Steam General Thread

even so. Its PS 4. greatest game in the franchise @_@

I need to finish playing the first Phantasy Star sometime.

GameStop is now selling Steam vouchers.

Valve 1, GameStop 0

edited 10th May '12 5:39:30 AM by BaronofBarons

Finally. (The existence of Steam vouchers in general, not Game Stop specifically.)

Just created a giveaway for Serious Sam The Random Encounter on Steam Gifts.

Enter it here: http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/EEDpQ/serious-sam-the-random-encounter

edited 1st Jun '12 8:56:25 PM by GlennMagusHarvey

Strange. When I try and log into Steam (the website), it says that my login is incorrect, even though I've got the correct username and password, and if I try and log into the Steam client, my computer BSO Ds. Wonder if there's a way to get past that; kinda wanting to play some Team Fortress 2.

I've got a problem~

I'm trying to download Left 4 Dead 2, but it keeps getting stuck in "Suspended" and won't finish downloading TT^TT Any help with that?

^^Might wanna register here and look into it.

I also recommend getting a program to view the dumps left from BSODs (helps to Google whatever the files point to to determine the cause). I recommend BlueScreenView.

edited 5th Jul '12 4:56:59 PM by RocketDude

Since we had this big Faerie Solitaire raffle quite a while ago, I thought I'd share this:

There is now a developers' giveaway for Dwarfs!?: for all those who'd like a chance to have one of a thousand copies being raffled, now's a good time. Really, you should go for it/check it out. It has Honeydew providing one of the voices.

edited 5th Jul '12 5:07:11 PM by EarlOfSandvich

15 thousand entries and one more week until finished.

UM.

Thread Hop

So, um, I just installed Steam. I don't know very much about it all - what does it do, and how does it work?

So far I've understood that it's mostly a convenient and relatively cheap way to buy games, and that it has all kinds of nifty tools to play over the Internet with friends or strangers.

edited 15th Aug '12 4:13:53 PM by MidnightRambler

Steam's pretty much a gaming hub - not only does it show all of the games you have obtained through Steam (which, once bought, can be played anywhere, as long as you have an internet connection, a comp with Steam, and the specs to handle the game), but you can also add non-Steam games to its hub, buy soundtracks for the games, access community features (like forums, groups, Steam Workshop, which I should probably explain in a later post, and achievements), access the Internet (even while ingame) and soon enable you to get all other sorts of software.

Steam is a digital distribution platform for computer games. It was created by Valve Software in 2003, to distribute their own games, like the Half Life series, but has since expanded to distribute games from many other publishers. Steam is currently the world's biggest digital distributor of games.

Steam provides a core program, through which users download and play games. It can also keep the games in one's library updated, by auto-downloading patches. It functions as a "wrapper" DRM—you have to start Steam before you can start a Steam game (for most games); because of this, a number of publishers have chosen to rely on Steam's own DRM instead of implementing their own DRM. Steam's wrapper DRM has often been praised for being a relatively unburdensome form of DRM, in contrast to ones that limit installs or require constant internet connections for example.

To start Steam, you generally need to be online, but there is an "offline mode" that stores your credentials and gives access to your games; this works long you log in every so often, but is not completely reliable. Furthermore, Steam only tracks your playtime (and for some games, your achievements) if you're online at the time.

Secondary to its digital distribution and DRM functions, Steam also features accessory services for gamers. It includes social features such as convenient ways to organize fan groups for games, announce multiplayer servers, share screenshots, trade in-game collectible items (and virtual copies of games themselves), and join multiplayer games that one's friends are playing. It also features an in-game "overlay" where, even if you're playing a full-screen game that doesn't let you alt+tab out easily, you can use the overlay from within the game to browse the web, chat with Steam friends, and see game-related stuff like achievements.

Like most digital distribution services (I think), you can redownload games infinitely. It just doesn't let you log in on multiple computers at once (I think; haven't tried this yet). Steam also has a "Steam cloud" service for some games, where your saves are uploaded to their cloud in case you want to use a different computer.

Steam has been a big enabler (and beneficiary) of the recent boom of indie games, because (1) it's the most successful digital distribution service and digital distribution allows a small publisher to avoid physical media and shipping costs, (2) it (allegedly) doesn't charge much in commission (I haven't found out exactly how much, nor what the market rate is, but my estimate is that it's about 30% of revenues), and (3) it (allegedly) allows flexible pricing structures, giving publishers (i.e. developers themselves when it comes to indie games) direct control over when and how they'd like to discount their wares to promote them.

Steam has an international userbase; it famously became successful in Russia, defying industry expectations of failure due to high rates of media piracy. That said, some games may not be available in some regions due to region-based restrictions. Also, there is some criticism about some games that are priced much lower/higher in certain countries than others (I've heard that Steam might have blocked (or be considering blocking) some gifting/trading features for some people because of this).

Ok, thanks By now I've bought my first game on Steam (finally, a version of Heretic that will run with sound and in fullscreen! Yay!) and I've also figured out how to add other games on my computer to my Steam games list.

However, the multiplayer thing still confuses me. Suppose I want to play Rise Of Nations against some other dudes on Steam. How exactly do I do this?

I don't know; you probably find a server through the same means as you would a non-Steam game.

My multiplayer experience with Steam has been limited to TF 2 (which is a Valve game) and Moonbase Alpha (which found available servers just fine).

Sorry, but I think that if you want to use Steam online multiplayer, you have to get a Steam game. Don't worry, though, because there are a lot of online multiplayer games on Steam, of which a good chunk (including Team Fortress 2) are free-to-play.

edited 16th Aug '12 3:40:49 AM by DragonGeyser

Oh, that limits it to basically TF 2, Portal 2, and whatever multiplayer L 4 D has, I think. Valve hasn't made that many games; it's main claim to fame is developing Steam actually.

Those are just the Valve games; I'm pretty sure other games take advantage of Steamworks in order to have online multiplayer.

Oh, that's what you mean.

Okay, explanation of Steamworks: It's the name for a set of features that a game can be integrated with if it's on Steam. These include cloud saves, Steam-tracked achievements, and apparently something with multiplayer. Not all Steam games are Steamworks games.

As for "adding" games to one's Steam library...well, Steam keeps a list of the games you have through them, and you can use this list to open them (rather than finding the EXE and double-clicking, or something like that). You can add non-Steam games to this list, and you can open them through Steam too (and it'll show the name of the game you're playing to your Steam friends)...but that doesn't confer any other benefits from Steam, such as redownloadability, cloud saves, achievements, or the like.

Basically, Steam integration entails:

• Being tied into Steam (can only play through Steam, usually, unless you directly open up the game's application).
• Being able to use Steam to insta-join a Steam friend in their multiplayer game (and being able to invite them, in some cases).
• Being able to use the Steam Wallet for in-game purchases (if it's a Free-To-Play game with a cash shop).
• Cloud synchronization (synchs every time you quit a game and synchs one last time when you exit Steam).

There's also Steam Workshop, available for some games. Workshop will, in some cases, let you download and play mods and maps for a certain game. In all cases, you can submit items (for example, you can submit Team Fortress 2 items in to be considered for use in the actual game).

Also, some games bought through non-Steam sources (like some of the Humble Indie Bundles or the PS 3 version of Portal 2, which has a condensed version of Steamworks) have Steam keys. Put a Steam key into the Redeem Code section, and Steam will act as if you had bought the game directly off of Steam, enabling the Steam features that apply to the unlocked game and adding it to the Steam hub.

edited 16th Aug '12 2:36:58 PM by DragonGeyser

Actually, for a number of games, if you start the EXE directly, it'll try to start Steam or throw up an error. I know this was the case when I tried starting Recettear. Before patching it.

Anyone else get an invite to this group? Know what it's about?

Just finally solved this problem:

http://superuser.com/questions/74116/windows-7-lowers-applications-volume-automatically

And when I told a friend on Steam, turns out I'm not the only one to have it.

That's useful to know. Thanks.

...Although I don't recall encountering it.

edited 20th Aug '12 10:50:19 PM by Meophist