CS:S steam download

[MBony]

A buddy and I are wanting to play but I know it takes like 5 hours to download. He has 3mib. down so I was wondering if anyone know of a quicker way to get the game off the net? Downloading the game shouldn't be illegal unless you use an invalid key. Is this right? If so, any suggestions?

 

[XBoxLPU]

No

buy/Download off steam or buy in store

 

[shortylickens]

May be possible to find it on a file-sharing network.
But there is no guarantee you'll get it faster. And it may be corrupted.

If easy access is important to you, just buy the discs. Thats what everyone should have been doing in the first place.
Computers arent nearly as reliable as I would like. I always want a hard copy of something I pay for.
Most people dont have gigabit internet, so a full version of a high-end game seems like a ridiculous download to me.

 

[thelanx]

I find steam is a pretty fast download, start it now and it should be done in a few hours. I think the only way that is substantially faster than steam is if you buy it in store.

 

[XBoxLPU]

Originally posted by: shortylickens
May be possible to find it on a file-sharing network.
But there is no guarantee you'll get it faster. And it may be corrupted.
.

Good luck trying to play on steam......

 

[XBoxLPU]

Originally posted by: shortylickens

Most people dont have gigabit internet, so a full version of a high-end game seems like a ridiculous download to me.

I personally like purchasing and than instantly downloading it

 

[EpsiIon]

Originally posted by: shortylickens
May be possible to find it on a file-sharing network.
But there is no guarantee you'll get it faster. And it may be corrupted.

What he said. If nothing else, start the Steam download and THEN look for alternatives. It may even finish before you find something better.

If easy access is important to you, just buy the discs. Thats what everyone should have been doing in the first place.
Computers arent nearly as reliable as I would like. I always want a hard copy of something I pay for.
Most people dont have gigabit internet, so a full version of a high-end game seems like a ridiculous download to me.

:roll: What you said above makes sense, but this is just dumb (EDIT: To be clear, saying that everyone should have been buying the discs is what's dumb, not your preference -- even if I disagree with it). There are a couple of things you need to understand:

1) For people like myself, buying over Steam was quick and easy. I paid a few days in advance and got to play the game the night it was released.
2) The only perk you get from the hard copy is an already-made backup. All the CD does is install Steam and copy the .gcf files (the ones I downloaded) to the appropriate directory. From now on, your CD may as well be a burned copy of the .gcf files because it has no connection to your actual Steam account. And although it may not be an issue for some, I'm greatly enjoying an extra copy of Half-Life for my friends to use.

Steam > *.

 

[shortylickens]

Well, I dont know about A cd or THE cd. I have THE dvd because I didnt want to have to swap a bunch of discs during installation.

I didnt need the T-shirt or other crap. I just want to encourage companies to use DVD's for games. PS2 has been using them since the beginning. I dont know why its not the standard for windows based games.

I dont really know what you mean by "an extra copy of Half-Life for my friends to use".
Assuming you are a good law-abiding citizen, doesnt anybody who payed for HL2 have the ability to download and make their own discs?
And I really dont think having to do a 5 hour download everytime I want to install my game is a perk. So is it really bad if I have my own ready made backup on a single disc? It is really bad if I pay a little more than you? Especially if I was pissed about the whole mandatory activation BS and didnt actually buy the game for several months. I dont care if I am among the people to play it on opening night. It was delayed so long I lost my hard-on. :laugh:

EDIT: On a side note, do you guys think they will ever release a ready-to-play version, without requiring activation?
Forget all the hacked versions on the warez sites. I'm talking about legit retail. I may actually be in a situation someday where I cant get on the Net, but want to play games anyhow.
I worry Valve may have set a precident that'll screw up my gaming pleasure in the future.

 

[JBT]

With steam there is a back up utility that allows you to burn to DVD... or CD so whenver you format you don't need to re download everything.

Also after activating with steam you can just run steam in "offline mode" which means you don't need an internet connection to play.

 

[MBony]

Originally posted by: JBT
With steam there is a back up utility that allows you to burn to DVD... or CD so whenver you format you don't need to re download everything.

Can you tell me where exactly how to find this feature?

 

[XBoxLPU]

Originally posted by: JBT
With steam there is a back up utility that allows you to burn to DVD... or CD so whenver you format you don't need to re download everything.

Also after activating with steam you can just run steam in "offline mode" which means you don't need an internet connection to play.

From reading the forums over at the official site... the back up feature seems to be borked

You can access this feature by bring up the "Play Games" and then right click on the file you want backed up. Though like I said above..

A much easier way is to go into where you installed Steam ( C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps ). Highlight all of the GCF files and create a new Winrar Archive. I like SFX, it creates an EXE file that when ran will ask you where you would like to extract the files.. so after creating the EXE file.. there is no need for Winrar ( clean builds or for friends etc ). The GCF files are roughly ~8gb and when compressed into that exe come out just under ~4gb! Just perfect for a burn to DVD. Very simple back up!

 

[Snapster]

I don't see why you just don't get it off of Steam. I found their servers pretty fast when I downloaded the game, probably faster than I could from a torrent due to the kick in speed times. That was on a 2Mbit line.

 

[EpsiIon]

Originally posted by: shortylickens
Well, I dont know about A cd or THE cd. I have THE dvd because I didnt want to have to swap a bunch of discs during installation.

I didnt need the T-shirt or other crap. I just want to encourage companies to use DVD's for games. PS2 has been using them since the beginning. I dont know why its not the standard for windows based games.

I didn't buy any of that other junk. That came with the Gold package. I bought the Silver package. For my money, I got:

Half-Life 2
CS: S
DoD: S
Every game Valve released before Half-Life 2 (except Blue Shift, I think).

Because you bought a retail copy, you will have to pay for DoD: S and you obviously did not get an extra copy of Half-Life and its expansions / mods.

All of these were associated with my NEW Steam account. Since I already had an old Steam account for my original copy of Half-Life, I now have two completely valid Steam accounts.

I dont really know what you mean by "an extra copy of Half-Life for my friends to use".
Assuming you are a good law-abiding citizen, doesnt anybody who payed for HL2 have the ability to download and make their own discs?

Nope. It only came with a Silver or Gold purchase.

And I really dont think having to do a 5 hour download everytime I want to install my game is a perk. So is it really bad if I have my own ready made backup on a single disc? It is really bad if I pay a little more than you? Especially if I was pissed about the whole mandatory activation BS and didnt actually buy the game for several months. I dont care if I am among the people to play it on opening night. It was delayed so long I lost my hard-on. :laugh:

Uh, you don't have to download it every time. That's what I was saying. You can make a backup on CDs, DVDs, or another hard drive. The only advantage a retail copy gives you is a pre-made backup. Given the choice between free games and a pre-made backup, I'll talk the free games. Especially if it means I don't have to take an extra trip to the store.

EDIT: On a side note, do you guys think they will ever release a ready-to-play version, without requiring activation?
Forget all the hacked versions on the warez sites. I'm talking about legit retail. I may actually be in a situation someday where I cant get on the Net, but want to play games anyhow.
I worry Valve may have set a precident that'll screw up my gaming pleasure in the future.

Short answer: No. That would completely defeat the purpose of Steam.