Steam only to ask for TF2 items, that stuff is highly annoying.
Valve really likes greek letters?
reptilescorpio
Member
$$$ for Valve with all the fans hoping if they buy $20million worth of goods Half Life 3 will unlock?
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