Wow, I love Steam

[CurseTheSky]

Recently I've made several hardware changes that have required a reformat and fresh install. Needless to say, when you reformat several times in the course of 3-4 weeks, it gets annoying to re-download and reinstall programs over and over. Sure, some things can be omitted in the short run, but even if you're going to need to use an application or want to play a game just once in that time period, you have to jump through the hoops.

I play a decent number of games pretty commonly. L4D, Warcraft III, TF2, CS:S, Mass Effect, The Witcher, Oblivion, Fallout 3, etc. Since none of them hold my attention for very long (and since I don't have a ton of time to dedicate to any one game anymore), I generally install them all, and more, and play them whenever I get the itch. I omitted installing several of the games during each reformat just to speed things up, but I still painstakingly installed some of them more than once.

Last time I installed them, I got smart and put my entire Steam folder on a secondary hard drive. When I reformatted the OS drive, I didn't expect any of my games on the other hard drive to still work (since registry entries would be missing). I was pleasantly surprised when all I had to do was redownload the Steam client, reinstall it over the same location, and bam - everything works as it should. No more downloading and reinstalling games for hours.

For just that simple reason, I think I'll be making most of my purchases through Steam from now on.

 

[gorobei]

might be the steam cloud thing that saves all your profile data on their servers.

 

[brblx]

you don't even have to redownload steam. i've kept my steam folder on a seperate drive through multiple formats, and all i do is create a shortcut to steam.exe on the new install. works perfectly, i don't even have to type in my login info (i have it set to autologin when steam is launched).

 

[CurseTheSky]

Originally posted by: gorobei
might be the steam cloud thing that saves all your profile data on their servers.

Yep, that's one nice advantage. Resetting the profile data is a minor nuisance for me; redownloading all of the games is a major problem. Luckily this solution solves both issues!

Originally posted by: brblx
you don't even have to redownload steam. i've kept my steam folder on a seperate drive through multiple formats, and all i do is create a shortcut to steam.exe on the new install. works perfectly, i don't even have to type in my login info (i have it set to autologin when steam is launched).

Oh, that's cool - I initially tried launching the EXE from the Steam directory but nothing happened. Reinstalling Steam over the existing install fixed the issue. I'm not sure exactly what the problem was.

 

[gigahertz20]

When I formatted my Vista 32 bit install and installed Windows 7 64 bit, I copied my entire Steam folder over to my new install and every game works, all my keyboard settings work fine, no games are crashing. The only thing I redownloaded was steam and installed it, then copied my old Steam folder over.

I don't think any of the steam games rely on registry entries or anything like that, it's all .gcf files. I wish all games/software could be like that, just copy a folder over to your hard drive and it's installed...........maybe Windows 8?

 

[TurtleCrusher]

I just did this a few weeks ago. I saved about 30GB of games that I have mods for, but approx 120GB was downloaded in a couple days on top of that.

Beats having to use each DVD to reinstall. Without a doubt!

 

[tommo123]

if only the pricing of the games were better. (non valve games i mean). i want to buy batman arkham asylum, but it's way more expensive on steam than to buy on disk. i want my pc games on steam for easy re-installation . the lack of media is a bonus

 

[j0j081]

nice to know!

 

[Jakeisbest]

I love steam too. Every time I start search for a CD case to find a stupid ass CD-key to play an old game I get pissed. Steam has solved many of these problems for me.

 

[BassBomb]

bad parody

 

[EvilComputer92]

Originally posted by: CurseTheSky
I like DRM.

k.

 

[Cabages]

Originally posted by: EvilComputer92

Originally posted by: CurseTheSky
I like DRM.

k.

It is, IMO, a pretty acceptable form of DRM. I believe Steam includes SecuROM and the other types of shitty DRM in some of the games, but that is only because they have to in order to carry the game.

Steams validation service is miles better than the compatibility problems and issues that arise due to SecuROM, Tages, etc.

 

[CountZero]

Originally posted by: EvilComputer92

Originally posted by: CurseTheSky
I like DRM.

k.

Is there a DRM free service that is legal and will allow me to get new games from a variety of publishers and redownload them as often as I like?

I don't know of any, maybe if you posted a better alternative that has the benefits of Steam but without the DRM people would switch.

No consumer likes DRM but if its part of a package that has some value then for some its acceptable.

 

[smackababy]

I love the anti DRM people who have nothing better to offer than to bash Steam. Please, offer me an alternative that protects the IP rights of the developer and is completely unrestrictive for the user. Please do that and I will forever forsake Steam. Until then, nobody cares. Get off your soapbox, stop pretending you don't pirate games, and let everyone who doesn't mind Steam, use it in peace.

No product will ever come without some sort of a trade off. It is up to the consumer to decide if the value still lies in said product after the trade off. I would love an electric vehicle, but the value isn't there for as I like to drive more than 400miles at a time. I am not going to go out of my way to bash those who do like those vehicles though.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Originally posted by: tommo123
if only the pricing of the games were better. (non valve games i mean). i want to buy batman arkham asylum, but it's way more expensive on steam than to buy on disk. i want my pc games on steam for easy re-installation . the lack of media is a bonus

You CAN buy on disk and input the CD key and download it, right?

 

[aka1nas]

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage

Originally posted by: tommo123
if only the pricing of the games were better. (non valve games i mean). i want to buy batman arkham asylum, but it's way more expensive on steam than to buy on disk. i want my pc games on steam for easy re-installation . the lack of media is a bonus

You CAN buy on disk and input the CD key and download it, right?

Only if the game publisher works it out with Valve. There is a handful of third-party games that work this way on Steam.

 

[Barfo]

Steam killed my cat.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

You know what would be really sweet? If you could play your games without installing any third party software :roll:

 

[Golgatha]

Originally posted by: Jakeisbest
I love steam too. Every time I start search for a CD case to find a stupid ass CD-key to play an old game I get pissed. Steam has solved many of these problems for me.

Text file FTW?!

 

[PepePeru]

I did not know this.

Since I will be migrating to the retail copy of 7 this month,very good info. to have.

thanks

 

[acheron]

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer
You know what would be really sweet? If you could play your games without installing any third party software :roll:

So you want to bring back PC booters?

 

[Golgatha]

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer
You know what would be really sweet? If you could play your games without installing any third party software :roll:

You can, but it's illegal to do it that way because of the DMCA.

Originally posted by: smackababy
I love the anti DRM people who have nothing better to offer than to bash Steam. Please, offer me an alternative that protects the IP rights of the developer and is completely unrestrictive for the user. Please do that and I will forever forsake Steam. Until then, nobody cares. Get off your soapbox, stop pretending you don't pirate games, and let everyone who doesn't mind Steam, use it in peace.

Seriously, do you often accuse strangers of illegal activities in real life much? Also, unrestrictive? Ever tried to resell a Steam game?

"Please, offer me an alternative that protects the IP rights of the developer and is completely unrestrictive for the user."

This statement assumes that DRM actually protects the IP rights of the developer, which it historically does not. Good games are normally available within a week to pirates and if they aren't, it's only a matter of time. If someone is willing to steal a game, that doesn't mean they would buy it if the stolen good was unavailable.

I seriously get very frustrated at the lack of empathy, inability to see another person's perspective, and shortsightedness on these boards sometimes. I love gaming on the PC, but I don't like being treated like corporate cattle either.

 

[dguy6789]

Indeed Steam is excellent. I really try to avoid buying non Steam games nowadays.

 

[Mike Gayner]

I install all of my games on a second drive (about 90 games at the moment). When I reformat, 90% of them work without reinstalling. And I don't use Steam(ing pile of shit) for any games unless I have to.

 

[videogames101]

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer
You know what would be really sweet? If you could play your games without installing any third party software :roll:

You know whtat'd be nice? Third party software which makes the games better.


Oh wait.