A STEAMing pile

lupi

Lifer
Apr 8, 2001
32,539
260
126
Yes steam sucks. As I recently picked up HL1 anthology and CS/DOD source for about $18 I decided to end my 5+ year boycott of valve products to try them out.
 
Since everyone says how nice it is to just install steam and them download your guys, that's what I tried to do. Punched in my keys, started to d/l, and then realized either yall are idiots or steam has me blacklisted too. Damn thing said it was going to take 22 hours to install CSS. So I decide to do what you do when you don't have a "service" like steam and just install the game. A couple minutes later CS and DOD are installed and I go to start up CS first. And then I hit the steam wall again as it takes about 45 minutes to update my install. Have I mentioned how much I like using this service yet?
 
After I finally got it loaded, it was back to the good ole'gameplay I've done over the past 10 years. At least that's what I thought. First server I popped into was office. Wow for the visuals and the map changes. Each map still has several areas that are fairly rememberable from when they were first released, but having not seen the changes of this century they are almost all like playing on new material. The flashbangs and smoke grenade effects are truly now effective. Before they were mostly a minor annoyance if you caught the full effect, now you dread seeing them come flying at you. And I don't know why people complain so much about the AWP (still), as every joe schmoe out there seems to have an aim mod on. Went to some odd map that was just a small walled in circle with 4 pillars near each of the corners. CT side with the m16s just plunked the Ts down in a matter of seconds every round refresh.
 
Did that for about an hour and decided to check out the game that got the most of my time before. Of course I got to spend another 30 minutes waiting for steam to updated it.......
 
Same comments as before about the visuals and maps. Although here it also seems like some have been taken out so the familiarity factor was lower. Did enjoy lugging the MG around, nothing like getting in a good spot and taking down a dozen guys before they get enough to grenade rush your location.
 
The really good news is that I did all this on my bedroom comp last night, so I have it all to look forward to again to set it up on my main rig   :/
 

Daverino

Platinum Member
Mar 15, 2007
2,004
1
0
Originally posted by: lupi
The really good news is that I did all this on my bedroom comp last night, so I have it all to look forward to again to set it up on my main rig :/

So you did all this from your bedroom in a single evening and you still don't get why Steam is pretty nice? You didn't have to hunt around for twenty patches and fixes, download them all, install them, get onto a server, find you still have the wrong version, patch some more and so on?

Personally I was able to download CoH in about 5 hours the night before. Saved me $15.00, a trip to the store, and an hour of patching. When it was ready it was fully patched and good to go. Sounds like if you needed 22 hours to download you need to look at your ISP more than you need to look at Steam.

 

KMFJD

Lifer
Aug 11, 2005
29,044
41,733
136
Originally posted by: Daverino
Originally posted by: lupi
The really good news is that I did all this on my bedroom comp last night, so I have it all to look forward to again to set it up on my main rig :/

So you did all this from your bedroom in a single evening and you still don't get why Steam is pretty nice? You didn't have to hunt around for twenty patches and fixes, download them all, install them, get onto a server, find you still have the wrong version, patch some more and so on?

Personally I was able to download CoH in about 5 hours the night before. Saved me $15.00, a trip to the store, and an hour of patching. When it was ready it was fully patched and good to go. Sounds like if you needed 22 hours to download you need to look at your ISP more than you need to look at Steam.

It would suck to be the person that cannot get high speed internet and buys a Valve game....
 

lupi

Lifer
Apr 8, 2001
32,539
260
126
Yeah, I need a better ISP. Must have been why it took me about 10 minutes to dl the WiC demo.
 

pontifex

Lifer
Dec 5, 2000
43,806
46
91
damnit! i bought a 5 year old game that had 100 patches and now i have to wait a few hours to play...

wtf did you expect?even if the game wasn't through steam, you would have had to download all the patches anyway...
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
82,854
17,365
136
Its you buddy.

I can get those HD videos off STEAM in about a minute.
It works just fine for me.
Seriously, check your settings or something, but if STEAM were complete crap none of us would be getting anything.
 

lupi

Lifer
Apr 8, 2001
32,539
260
126
Yeah, seeing how my game collection goes back to the 80's, I've never installed a game and had to d/l and install patches.

Outside of installing a fresh copy of WoW a couple months ago, I've never had anything that would take almost an hour to get the files and patch.
 

Skacer

Banned
Jun 4, 2007
727
0
0
Is it possible it is port settings? You may want to make sure Steam is properly configured and functioning with your router/network.

I remember all the way back to when I had to get my game patches from walnut creek, and, all things considered, Steam is a lot more efficient than every method that existed before it.

Oh and if you want to see something take awhile, Install Everquest by just copying the Everquest.exe to your machine and then let it try and download the entire game + the 12 or so expansions :). It does a good job, but dear god is that a lot of patching.
 

gregor7777

Platinum Member
Nov 16, 2001
2,758
0
71
Originally posted by: lupi
Yeah, seeing how my game collection goes back to the 80's, I've never installed a game and had to d/l and install patches.

Outside of installing a fresh copy of WoW a couple months ago, I've never had anything that would take almost an hour to get the files and patch.

You are a jedi with the sarcasm.

Seriously, you fail.
 

Jschmuck2

Diamond Member
Jul 13, 2005
5,623
3
81
Originally posted by: lupi
Yes steam sucks. As I recently picked up HL1 anthology and CS/DOD source for about $18 I decided to end my 5+ year boycott of valve products to try them out.

Since everyone says how nice it is to just install steam and them download your guys, that's what I tried to do. Punched in my keys, started to d/l, and then realized either yall are idiots or steam has me blacklisted too. Damn thing said it was going to take 22 hours to install CSS. So I decide to do what you do when you don't have a "service" like steam and just install the game. A couple minutes later CS and DOD are installed and I go to start up CS first. And then I hit the steam wall again as it takes about 45 minutes to update my install. Have I mentioned how much I like using this service yet?

After I finally got it loaded, it was back to the good ole'gameplay I've done over the past 10 years. At least that's what I thought. First server I popped into was office. Wow for the visuals and the map changes. Each map still has several areas that are fairly rememberable from when they were first released, but having not seen the changes of this century they are almost all like playing on new material. The flashbangs and smoke grenade effects are truly now effective. Before they were mostly a minor annoyance if you caught the full effect, now you dread seeing them come flying at you. And I don't know why people complain so much about the AWP (still), as every joe schmoe out there seems to have an aim mod on. Went to some odd map that was just a small walled in circle with 4 pillars near each of the corners. CT side with the m16s just plunked the Ts down in a matter of seconds every round refresh.

Did that for about an hour and decided to check out the game that got the most of my time before. Of course I got to spend another 30 minutes waiting for steam to updated it.......

Same comments as before about the visuals and maps. Although here it also seems like some have been taken out so the familiarity factor was lower. Did enjoy lugging the MG around, nothing like getting in a good spot and taking down a dozen guys before they get enough to grenade rush your location.

The really good news is that I did all this on my bedroom comp last night, so I have it all to look forward to again to set it up on my main rig :/


You've just started playing Counterstrike?

Welcome to 1999. Nice to have you.
 

lupi

Lifer
Apr 8, 2001
32,539
260
126
Originally posted by: Jschmuck2
Originally posted by: lupi
Yes steam sucks. As I recently picked up HL1 anthology and CS/DOD source for about $18 I decided to end my 5+ year boycott of valve products to try them out.

Since everyone says how nice it is to just install steam and them download your guys, that's what I tried to do. Punched in my keys, started to d/l, and then realized either yall are idiots or steam has me blacklisted too. Damn thing said it was going to take 22 hours to install CSS. So I decide to do what you do when you don't have a "service" like steam and just install the game. A couple minutes later CS and DOD are installed and I go to start up CS first. And then I hit the steam wall again as it takes about 45 minutes to update my install. Have I mentioned how much I like using this service yet?

After I finally got it loaded, it was back to the good ole'gameplay I've done over the past 10 years. At least that's what I thought. First server I popped into was office. Wow for the visuals and the map changes. Each map still has several areas that are fairly rememberable from when they were first released, but having not seen the changes of this century they are almost all like playing on new material. The flashbangs and smoke grenade effects are truly now effective. Before they were mostly a minor annoyance if you caught the full effect, now you dread seeing them come flying at you. And I don't know why people complain so much about the AWP (still), as every joe schmoe out there seems to have an aim mod on. Went to some odd map that was just a small walled in circle with 4 pillars near each of the corners. CT side with the m16s just plunked the Ts down in a matter of seconds every round refresh.

Did that for about an hour and decided to check out the game that got the most of my time before. Of course I got to spend another 30 minutes waiting for steam to updated it.......

Same comments as before about the visuals and maps. Although here it also seems like some have been taken out so the familiarity factor was lower. Did enjoy lugging the MG around, nothing like getting in a good spot and taking down a dozen guys before they get enough to grenade rush your location.

The really good news is that I did all this on my bedroom comp last night, so I have it all to look forward to again to set it up on my main rig :/


You've just started playing Counterstrike?

Welcome to 1999. Nice to have you.

Well your name is fitting, once you remove the J anyway.

Reading comprehension ftl little padawan. Back to your mom's tit.
 

samduhman

Senior member
Jul 18, 2005
397
2
81

Lupi, you cannot win. I agree with you 100% but the Steam/valve fanboys will eat you alive. They are an angry, nasty brood and if you don't love Steam like they do they rip you a new one. I wouldn't be surprised if some don't work for valve lingering in forums like this looking for naysayers like ourselves to pummel into submission. :evil:

I've boycotted Steam since Half Life 2 took an hour to install because of the crappy unencryption scheme. Also because all I wanted to do was play single player but Steam had to start up and authenticate every time before I could play my store bought copy! This may be fixed now but I haven't checked to find out.

Im going to be stupid and buy the Orange box combo coming this fall and give it one more chance.
 

pontifex

Lifer
Dec 5, 2000
43,806
46
91
uh...i'm not a valve/steam fanboy, i'm just smart enough to know that if i buy an old game that has lots of patches since it was released, its going to take awhile to download them all.

 

KeithTalent

Elite Member | Administrator | No Lifer
Administrator
Nov 30, 2005
50,235
117
116
When I re-installed LOTRO after upgrading to Vista, it took about 3 hours or so to download all of the updates.

When I re-installed HL2 and CS:S after upgrading to Vista, it took about 30 minutes to downlaod the updates.

As pontifex pointed out, it makes sense it would take a while to download all of the updates since the game has been out for quite a while.

What is strange though, is how long the ETA was to just download the games directly. :confused:

Anyway, I hope you work it out because CS:S is still plenty of fun! :thumbsup:

Good luck,
KT
 

lupi

Lifer
Apr 8, 2001
32,539
260
126
Originally posted by: samduhman

Lupi, you cannot win. I agree with you 100% but the Steam/valve fanboys will eat you alive. They are an angry, nasty brood and if you don't love Steam like they do they rip you a new one. I wouldn't be surprised if some don't work for valve lingering in forums like this looking for naysayers like ourselves to pummel into submission. :evil:

I've boycotted Steam since Half Life 2 took an hour to install because of the crappy unencryption scheme. Also because all I wanted to do was play single player but Steam had to start up and authenticate every time before I could play my store bought copy! This may be fixed now but I haven't checked to find out.

Im going to be stupid and buy the Orange box combo coming this fall and give it one more chance.

Those are pretty much the reasons why I've never bought a valve product till now since they annoucne STEAM. Ridiculous that you can't play a single player game without an internet connection. I think you may be right now about only needing it on initial install, at least that's how I think it works on the limited looking over I've done of the service over the last coupel of days.

I've got games older than some people on this forum, I may need to play around with DOSBOX to get them running now, but I can still run them. If valve goes away and steam goes with it, I would be rather dissapointed to have a bunch of single player toaster disc.
 

Ackmed

Diamond Member
Oct 1, 2003
8,476
523
126
I have never had a single problem with Steam. I like it, and will continue using it.

You can play offline, and mine has never taken the alleged 30 mins to update that yours did.

Try not to blame things that are not Steams fault, on the program. And try to have some common courtesy.
 

LumbergTech

Diamond Member
Sep 15, 2005
3,622
1
0
might be an issue with your router ports not being open properly to get max dl speed..i always get very fast dl ..700k a sec or so
 

lupi

Lifer
Apr 8, 2001
32,539
260
126
Originally posted by: LumbergTech
might be an issue with your router ports not being open properly to get max dl speed..i always get very fast dl ..700k a sec or so

Nope, installed it on my other computer when I got home today. Still had to install from the disc as the totall install time for both games would have been about a 5 hour download from the steam estimate, but the upgrade was thanfully about 50x faster this time.
 

Sniper82

Lifer
Feb 6, 2000
16,517
0
76
Been using Steam for a year and a half and aside from Peerguardian(have to disable it to play) blocking Steam its been flawless. Maybe you got it at a bad time and all servers was getting hammered.
 

Molondo

Platinum Member
Sep 6, 2005
2,529
1
0
Iv had issues with steam. I had to be seriously patient to fix those issues. Its a convenient product if you ask me.
 

gorcorps

aka Brandon
Jul 18, 2004
30,736
447
126
Oh christ... it would have taken that long to update any online game to the latest patch. Best part about steam is you know you're always current. With other games you have to track down info to figure out what's the latest patch. The initial setup and updates are kind of a pain sure, but once they're updated steam is a great service. You just haven't given it enough time.
 

40sTheme

Golden Member
Sep 24, 2006
1,607
0
0
Your D/L speed sucks. I got HL2, HL2 Deathmatch, CS:S, DOD:S, and Garry's mod all D/Ling at the same time in 5 hours. Steam makes things very smooth.-
 

KMFJD

Lifer
Aug 11, 2005
29,044
41,733
136
Originally posted by: lupi
Originally posted by: samduhman

Lupi, you cannot win. I agree with you 100% but the Steam/valve fanboys will eat you alive. They are an angry, nasty brood and if you don't love Steam like they do they rip you a new one. I wouldn't be surprised if some don't work for valve lingering in forums like this looking for naysayers like ourselves to pummel into submission. :evil:

I've boycotted Steam since Half Life 2 took an hour to install because of the crappy unencryption scheme. Also because all I wanted to do was play single player but Steam had to start up and authenticate every time before I could play my store bought copy! This may be fixed now but I haven't checked to find out.

Im going to be stupid and buy the Orange box combo coming this fall and give it one more chance.

Those are pretty much the reasons why I've never bought a valve product till now since they annoucne STEAM. Ridiculous that you can't play a single player game without an internet connection. I think you may be right now about only needing it on initial install, at least that's how I think it works on the limited looking over I've done of the service over the last coupel of days.

I've got games older than some people on this forum, I may need to play around with DOSBOX to get them running now, but I can still run them. If valve goes away and steam goes with it, I would be rather dissapointed to have a bunch of single player toaster disc.

I understand the need for all the patches if you want to play the multiplayer, but for single player they should just let you play it as is...could you imagine being a kid living in a rural area that has only dial up trying to get Half Life 2 to work? Insane
 

apoppin

Lifer
Mar 9, 2000
34,890
1
0
alienbabeltech.com
I understand the need for all the patches if you want to play the multiplayer, but for single player they should just let you play it as is...could you imagine being a kid living in a rural area that has only dial up trying to get Half Life 2 to work? Insane

i d/led HL2's Lost Coast over 56K ... took about 7 overnights :p
-to be fair, only about 5% of Steam users have dialup

hopefully i will have broadband by the time the Valve Orange Box is out
.. wireless broadband is finally available in my very rural area