(Insert Curse Word) Steam

I HATE IT!

SO MUCH.

I always heard yall complaining about it but because of computer hardware limitations i had never progressed beyond age of empires two and rtw (believe it or not; i was more than content with just those two games) i had never really worried about it. Until now. I used direct2drive and boought empire total war. so far so good. its okay blah blah blah. until i get bored with vanilla and its faction selection. so ill do the most common mod on a total war game ever ill edit the factions in.

Problem number 1.

Yeah can't find the file because in the download everything falls under steam. (if someone can help me with this conundrum please do i would really appreciate it).

Problem number 2 (clincher)

After having to wait an interminable amount of time for sweden to finish its turn im forced to turn off my computer and restart. At which steam tells me its broken. IN ONLINE AND OFFLINE MODE. So i can't play my damn game because STEAM is broken. Im not even sure what steams purpose is for gods sake. So i'm like no problem ill reinstall. IT WON'T. some sort of pathing error. finally i work it out and then it tells me i need to re sign in to use steam. which is the only way i can use empire. HOW THE HECK DOES THAT MAKE SENSE!
So now im stuck with a worthless drain on my hardrive.


So of course your saying why not just connect to the internet. My house has dial up. yes laugh away dialup. and im on spring break. i should have gone to florida....... not to mention i shouldn't need to to play my own damn purchased game.

SCREW STEAM.

/end rant

How did you download 15gb on dial-up?

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Yeah can't find the file because in the download everything falls under steam. (if someone can help me with this conundrum please do i would really appreciate it).

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It'll be in your steam directory. Default location: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Empire - Total War.

Note the x86 is because I am on a 64-bit OS, if you're not you will find the steam directory in the normal Program files.

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After having to wait an interminable amount of time for sweden to finish its turn im forced to turn off my computer and restart. At which steam tells me its broken. IN ONLINE AND OFFLINE MODE. So i can't play my damn game because STEAM is broken. Im not even sure what steams purpose is for gods sake. So i'm like no problem ill reinstall. IT WON'T. some sort of pathing error. finally i work it out and then it tells me i need to re sign in to use steam. which is the only way i can use empire. HOW THE HECK DOES THAT MAKE SENSE!
So now im stuck with a worthless drain on my hardrive.

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The long turn times were a plague of ETW and, for me, never got any better with the subsequent patches. That's not steam's fault, you can blame ETW for that.

Due to the nature of your internet connection, steam likely cannot decide whether or not you're connected to the internet and thus, can't tell you what mode it's in. You must be signed in to access your steam library unless you've already toggled steam into offline mode. I know, its a real round-about way of getting to offline mode. One of the biggest turn-offs of the system. If you want to do anything in relation with your steam games (like uninstall or install them), then connect to the internet, log in to steam and go to your library. From there you can do whatever.

If issues persist that prevent you from logging in them go to the steam support website. They are generally very nice as long as you're nice to begin with.

im usually at university. high speed internet there and i play off my laptop.

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It'll be in your steam directory. Default location: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Empire - Total War.

Note the x86 is because I am on a 64-bit OS, if you're not you will find the steam directory in the normal Program files.

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thank you for this.

and i knew about the turn times being etw's fault i was just saying why i had to go thorugh all the bother.

its just annoying and i miss the good old days prior to steam or othe rplatforms.

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Originally Posted by Centurion1

im usually at university. high speed internet there and i play off my laptop.



thank you for this.

and i knew about the turn times being etw's fault i was just saying why i had to go thorugh all the bother.

its just annoying and i miss the good old days prior to steam or othe rplatforms.

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If it makes you feel any better (it won't i know ~D) steam implementation in ETW is by far the worst i've ever seen in any game. Seeing as I own 65 games which are connected to my steam account.. i'd say that's saying a lot. :laugh4:

By and large for the other games I never notice it as a hinderance.

I too hate the Steam directory system, I don't know why they don't simplify it to make access easier. That said, I like Steam a lot. It's very, very fast and it's actually my preferred source for purchasing games these days.

Of course, none of that makes things less frustrating if it breaks for you. My condolences. I suggest uninstalling steam and then reinstalling it.

I hate any gaming distribution platform that requires itself to be running for your games to work. :shrug:

Well... at the risk of getting wrath from the mods: [removed]

thank you for all your suggestions but the problem still remains that i need internet for all of these solutions.

so steam would probably say why dont you have access to the internet. My counter is, I shouldnt need internet for my video game.

and xiahou, precisely.......

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Originally Posted by Centurion1

so steam would probably say why dont you have access to the internet. My counter is, I shouldnt need internet for my video game.

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Any game that requires external validation to run is not your game, it's only a rental.

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Originally Posted by drone

Any game that requires external validation to run is not your game, it's only a rental.

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^This.
I've said it a thousand times. Steam is not a retailer; it's a subscription service.

Well at least they dont have a monthly fee... yet.

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Originally Posted by Greyblades

Well at least they dont have a monthly fee... yet.

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:rolleyes:

They just frontload the rent into the first month. ~;)

i didnt purchase it off of steam

Which makes your situation even more galling, doesn't it? A third party, not the creator of the game or the company that sold it to you, a company that had no direct hand in the transaction, controls your access to the product.

I tell you what I dont like is that when I first got steam so I could play ETW I didnt see any facility on how to download from the disc so I could stop it downloading over my connection or something like that. I since figured it out but it was not apparent at the time.

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Originally Posted by gaelic cowboy

I tell you what I dont like is that when I first got steam so I could play ETW I didnt see any facility on how to download from the disc so I could stop it downloading over my connection or something like that. I since figured it out but it was not apparent at the time.

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You just put the disk in then click install?

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Originally Posted by Beskar

You just put the disk in then click install?

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Seriously. I've bought a number of Steam games on disk and they installed from the disk just fine. l4d2 and Civ 5 worked just fine out of box in that manner.

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Originally Posted by gaelic cowboy

I tell you what I dont like is that when I first got steam so I could play ETW I didnt see any facility on how to download from the disc so I could stop it downloading over my connection or something like that. I since figured it out but it was not apparent at the time.

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It took me 3 tries to get ETW installed. The first try it used the disk, but something went sideways and I had to abort. 2nd try it used my internet connection. I aborted again. And the 3rd try I got it to use the disk. On my PC it went no problems. And this is the biggest problem I ever had with steam. :laugh4: It always amazes me that some people go into full on panic/rage mode with any hick-up steam has. It can have problems.

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Originally Posted by Beskar

You just put the disk in then click install?

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Originally Posted by Monk

Seriously. I've bought a number of Steam games on disk and they installed from the disk just fine. l4d2 and Civ 5 worked just fine out of box in that manner.

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no steam was downloading it over the internet connection and there was no obvious way to stop it took about 3 or 4 goes before I got it off the disk really annoyed me to start.

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Originally Posted by gaelic cowboy

no steam was downloading it over the internet connection and there was no obvious way to stop it took about 3 or 4 goes before I got it off the disk really annoyed me to start.

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You mean you didn't know about the miracles of "right-clicking"? Are you a Mac user? :clown:

Joking aside, if it auto-downloads, you can right-click the game in the Steam Library list and choose Pause Download and then Delete Local Content.

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Originally Posted by Kekvit Irae

You mean you didn't know about the miracles of "right-clicking"? Are you a Mac user? :clown:

Joking aside, if it auto-downloads, you can right-click the game in the Steam Library list and choose Pause Download and then Delete Local Content.

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And does Steam offer that info at any time when you obtain the program for the first time?? thats the problem I had at the start when I loaded my first game on to it.

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Originally Posted by gaelic cowboy

And does Steam offer that info at any time when you obtain the program for the first time?? thats the problem I had at the start when I loaded my first game on to it.

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Google. First hit gives the exact same answer I gave. Didn't even take me more than ten seconds. Considering E:TW is 15000 mb, you save more bandwidth by doing a Google search than trying to get an answer from Steam.

It's alot better than it used to be, but I am still unhappy about renting the games that I have allegedly bought. Needing to have it running to play my games bugs me.

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Originally Posted by aimlesswanderer

It's alot better than it used to be, but I am still unhappy about renting the games that I have allegedly bought. Needing to have it running to play my games bugs me.

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It is why I will never steam. Own or bust, IMO

OK, so I get home from work, and try to start up STW2, but now there is a steam error, and it tells me that "This game is currently unavailable. Please try again at a later time"!!

!(&*^$!&*(!#(&$ so I can't play the game I supposedly bought because steam is having problems??? Even in offline mode. Nothing is downloading, steam is up to date, ah sheet.

well, do what I do, play games only in university and at home when I can use hi-speed broadband acess.

yeah, getting broadband acess obviously take considerable ammount of my monthly wages, but it worth it

After uninstalling and reinstalling about 6 times, and 4 wasted hours, thanks to a fix from a Steam user (not even an official fix!) it is running again. I hope.

so what would the benefits of steam be, even?

The ability to get cheap games. Not having to take discs around with you to different computers (though re-downloading isn't painless). Did I mention loads of cheap games during the sales events? Also the community/social features.

CR