Your Opinions Of Steam!

[Tekimo]

I would like to see everyones opinions about Valve's Steam software distribution client.

http://www.steampowered.com/

I am fairly new to the PC gaming arena to be honest, but I must admit that I do have a few opinions about this peice of software.

I am from Australia, I could easily purchase the availalbe games off steam via credit card and download them. However, I chose not to. I chose to go to a local retail outlet and purchase both HL2, HL1 Bulk Pack & CS:CZ in their box editions.

From there I attempted to install the games and found that they were all wanting to install into different directories, such as C:\Sierra or C:\Valve. The games didnt want to install into one central place like the Steam folderin in C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam.

So I decided not to install them, and instead simply add their corresponding CD keys to my Steam account. Doing so unlocked the following games for me to play:

Half-Life

Half-Life 2

Half-Life: Death Match

Counter-Strike

Counter-Strike: Condition Zero

Counter-Strike: Condition Zero - Deleted Scenes

Counter-Strike: Source

Team Fortress Classic

Day Of Defeat

Deathmatch Classic

Opposing Force

Ricochet

Codename Gordon

Now because I had not installed these games as of yet, I had simply installed the Steam client and added the CD keys to my Steam account, I was not able to play them. It requires me to download them individually. I actually liked this idea, asside from the wait for the files to be downloaded. The reason I liked this method is because when the files are downloaded and installed they are placed all with the C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam folder. It is extremely neat and even gives me the option to back up the files so that if I move computer or need to reformat my computer I do not need to download the games again, I can simply install them from the backup CD/DVD and update the games accordingly.

Does anyone else find that they like having the games in one folder not all over the place? I find the CD's I purchased are actually useless to me now, and infact I suppose I only purchased the CD keys.

The only downside I have about adding the CD keys from the HL1 Bulk Pack is, that the bulk pack came with Blue Shift, I even have the CD. But in Steam, Blue Shift is unavailable to me, leaving me with a game I cannot play.

Would it have been smarter and cheaper for me to have just purchased the CD keys online? I really didnt want to have to download the games, but I didnt want the games being installed in all different directories. I like them to be kept neat and update and function correctly with Steam. I know I could have just changed the directory, but it still would not have installed the same as Steam.

The next thing is, I know I have purchased these packs, but there are some games I just wont play that I have access to, for instance Team Fortress Classic. All the games I have access to are in my, My Games list. However the ones that are downloaded and playable have coloured icons. These are the ones I want to play obviously. What I want to know is, can I remove the other games from my list? I cant seem to find this option. If I was to remove the games from the list, would I be able to add them in the future without costing me money?

Also, for some reason I cant connect to the Friends feature of Steam. Does anyone else have this issue?

These are my thoughts about Steam anyway. Asside from the small issues I have with the installation of CD versions of the games and the games list, the software is great. I love the updates on the fly, backing up my games, playing games on the fly and more. It's a great system and thumbs up for making it.

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT STEAM?

EDIT: I forgot to mention the only game that does install directly and properly like the Steam client does. Is HL2, the HL2 CD edition does install into folder and files just like Steam.

Edited June 13, 2005 by Tekimo

[Tekimo]

Well I guess you did not read my post properly. :)

[bryonhowley]

Well I guess you did not know that when you install them you can choose were to put them. Did you really need Steam to do that for you? I have mine all installed under \My Games\Valve\"Game Name".

[ANova]

There have already been many of these threads, search is your friend.

[Fighter-X]

Lol so there is no point in the CDs. All you need is the CD-key.

[Bawx]

Good job taking an hour of your day to make a topic that has been discussed 100 times, and is over.

[revvo]

Good job taking an hour of your day to make a topic that has been discussed 100 times, and is over.

586056363[/snapback]

Good job being redundant. Let's boost post count huh! :rofl:

Since Valve cut off all connections with Vivendi, I guess they'll push Steam further and find another publisher to continue producing the retail product.

Yes... CDs are useless for most but not for people with slow connections and a lot of ppl still are on dialup in countries where broaband is expensive. Steam is Valve's way of applying DRM on gamers.

Heck, I wonder why CD's and not DVD's. WHy do most companies still stick with CD's (ahem, Blizzard!). Whoever doesn't have a DVD reader should buy one instead of buying 15 condoms.

[Tekimo]

Well for a start - the thread did not take an hour to produce. And why should I read and comment in an OLD thread when I can start a new one which is up to date. I'd like to here peoples current opinions, not previous.

Rainman, I did not know Valve had cut off all connections with Vivendi. Perhaps that is why they install titles differently to my CDs as well, since my copies are all distributed/published by Vivendi.

Anyway, thanks.

[JadeWolf324]

man you guys are ######...

i personally find steam really nice, its like patch management for my games and i dont have to deal with any of it ! :)

[chavo]

No.

[Nocstar]

I love it....

[Koolslacker]

I think it's a good idea and technology, but it needs improvement. I wouldn't mind to see that on some other games.

[pixated]

I _HATE_ steam. I do, really! :pinch:

[Sensayshun]

^What he said.

Except more emphasis on the hate part, and on the really.

[Nvidia]

Good job taking an hour of your day to make a topic that has been discussed 100 times, and is over.

586056363[/snapback]

What the ****? Why do moderators let ###### like this continue to post on Neowin? Jesus, he was just asking a question! He also stated that he was fairly new to PC gaming.

To answer the question... yeah, I <3 Steam. It makes things so much easier for me. The only problem I have is that I have to set it's priority to low every time I start it, otherwise it chokes my wireless internet connection to the point where it drops me from every game after giving me a ping of 999 for 5 minutes.

If I wired it up though, I would have no problems with it. So, yeah, I love Steam.

[Menge]

i personally think that the concept of STEAM is very nice.

- the automated patching is great! i love not having to worry about patching my game.

- the online store and content delivery too, is great.

BUT it's execution is flawed in various points.

- i absolutely HATE the whole thing they're doing with retail distribuitions. having bought the game, to find out that i have nothing, but "jibberish" files sucks. having to connect and authenticate just to decrypt them is an awful practice. what if it turns out that the whole system is broken? how can i install my classic game?

- the whole authenticate on every run too is horrible! i bought the game! i decrypted it! now i have to authenticate it EVERY TIME i want to play? not to mention that for many times, STEAM failed to allow me to play offline! (yes, i already did it... but for some reason, other times it failed).

- why does steam have to take up 70MB of my precious RAM when i try to play HL?? My pirated version ran smoother (more ram for my game, instead of it's ball-and-chain)

all in all, it's good that VALVe is breaking free of retail distributors.. but it needs tons of work to become "good":))

[pdog]

i personally think that the concept of STEAM is very nice.

- the automated patching is great! i love not having to worry about patching my game.

- the online store and content delivery too, is great.

BUT it's execution is flawed in various points.

- i absolutely HATE the whole thing they're doing with retail distribuitions. having bought the game, to find out that i have nothing, but "jibberish" files sucks. having to connect and authenticate just to decrypt them is an awful practice. what if it turns out that the whole system is broken? how can i install my classic game?

- the whole authenticate on every run too is horrible! i bought the game! i decrypted it! now i have to authenticate it EVERY TIME i want to play? not to mention that for many times, STEAM failed to allow me to play offline! (yes, i already did it... but for some reason, other times it failed).

- why does steam have to take up 70MB of my precious RAM when i try to play HL?? My pirated version ran smoother (more ram for my game, instead of it's ball-and-chain)

all in all, it's good that VALVe is breaking free of retail distributors.. but it needs tons of work to become "good":))

586060249[/snapback]

i think you nailed it

[shakey]

i like it, but i also hate the whole part of the thing that "valve can discontinue the use of its product to its customer at anytime." meaning, if they wanted, they could shut down steam, and everyone who paid for hl2 wont ever get to play it agian. cuase you didnt actually buy hl2 they say, you bought the right to play it aslong as they see fit.

[Code.Red]

Personally I haven't had a problem with Steam, but I have no Halflife 2 or any of that stuff that has the supposedly long times to do whatever with the game before you can play it. I guess it does use a considerable amount of ram, but it doesn't hurt my playing of CS, so I dont really care. :p

[kalizar]

i love steam....

uhm.... you can CHANGE the install directory when you install games you know...

[Tekimo]

Kalizar - If you plan on commenting on any of my future threads, I insist that you please read and review my first post and comments more carefully prior to posting. Thank you.

[pixated]

^ :rolleyes:

And if he doesnt? :alien:

[Samduhman]

^What he said.

Except more emphasis on the hate part, and on the really.

586057885[/snapback]

What those guys said but I think even more. :angry:

[Vice]

I like steam I just hate that when Valve release updates for CS:S it always breaks something.. but yer I like Steam.

[w33zy]

In the begin i was against steam. I Missed 1.5 Badly. and Steam was full of bugs. Later 1.6 became normal. and enjoyed me and steam was getting stable by time by time. For Now I Love Steam And hope it goes better in the future!