Steam

[Belgolas]

I just want to clear up a few things about steam. First steam is IMHO the best thing for PC gaming. It is a great service for lazy people like me. I have over $500 worth of games purchased on steam. With steam it has a store page, community page, my games, my media, and a tools page.


The store page which looks like this
http://cache.gizmodo.com/assets/resources/2008/05/steam.jpg
You can purchase and download all the games your heart desires that are available on steam. Once purchased through either a retailed hard copy or a digital download it is installed in your my games section. You can also purchase games as gifts for friends or if you buy a game like Half-Life 2 and then buy a bundle like the orange box you can then gift the extra copy of the game to a friend. Also most games on steam are far cheaper then retail because with retail you have to make the cd and box plus maintain a store front and all that shipping. There are also a ton of bundles like the buy Valve Complete Pack where it costs $100 and you get every single game made by Valve and it is $239.81 if you were to buy everything in an individually. So you save $139.82! Or there is the Buy THQ Collector Pack which is $100 also and save $117.40. Or there is the Buy Rockstar Collection and is $60 and save $19.94. So as you can see there can be some GREAT deals made because of steam(hint hint CA).

The community page which looks like this
https://img227.imageshack.us/img227/686/steamiw0.jpg
is the page that helps make steam so awesome for me. It has a friends list much like any online social networking site like facebook. With this you can make friends, chat with them, see what they are playing, see all your achievements or friends achievements, see how many hours you spent playing you games, join steam community groups or make your own clan. All that fun stuff. Also if a friend is playing a game like counter strike source your can just click on your friend and it has the option to launch the game(if you have it) and join the server s/he is playing with just one click. Steam also has great voice chat and great built in voice communication for online games like ETW.

The my games page looks like this
https://img146.imageshack.us/img146/8128/steammf4.png
This is the next greatest thing for steam. Here you can easily play any game you have purchased and you don't need to find your cd you just double click on a game you want to run and it runs. Also if a game has more then one option like benchmarks when you double click it will open up with option to choose different things like for farcry 2 to run the benchmark program or for like M2TW kingdoms you get to choice the different expansions like the Americas/Britain. You can download each game an infinite number of times so if you choice to delete it or build a new computer or whatever you are worry free. Also you can move your account to a friends computer and download your games on each computer you own but can only have 1 account logged on at 1 time. Since I have 2 comps(one power full one and one for if a friend comes over for lan) I have 2 accounts. Also all mods get placed here so you can quick launch them too. Another great feature is it auto downloads the patches so you are always up to date. This also works for mods too.

Then there is the my media page for trailers and some other stuff I don't use. I hope steam releases music and movies that way I can get rid of itunes because in itunes if you delete something and have no back-up it is gone but if it was on steam you could download it a million times if ya wanted to.

Then there is the Tools page which has stuff like SDK's and stuff for setting up your own server which is very easy. Here you also get to use some editing tools for some games like for Half-Life 2 for map making and modeling and the like. I hope ETW will have something here.


Well that just is the basics of what steam is. Also to settle some questions. Steam uses less then 1% of cpu usage. In fact I idle at 0% cpu usage in Vista with steam open and a few small programs like evga precision in the background. Also steam has an offline mode, but you still need steam to be running at all time to be able to play a game. So here is how it works. You install steam and create an account. You pop in the disk or download the game and install it. Then if you loose internet steam goes into offline mode. So if you are on this forum you obviously have an internet connection so no worries. You do not need any credit card info to make a steam account. Steam does not store any financial info. If you don't have an internet connection then to bad. But seeing as 1 billion people now have a computer with internet then CA doesn't have a big impact wth sales lost. In fact going with steam will probably increase sales and make their name bigger as a lot of people don't know about Total War. I hope this helps clear up some question and if you have any more please ask them. Also I am sure I have forgot some things to add.

Please keep this civil.

[Sir Beane]

This is a good thread that helps explain what Steam is and what it does from a regular user's perspective.

I am seconding what Belgolas says. Keep this thread civil. Ask questions about steam, discuss various features, but do not use this thread as a place to rant about Steam or DRM in general.

If you ask a question and you don't like the answer then take your complaint to CA directly, or start a thread in somewhere like the Backroom to discuss it.

Now that is out of the way I hope everyone can use this thread to have their questions and queries about Steam answered. :2thumbsup:

[Zenicetus]

Okay here are some questions I haven't seen a specific answer to yet. We know (now) that Empire can run under Steam's offline mode, without an Internet connection after the initial install and authorization. So far, so good.

1) If I exit the game to the Windows desktop, does Steam exit RAM completely along with the game? Or does some part of it remain as a RAM-resident background process?

2) A related question: I've read that Steam won't launch the game if either Steam or the game isn't auto-updated to the current version. When and how does Steam check for those updates? Is it only at the point where you launch a Steam game, or is it a background resident process, checking at timed intervals or on boot-up?

3) Finally, if I uninstall Empire from my computer and it's the only Steam game I own, and I then uninstall Steam from my computer, how clean is the uninstall? Does it leave behind any hidden file or mess with the low-level file system like SecureROM does? I'm not looking for tech specifics, I just want to know if it's a clean uninstall.

[Sir Beane]

Okay here are some questions I haven't seen a specific answer to yet. We know (now) that Empire can run under Steam's offline mode, without an Internet connection after the initial install and authorization. So far, so good.

1) If I exit the game to the Windows desktop, does Steam exit RAM completely along with the game? Or does some part of it remain as a RAM-resident background process?

2) A related question: I've read that Steam won't launch the game if either Steam or the game isn't auto-updated to the current version. When and how does Steam check for those updates? Is it only at the point where you launch a Steam game, or is it a background resident process, checking at timed intervals or on boot-up?

3) Finally, if I uninstall Empire from my computer and it's the only Steam game I own, and I then uninstall Steam from my computer, how clean is the uninstall? Does it leave behind any hidden file or mess with the low-level file system like SecureROM does? I'm not looking for tech specifics, I just want to know if it's a clean uninstall.

1) I can't give you a 100% accurate answer on this, but another Orgah probably can. I do not think that Steam remains as a background process once you close it down however.

2) Steam searches for auto-updates everytime you connect to the internet and have steam running, in much the same way Windows update does. If Steam is running in offline mode it will not search for updates and will launch games just fine. Once Steam has found updates it will install them automatically (providing it is running). It isn't a background thing, it's part of the main program. The updating process is usually very quick, unless Steam has not been updated for a long time. It interferes very little with running games.

3) Steam does not leave hidden files and it doesn't mess with low-level system files. Steam is definitely not the same as SecureRom. It's a 100% clean uninstall.

[pevergreen]

Point 2) will create havoc if we have another 1.1 -> 1.2 thing like M2:TW.

E:TW needs to be manual patches, for modding etc.

[Belgolas]

Point 2) will create havoc if we have another 1.1 -> 1.2 thing like M2:TW.

E:TW needs to be manual patches, for modding etc.

That is one problem for not having a good internet connection.


You can still copy and paste the whole directory for ETW so you can keep it at a certain patch but then you need a no-cd.

[pevergreen]

Which we do not discuss here at the Guild.

:wink:

[hoom]

Q1: Steam is a separate program & it stays resident in the taskbar.
You need to manually exit it from there (right click -> Exit), I do this but people who play lots of Steam games might leave it open.
Currently minimised to Taskbar its using 7-8MB of RAM, eg compare with Adobe Reader 9 with no pdf open & the ATI Catalyst Control Centre (ccc.exe) minimised to taskbar using nearly the same amount.
After the resident icon is closed down, Steam.exe disappears completely from taskmanager.

Q3: Steam games all install within the Steam folder on your PC (you can choose the location of this folder).
Other than shortcuts, I'm not aware of any files stored outside the Steam folder.
eg you can simply copy the Steam folder to a new PC, make a shortcut to & run steam.exe, enter your Steam username/pwd & your games will all be there.
Alternatively, if you have lost all your Steam content, you can download & install the Steam client (a few hundred KB) & as long as you remember your username & pwd, it'll download all the Steam content associated to your account.

[Polemists]

Okay first, and less important,

Has steam ever been used before with a games for windows game? Sometimes things don't mix well and sadly I do have vista.


Secondly and more important,

If I had a file

let's call it demo :laugh4:

how quickly can steam download it? :P

[Husar]

Okay first, and less important,

Has steam ever been used before with a games for windows game? Sometimes things don't mix well and sadly I do have vista.
Now you're trying really hard to find something you cannot like about Steam, aren't you?
To answer this, afaik games for windows is just some "Microsoft approved" kind of seal that says the game should run on Microsoft systems and isn't the buggiest piece of software ever released, or maybe MS just takes the money and then gives the seal. :shrug:
Either way it should not interfere with Steam.
I do have vista as well and the only big difference I noticed is that it takes a while to load while it's almost instantly in XP. Once it is loaded however, I haven't found any problems except that you can buy games that do not run in Vista, but then you could buy them on a CD and they would still not run in Vista. :laugh4:



Secondly and more important,

If I had a file

let's call it demo :laugh4:

how quickly can steam download it? :P
That depends on your internet connection and how many other people are downloading it.
I have seen Steam download things really fast on a 16MBit connection but some HL2 patches seem to take quite a while, possibly because half the world downloads them simultaneously.
In other words, if you do not tell anyone when they release that demo, and hope noone else notices, your chances to get a fast download are higher, your fame as the bringer of good news however, will be lower(you can still tell them once your download is finished, but someone else may have done it already by then). ~;)

[Zenicetus]

1) I can't give you a 100% accurate answer on this, but another Orgah probably can. I do not think that Steam remains as a background process once you close it down however.

Okay, it would be nice to hear some official word from CA or the Steam folks about whether it's a resident process when the game isn't being played.


Point 2) will create havoc if we have another 1.1 -> 1.2 thing like M2:TW.

E:TW needs to be manual patches, for modding etc.

Yeah, roll-back to previous versions doesn't sound easy if the DRM demands the most recent version of the game. I can't be the only one who has been burned by an update that broke something. Is there a work-around for rolling back to a previous game version with Steam?


Q1: Steam is a separate program & it stays resident in the taskbar.
You need to manually exit it from there (right click -> Exit), I do this but people who play lots of Steam games might leave it open.
Currently minimised to Taskbar its using 7-8MB of RAM, eg compare with Adobe Reader 9 with no pdf open & the ATI Catalyst Control Centre (ccc.exe) minimised to taskbar using nearly the same amount.
After the resident icon is closed down, Steam.exe disappears completely from taskmanager.

I avoid programs that stay resident in the taskbar when I only need them to run one single program. It's one of the more annoying things about Quicktime updates. Is there an option for right-clicking the Steam icon in the taskbar and telling it not to load on every system boot? Do I have to do that every time Steam updates itself again, like Quicktime?

To be clear, I can live with Steam if the only thing it does is launch the Empire game, and it stays completely out of my way when I'm not running that one game. I don't think that's too much to ask. I have zero interest in being a part of some Steam online community, or buying dozens of games through the Steam portal. I just want to buy this one game -- Empire TW -- if they don't make me jump through too many obnoxious hoops.

[Jack Lusted]

Okay, it would be nice to hear some official word from CA or the Steam folks about whether it's a resident process when the game isn't being played.

Steam will remain running once you close down the game unless you exit it yourself. But it's easy to close down as it will be on the taskbar.


Is there an option for right-clicking the Steam icon in the taskbar and telling it not to load on every system boot? Do I have to do that every time Steam updates itself again, like Quicktime?

You can set Steam to not load on system start easily, and it remembers that setting every time it updates.

[Fisherking]

You can set Steam to not load on system start easily, and it remembers that setting every time it updates.

Wait just one moment here!

Just what does that mean?:dizzy2:

Is it going to update its self every time it has a connection?

Gosh I hate programs that do things I haven’t told them to!!!

Particularly when it comes to patches!!! Most of the time I find my self being more satisfied with the original install than the stuff they have messed with and the unintended consequences there of…


Thanks for the prompt post though Mr. Jack Lusted!!!

[Polemists]

Quite true, I really hope that we are not going to be "REQUIRED" to patch Etw every time they fix a bush or a tree graphic.

I usually don't patch, usually the main game is enough for me.

So unless steam's update consisted of.....let's say




A DEMO


I see no point.

[Sir Beane]

Wait just one moment here!

Just what does that mean?:dizzy2:

Is it going to update its self every time it has a connection?

Gosh I hate programs that do things I haven’t told them to!!!

Particularly when it comes to patches!!! Most of the time I find my self being more satisfied with the original install than the stuff they have messed with and the unintended consequences there of…


Thanks for the prompt post though Mr. Jack Lusted!!!

Steam will update itself every time it is open and it has an internet connection. You can, however, tell it not to. This isn't advised though because if you don't let Steam update itself for a while it will take ages to update when you finlly get around to it.

[Polemists]

This is one of the reasons no one likes updates anymore.

A long time ago updates used to be able to download on this thing that you youngins don't know about called

"Dial Up"

In the modern day world, that speed equates a horror movie.

Patches used to be small 20 mbs, 40 mbs, but then games weren't even gig's bit. Go look at how much space shogun takes up sometime.

Now though, since ETW will probably be around a few gigs of space, any patch that is semi major will be a 500 mb patch at least, and steam will probably want a 100 mb patch to go with it.

So if you have cable internet your fine, but otherwise your stuffed.

Of course we'd know how it's speed works, if we had

a Demo

[pevergreen]

Then again, automatic updates can be beneficial.

Say MP testing requires unit x to be toned down. instead of waiting, make steam change a file, boom! Its balanced, and everyone online is automatically on the same version!

[Sir Beane]

I think official figures say Empire is 10Gig on the hard drive.

It's hasn't been that long since I had a Dial-up connection. And let me tell you, I still have nightmares about it, the numbers, things downloading so slowly..... truly those were the dark times.

[Polemists]

If I don't have to hear that annoying beep sound it's a good day.

Alot of people seem to be behind steam, which leads me to believe it is not the seem pos that I was playing blueshift and half life 1 with, that lead to maps never matching quite right.

I am still leery of it's matchmaking system.

but of course

I am less leery of it

Once we have

a

DEMO

[Sir Beane]

If I don't have to hear that annoying beep sound it's a good day.

Alot of people seem to be behind steam, which leads me to believe it is not the seem pos that I was playing blueshift and half life 1 with, that lead to maps never matching quite right.

I am still leery of it's matchmaking system.

but of course

I am less leery of it

Once we have

a

DEMO

Steam'm matchmaking cannot possibly be worse than Gamespy. How I hate them so...

All in all Steam is a good platform for multiplayer, with very reliable servers used to dealing with traffic that big games like Counter-Strike manage to grab.

[Polemists]

but see that makes me wonder.

Steam has never handled a graphically intense game.

Half Life, Blue Shift, Counterstrike are all very low end system spec games.

Even half life 2 during release was hardly the top of the tier.

I'm not sure if graphics matter but since I'm told they suck up bandwidth I assume they do.

So I hope Steam is putting proper resources to CA's game and not just thinking we are some no name game like Sim City 5000

They will of course see the incredible passion for this game.

Once we have

A demo

[Sir Beane]

but see that makes me wonder.

Steam has never handled a graphically intense game.

Half Life, Blue Shift, Counterstrike are all very low end system spec games.

Even half life 2 during release was hardly the top of the tier.

I'm not sure if graphics matter but since I'm told they suck up bandwidth I assume they do.

So I hope Steam is putting proper resources to CA's game and not just thinking we are some no name game like Sim City 5000

They will of course see the incredible passion for this game.

Once we have

A demo

There are quite a few graphically high powered games that are distributed through Steam, so it shouldn't be a problem.

Games like GTAIV probably use much higher system resources when playing 32 player multiplayer. The highest number of players a TW game can have is 8, which is significantly less than many other game son Steam.

[Polemists]

Hmm I guess I havn't played steam in a while, last time I was on steam all they had was valve games....


That said, I assure you that 8 players, each with 2-3 thousand man armies is going to require some SERIOUS system specs.

Beyond my little labtop most likely.

No one knows what steam can handle yet tho

so we need

a

Demo

[BeenPlayingSinceRTW]

Now that is out of the way I hope everyone can use this thread to have their questions and queries about Steam answered. :2thumbsup:

Thanks, I have three questions about Steam.

1) Why does Steam insist on granting themselves the right to automatically install any software they want on my PC as a condition of installing their client? Isn't that behavior similar to a trojan? ( see Section 2 of the Steam subscriber agreement: http://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement )

2) Is Sega/CA aware that EA just got sued for bundling Spore with SecureROM (which has features similar to Steam that ended up causing massive problem for Spore users)? Link about the EA lawsuit: http://www.gearfuse.com/electronic-arts-gets-hit-with-class-action-lawsuit-over-spore-drm/

3) What do people think abotu the following description of Steam from Slashdot:


Steam is DRM. It controls what you can and can't do with a product you have bought and paid for. It's dependent on activation servers, which it contacts every time you launch a game, just like Spore was going to before the outcry.

In a very meaningful sense it's less abhorrent than SecuROM, as it doesn't go out of its way dig its tendrils into the OS, breaking random things and throwing hissy fits if it finds innocuous software it doesn't like. There's no :daisy: "activations" to use up, and it doesn't leave bits of itself behind when you uninstall it.

But in other ways it's worse. You don't really own a Steam game. You can't loan a copy of a Steam game to a friend, or sell it to someone, or even give it away for free, except in specific cases where Valve decides to let you. If something happened to Valve, or they just decided they didn't like the cut of your jib and aren't going to let you play your game anymore, you'd be :daisy: out of luck.

[Polemists]

See this is my major concern.

The activation servers.

Spore had the same thing.

I mean its' fine this year, and next year, but i've been playing shogun since shogun.

I'd be very depressed if five or even ten years down road I can't play etw because suddenly the activation servers are taken offline.

Almost as depesseressed as I would be without

A demo.

[Monk]

Serious discussion and debate on DRM is not a topic fit for this forum.

Martok comes in and hits us with a wrench everytime we try it.

If you want to discuss that kinda thing, the Backroom has been pointed out as the place to do it.

[Polemists]

That makes no sense.

Firstly we are talking about Steam, specifically steam servers, and user agreements and how they work in regards to Empire total war.

Yes this is the single player forum, but as you must activate Steam to play the single player, surely the activation falls into the category of relevant topics.

Maybe not quite as relevant as a demo

but still.

[Sir Beane]

Thanks, I have three questions about Steam.

1) Why does Steam insist on granting themselves the right to automatically install any software they want on my PC as a condition of installing their client? Isn't that behavior similar to a trojan? ( see Section 2 of the Steam subscriber agreement: http://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement )

While they leave themselves the option of installing other software, I don't think they will. Steam have seen what happened to other DRM companies and I doubt they want to go down that road.


2) Is Sega/CA aware that EA just got sued for bundling Spore with SecureROM (which has features similar to Steam that ended up causing massive problem for Spore users)? Link about the EA lawsuit: http://www.gearfuse.com/electronic-arts-gets-hit-with-class-action-lawsuit-over-spore-drm/

I am sure thgat both Sega and CA are aware of this. Steam, however, is nothing like SecureROM and is in no danger of a serious lawsuit any time soon.


3) What do people think about the following description of Steam from Slashdot:

While I'm sure plenty of people have opinions on this particular article I would be pleased if they did not mention them in this thread. Like I said earlier we aren't here to discuss DRM or ethics.

Technical questions about how Steam works or what it does are fine.

I think that if you feel this strongly about Steam you should contact CA and Sega directly via e-mail and make your opinions known. Those of us here at the Org have no say on whether Empire uses Steam, and I doubt that the CA staff members who post here have much say either.

[Husar]

Thanks, I have three questions about Steam.

1) Why does Steam insist on granting themselves the right to automatically install any software they want on my PC as a condition of installing their client? Isn't that behavior similar to a trojan? ( see Section 2 of the Steam subscriber agreement: http://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement )
Probably because that is easier than saying they want you to allow them to download patches for game a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z, aa, ab, ac, ad, ae, af etc. and then let you check a box each time when they add games bc, bd, be, bf, etc.

My mainboard also came with a BIOS that I cannot remove without making it cease to work, isn't that behaviour similar to a rootkit?
Why would Valve load trojans onto your computer using a platform they spent enormous amounts of money and energy building up to what it is now? Someone would find out and they could possibly close the whole thing down, probably get sued and be out of business in no time, yes that must be what they had in mind all the time. :dizzy2:


2) Is Sega/CA aware that EA just got sued for bundling Spore with SecureROM (which has features similar to Steam that ended up causing massive problem for Spore users)? Link about the EA lawsuit: http://www.gearfuse.com/electronic-arts-gets-hit-with-class-action-lawsuit-over-spore-drm/
So which are those features similar to Steam and why has Valve not been sued over anything like that due to the hundreds of games available on Steam so far?


3) What do people think abotu the following description of Steam from Slashdot:
I think that when your countries fuel stations go out of business or just so decide not to sell you fuel anymore, you can push your car.

[Monk]

That makes no sense.

Firstly we are talking about Steam, specifically steam servers, and user agreements and how they work in regards to Empire total war.

Yes this is the single player forum, but as you must activate Steam to play the single player, surely the activation falls into the category of relevant topics.

Maybe not quite as relevant as a demo

but still.

BeenPlayingSinceRTW's last post is very clearly quoting Slashdot on how Steam Compares to other DRM systems and asking for feedback. Not only that he is asking "WHat gives steam the right" as well as if CA is aware EA is facing a DRM related lawsuit. His post's topic is very heavily on DRM as a whole, and not ETW.



Yes this is the single player forum, but as you must activate Steam to play the single player, surely the activation falls into the category of relevant topics.

The activation method was adressed in another topic that has since been locked because we couldn't stop talking about more serious DRM issues. Like i said, the Backroom is the proper place.

[Sir Beane]

Monk is right. If there are any more mentions of the wider issues surrounding DRM and/or similar subjects then this thread will be closed. That includes replying to people who have mentioned it already.

I'm sorry to inconvenience those of you who are using this thread for what it was intended.

[BeenPlayingSinceRTW]

That makes no sense.

Firstly we are talking about Steam, specifically steam servers, and user agreements and how they work in regards to Empire total war.

Yes this is the single player forum, but as you must activate Steam to play the single player, surely the activation falls into the category of relevant topics.

Maybe not quite as relevant as a demo

but still.

Exactly.

If we were not being forced to install Steam in order to use ETW, there would be no need to discuss Steam. But since Steam IS being bundled with ETW, it needs to be discussed in the course of discussing ETW.

If I'm not mistaken, part of the reason that EA is getting sued, is because they stifled discussion about the risks/problems associated with SecureROM...

[Sir Beane]

Thread closed for business at the moment. It might be open again at a later date.

[pevergreen]

Bump, for possible incorrect closure?

:bow:

BPSRTW, please apply for the Backroom, and create a thread there.

I' beginning to get ticked off, and only the calls for a demo are keeping me sane :stare:

(I dont know how its keeping me sane :confused:)

[Sir Beane]

This thread was temporarily opened to allow a member to edit one of their posts. It has since been re-closed. :bow:

Thanks for the mention anyway pever

[Martok]

THE VOICE OF THE CAMEL LORD:


I'm re-opening the thread, but on a provisional basis. *If* we can keep our comments/discussion on Steam restricted to how it can/will affect Empire, it will be allowed to remain open.

If it drifts into a more general DRM discussion/debate, though, it will be either closed or moved to the Backroom (at the staff's discretion).


We now return to your regularly-scheduled thread in progress. :bow:

[Belgolas]

Steam match making is just like any major online servers. And yes steam can more than handle graphical intensive games. Steam has the most graphicall intesnive online multiplayer game call Crysis Wars. Now a bit of topic but Crysis wars is Crysis online with up to 32 players. You can't get more demanding than that. Oh and if you want to know there are 559 games on steam right now and about a few dozen a month added. There are also some very old games released on steam like Commander Keen(CA PPPPPLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEE put Shogun and all Total War games on Steam). Steam already has RTW and M2TW and their expansions.

Anyways steam can more than handle ETW. Plus there will be new modes like Quick Match were it matches players to similar levels of skill. Also steam alows ranks and well hopefully easy clan matches too. So Steam is probably the single best online community for PC.



Steam also has plenty of Games for Windows games on steam. There are games like GTA IV on steam that still needs to be connected to Microsoft Live for online play. So any game that works for windows works for Steam.

Steam is also great for very small companies that don't have the money to market their games. Have you ever heard of I-Fluid, Mount and Blade, Defcon, Darwinia, and so many others and then there are the arcade type of games?

[Nelson]

I’ve been using Steam to play Left for Dead it has worked very well including the voice connection.

[Ituralde]

So, is there already a Total War Community on Steam or even a Orgah Community? If not, why haven't we made one yet. I think this would be a great way to battle against all my fellow Orgahs! :beam:

[AussieGiant]

From the description of how the Steam client will behave on someone's PC, I'd say this is the best of a "not so happy - not so happy" solution for Developers and End Consumers alike.

It doesn't invade your machine, it sits in the task bar if you let it (you can tell it not to fire up at start up) and if you don't want it there you can exit it from your processes and play E:TW off line.

You can then fire it up every now and then when you come onto the Orgh and see there is a new update to be down loaded.

It will then do it's update thing, you will then say things like 'oooh' and 'haaaa' as the new patch from CA fixed a few bugs and balancing issues.

You can then turn it off and play E:TW to your hearts content.

Me likey likey!! :2thumbsup:

[tgi01]

I would never ever allow anything by Microsoft to autoupdate .... ( never did and never will ) ...
( and I m not a big fan of autoupdate in general .. )

Steam on the other hand is another matter ...

I ve been using steam since HL2 got released on several machines both under xp and vista and

never had any problems with it ...

so dont worry about it ...

TGI

[Zenicetus]

Alot of people seem to be behind steam, which leads me to believe it is not the seem pos that I was playing blueshift and half life 1 with, that lead to maps never matching quite right.

It's good to hear that it's improved, but there's also some consumer psychology at work there. For people who are already running other Steam games, a new one on the horizon has zero additional impact. They're already living with the trade-offs like background processes, authorization requirements, potential game obsolescence without a physical disk, etc. It looks a little different when you haven't bought into the concept yet, and you're being dragged into it kicking and screaming just because you'd like to buy that one single game. I appreciate the user feedback from current Steam users, but I take it with a grain of salt.

Right now I haven't seen any other game I'm interested in on the horizon that requires Steam, other than Empire. And I'm not interested in playing online (recovering WoW addict). So it's basically down to whether this one game ends up being good enough to warrant that. It definitely puts a damper on any enthusiasm for early purchase, because I'll need to see plenty of user feedback first.

P.S. @ Jack Lusted, thanks for the answers so far, even if it isn't what some of us want to hear.

[Belgolas]

Oh everyone can calm down about steam going down in the future. Steam has it's own back-up program so once you have downloaded a game you can put it on either a disk or a back-up hard drive so even if they did go down you could still play it with a no-cd. Although the likely ness of them going down is pretty slim. Even games companies that get bought out you can still play on their servers for multi-player. Plus any company would be stupid if they bought steam and didn't support it because of how much money is involed. You are just paranoid.

I PREFER Steam over a physical disk so there is ZERO trade off.

Ituralde there is already a total war community on the steam forums. I don't think there is a group for this forum on steam but there is a Total War Center group and plenty of Total War clans and a few dozen ETW groups and most are even language based groups. There are Total War fan clubs.

[knoddy]

So, is there already a Total War Community on Steam or even a Orgah Community? If not, why haven't we made one yet. I think this would be a great way to battle against all my fellow Orgahs! :beam:

the steam Empire total war community seems to be a bunch of kids whining about paying extra money for special editions of a game. i mean really, its a special addition if u dont want it dont buy it, but dont whinge about paying extra to get more.

Cheers Knoddy

[pevergreen]

Steam is also great for very small companies that don't have the money to market their games. Have you ever heard of I-Fluid, Mount and Blade, Defcon, Darwinia, and so many others and then there are the arcade type of games?

Check the arcade for the Mount and Blade thread. Steam won't accept my CD key for it.

Defcon has been out for years before a physical version hit the stores, or came to steam.

[Tomisama]

Old news, but still an encouraging re-read to me :yes:


October 28, 2008, 7:18 am - Alden Kroll - Product Release
SEGA Europe Ltd. today announce that Empire: Total War™ will incorporate Steamworks™, a complete suite of publishing and development tools that offers PC game developers and publishers access to the game features and services available through Steam.

Steamworks will support both the retail and electronic versions of the Empire: Total War game giving players game updates, downloadable content, friend-list support and achievements. To play single-player Empire: Total War, players need only to connect to the internet once via the Steam client after installing the game.

Steamworks will serve as Empire: Total War's multiplayer backend, providing server browsing and match-making functionality, bolstering Total War's new level of commitment to multiplayer game modes and features. Further details on multiplayer will be announced soon.

“We are delighted to be working with an infrastructure as effective as Steam” said Mike Simpson, Studio Director at the Creative Assembly. “Having their matchmaking and support systems on board for Empire; Total War makes a huge difference both for players and for the development team. It not only helps make multiplayer slick and sizzling, it also frees up a huge chunk of the team's time which helps make the whole game better.”

“Total War has become one of the most successful franchises in PC strategy gaming, one of the industry's mainstay genres,” said Gabe Newell, president of Valve. “We're honored Sega selected Steamworks as they expand the franchise with leading-edge online services.”

Empire: Total War is set in the 18th century, a turbulent era that is the most requested by Total War's loyal fan base and a period alive with global conflict, revolutionary fervour and technological advances. With themes such as the Industrial Revolution, America's struggle for independence, the race to control Eastern trade routes and the globalisation of war on land and sea, Empire: Total War promises to be the richest and most dynamic PC RTS game of all time. Empire: Total War will be released on February 3 in North America and on February 6 in Europe and other territories worldwide.

Pre-purchasers on Steam will receive a free copy of Rome: Total War Gold for immediate play.

http://store.steampowered.com/news/?appids=10500,10600

Go Steam :thumbsup:

[Husar]

Check the arcade for the Mount and Blade thread. Steam won't accept my CD key for it.

It only accepts CD keys from a few selected games, whose developers worked with Steam in some way or another I guess.
On the issue of physical media vs. download, by the time your last CD drive has broken and you cannot buy any CD-compatible drives anymore, the download might still be available, but then by that time your hardware and operating system might be rather incompatible to your 30 year-old games anyway, so future proof is very relative. And when you go to the cinema, you don't own the movie either. :shrug:

I too have a lot of old games sitting on my shelf but in some of my more honest moments I thought I should throw most of them away because realistically I'm not going to play them again anyway, because it would be too much effort and then I'd realize how my flowery memories made the graphics soo much better than they really are(happened with RTW once, man were those textures blurry...). :laugh4:

[Merak]

as a person that never have used steam is there any ports that need opening in the router?

[Belgolas]

as a person that never have used steam is there any ports that need opening in the router?

You shouldn't need to. I never had too.

[pevergreen]

On a concern I had earlier, you can tell steam to not automatically update games.

[gardibolt]

I've never used Steam before, but it seems to be an acceptable compromise that doesn't drag us into DRM-land. So I am feeling pretty secure (ha!) about getting Empire whereas I didn't about Kingdoms. I appreciate Jack adding the comment that you can tell Steam not to load automatically and it remembers that setting. I've got too much junk loading automatically that I can't figure out how to stop.

[Belgolas]

I've never used Steam before, but it seems to be an acceptable compromise that doesn't drag us into DRM-land. So I am feeling pretty secure (ha!) about getting Empire whereas I didn't about Kingdoms. I appreciate Jack adding the comment that you can tell Steam not to load automatically and it remembers that setting. I've got too much junk loading automatically that I can't figure out how to stop.

In XP click on run, msconfig, then click on the start up tab and deselect stuff that doesn't need to be open. In vista you just need to type msconfig in the search bar. Note do not deselect the video drives and other important drivers like wireless, etc. I am not responsible if you do.

[oldgiffer]

Ok, I didnt read the last comments but couldnt see it answered earlier:

First off, im a fairly active steam user, and have been for some years. By all means, im no fanboy, but I will share my steam experiences, atleast how the service have been for me.

1. Auto updating:
I have ~40 games on steam, and ALL games have the option of;
- Always keep this game up to data
- Do not automatically update this game

2. Resource usage:
I use steam on my laptop, and my home stationary computers, all varied in specs, one good one bad one decent, i have M2TW boxed and on steam, and tbh, i notice no difrence in performance.
On my vista rig, the steam application uses about 15-20mb of RAM, with todays RAM prices and availability is just so little it isnt even noticable.

3. Allways checking online, allways need activation.
Your steam computer needs to be online, once. The first time you run the game, you must be online. After that you can just go to File -> Go Offline, then start the steam application in offline mode ever after.

Overall, since i created my Steam account back in 2003, i've been a happy customer. The stability of the service is good, support is acceptable. I've never had much problems with download speeds, it's ususally good enough to max out my connection. However I have a couple of friends that have complained a couple of times, but i know too little details about the situations to make anything out of it.

All in all, Steam is not the worst thing that could happen, in my humble oppinion that is :)

Cheers
- v0rtex

EDIT: LOL, just spotted this; You last visited: 02-19-2006 at 21:11

[Polemists]

So has anyone ever had steam not work and try to contact customer support?

E-mail, phone, etc?

Does steam even have a customer support?


Can that customer support

procure me


a

DEMO :laugh4:

[oldgiffer]

Well I have had 2 cased with their support;

1. The store not working properly
- solved in ~24 hours

2. My account was hijacked and all my games went *pop*
- I think it took about 12 hours from start to finish. So my experience have been good, but as with all customer support, theres probably good storys and bad.


But, I guess im just the lucky one :P

[Polemists]

I just wanted to make sure there is a customer support as some clients don't have it...


It's good to know they do have a customer support...

that way come tommorrow I have someone new,

to ask

for

DEMO :inquisitive:

[knoddy]

my only worry with their customer support would be the fact that its probs only in america so we have to call up at some ridiculous hour just to get through at some crazy cost :S

but then i dont know much about steam so i could be wrong.


to the steam forums polemists so we can ask


for a


DEMO

[Polemists]

Indeed Steam, hear me, you are the demo distributors, save your forums from my wraith

provide us

with

a

DEMO

[Belgolas]

steam support is pretty good. they answer in about 1 business day for support tickets. Although for 3rd party game issues you have to rely on the 3rd party to give you support so in other words for ETW you mostly rely on CA/Sega for customer support for the game.

[BeenPlayingSinceRTW]

Right now I haven't seen any other game I'm interested in on the horizon that requires Steam, other than Empire. And I'm not interested in playing online (recovering WoW addict). So it's basically down to whether this one game ends up being good enough to warrant that. It definitely puts a damper on any enthusiasm for early purchase, because I'll need to see plenty of user feedback first.

P.S. @ Jack Lusted, thanks for the answers so far, even if it isn't what some of us want to hear.

I agree.

I went out and bought the last few TW editions in the first week, but I'm definitely going to wait on this one...

[satchef1]

I've been using Steam since Half Life 2 was released, really glad to see Total War is going that way.


No more searching around the net for updates - games can update automatically
Smaller updates - games on Steam tend to get patched little and often so (hopefully) no more 250MB downloads!
An end to game disks and CD Keys - you only need them for the initial install!
You can download the game from Steam servers ANYWHERE in the world
Integrated friends lists, community features, server browsers and matchmaking


I'd also hope for good mod support, Valve have managed it with the Source engine so hopefully CA will follow suit (as Steam will make our normal ways of modding a little more difficult). A Total War SDK? Finally?

[Belgolas]

Another thing I forgot to mention while in ANY game on steam when you hit shift + tab (only if you set it to be like this, you can have this off or set it to different keys) it brings up a menu where you can chat to your friends, change some steam settings, surf the web with Steam's built in web browser. I really like the web broswer part. It is really usefull if you are lets say looking at gamefaqs or want to check your email or want to be on facebook or check out some cheats or checking to see if the ETW demo is finally released. This means you don't have to alt tab out which take time and then have to load the game back up. Again this works in any and every game on steam.

[Merak]

i was around when steam was first releaste and then it was quite bad program, (word of mouth) only that made me never use steam but now when empire is in steam i created a account and was marveld by the simplicity of the program and if it is a DRM it is by far the best DRM to date (if you need to format a pc game with a securom game in it you first need to uninstall the game) from what i can tell i just need to install steam again and then download the empire and play again..

make me wonder why i never used steam before. :)

[Husar]

Well, I think it was quite bad when they released it, but they patch(ed) it regularly and nowadays it's pretty fine.