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Vordakk
Forum Regular

Posts: 862
Registered: 07-10

Sig-ma said:

such as Skyrim not recognizing or ever using over 2 GB of RAM.

Really? I wouldn't have thought Bethesda would mess up something like that. That sucks.

12-03-11 22:58 #

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Nems
I don't know how to use the [img] tag

Posts: 246
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Gez said:

It is not a joke, and it is a valid reason to criticize Steam. It will always, by default, try to install games from the net.

There is a way to install from the physical media, however. It's just a non-obvious way which you have to read about before installing the game -- not something people will usually do, because it requires them to know about the issue before they buy the game, and they shouldn't be expected to. You have to use the command line to start Steam with the -install <drive letter:> parameter, drive letter corresponding to that of your optical disc drive.

For reference, here's a how-to from the official Skyrim forums.

However, it will most probably still proceed to download updates.

Funny because I tried that (not with Skyrim but another game) and yet it still won't read the disc and instead downloads the game. I never had this problem before until recently. I don't exactly have a fast, stable connection where I live that allows me to download multiple gigs in a day, so this is disappointing and it's probably going to deter me from buying future games requiring Steam.

12-04-11 01:02 #

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phi108
Member

Posts: 507
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One happy ending here, I recently traded $3 of Team Fortress 2 stuff for the Serious Sam Gold pack classic+HD (was on-sale cheap recently), and the classic launchers work right from the folders steam-free. This is a different case, because it's an older application and not the "modern standard", but it is neat to have Steam for the cheap sales of old games I missed out on which are installed and run unobtrusively.

Last edited by phi108 on 12-04-11 at 01:29

12-04-11 01:23 #

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Vordakk
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phi108 said:
One happy ending here, I recently traded $3 of Team Fortress 2 stuff for the Serious Sam Gold pack classic+HD (was on-sale cheap recently), and the classic launchers work right from the folders steam-free.

I'm guessing that's because the older games originally were released physically. I think the HD remakes are only distributed by Steam, so Valve or somebody hard-coded a "run Steam when clicked" command into their .exes.

12-04-11 01:52 #

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caco_killer
Senior Member

Posts: 1082
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Its up to the developer to integrate their game into Steam. Super Meatboy does not need Steam to run, either.

12-04-11 04:00 #

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Shaikoten
Senior Member

Posts: 1044
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I think just about every indie game I have on Steam (and I have a lot) is completely DRM free.

12-04-11 05:25 #

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DoomUK
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Nems said:
Funny because I tried that (not with Skyrim but another game) and yet it still won't read the disc and instead downloads the game.

Then you're doing something wrong.

12-04-11 09:10 #

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Nems
I don't know how to use the [img] tag

Posts: 246
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DoomUK said:

Then you're doing something wrong.

Considering I did the same damn thing Gez hyperlinked (which are the same instructions for many more games) on multiple occasions, no. I'm also not the only one who's encountered this issue, so no again.

Unless you're willing/offering to help me and/or anyone else who's encountered this issue beyond the Run window method previously mentioned, don't bother telling me or anyone else I'm/we're doing something wrong. It's not productive. \:

12-04-11 10:15 #

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DoomUK
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Nems said:

Considering I did the same damn thing Gez hyperlinked (which are the same instructions for many more games) on multiple occasions, no. I'm also not the only one who's encountered this issue, so no again.

Unless you're willing/offering to help me and/or anyone else who's encountered this issue beyond the Run window method previously mentioned, don't bother telling me or anyone else I'm/we're doing something wrong. It's not productive. \:

Didn't mean to cause offense. I'm just saying, sometimes things get overlooked when you're performing the simplest task. Happens to all of us.

And again, it IS a completely stupid idea to have the game download by default instead of install off the disk. No one is going to dispute that.

12-04-11 10:41 #

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NeoWorm
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Someone mentioned that piracy is main reason why steam is still forced upon every user. Its not anymore. Main reason is to force their distribution channel upon everybody and shove advertisments down your throat. Piracy is mere excuse for it.

12-04-11 12:44 #

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Maes
I like big butts!

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Sig-ma said:
Skyrim not recognizing or ever using over 2 GB of RAM.

Probably a residue/side effect of supporting 32-bit versions of Windows (I guess there is no 64-bit specific executable?). No Win32 program can have more than 2 GB of memory at a time, 4 GB limit notwithstanding. This also includes Win32 programs running in a 64-bit environment.

@NeoWorm: I think I had mentioned in this or another thread that the "oldschool" hardcore gamer or even the "old economy" style-consumer, the one that buys a boxed game every now and then and then disappears into a basement or in front of a TV without "doing on-line purchases" or "generating ad-related revenue" or participating in any "social networking" is no longer an attractive target group for major players in the videogame industry.

No wonder they want to tie videogames to a more invasive/controlled model: nowadays it's unthinkable that a videogame can be sold simply as a bunch of 1s and 0s on a physical support that can be used to make an isolated programmable electronic computer function and nothing more. It's simply not profitable anymore, and apparently it's not even enough to rely on the "tyranny of the majority" to accept the new paradigm shift (aka consumers willingly accepting/resigning to the new model simply as a fashion/"keeping on with the times" kind of thing). No, it must be forced and there must be no alternatives.

Last edited by Maes on 12-04-11 at 13:22

12-04-11 13:13 #

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Sig-ma
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NeoWorm said:Someone mentioned that piracy is main reason why steam is still forced upon every user. Its not anymore. Main reason is to force their distribution channel upon everybody and shove advertisments down your throat. Piracy is mere excuse for it.

Why wouldn't it? The online distribution aspect of Steam is the number one feature of the service. As a rule, you need to show people (that means advertise) what you're selling in a store. While the advertisements can become a little much during holiday sales and whatever with titanic banners and flash screens, you may also play in off-line mode or set Steam to load your Library screen as default, by-passing having to look at any of it.

A service like Steam makes sense because your PC games will always require a computer to play. Many Steam games offer a feature now which allows you to play your games interchangeably between PC and Mac (which is retroactive even-- versus movies which force you to re-buy the ones you've owned for years each time a new media format is released, regardless if it is purchased digitally or not).

Microsoft probably could have squashed Steam early on had it fixed the issues Xbox Live and Games for Windows Live had, offering to download games digitally and play interchangeably between the two platforms (PC and Xbox) but they didn't.

Now, services like Steam for other forms of media (such as music) simply do not work for me. I don't like having my music attached to iTunes or whatever because it makes it a pain-in-the-ass to play it on my stereo and you're pigeon-holed into using Apple's lame Mp3 player (which is ridiculously over-priced and kind of bland, feature-wise).

As far as Skyrim using 2 GB of RAM, you're absolutely correct Maes. Kind of lazy on Bethesda's part and many mod people are kind of annoyed by it. There was a mod which added increased RAM support but it required hacking of the .exe and Bethesda in turn forced a patch through Steam requiring Skyrim to be verified by Steam to run it. As caco_killer and a few other said, it is ultimately the developer or publisher that decides how everything is handled there. In Skyrim's case, Bethesda is both the developer and publisher, so they made that choice.

Last edited by Sig-ma on 12-05-11 at 01:56

12-04-11 19:34 #

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NeoWorm
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Sig-ma said:

Why wouldn't it? The online distribution aspect of Steam is the number one feature of the service. As a rule, you need to show people (that means advertise) what you're selling in a store. While the advertisements can become a little much during holiday sales and whatever with titanic banners and flash screens, you may also play in off-line mode or set Steam to load your Library screen as default, by-passing having to look at any of it.

Because its annoying and forced. Lets look at GOG.com - it does not bother me even slightly with any client and instead offers to send you mail with actual offers. Which I read and use.
Advertising is OK, but everything have its limits. Isnt there a word for programs that forcefully downloads and displays add on your PC? I think its called Adware.

12-04-11 22:24 #

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Maes
I like big butts!

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NeoWorm said:
mail with actual offers. Which I read and use.

Mail? Tsk, that's like, sooooooooo old, you dinosaur. Welcome to Web 2.0/iAge/eMarketing/Social Media/Cloud Computing/Cloud Storage/iPestering/iAdvertising etc. etc.

12-04-11 22:57 #

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Membrain
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Posts: 209
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NeoWorm said:

Because its annoying and forced. Lets look at GOG.com - it does not bother me even slightly with any client and instead offers to send you mail with actual offers. Which I read and use.
Advertising is OK, but everything have its limits. Isnt there a word for programs that forcefully downloads and displays add on your PC? I think its called Adware.

Boy, that gives me a great idea for a game. Let's all think up convoluted ways of classifying software we don't like into the same categories as objectively harmful software.

12-05-11 01:38 #

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Sig-ma
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Posts: 145
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Oh, okay. The "forced" critique. I provided a couple of options to circumvent the advertisements on Steam. Ironically, I'd rather have a store page like what Steam has than receiving a bunch of spam emails. Most services like that also proclaim you should use an email specifically for the service as well, to minimize the chance it is key-logged or whatever (which is what I do), so it kind of defeats the purpose since I rarely check that email.

Regardless, GOG.com is not the same as Steam. GOG.com is a website you visit in your browser just like you'd do for any other site (such as this one). GOG.com does not offer dedicated servers, voice chat, an IM service or many of the services that Steam does. I appreciate GOG.com is DRM free but again, DRM is essentially a publisher choice and without bringing up all of the service agreement nonsense again, offers only a fraction of the games Steam does (largely due to the fact it is DRM-free).

Last edited by Sig-ma on 12-05-11 at 03:47

12-05-11 01:50 #

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Xeros612
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Posts: 979
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NeoWorm said:

Because its annoying and forced. Lets look at GOG.com - it does not bother me even slightly with any client and instead offers to send you mail with actual offers. Which I read and use.
Advertising is OK, but everything have its limits. Isnt there a word for programs that forcefully downloads and displays add on your PC? I think its called Adware.

By that logic the majority of the entire internet is "adware" because guess what? They "forcefully download and display ads on your PC". Good god you are an idiot. (And don't give me any bullshit about adblockers, those are third party programs you have to specifically go out of your way to get.)

There are legitimate complaints about Steam. Seeing advertisements on the store page when you can very, very easily set it so you only see the store page when you specifically click on it is not one of them.

Now the "sale alert" crap that pops up after you exit a program? Sure, that's annoying. Largely because it's usually not very responsive because the computer's still freeing up the memory it allocated to the game, but it's once again something that's easily avoidable without having to use any third party programs.

12-05-11 03:14 #

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Nems
I don't know how to use the [img] tag

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DoomUK said:

Didn't mean to cause offense. I'm just saying, sometimes things get overlooked when you're performing the simplest task. Happens to all of us.

And again, it IS a completely stupid idea to have the game download by default instead of install off the disk. No one is going to dispute that.

Ah, my bad. Sorry I was aggressive in my post. I've dealt with one too many "You're doing it wrong" posts in the past that were malicious/offensive in nature. :c

12-05-11 03:27 #

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