Angry about Steam and not getting what you paid for?

[TekSomniaK]

I did mine this morning at around 6:30 Central Time. The verification took about 10 minutes to complete. I am able to login fine at any time. "I can't trust Steam, so I'm going to support the TERRIBLE VU and buy it at the store!!" I ordered through Steam, no problems.

So I have no problem with Steam. It looks like I am among the few at this forum.

 

[Staples]

Don't worry. With Bush's appointments to just about every secretary of every gov department, the FTC will look the other way.

 

[hydrogen18]

I bet you all bitched when you had to buy a CDROM for the first time cause the newest game wasn't available on Floppy's. Valve is being the pioneer of a new paradigm for online distribution and copyright control, so ofcourse there are a few, or many, flaws. I am willing to bet that a Million people have already tried to activate today, so no matter how powerful their servers are there is going to be glitches. Someone in one of these threads claimed that Valve has offered no support what so ever, and if this is true Valve should be ashamed, but I have my doubts.

Why is all this happening? 2 reasons:
1) SoftWare Hackers are screwing developers
You same people that bitch cause you can't get it working were probably already pissed because you couldn't just download the Warez for free. The whole reason they are implementing such things as Online Activation is because hackers have been stealling revenue from these companies for years. Hell I know I may, or may not, have downloaded things for free in the past, but I can't be pissed that someone figured out a way to prevent this. In fact if you ask me it's pure genius.
2)Publishers are screwing developers
When you go to the store and buy a game, 90% of that money goes to the company that made the box(Vivendi) and not the people that actually made the game(Valve). Valve had an amazing concept: Instead of taking it up the ass by the publishers, why don't we offer our products online so users can get them directly from us? This way they can get proper compensation for their artwork, instead of the Corporate Blackhole.

All that being said though, I downloaded it all last week, and activation went through without a hitch this morning. In otherwords, my patience has not been tried like the rest of you.

nope, Didnt bitch about CDs. Liked the idea. I'm currently bitching about not enough dvd games being out.

In response to your 1 reason, it makes no sense. We are all bitching about Half life 2 not being Warez-able, therefore we went out and bought it?

 

[Netrat33]

Why is all this happening? 2 reasons:
1) SoftWare Hackers are screwing developers
You same people that bitch cause you can't get it working were probably already pissed because you couldn't just download the Warez for free. The whole reason they are implementing such things as Online Activation is because hackers have been stealling revenue from these companies for years. Hell I know I may, or may not, have downloaded things for free in the past, but I can't be pissed that someone figured out a way to prevent this. In fact if you ask me it's pure genius.

did you read the post I put up from valve? I mean seriously, I think this is as easy as copying it from one computer to another. And that's from valve's FAQ! This isn't really innovation. This is truly a step BACKWARDS. I am for companies trying to curve piracy, but this is ridiculous! And on top of that this is already hacked. Who's having the mainstream problem? legit users in a BIG way! And what happens IF steam goes away!?
Anyone remember when ID put all there games onto one cd and you just paid to have a random key unlocked? well crap...I can't play it anymore!

 

[WickedAngel]

You same people that bitch cause you can't get it working were probably already pissed because you couldn't just download the Warez for free. The whole reason they are implementing such things as Online Activation is because hackers have been stealling revenue from these companies for years. Hell I know I may, or may not, have downloaded things for free in the past, but I can't be pissed that someone figured out a way to prevent this. In fact if you ask me it's pure genius.

Sorry, but you're wrong.

There is no way to prevent piracy. All Steam has done is made it more frustrating for the people that legitamately pay for their games. Half-Life 2 has already been hacked by someone who created a Steam-emulating platform. All within 24 hours.

 

[iZero]

nope, Didnt bitch about CDs. Liked the idea. I'm currently bitching about not enough dvd games being out.

In response to your 1 reason, it makes no sense. We are all bitching about Half life 2 not being Warez-able, therefore we went out and bought it?

I agree. Comparing CD-ROMs to product activation is asinine.

 

[rayg]

did you read the post I put up from valve? I mean seriously, I think this is as easy as copying it from one computer to another. And that's from valve's FAQ! This isn't really innovation. This is truly a step BACKWARDS. I am for companies trying to curve piracy, but this is ridiculous! And on top of that this is already hacked. Who's having the mainstream problem? legit users in a BIG way! And what happens IF steam goes away!?
Anyone remember when ID put all there games onto one cd and you just paid to have a random key unlocked? well crap...I can't play it anymore!

HL2 has already been pirated and released...it's IMPOSSIBLE to stop piracy.

 

[Tawnos]

hm, game's been pirated and released

I'm not allowed to return the game via steam.

Time to use the backup feature, find the steam emulation crack, and actually make a copy of this game so that in 15 years when i want to relive "the good ole days" I can.

 

[seithon]

I'm starting my own Cyber gaming place, I was going to go with Half Life 2 as my main game show off the machines and get the folks in.. but after reading all this crap ? forget it, I'm going with UT2004 and the mods it has. Atleast I know THAT works right

 

[Moose777]

I'm starting my own Cyber gaming place, I was going to go with Half Life 2 as my main game show off the machines and get the folks in.. but after reading all this crap ? forget it, I'm going with UT2004 and the mods it has. Atleast I know THAT works right

Or you can go with Star Wars Battlefront. I'm not a fan of UT but I'll play SW:BF.

 

[tylerhskate]

Why did they even decide to activate this wonderful game through shitty ass steam anyways. Steam isnt going to stop people from pirating games, HL2 torrents are already all over the web. I really want to buy this game but im not going to spend my hard earned money so it can sit on my desk and i cant even play it, thats friggin stupid. Once all the dust settles ill probably run up to wal-mart and buy it for myself or maybe order online if i can find a better deal, but im surely not going to rely on steam for ANYTHING to do with my money, because when i had to deal with them with CS issues back when i played they just blew me off. And for all of you who have already bought this game i feel sorry for you even though you do have it and i dont, for you guys ill give you another FUCK YOU STEAM&VALVE

 

[bboynitrous]

Preloaded the Steam client 3 weeks ago. Did updates over time.
Bought the game on CD today. I still want the physical disks.
15 minutes later, up and playing.

Nice !

Yeah me too(wanting the physical disk). I was hoping they'd do it or at least have it cheaper online since you don't have a CD, manual or anything with it. Kind of shitty, but I bought mine off steam anyway.

 

[Shapeshifter]

I'm starting my own Cyber gaming place, I was going to go with Half Life 2 as my main game show off the machines and get the folks in.. but after reading all this crap ? forget it, I'm going with UT2004 and the mods it has. Atleast I know THAT works right

probably a good idea.

Im sure valve will in about a good week or so (hopefully) change some things and work out the bugs...

Then again they should have already done that

Yeah me too. I was hoping they'd do it or at least have it cheaper online since you don't have a CD, manual or anything with it. Kind of shitty, but I bought it anyway.

You don't get a manual with the retail copies either. And steam has an option to easily backup all your files and burn them to either cd/dvd.

That and apparently when you buy retial, you still have to have your disk in the drive to play even with all this steam SH*T!?!?

 

[kick@ss]

good God, what a mess, all that work just to play single player...and yet they tell you how to hack the activation and play with your friends

are they smoking crack?

All that work is the following
- Exit Steam
- Make clientregistry.blob write protected

That's it.

 

[kick@ss]

Not to mention the fact that if steam shuts down it sounds like you can never play the game again.

There's nothing preventing them from releasing a patch that would cause Steam to not be needed if Steam were to shut down.

 

[ThreeDee]

...hey where is the link for that form you can fill out if your pretty happy with steam and your HL2 experience ...?



just wondering .....thanks

 

[kick@ss]

I'm starting my own Cyber gaming place, I was going to go with Half Life 2 as my main game show off the machines and get the folks in.. but after reading all this crap ? forget it, I'm going with UT2004 and the mods it has. Atleast I know THAT works right

People who come to LAN centers usually come for multiplayer games. I don't think I've ever seen a single player game being played at one. The games you should provide are the games people want to play not just the games you want to deal with, otherwise your business is doomed. CS is BY FAR the most popular multiplayer game and it would be a mistake to not offer it.

 

[kick@ss]

I wonder how many complaints it will take for them to launch an investigation?

Probably a few thousand, if not more. Most government agencies have "bigger fish to fry" and HL2 is not one of those bigger fish.

 

[LiquidX]

...hey where is the link for that form you can fill out if your pretty happy with steam and your HL2 experience ...?



just wondering .....thanks

Go play the damn game. I think this thread is for those that are having problems. I think I would have been less angry if I was thrown about and robbed of my copy more so than coming home and spending the past 5 hours trying to play a game that is installed on my system with the CD in the drive.

 

[kick@ss]

I have yet to buy HL2. I knew this would happen.

I truely hope people don't think that its only going to get better ... because its only going to get worse.

How is it going to get worse? Less people will be installing and the demand on the Steam servers will decrease over time. I fail to see how it will get worse.

 

[kick@ss]

Seriously people, its pretty ingenious what valve did with Steam.

They made a system where you are forced to register, create an account, and use a Internet connection all to play for a 50 dollar game THAT YOU CAN NOT SELL IF YOU DONT LIKE IT!

Want to try out the game? To Bad Going to have to pay $50
Want to play without a internet connection? To Bad
Want to sell the game becasue you don't like it? To Bad
Want to have more then one person use one copy? To Bad

Admit it people Valve has got all of our balls in a damn salad shooter.

You could sell your Steam account if you wanted, just include it with the game.

 

[ojax]

won't do anything, but signed.

just fuckin tell me its MY problem that my steam bought version and retail version do not work on 2 different steam accounts on, 2 DIFFERENT computers.. the one in the sig, and the other is a p4 w/ similar hardware...

 

[ThreeDee]

Go play the *darn* game.

..well , if you insist ..


anyhoo ..it sucks that peeps are having probs , but there are many that had everything go without a hitch for them as well. Just what the difference is between the two is a mystery at this point in time it would seem..peeps talking about legal action and what not seems pretty silly tho ..even if we do live in a sue happy society

 

[LiquidX]

..well , if you insist ..


anyhoo ..it sucks that peeps are having probs , but there are many that had everything go without a hitch for them as well. Just what the difference is between the two is a mystery at this point in time it would seem..peeps talking about legal action and what not seems pretty silly tho ..even if we do live in a sue happy society

Sue happy? Come on dude, we bought the game and cant play it or have to go to a ridiculous extent to play it. How would you like to have just graduated with full honors and Masters but your school decides to hold on to your degree for no reason? You paid all the fees and competed your classes but they still there holding on to your degree pending some shit like....I cant think of anything it's so ridiculous. They need to release a non steam patch.

 

[Tawnos]

it's not even that I have anything against valve, they make great games.... my problem is paying 60 dollars for software that is unplayable without their approval, every. single. time. I'm sure someone will point out "offline" mode, but that does me nothing when I'm 35 and want to remember a game from a company that went under (hey, a lot can happen in 15 and a half years). Even with a "steamless" patch, if the company is gone it will be hard to find the file. That is, in my mind, unacceptable, because it hurts me, the legitimate consumer, but not Joe, the pirate (arrr).

 

[Dijonase]

Sue happy? Come on dude, we bought the game and cant play it or have to go to a ridiculous extent to play it. How would you like to have just graduated with full honors and Masters but your school decides to hold on to your degree for no reason? You paid all the fees and competed your classes but they still there holding on to your degree pending some shit like....I cant think of anything it's so ridiculous. They need to release a non steam patch.

The difference here is that Valve didn't decide not to let you play the game. I can't speak for people who bought the retail package as I got the silver version from steam and it installed without a hitch, but it sounds like steam is getting hammered right now and people just need to be a little bit patient. I'd probably be pissed if I were in your shoes, but filing formal complaints and threatening to sue is a bit too "drama queen" if you ask me.

 

[w00t69]

You guys are sad. I can't believe you're filing complaints over something so stupid. It's not Valve's idea that you can't play it yet. Vivendi was holding them to contract, yet Vivendi put the game out in stores to buy.

 

[Duck]

You guys are sad. I can't believe you're filing complaints over something so stupid. It's not Valve's idea that you can't play it yet. Vivendi was holding them to contract, yet Vivendi put the game out in stores to buy.

Hello? Valve unlocked the game almost 24 hours ago, these people are complaining because Valve's Steam authentication servers apparently can't handle the load and they are unable to play the game that they have purchased due to being unable to authenticate. Not because the game hasnt been unlocked yet

 

[Dijonase]

Hello? Valve unlocked the game almost 24 hours ago, these people are complaining because Valve's Steam authentication servers apparently can't handle the load and they are unable to play the game that they have purchased due to being unable to authenticate. Not because the game hasnt been unlocked yet

Which I still think is a silly reason to file a formal complaint.

If you went to see a movie and the projector went haywire would you file a complaint? No, you might be pissed (understandably) and you'd ask for your money back. I can understand wanting your money back, but this is going way overboard.

 

[Duck]

Which I still think is a silly reason to file a formal complaint.

If you went to see a movie and the projector went haywire would you file a complaint? No, you might be pissed (understandably) and you'd ask for your money back. I can understand wanting your money back, but this is going way overboard.

Well i wasnt commenting on the complaint part instead the idea that Vivendi was to blame for the people not being able to play

 

[Cheif_Bigfoot]

I have to add my two cents. I preloaded the game and bought it off of Steam. At 2AM CST I was able to play the game after about 15 minutes that it took to unlock everything. I played till about 4am (I did have class to go to afterall). I got done with class today and tried to play at about 3:30. I couldn't logon to the servers to play the game. I was finally able to get on at about 6:30. This is unacceptable. I had the content unlocked and I still couldn't play. HL2 has no multiplayer (CS:S is a seperate game to me) so I shouldn't even have to think about being on the internet. This is even more true for someone who bought the game. To everyone who says just wait that is bs. I bought the game, Valve should've know that they were going to get hammered way beyond beleif and been prepared for it. It is absolutely irrelevant how many people are trying to log on at once because if they sold a copy then they should be ready for each copy to try and log on.

 

[joecartoon22]

i definately filed my complaint

 

[starhawk]

in response to this mess, i would like to announce:

over the summer i will be working on writing a game. this game will be shareware, free for all, copyrightable by none. all you will need will be a floppy drive and a mailing address.

 

[LyCoS]

This is from Steampowered.com so it's official

How To Make Steam Offline Mode Work
last edited 09/03/2004 02:05:09 PM by qUiCkSiLvEr

Special Note:
If a game says "100%" but "Not Ready" for offline play, it may be because the purchase process for that game (cd-key or cc purchase transaction) has not yet completed. You need to wait for that to complete before playing offline.

Two Scenarios:
1. My friend has no Internet connection, how can he set things up so he can play offline?

2. I want to be able to play at a LAN party and they won't have an internet connection there, how can we all play offline?

Answer:
There are several ways to do this that will work for players without Internet access as well as for LAN Parties where there won't be internet access.

Note:
You have to be online somewhere at least once to perform all of the following steps.

The first step here is to perform the latest update and capture it. This is very important to make sure you get the latest content and bug fixes. Everyone that will be participating at the LAN event must have the latest update!

Easiest way
Bring the computer that will be playing offline to an available internet connection at a friend's house, school or perhaps business. Log into the account and do all the updates, make sure it all works.

Then "exit" (do not log out!) from Steam, go to the Steam folder and make a copy of the clientregistry.blob file (just in case). Write-protect the copy (mark it Read/Only).

Physically unplug the computer from the internet, start up Steam and let it fall back into offline mode. Make sure the computer will play both Listenserver (LAN), client and the single player ok, then exit from Steam again.

WIN98
If this is a WIN98 computer, it will act like it's stuck updating and not logging in, JUST WAIT! It will take about 90 seconds for it to finally figure out that there isn't an active internet connection then it will prompt you to retry or go into offline mode.

The computer is now ready to play offline at home unless he accidentally logs out ...

If he does this he won't be able to play unless he verifies online again >> or << exits from Steam, then copies the copy of the clientregistry.blob file back which will restore his offline play.

NOTE: MAKE SURE THE ACTIVE ClientRegistry.blob FILE IS NOT WRITE PROTECTED!

It certainly wouldn't hurt to burn a CD of the working offline installation for him.

Next Easiest way
Do all the above on a different computer, IE: install Steam, log into his account, do all the updates, exit from Steam, make the copy of the Clientregistry.blob file, start up and let it fall back into offline mode, make sure it all works, then exit again.

Then burn a CD of the install and take the CD to the remote computer and copy the install there.

Very Important! Make sure the files are placed on the exact same Disk and Path!

LAN Party Setup:
Clients
All clients that are going to play on the LAN should have unique Steam Accounts. You might also have to assign unique clientports to each computer if they are going to play online as well as offline. Please refer to this FAQ for help in configuring multiple clients behind a router.

Most home DLS and cable connections will only be able to support 6 or 8 players on a 128K uplink and 12 to 16 players on a 256K uplink, assuming that they are using a reasonable rate (7500) and cl_cmdrate (30) settings. You might have to lower the cl_cmdrate to 20.

The Server
The first step is to decide if the server is going to be a Listen Server or a Dedicated Server.

If this is a small party (4 players or less) just for fun, then a Listen server will probably be the easiest way to host a quick party, but it's important to remember that the player who's computer is running the Server has an advantage over all the other players.

If there are going to be more players, or if the players are more serious players and want a level playing field, then a Dedicated Server is the best way to go, and assigning a computer to run only the Dedicated Server (no clients) is the very best.

If this is for a Stand-Alone Dedicated Server, be sure to get the latest Server update.

If family and friends want to watch, then it is a good idea to set up a couple of extra computers for spectators and run the HLTV spectator proxy.

The first requirement is that you need a 10/100 switch or router for setting up the core network. This can be part of a router, and you can daisy-chain several switches to connect everyone else if you need more ports.

The key here is to use that one switch or router (we'll call it switch #1) to join up to 4 additional switches (assuming it's a 4-port switch) which then can support up to 16 players (at 4 ports each). This way, there is one central switch/router and up to four other switches.

If there is internet access available, then the central router can connect everyone on the network for authentication and web browsing if they need to.

For best performance, plug the Game Server into the central router or switch, that way it will have 1/2 the delay to everyone (you'll only have 3 ports then to connect additional switches to). It's a good idea to make sure the Server has a 100mbit Ethernet adapter.

NOTE: Do not use mixed ethernet speeds with "dumb hubs" they can't handle it. If you have a hub and not a switch, you'll have to make sure that all ethernet connections on the network are all 10MBit only.

Speeding up Fallback into Offline Play:
It's actually quite easy to make Steam fall back into offline mode with almost no delay.

1. go to network properties
2. right-click on your internet connection "local area connection"
3. disable it
4. start Steam - it only takes about 2 seconds to pop up to the start in offline mode.
5. then re-enable your connection and you can play on LAN.

One warning, XP might get upset if you disable your NIC and think that you are changing the hardware in your computer (happens when you re-boot, so enable the NIC before rebooting!).

XP identifies 7 devices on the system when it is installed and if the identity of those devices changes too much then XP will complain and may require you to re-activate.

OK
So now after reading that...doesn't it sound like this is easy to just...bootleg all the time? I mean if you have it set up all the time for offline mode..who's to say someone doesn't just burn a copy on cd and give it to a friend?

i remember when i was in NYC on a 56k, and their was a CS AND steam update. plus the steam server whas overloaded. took over 12 hours to complete. the worst part, is that you cant actually play while updating... luckily doom3 was already out...

 

[WesM63]

gah, This irratates the hell out of me. Honestly, who bitches when they have to activate windows? I don't see a million page long thread about people wanting to sue microsoft because they had to activate they're copy before they could use it.

True there is a differnce between microsoft and steam, microsoft has the biggest Internet Pipes in the Contental US while steam don't.

The software is brand new! People need to chill out for a moment and relax. It will work right once they get the bugs worked out. seesh!

Another thing, just because this is HL2 don't mean anything. I gurantee if another company like Bioware invented a program like steam and released games with it people wouldn't be bitching so damn much, even if they had problems with it. Just because its HL2 makes it 10x worse to everyone, its a game, chill out. Valve will get it working correctly.

 

[Tawnos]

First, to WesM63, and anyone else who (obviously didn't read the thread and) is irritated that we dislike having to activate to play our game, step back and ask yourself what happens when Steam goes under. What about Valve? I purchased a piece of software, a product, yet that product is worthless without the company sitting there saying "yeah, okay, you can play now, we're watching you." Take System Shock 2, for example. I ended up having to find a way to edit the hex myself to remove the cd check after de safediscing, because Looking Glass Studios went under, and SS2 (while encrypted and w/ cd check) didn't like Win2K. Had I just warezed the game to begin with, I would not have had that problem.

Second, we're not trying to sue Valve or VU, we're filing an official complaint with the FTC. Enough complaints go through, then they'll (V/VU) hear about it from a source that has the power to make them bend over. Then, hopefully, we might actually see a steam-free version of HL2, one that allows us "whiners" to play whenever we want.

Third, it's not because it's half life 2. It's because steam is being pushed as a viable platform for product distribution. When I buy a product, I expect it to work; be it the first time, or the nth time. Windows activation is why I own 2k and not XP. Yes, OWN. Should the trend of intrusive activation measures continue, well, I'm posting this from my Gentoo box, and I've been extraordinarily happy with it. Don't have much time to game anyway, but when I do, I like to actually play, not watch a "we're sorry, the servers are down at the moment, please stand by while we ass rape you for the money you gave us. Thank you for the donation and have a nice day."

 

[Alex A.]

You could sell your Steam account if you wanted, just include it with the game.

Not Unless you attched HL2 to your Account that has all the other games you payed for on it.
Now this person who wants HL2 gets HL, OPFOR, Blue Shift, and anyother games you may of bought and registered onto your account.

 

[AdvModDev]

All that work is the following
- Exit Steam
- Make clientregistry.blob write protected

That's it.

Go back and read the directions again. It's telling you to write protect your copy of the clientregistry.blob not the active one. Copying and write-protecting this file is a precautionary measure and not required. If you write protect the active file in the Steam directory, then the game will not start (ie you'll get a popup error saying clientregistry.blob is write-protected).

These are what fucking pisses me off the most:

1) Steam is a mandatory running process that I've seen hog upto 38MB of mem.
2) Product activation
3) Offline mode is not permanent (ie if your NIC is connected, your machine will connect and remain connected to Steam everytime you start the game)
4) After all the above, the game STILL requires the fucking CD to be in the drive

 

[whoami?]

gah, This irratates the hell out of me. Honestly, who bitches when they have to activate windows? I don't see a million page long thread about people wanting to sue microsoft because they had to activate they're copy before they could use it.

Yeah, partially because it doesn't take several hours to activate Windows, since the activation process doesn't force downloads of content/updates (you get more control)...it doesn't NEED a tremendous amount of bandwidth. But mostly you don't see the bitching because even if Microsoft's connection went tits up, or someone was not on dial up, or had no internet connection, they wouldn't be as completely screwed as they are with Steam. A quick 1 minute toll free phone call and you're in business. And hey.....even if your phone is on the friz...well you have 30 days of full activity to run XP until you get locked out. But with Valve's new whizbang activation scheme? Any of those situations and you're just shit outta luck. Guess the vaunted 'care for their customers' is just another bullshit concept!

Two Scenarios:
1. My friend has no Internet connection, how can he set things up so he can play offline?

Answer:
Note:
You have to be online somewhere at least once to perform all of the following steps.

Am I the only one who found this logical disconnect really funny?

 

[undyingshadow]

I figured this would happen, and I made a comment indicating my thoughts. Of course, I was immediately branded "software pirate" When did software pirate become the new "terrorist." Now anyone who questions a flawed activation system is a pirate. I THINK NOT.

I buy very few games, because I don't have much time. I had 60 bucks set aside for HL 2, but now I'll be buying something else. Maybe WoW will be fun.