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[Grief.exe]

Sure, people can have profile issues with GFWL that causes problems with save files. There's plenty of reasons to be unhappy with GFWL (and be happy that it's possibly being removed from these games), but by far the most common problem with losing Batman AC saves was the game itself.

Your first statement was GFWL had nothing to do with the corruption/deletion of saves. When it most assuredly does.

I don't think we are here to argue which is the cause of the most lost saves. We don't have access to that data and anything we say on the issue would be useless.

GFWL handles saves in a much more complicated way then it should because they are trying to protect the integrity of achievements. That's why the simple task of backing up saves virtually requires a third party utility. It's not surprising that save corruption is relatively common.

Microsoft ruined almost a decade of PC games for what? Achievements?

Thanks.

What you said is very true though.

 

[fargofallout]

Arkham City is one of those games I feel silly for having never played, and the only reason I haven't purchased it for dirt cheap on Steam or Amazon is because of GFWL. If this finally happens, I will be a happy person.

 

[Nabs]

Microsoft ruined almost a decade of PC games for what? Achievements?

Thanks.

What you said is very true though.

Microsoft... and Sony came together to put a stop to PC gaming. We need a fanfic.

 

[Grief.exe]

Arkham City is one of those games I feel silly for having never played, and the only reason I haven't purchased it for dirt cheap on Steam or Amazon is because of GFWL. If this finally happens, I will be a happy person.

I picked up Bioshock 2 before I looked for DRM. I have yet to play it.

I can't wait to install B2, Minerva's Den, and AC to experience them for the first time.

Microsoft... and Sony came together to put a stop to PC gaming. We need a fanfic.

Would be hilarious.

 

[Struct09]

Your first statement was GFWL had nothing to do with the corruption/deletion of saves. When it most assuredly does.

I don't think we are here to argue which is the cause of the most lost saves. We don't have access to that data and anything we say on the issue would be useless.

The game borked my save shortly after it was released, and I followed the Rocksteady forums an unhealthy amount waiting for the fix Back then the vast majority of posts to their technical issue forum was related to corrupt saves, but if you look at it today you don't see many (if any) people complaining about it.

 

[Grief.exe]

Bumping this for the new page

Huge news! This is, honestly, probably one of the largest pieces of evidence we have seen yet.

This update just went through for Arkham City

• less than a minute ago Added showcdkeyonlaunch_macos – 0
• less than a minute ago Added showcdkeyinmenu_macos – 0
• less than a minute ago Changed changenumber – 259930 › 259939
• 9 minutes ago Removed cddbfingerprint – -693650002
• 9 minutes ago Changed LegacyKeyRegistryLocation –
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Valve\TestApp200260\SteamKey › HKEY_CURRENT_USER

They turned off showing cd key on launch, which is a necessity for GFWL games.

From what I can tell, they also completely removed where the CD Key was previously stored. If they remove the key, then Securom's registry entry cannot reference it properly for activation limits. Need a little more evidence on this one.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SecuROM

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\SecuROM.

 

[Big_Al]

Come on you bastards, get on with it and get that shit removed.

 

[Sentenza]

I swear if they do it I'm going to play AC all over again.
It's been a while anyway, so I'm going to enjoy it.

 

[Grief.exe]

Come on you bastards, get on with it and get that shit removed.

I swear if they do it I'm going to play AC all over again.
It's been a while anyway, so I'm going to enjoy it.

Can't stop this hype train.

 

[Amir0x]

oh man -finally- they get Minerva's Den on Steam, thank the lords

 

[syko de4d]

wow i would buy Bioshock 2 + DLC than

And maybe reinstall Batman

 

[73V3N]

I hope it happens soon, I really wanna play Batman.

 

[Ifrit]

But what's going to happen to people who actually bought minerva's den on GFWL marketplace?

Like me

 

[blackMamba1187]

But what's going to happen to people who actually bought minerva's den on GFWL marketplace?

Like me

And me! Kinda worried about my other gfwl games, if all of this means that Microsoft is gonna abandon the service/shut off gfwl servers.

 

[Grief.exe]

But what's going to happen to people who actually bought minerva's den on GFWL marketplace?

Like me

And me! Kinda worried about my other gfwl games, if all of this means that Microsoft is gonna abandon the service/shut off gfwl servers.

You are probably going to be left out in the cold.

If you bought DLC for the Batman games through Steam, then you will be fine. The registry already tie that DLC to the app.

 

[neoism]

I swear if they do it I'm going to play AC all over again.
It's been a while anyway, so I'm going to enjoy it.

yeah me too lol I got some custom dlc for my first playthrough then found out for some fucking stupid reason you had to beat it on normal to use them -_________- so I re-beat the whole game.. then I got that Robin dlc and then deleted my save my mistake.. :*( said fuck it and never got to play it..

 

[Grief.exe]

Arkham City Registry app just updated again with a beta entry titled, 'Crash_Test.'

We could be getting real close.

 

[Nokterian]

For the love of god let it all be true,let AA and AC remove GFWL. I hope it does and i hope it happens soon i do not want to do the same process again for installing it for those games.

 

[szaromir]

You are probably going to be left out in the cold.

I'm not sure how I feel about that. In fact, I might go on to boycott every Take 2 game from that point on (even if it's stupid $5).

 

[Grief.exe]

I'm not sure how I feel about that. In fact, I might go on to boycott every Take 2 game from that point on (even if it's stupid $5).

They would probably have to find a way to coordinate with Microsoft for that.

I'm sure they want to recoup some of the investment they lost fixing up this old game.

 

[phantomspiker]

I'm not sure how I feel about that. In fact, I might go on to boycott every Take 2 game from that point on (even if it's stupid $5).

I'd probably rebuy it.

 

[DTKT]

Someone at Valve is just messing with the database to give Grief false hope.

 

[Coffee Dog]

Oh god what if removing GFWL causes stupid GFW errors and wipes your save

I am petrified of losing my 100% AC save.

 

[Masaki_]

Bought Bioshock 2 a while ago and never finished it. I might just have to if they remove GFWL. Awesome move.

 

[void666]

I just tried arkham city and didn't see any trace of GFWL. Kept pushing the home button on my xbox controller and nothing happened.

 

[Nabs]

I just tried arkham city and didn't see any trace of GFWL. Kept pushing the home button on my xbox controller and nothing happened.

try your home key

 

[Madrugador]

I just tried arkham city and didn't see any trace of GFWL. Kept pushing the home button on my xbox controller and nothing happened.

Obligatory.

 

[Grief.exe]

I just tried arkham city and didn't see any trace of GFWL. Kept pushing the home button on my xbox controller and nothing happened.

The registry app still shows the installation of GFWL.

Everything that would potentially remove it is behind a password.

 

[Sullichin]

I bought Bioshock 2 on the Steam sale because of this thread, hoping that Minerva's Den will come out. Please happen!

And yeah, tried Arkham City for the hell of it and as expected it still has GFWL. Not sure why you're not seeing it void666. Probably an issue with GFWL

 

[void666]

And yeah, tried Arkham City for the hell of it and as expected it still has GFWL. Not sure why you're not seeing it void666. Probably an issue with GFWL

All my GFWL are crashing to desktop. Arkham city is the only one working.

- Fresh install of windows 8
- Steam games are installed in another drive.

 

[morningbus]

Remember: you can't spell God Awful without GFWL.

I've had it not show up properly in random games before. I even had a big where I heard the noise for the home screen but never actually got the home screen.

 

[Bluth54]

Oh god what if removing GFWL causes stupid GFW errors and wipes your save

I am petrified of losing my 100% AC save.

I seriously doubt your GFWL live save will transfer over to a Steam save file.

 

[Grief.exe]

All my GFWL are crashing to desktop. Arkham city is the only one working.

- Fresh install of windows 8
- Steam games are installed in another drive.

Reinstall the GFWL client from the Microsoft store.

 

[TheWeaponeer]

I just tried arkham city and didn't see any trace of GFWL. Kept pushing the home button on my xbox controller and nothing happened.

Just checked my copy and GFWL is right there, no changes. Also, GFWL started in May 2007, so that is a little over six years of life, not "almost a decade". Be honest now.

Unlike most of the others in here, I do not mind GFWL. To me, it was a neat addition to being a 360 owner and gamer. I work with it better than most others I guess. I have been lucky, in that the only games I ever had trouble moving save data for were the MS PC titles, Gears of War and Halo 2. My Halo 2 save went completely corrupt after I reinstalled, but my Gears of War save only resets Act V back to "Normal" completion instead of "Insane" - I know this as I have moved that save twice and it happened both times. Shadowrun seems to be transferable, as I got high total (kill 100 elves, etc.) achievements after moving my data a while back.

*KNOCKS ON WOOD* my Batman experiences have been good. The only problem I ever had was when they first patched Arkham Asylum, and that 300 meg patch was trying to pipeline through the GFWL updater. That did suck, I will not lie. But that was also fixed shortly after the issue came out. And from then out, no issues.

Now when I installed my AC GOTY key (bought from Amazon) on Steam, I had to reinstall the GFWL client (Steam force installed an older version oddly enough) and Windows Live Sign In Assistant; but after that, it runs like a champ.

Finally, all the people who are excited for BS2 to finally play it, I warn you now - there is no in-game controller support because the HUD is designed differently than the console version. This was a design decision by 2K, and they were already asked about changing it and they said it was not possible.

As for the DLC, the Rapture Metro Map Pack maps will not come up in an online lobby unless all players own the DLC. This might happen with a Steam based version of it because the issue is in the game code and NOT an issue with GFWL - 2k's own forums has more information about that. The Protector Trials are hard as hell. Minerva's Den is quite good.

My sincerest hope here is that whatever they are doing with the games is like what Toy Soldiers does - it lets you choose between GFWL and Steamworks. If you want to keep the most people happy, this is probably the best way to go.

 

[matrix-cat]

I've never had any serious trouble with GFWL in my Batman games, but I'm glad to see it go. Every third or fourth time I start a game up it'll hang at the title screen while I wait for the GFWL client to log me in or do whatever arcane deeds it does, and I hate the way GFWL hides save files and DLC all over my C: drive instead of just sticking them in one place.

Now I'm just torn between taking this last chance to grind out the last Catwoman, Robin and Nightwing campaign GWFL Achievements I'm missing or just letting them go forever

 

[NIGHT-]

So if I have a save right now on any of these games, will this update delete them?

 

[GlenChivas]

Does this mean GFWL for Dark Souls is going away also?

 

[BasilZero]

Arkham City Registry app just updated again with a beta entry titled, 'Crash_Test.'

We could be getting real close.

Have a question though - by removing GFWL - what would be the alternative way to save now?

(as an example I have bioshock 2 but I have yet to play it - would they make a patch or what )?

 

[BoosterDuck]

I hope the Arkhams get cheevos so I can get an incentive to play through them.

I only have 4 hours on Arkham Asylum.

 

[Bluth54]

I hope the Arkhams get cheevos so I can get an incentive to play through them.

I only have 4 hours on Arkham Asylum.

Arkham City always had Steam Achievments (along with GFWL achievements) if you owned the Steam version.

Arkham Asylum has had Steam Achivments for awhile now, but you can't actually get them yet. They are probably waiting for this update before you can earn them.

 

[Grief.exe]

Does this mean GFWL for Dark Souls is going away also?

No evidence for that right now.

I doubt it will happen because of Namco, but its a possibility. It would be nice to come back to Dark Souls in 10 years.

 

[NingenJanai]

So if GFWL disappears and some games become unplayable, will Steam allow the use cracked/hacked/modified files so that we can play the games we fucking bought?

 

[CountAntonius]

Does this mean GFWL for Dark Souls is going away also?

Would be nice. I'd actually buy it then but since the MP runs on the XBL servers I doubt it.

 

[Grief.exe]

So if GFWL disappears and some games become unplayable, will Steam allow the use cracked/hacked/modified files so that we can play the games we fucking bought?

They might patch the client so you don't need authentication anymore, or they may just be shutting down multiplayer servers.

The latter doesn't really explain why WB feels the need to patch the Arkham games.

 

[NingenJanai]

They might patch the client so you don't need authentication anymore, or they may just be shutting down multiplayer servers.

The latter doesn't really explain why WB feels the need to patch the Arkham games.

Yes, I think it's going away for good, if it was only the multiplayer servers I don't thing they would patch the games neither.

I hope they give a solution like a modified client that needs no authentication nor connection to their servers, but if they did that, there would also be no need to patch the Arkham games, just use the new client.

If some of my games become unplayable I'll be very pissed ><

 

[Lazaro]

So if GFWL disappears and some games become unplayable, will Steam allow the use cracked/hacked/modified files so that we can play the games we fucking bought?

I doubt that the games will require a crack to continue functioning.

It would be up to the publisher whether to remove the restrictions or convert it to a newer DRM.

Some retail games like Supreme Commander and UT3 allow activations through Steam since their original DRM is old and unsupported.

See here: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7480-WUSF-3601

Older games seem to make their way unto Steam.

 

[alexandros]

I wonder how Microsoft feels about the fact that the possible removal of their software from PC games is considered worthy of celebration. I know they've shown time and again that they only care about the Xbox for gaming, but do they feel even the slightest bit of shame or embarassment? Will they at least try and analyze the GFWL disaster and understand where they went wrong?

 

[Grief.exe]

I wonder how Microsoft feels about the fact that the possible removal of their software from PC games is considered worthy of celebration. I know they've shown time and again that they only care about the Xbox for gaming, but do they feel even the slightest bit of shame or embarassment? Will they at least try and analyze the GFWL disaster and understand where they went wrong?

They probably blame the consumers.

 

[Zushin]

Please be true, please be true, please be true.

Spoiler

Please be true.

 

[Yaboosh]

I have never had a single issue with GFWL, and I actually like getting achievements. But losing it is probably still a net positive just because of all the problems other people have.