I remember hearing that the GFWL team was quite marginalised within Microsoft anyway, in terms of resourcing and whatnot, so I doubt the people in charge care too much.
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Steam Versions Batman:AA/AC & Bioshock 2 Adding Achievements, Removing GFWL/Securom?
- Thread starter Grief.exe
- Start date
I remember hearing that the GFWL team was quite marginalised within Microsoft anyway, in terms of resourcing and whatnot, so I doubt the people in charge care too much.
Steam Achievements are better overall anyways.
Quickly tell how difficult one is to earn compared to the rest of the world, compare with your friends easily, show off in your profile, no annoying noise.
Its not like they spent a significant amount of resources on the system.
Microsoft hasn't even bothered to patch it in years.
Palette Swap
Member
It's honestly great news but if you really want to finish collecting these achievements, just turn off auto update on the game for now.
Felix Lighter
Member
They basically abandoned it years ago. When's the last time they've updated the software? There are plenty of issues to address, patching issues, profile problems, save corruption and just basic clunkiness. Just recently I wanted to play around some of the GTA IV multiplayer modes with a buddy who just picked it up during a sale and it took 2 days of troubleshooting for him (he's a software developer and very computer literate) to just log in to his profile in the client. The solution was apparently to uninstall multiple pieces of MS software and reinstall them in a specific order to just give him the ability to log in. This solution was found among a ton of other "fixes" to common issues and yet the software is never patched.
I think they were aware that it was doomed years ago and adjusted the resources devoted to the system accordingly. It was going to take a lot of effort to reverse its perception after they attempted to charge for online gaming on PC and they've basically done nothing after they stopped charging. The biggest addition I can think of was the standalone client that pretty much did nothing but give you the ability to access the store which was also obviously an afterthought.
Batman: AC update.
Client Icon just changed, not sure why.
Before/After
Downgrade.
Anyway, it this really happens, I'm buying Arkham Asylum even if I already played it on PS3.
I think SS4 will have the progression happen naturally through the Ultra edition.
What will, most likely happen, is the Ultra edition will be a separate registry, and game entry entirely. Full Steamworks, GFWL dropped, and with the netcode converted over.
The GFWL versions of SS4 will be removed from the Steam Store for purchase, and anyone who buys upgrades to the Ultra edition will have their app converted over and they will have to reinstall.
That really only leaves Dark Souls II, and a lot of legacy games like Dead Rising 2, Resident Evil 5, etc.
I think its pretty much confirmed after the CD Key removal and change to Batman: AC yesterday.
Something this substantial takes time though. At least both Batman games are getting the Mac versions added, Batman:AA and Bioshock 2 are getting Steam Achievements added, and all three are removing GFWL/Securom.
A tall order.
Oh come on, really?
Do you really think there aren't people at Microsoft who see the public reaction, and who have an understanding of what was going on?
While it is nice, to be able to compare achievements in interface (there are 3rd party websites which do that for Xbox Live), it isn't even a full fledged interface, it is as website.
I think Xbox Live Achievements are a lot better than Steam's follow up.
Oh come on now, was obviously exaggerating.
Mostly, in response to Microsoft and Epic's statements after Halo 2 and Gears of War sold poorly.
They generally blamed consumers for the lack of sales, instead of looking internally. Games were riddled with intrusive DRM, Halo 2 was exclusive to Vista, and they used to charge for multiplayer back then.
Are you going to make an argument?
Sentenza
Member
Look, I strongly disagree.
I don't just think that Steam is better as a service (while there's a lot of room for improvements on some details, anyway); I specifically despise the GFWL interface above pretty much anything else around.
I think it's terrible both aesthetically and in terms of functionality and navigation.
When you have to go through 3 menu screens just to get to your friends list you know there is a problem.
Add on to that the interface is not optimized and super slow.
LabouredSubterfuge
Member
Yissssssssssssssssssssssssss
Fucking finally. I can play this game on a future steambox build.
Felix Lighter
Member
I thought GFWL required native pad support. I had no idea.
phantomspiker
Member
Blue Ninja
Member
Nope. I played through it with Xpadder, myself. Worked fine.
The game did crash every time I opened a crate, though.
morningbus
Serious Sam is a wicked gahbidge series for chowdaheads.
All I'm gonna say is, if I had access to the Bioshock 2 registry and knew of this thread's existence, I'd be altering shit just to fuck with ya'll.
Apparently, you had to use XPADDER to get controller support to work
http://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Bioshock_2#Input_settings
There was also no way to get anti-aliasing functioning within the game except from forcing it through graphics card drivers.
They must have disabled it at the engine level. In UE3 games, or most games for that matter, you can easily add a few command lines into the ini file to get anti-aliasing functioning.
Very strange.
http://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Bioshock_2#Input_settings
There was also no way to get anti-aliasing functioning within the game except from forcing it through graphics card drivers.
They must have disabled it at the engine level. In UE3 games, or most games for that matter, you can easily add a few command lines into the ini file to get anti-aliasing functioning.
Very strange.
hardcastlemccormick
Banned
Also great news.
Well fuck me. Just gifted away my copy because it didn't have controller support. Oh well.
I don't tjink it required controller support, only that if it had controller support that it supported the 360 controller.
I don't know how they got certified to get GFW cover. You have to earn the right to have the GFW cover on your game. Microsoft had a dedicated page for the requirements when they still had the GFW website (This wasn't merged with the Xbox site like it is now) a couple of years ago.
Microsoft has now has the information on their MSDN: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ee417691(v=vs.85).aspx <--
And out of interest; here's Microsoft comparing Steam to GFWL: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/Live/PC/FAQ#title3 <--
Fornaximus
Member
If they patched out this crap I would be sooooo happy. It is my understanding that GFWL is to blame for my save being eaten in Arkham City, and I've always hated that both of these games have SecuROM. I wish Valve would outright refuse to allow anything with that kind of DRM into their store.
Snapshot King
Member
Time to play Bioshock 2, then.
I wonder if they will allow people to register non-steam keys once they make these changes, like they did with Company of Heroes.
Just wait, updates haven't gone live yet.
They seem to allow retail keys for it.
◾Bioshock CD Keys in this format: 1AB2C-D3FGH-456I7
◾Bioshock 2 CD Keys in this format: 1AB2C-D3FGH-456I7
◾Bioshock Infinite CD Keys in this format: 1A2BC-DEF34-G5HIJ
alexandros
Banned
There are probably only a few people working on it so progress is bound to be rather slow.
All Bioshock Infinite keys are steam keys.
I don't think you could actually go and buy a retail copy of Bioshock or Bioshock 2 and register it on steam. It's just for keys that specific to steam, like the ones you can buy on Amazon
Snapshot King
Member
You were dead on about KOF13, when is this happening? Teeeeell meee
The Steam registry doesn't have release dates for updates/games in it.
I bought Bioshock 2 from GameFly (digital) and it doesn't use that format (also as of now steam doesn't recognize my key).
Blue Ninja
Member
I got Bio 1 and 2 off of Gamefly, and those codes don't seem to be redeemable, sadly.
It bothers me when publishers begin to hand out Steam keys for their earlier games but don't make previous keys retroactively Steam-friendly. Sega went the extra mile with the original Company of Heroes and it's something I'd like to see happen more often.
Monado Blade
Member
Every time I see this thread bumped I get my hopes up. Then I see the latest posts and I'm like, "oh not yet."
In other news, I loaded Batman AA the other day to test my 360 controller... and my saves were gone. Thanks a million, GFWL.
Also, Amir0x got banned?? lol
In other news, I loaded Batman AA the other day to test my 360 controller... and my saves were gone. Thanks a million, GFWL.
Also, Amir0x got banned?? lol
poopninjamvc3mk
I sucked six dicks to get this tag.
Even though GFWL is a POS, I'm going to miss adding GFWL achivements to my XBL gamerscore.
Guess I should grind those achivements just in case GFWL goes away for good while I can.
Guess I should grind those achivements just in case GFWL goes away for good while I can.
guybrushfreeman
Unconfirmed Member
Proper controller support would make me cry tears of joy. The only question now is if there's a way for people who already bought Minerva's Den to transfer that key over. Seems unlikely though. Either way I will reinstall with proper controller support in a second.
This one is tougher to predict than FFVII or KOFXIII.
They will just combine their test depots with the public build and everything will be live.
Stallion Free
Cock Encumbered
Good luck finding multiplayer matches a large portion of the achievement list.
Minerva's Den is worth buying again. It was only 5$ when it finally hit GFWL and it will most likely only be 5$ on Steam and you are getting like 4-5 hours of incredible content from it. Not to sound like a shill or anything.
But it is GOAT DLC.
natsuyasumi
Member
I really hope they fix BioShock 2's severe audio problems. Current Bio2 PC suffers from vending machines not speaking, silent Little Sisters (in some versions), and an overall completely fucked sound mix.
It's the last issue that really put me off the game when I tried to play it with my new sound card / headphones a few months ago. It'll be nice if what seemed a basically abandoned port gets a final chance to do right.
It's the last issue that really put me off the game when I tried to play it with my new sound card / headphones a few months ago. It'll be nice if what seemed a basically abandoned port gets a final chance to do right.