Steam makes a physical disc game purchase pointless.

[skipsneeky2]

Well tonight i decided i wanted to play me some Duke Nukem Forver which i have on dvd to take a short break from all the fps shoot them up wargames.

So when the game disc installs steam i log in i simply ask to install the game i guess it downloads it?

Waiting now 3 hours 11 minutes for the game to finish downloading while on disc it would be maybe 15 mins tops.

Well whats the point of the stupid disc if steam downloads the entire game or any game for that matter?

Isn't is wasteful and if i went to some store and bought a game to get some sort of code shrinkwraped that i could put into steam and then download would that not make more sense then a dvd disc that has almost nothing to do with the game?

Why the stupid disc i think if steam demands i download it the whole dvd thing to me is retarded and a waste of resources in a world only caring about recycling and green technology.

 

[DominionSeraph]

And... what happens if you double-click on the setup.exe on the disk?

 

[skipsneeky2]

And... what happens if you double-click on the setup.exe on the disk?

It still opens up steam and downloads it which i do remember it doing last time but still its just stupid when a disc would install a game so much quicker.

 

[Aluvus]

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=5357-FSQM-0382

IIRC there is actually a somewhat easier way also. But yes, it's annoying that the default behavior is to download everything.

 

[wuliheron]

Why the stupid disc i think if steam demands i download it the whole dvd thing to me is retarded and a waste of resources in a world only caring about recycling and green technology.

Steam just provides a service and, as far as I know, doesn't make those decisions. My best recommendation if you're concerned about the environment is to not buy the disk ever and just download it straight from steam.

 

[Dumac]

So when the game disc installs steam i log in i simply ask to install the game i guess it downloads it?

I installed it from the disc.

Waiting now 3 hours 11 minutes for the game to finish downloading while on disc it would be maybe 15 mins tops.

Yup, took me 15 minutes.

Well whats the point of the stupid disc if steam downloads the entire game or any game for that matter?

Isn't is wasteful and if i went to some store and bought a game to get some sort of code shrinkwraped that i could put into steam and then download would that not make more sense then a dvd disc that has almost nothing to do with the game?

Why the stupid disc i think if steam demands i download it the whole dvd thing to me is retarded and a waste of resources in a world only caring about recycling and green technology.

You are the one who bought the physical copy. They offered the digital copy on steam. If you wanted to be green, you should have bought it on steam.

 

[Elcs]

Physical disk versions have a HUGE role to play.

They're usually much cheaper than Steam (Ex. Skyrim Steam £34.99. Skyrim online store £26 inc delivery)

 

[Elcs]

Pressed button once. Two posts come up.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Physical disk versions have a HUGE role to play.

They're usually much cheaper than Steam (Ex. Skyrim Steam £34.99. Skyrim online store £26 inc delivery)

maybe on initial release, but just wait, a holiday or two from now and we'll see Skyrim for 75% off on one of the regular Steam sales (note, not because the game is a flop or will flop, but because that's just what Steam does )

 

[shortylickens]

Not completely pointless. Unless you have gigabit internet its always faster to install from disc. Though requiring online access to activate it can be annoying.

 

[RavenSEAL]

What else is new?

 

[Anteaus]

It still opens up steam and downloads it which i do remember it doing last time but still its just stupid when a disc would install a game so much quicker.

This is advice to all who do steamworks disc installs.

Anytime you do a Steamworks disc install, it's best to activate the key on your account and while steam is open start the disc installer and you shouldn't have any problems installing from the disc. If it does begin downloading right after activation, simple stop it and remove local content and then start the disc install.

The benefit of the disc is that it saves you the time of downloading the game. If you have a speedy connection, the benefits are negligible. Also, if you backup any games on Steam, it will create a compressed file and install executable in the same format as you'll see on any Steamworks disc. If you have the space its easy to have a backup of all your games for quick reinstallation later on.

 

[biostud]

Physical disk versions have a HUGE role to play.

They're usually much cheaper than Steam (Ex. Skyrim Steam £34.99. Skyrim online store £26 inc delivery)

Exactly.

New games = physical disc.
Steam deals = Steam shop.

to OP, maybe it's not steam but DN4E that is the problem. MW3 installed in steam from the discs no problem, not trying to download anything.

 

[Nebor]

I can download games about as fast or faster than they install from a DVD. Steam downloads are about 3 megabytes per second.

I only buy Steam games.

 

[shortylickens]

I can download games about as fast or faster than they install from a DVD. Steam downloads are about 3 megabytes per second.

I only buy Steam games.

Your DVD drive must be broke or 1st gen.

 

[MacLeod1592]

I have to admit, as much as I love Steam, that is kind of a pain in the ass to have to jump thru all those hoops to install a game off a DVD. Yeah it doesnt take much more than a quick Google to figure out how to get it done but I guess Im just too lazy cause I think you should be able to pop a DVD in and install it with just a click or two.

 

[Nebor]

Your DVD drive must be broke or 1st gen.

It's a blu-ray drive. I didn't have any more SATA cables so I had to use 2 SATA to IDE adapters though.

 

[JimmiG]

It wouldn't be so annoying if the Steam servers weren't so slow. For me, Steam started downloading Skyrim at 200-300KB/s...so I had to cancel and Google to try to find a way to actually install from the DVD I bought. Normally I get 11-12 MB/s from decent servers, which isn't that much lower than the DVD read speed.

 

[KaOTiK]

It wouldn't be so annoying if the Steam servers weren't so slow. For me, Steam started downloading Skyrim at 200-300KB/s...so I had to cancel and Google to try to find a way to actually install from the DVD I bought. Normally I get 11-12 MB/s from decent servers, which isn't that much lower than the DVD read speed.

In all fairness with the case of Skyrim, the game just came out and the servers are being slammed for it so its speeds are suffering. Just like with big sales the servers just get slammed.

 

[skipsneeky2]

It wouldn't be so annoying if the Steam servers weren't so slow. For me, Steam started downloading Skyrim at 200-300KB/s...so I had to cancel and Google to try to find a way to actually install from the DVD I bought. Normally I get 11-12 MB/s from decent servers, which isn't that much lower than the DVD read speed.

Took me 4 hours to download DNFE and if i have to google a way to freaking install a dvd version without steam downloading it so slow then whats the purpose of a disc version?

Not everyone who buys a game that requires steam will figure out how to manually install the game versus waiting a century for the huge download.

Lord forbid your on dsl or something at about 150kbps it would take up your whole day...

 

[Dumac]

It wouldn't be so annoying if the Steam servers weren't so slow. For me, Steam started downloading Skyrim at 200-300KB/s...so I had to cancel and Google to try to find a way to actually install from the DVD I bought. Normally I get 11-12 MB/s from decent servers, which isn't that much lower than the DVD read speed.

That is strange. Steam servers are always extremely fast for me....they download stuff faster than anything else really.

 

[Dumac]

Took me 4 hours to download DNFE and if i have to google a way to freaking install a dvd version without steam downloading it so slow then whats the purpose of a disc version?

Not everyone who buys a game that requires steam will figure out how to manually install the game versus waiting a century for the huge download.

Lord forbid your on dsl or something at about 150kbps it would take up your whole day...

Don't you just put the disc in....

That is what I did.

I don't get what you are complaining about. What would you like changed?

 

[Elcs]

That is strange. Steam servers are always extremely fast for me....they download stuff faster than anything else really.

Popular game gets released. People buy it. Steam gets mauled.

Quite normal behaviour I'd say

 

[Dumac]

I have to admit, as much as I love Steam, that is kind of a pain in the ass to have to jump thru all those hoops to install a game off a DVD. Yeah it doesnt take much more than a quick Google to figure out how to get it done but I guess Im just too lazy cause I think you should be able to pop a DVD in and install it with just a click or two.

That is what I did...

 

[Dumac]

Popular game gets released. People buy it. Steam gets mauled.

Quite normal behaviour I'd say

I downloaded Witcher 2 when it was released at 2MB/s...

I don't know about Skyrim because I installed it from the disc.