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Steam Versions Batman:AA/AC & Bioshock 2 Adding Achievements, Removing GFWL/Securom?

N

Nethaniah

Member
natsuyasumi said:
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.
Click to expand...

Bioshock 2's vending machines not talking isn't a bug IIRC, that happened in the console version aswell.
 
G

Grief.exe

Member
Atraveller said:
Removing the storage for cd keys? Looks like Securom is gonna go too! So hyped!
Click to expand...

Exactly.

If there is no CD Key location in the registry, then Securom cannot function.

If you don't display the CD Key on boot, then GFWL can't function.

Win/Win.

iZ7rkbNHy2AmI.jpg
 
G

Grief.exe

Member
I didn't know Bioshock 2 had such egregious sound issues.

Iron Badger said:
Maybe we'll get trading cards too?

One can only dream...

hPgistp.gif
Click to expand...

I don't see why not, its a great way to add revenue to your game. Which is exactly what they are doing by adding Steamworks and making Minerva's Den available.
 
G

Grief.exe

Member
I'm excited for the Steamworks update to Bioshock 2. The multiplayer actually like it has a good mix of powers, weapons, and game modes and could, potentially, be pretty fun.

I don't want to post the video I was watching, it was just horrendous. It was two Xbox Live kiddies, running around, and just making a general ass of themselves.
The commentary started to give me a headache around the 10 minute mark.
 
A

Appleman

Member
Grief.exe said:
I'm excited for the Steamworks update to Bioshock 2. The multiplayer actually like it has a good mix of powers, weapons, and game modes and could, potentially, be pretty fun.

I don't want to post the video I was watching, it was just horrendous. It was two Xbox Live kiddies, running around, and just making a general ass of themselves.
The commentary started to give me a headache around the 10 minute mark.
Click to expand...

Bioshock 2 multiplayer was actually super cool and I loved how it was integrated with the story. The BioShock gameplay is kind of perfect for it, too bad it's been a wasteland
 
G

Grief.exe

Member
Appleman said:
Bioshock 2 multiplayer was actually super cool and I loved how it was integrated with the story. The BioShock gameplay is kind of perfect for it, too bad it's been a wasteland
Click to expand...

Seriously, add me on Steam and we will play together when the update is released.

I'm guessing these are part of the multiplayer achievements. Horrible implementation if that is the case.

v3vKk6l.png
 
A

AutumnAve

Member
I'm getting very excited for this. I can finally play Batman without GFWL eating my saves like Pac-Man eating so many power pellets.
 
G

Grief.exe

Member
The Marketplace closing down definley opens the door for the eventual shutdown of GFWL.

I still stand by the theory that Microsoft let companies know that they will not support the service past 2013 or 2014.

I think this is particularity telling.

Will I be able to purchase Games for Windows Live games in other marketplaces now that Games for Windows Live titles are no longer available on Xbox.com?

Games for Windows Live titles published by Microsoft are no longer available for purchase from any marketplace. For other titles, please check directly with the title’s publishers.
Click to expand...
 
K

Khaz

Member
Grief.exe said:
The Marketplace closing down definley opens the door for the eventual shutdown of GFWL.

I still stand by the theory that Microsoft let companies know that they will not support the service past 2013 or 2014.

I think this is particularity telling.
Click to expand...

What will happen to all the other games that use GFWL but won't receive a patch because the publisher can't give a damn? Will they just die?
 
J

Jinroh

Member
But if we didn't buy these games on steam, would it potentially be possible to register the GFWL keys on steam to unlock them there? Or are we screwed?

Also what about the old saves that are still dependent on the GFWL account?
 
Rhomega Beta

Rhomega Beta

Member
Played Arkham Asylum, but the Steam achievements won't work. This happening for anyone else, or do we have to wait for GFWL to go down?
 
F

finley83

Banned
Arkham City won't be fixed until the abysmal, limited machine/activation Securom DRM is removed. I am still in utter disbelief that Rocksteady freely consented to completely fucking their paying customers with that.
 
jediyoshi

jediyoshi

Member
Jinroh said:
But if we didn't buy these games on steam, would it potentially be possible to register the GFWL keys on steam to unlock them there? Or are we screwed?

Also what about the old saves that are still dependent on the GFWL account?
Click to expand...

Really unlikely that Valve or Microsoft would approach each other for that database of information, at best it'd be handled at the publisher level.

Khaz said:
What will happen to all the other games that use GFWL but won't receive a patch because the publisher can't give a damn? Will they just die?
Click to expand...

As far as match making and leaderboards, not sure. But in worst case scenarios, gfwl doesn't need to be calling home anywhere to allow you to play a game or create new profiles.
 
G

Grief.exe

Member
finley83 said:
Arkham City won't be fixed until the abysmal, limited machine/activation Securom DRM is removed. I am still in utter disbelief that Rocksteady freely consented to completely fucking their paying customers with that.
Click to expand...

Really both GFWL and Securom are a big fuck you to paying customers.

I don't understand at all how publishers come to these inclusions. GFWL I can understand at a basic level, since it makes the porting cheaper.
Warner Brothers ends up losing more money on the back end from people who refuse to buy entirely and people who are unable to buy due to regional restrictions.

I remember reading an interview with Gabe Newell showing publishers data on sales with DRM. He showed them that games with DRM sold significantly less than similar products, and when the DRM was inevitably cracked, the sale numbers did not show a significant decrease. Essentially, Gabe is saying that DRM literally does nothing, and only harms your product.
 
G

Grief.exe

Member
Ingueferroque said:
So.. is this happening?
Click to expand...

This is definitely the most conclusive peace of evidence.
Combine that with the store shutting down on the 22nd, and all of the other, ulterior, evidence and you have quite a stew.

Essentially what they did in this update is turn off the CD Key at launch, which is required for GFWL to function, then they turned off the CD Key storage in the registry, which is required for Securom to function. Unless they turn these items back on, both GFWL and Securom are gone.

Grief.exe said:
5456a41d4076244a6c593cbb260c3384493a7727.jpg


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
Click to expand...

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.
Click to expand...
 
B

Baron_Calamity

Member
I own Bioshock 2 on steam but the Bioshock 2 DLC is tied to my GFW account, Will there anyway I can get the steam version of it without rebuying the DLC?

Also What about Dark Void? I tried the cd key but it doesn't activate in steam, only in the GFWL client.
 
G

Grief.exe

Member
Baron_Calamity said:
I own Bioshock 2 on steam but the Bioshock 2 DLC is tied to my GFW account, Will there anyway I can get the steam version of it without rebuying the DLC?

Also What about Dark Void? I tried the cd key but it doesn't activate in steam, only in the GFWL client.
Click to expand...

The DLC is probably going to get lost, you will have to rebuy on Steam. As I understand it, GFWL doesn't assign keys to DLC, just assigns the DLC to your account.
So there is no feasible way of transferring that ownership.

As for Dark Void, only certain games are Steamworks and activate on Steam. Here is a list of retail Steamworks games

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7480-wusf-3601
 
G

Grief.exe

Member
Bioshock 2 has seen updates to literally every single beta build they have today.

I wonder if the Batman:AA/AC updates are done and just waiting for the GFWL store to close on the 22nd.
 
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