CreepingFear
Member
I actually don't care about my old saves. Gives me an excuse to replay the games along with origins. I'm going to have Batman Week on Twitch.
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Batman: AA/AC Steam Patch Live. Mac Version, Achievements, and GFWL/Securom removal
- Thread starter Grief.exe
- Start date
XOMTOR
Member
Try this:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/200260/discussions/0/810938810707303888/
A Steam user wrote this small program that patches saves automatically. Rescued my non-GOTY Arkham City save by converting it to the GOTY edition. Phew.
Also, I'm also noticing less stuttering now. I still have both games installed and switching back and forth, the patched game is much smoother flying around the city. Good riddance GFWL and securom.
That's another thing. GFWL objectively affects framerate. I'm not sure if it happens in all games but I proved it in Dirt 3. I would actually lose ~15 frames if I logged into GFWL while online. If I disabled my network adapter before launching the game, the game would run significantly better.
TOAO_Cyrus
Member
Do retail keys activate on Steam yet? Its not working for me.
Still not working, good news is that Gamefly(where I bought AA and AC) has instructions on how to redeem the games on Steam so it should work soon.
Does it also murder your wife and kids?
Jesus people, the fact that you have shitty computers that can't run a DX Overlay on top of the game, or that the videocard got 25 drivers updates that SPECIFICALLY DENOTED that they improved the performance in a game 20% with each update and magically everything is now faster does not mean that either GFWL and Securom are 100% definitively the source of any and every performance/compatibility issues you had in the past.
You are playing the GOTY version correct? Not the vanilla version?
dream
Member
Yup. Well, trying to. Steam throws this up when I try to launch it:
then it errors out with a "failed to contact key server" dialog.
Barrow Roll
Member
DX9 performs a lot better, the DX11 features are so not worth the hit.
In Dirt 3's case, being connected to Live significantly affects my framerate. If I signed in while offline, then re-enabled my internet and alt-tabbed back in (so the game was still in offline mode) the framerate was still high. Being connected to Live was the catalyst. Other people confirmed the behavior in the thread where I mentioned it.
I suppose it could have been Codemasters' fault and not entirely on GFWL but I didn't care enough to research further.
Not sure why you're so defensive about a lousy, soon-to-be dead DRM technology.
edit: The Witcher 2 situation pretty definitively showed that Securom affects framerate as well.
Yup. Well, trying to. Steam throws this up when I try to launch it:
then it errors out with a "failed to contact key server" dialog.
That generally happens when they have run out of keys which is very possible.
You could try reinstalling or repairing your existing install, but it might just be a matter of time.
They have already been having issues with retail activations.
On one hand, that would be a rather embarrassing oversight; on the other, retail keys still don't activate, so I wouldn't be surprised.
Granted my comparison was far apart (though even at worst it highlighted how much better things were after years of updates) there was a more recent comparison that showed a mild improvement and it was significant enough for Witcher 2 to get patched out, though unlike Arkham City that wasn't a game that most gaming-capable computers could crush at 60 FPS at medium. Removing that DRM's not a magical cure all, I doubt anything could've saved the Witcher 2 on an 8800GT short of coding to the metal and SPECIFICALLY for that card ala the Xbox port itself, and it certainly didn't get rid of my stuttering issues on a 4870 (seemed to be more a RAM limitation), but there's definitely an improvement noticed when removing that DRM in games.
GFWL I won't touch in regards to performance specifically, though that has a bunch of annoying issues beyond performance anyway, notably with save files and logging in. I haven't really noticed people talking about losing their save data post-update, worst is some achievements being missed (I actually noticed I missed at least one myself, the
chimney one
Dio Brando
Banned
hmm. interesting. i use both a 360 controller and a ds3 controller that's emulated to be a 360 one. i'll close the processes and test. I'll edit the post if i find anything.
EDIT: still the same thing. had a save right before the Szaz part, achievement didn't unlock. I'll try rebooting steam and the pc.
If that doesn't work try seeing if it unlocks when using the keyboard and mouse like it did for me. Besides that the only thing I can think of is reinstalling your controller drivers.
Dio Brando
Banned
just tried with the mouse and keyboard. worked. well, i'l try re installing the drivers. if it still doesn't work, i'll just play with m+kb. Thanks!
Fimbulvetr
Member
Mouse and keyboard are incredibly freeing in these games, the ability to run or glide and move the camera simultaneously alone is a massive advantage. Pulling up in a glide is a bit strange though. I don't recommend using a controller at all.
Both control schemes have their advantages to be honest. The controller is good in combat because you use the left stick to aim and hence keep some enemies off screen which makes them less aggressive. It's also way better for gliding around. Just moving the camera around and aiming with nightwing's darts is way better with kb/m though. Just go with what you like.
No problem.
I will have to play around with the kb/m now and see which I prefer. I started with the controller solely because I first played the games on the Ps3 so thought I would ease back into the swing of things. It worked, but I do normally prefer the mouse keyboard combo.
No word yet.
Edit:
I don't know where to begin. Steamworks doesn't require games to be tethered to the client (i.e. they can be DRM-free)? Rome 2's issues have nothing to do with Steamworks? How is a duckman using the internet?
I don't know about Rome 2, but the biggest headaches thus far with Steamworks here seem to be that weird rollback update, and the fact achievements aren't reliably triggering which is something that isn't REALLY a core part of the game and could just as easily happen on other services. Though citing mother fucking Uplay makes me think it's a troll.
EDIT: Though running with the notion it's serious: I actually think it's more CONSUMERS coerced them into going with Steam, that they provide a good enough service and are one of the least painful options, so we go "hey we want that on Steam!" I'm pretty sure many were happy to have Mass Effect thrown on Steam just to be rid of Securom and the implementation they used for ME.
That's not something inherent to Steamworks, though; it's poor implementation on the part of the developers.
Sure, there's no denying that consumer demand has resulted in Steamworks being as popular and near-ubiquitous among AAA publishers as it is. As you say, though, thanking Uplay and Origin for the "competition"? Laughable. Even Ubi is guilty of forgoing Steam releases to strengthen Uplay's library.
I tried... I can't do it. I hate m/kb for third person games though.
LiquidSolid
Member
The thing that's really baffling about that post is why the fuck would he thank god for Origin and Uplay if he really were anti-DRM? Surely he'd thank gog for GoG.
Speaking of which, I'm a huge fan of the way CD Projekt do things. They've got their standard DRM-free version at retail and GoG and their Steam version that supports all the Steamworks features we love. All Steam owners get a DRM-free version for free as well.
CDPR's Steam games aren't DRM-free, though, but as I've mentioned in the past, I suspect this is because of the inherent conflict of interest -- GOG's main draw is that its games are DRM-free, after all.
I wonder if there may've been a conflict of interest with the publishers too, and unlike the DRM the retail copies have it's not really a big deal to make Steam functionality optional given the much lower resentment of it and the fact it usually doesn't get in the way. Witcher 2's saves may be one of the bigger examples of where Steamworks can screw up though.
But, yes, if you really don't like Steam and DRM you'd be better off championing the likes of GOG, an exaggerated shutdown aside they've been one of the best alternatives to Steam offering two things Steam typically doesn't (a lack of DRM and older titles.)
The main thing GOG offers is the guarantee that games'll work with modern versions of Windows. Valve doesn't really care if that's the case or not.
LiquidSolid
Member
Sounds plausible and I can totally understand why they'd do that. But if you do own either game on Steam, you can always redeem the game on GoG for free and get DRM-free versions.
I wanted to play today and did a fresh install - same error, so I guess it's not a matter of reinstalling/repairing.
Or because the publisher stipulated that they contain DRM.
Witcher 2 had Securom due to Namco I believe. CDPR patched it out.
Other people are having the same issue, Valve must have ran out of keys. Its just a matter of time at this point.
CDPR self-publishes the games on Steam but 1C gets a courtesy cut (retail distribution partner).
I was thinking the retail version and other digital distribution there.
And as the post you initially quoted made abundantly clear, I was referring to the Steam versions.
I realize that, I made a mistake Jase, settle down.
I didn't intend to convey such a tone.
Seems WB forgot to patch in CEG, haha.
Irobot82
Member
I don't know, I'm just happy I found a workaround, I finally got downsampling working on AMD cards again and I wanted to look at something pretty so I was going to play AC. So I would just recommend everyone launch the game from Windows Explorer until things get fixed.
Diablohead
Member
I wonder if these GFWL-removal patches fixed any of the exploits and bugs in city, you can do some interesting glitches with the freeze grenades.
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