Steam, sometimes I hate you...

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Azeroth101

Member
Dec 30, 2007
171
0
71
I love steam, don't get me wrong it's incredibly convenient but that convenience comes at a price. I took Windows 7 RC off my computer and went retro with Windows XP. This is where the convenience, and the price come in. Several service packs later, I head to my steam games tab, and try to start a download for Day of Defeat: Source. Well, steams servers were flipping out as Battlefield: Bad Company 2 came out the very same day. Oops, steam servers too busy to download your games, try again later, (Several hours later), steam servers too busy to download your games, try again later. Needless to say I was pissed. I was amazed how many people must be trying to get BF:BC2. So I guess I'm not really blaming steam, just EA and everyone else on the Battlefield team. (But I'll always love you guys, Battlefield 1942, Battlefield 1942 Desert Combat, Battlefield 2) peace!
 
TridenT

TridenT

Lifer
Sep 4, 2006
16,800
45
91
I think I am going to go buy BC2 at wal-mart and install it the old fashioned way... Pop a disc in and yayy.... :p
 
simonizor

simonizor

Golden Member
Feb 8, 2010
1,312
0
0
You should have backed up your games before you formatted using the steam backup utility. Depending on how many games you have, it probably would have taken less than two hours.

I recently had to take Windows 7 RC off of my PC and I went back to XP x64. Windows 7 RC had become corrupt in some way so badly that every time that I tried to backup my games in steam, it would BSOD. Fortunately, I stored all of my games on separate partition. After I installed XP x64 to the partition that I had 7 RC on, I installed Steam to the same directory that it was installed to before and it automatically detected all of the games that I had installed previously. Luckily, everything works without a hitch.
 
jlee

jlee

Lifer
Sep 12, 2001
48,518
223
106
simonizor said:
You should have backed up your games before you formatted using the steam backup utility. Depending on how many games you have, it probably would have taken less than two hours.

I recently had to take Windows 7 RC off of my PC and I went back to XP x64. Windows 7 RC had become corrupt in some way so badly that every time that I tried to backup my games in steam, it would BSOD. Fortunately, I stored all of my games on separate partition. After I installed XP x64 to the partition that I had 7 RC on, I installed Steam to the same directory that it was installed to before and it automatically detected all of the games that I had installed previously. Luckily, everything works without a hitch.
Click to expand...

I don't even use the backup utility - I did once or twice and it was a headache. Just save the entire Steam directory. Reinstall the client into that directory and bam, you're good.
 
fleshconsumed

fleshconsumed

Diamond Member
Feb 21, 2002
6,486
2,363
136
I always hate it. Been getting "no network connection"/"servers are currently down for routine maintenance" all day today. Can't even play L4D... screw valve and their stupid steam.
 
R

Rifter

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
11,522
751
126
You know you can just put the steam folder on a external drive or something and then just move it back onto your PC and install steam into that DIR and you are good to go right? no DL'ing required.
 
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Lonyo

Lifer
Aug 10, 2002
21,938
6
81
fleshconsumed said:
I always hate it. Been getting "no network connection"/"servers are currently down for routine maintenance" all day today. Can't even play L4D... screw valve and their stupid steam.
Click to expand...

That's why it's always a bad idea to put all your eggs in one basket.
People with a full library of games only on Steam are going to enjoy themselves if it ever has problems/they have problems for an extended period of time.
Same with any service.
Better to spread your risk rather than concentrate it all in one place. Sure, Securom servers may go down or my internet might go down, but if you bought, say, only Steam and Ubisoft games and your internet dies unexpectedly, no more gaming for you.

That and it's quicker for me to buy a game and install it from a disc than it is to wait for it to download, especially when I can buy games at the same time as picking up groceries, and get them very cheap too (Dragon Age for £14/$21).
 
paperfist

paperfist

Diamond Member
Nov 30, 2000
6,539
287
126
www.the-teh.com
Lonyo said:
That's why it's always a bad idea to put all your eggs in one basket.
People with a full library of games only on Steam are going to enjoy themselves if it ever has problems/they have problems for an extended period of time.
Same with any service.
Better to spread your risk rather than concentrate it all in one place. Sure, Securom servers may go down or my internet might go down, but if you bought, say, only Steam and Ubisoft games and your internet dies unexpectedly, no more gaming for you.

That and it's quicker for me to buy a game and install it from a disc than it is to wait for it to download, especially when I can buy games at the same time as picking up groceries, and get them very cheap too (Dragon Age for £14/$21).
Click to expand...

I have a lot of games on Steam, not a full basket, but most of my collection is. That said Bad Company 2 is the only game I've ever tried to play on Steam that gives me that can't connect error. I imagine is has something to do with so many people overloading the system.
 
jlee

jlee

Lifer
Sep 12, 2001
48,518
223
106
nemesismk2 said:
I hate Steam, it's slow and no way to activate games. If you buy a game and want to play it on release day, forget it because Steam is overloaded. :(
Click to expand...

Don't most Steam games let you pre-order and pre-load?
 
A

ayabe

Diamond Member
Aug 10, 2005
7,449
0
0
I've tried doing a backup twice, and both ended in epic fails. This was a few years ago but I'm not sold on how awesome it is.
 
PingSpike

PingSpike

Lifer
Feb 25, 2004
21,758
603
126
At least you aren't on dial up. Steam just shits its own pants whenever an update rolls around. I expected it to be slow as fuck. I did not expect it to barely even work.
 
Lean L

Lean L

Diamond Member
Apr 30, 2009
3,685
0
0
jlee said:
I don't even use the backup utility - I did once or twice and it was a headache. Just save the entire Steam directory. Reinstall the client into that directory and bam, you're good.
Click to expand...

dont have to even install it. run the exe in the dir and it will run. It's like adware
 
PieIsAwesome

PieIsAwesome

Diamond Member
Feb 11, 2007
4,054
1
0
This is why I have small partitions for operating systems and a giant one for everything else (including steam). If I decide to change one of the OS partitions it doesn't affect steam at all.
 
Elixer

Elixer

Lifer
May 7, 2002
10,371
762
126
I have gotten into a habbit of going into offline mode everytime I download something new from steam.
The backups seem OK, however, you must be in online mode for them to work again (after installing them back). D:

They really need a official virtual drive to handle all the games, so we don't have to muck around with 3rd party utils.
 
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