STEAM sucks monkey balls • Gaming • PC • Eurogamer.net

MoFo 31 Mar 2009 12:09:22 282 posts
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I just popped on my PC to play a couple of hours of Company of Heroes whilst I had a few precious hours of free time only to find Steam started updating the game with what looks like being a 5 hour long update! So now I'm unable to play it.

Thanks a fuckin lot Steam! I hate you more and more each day and vow never to buy a game from you again.

Am I alone with this train of thought?

Deleted user 31 March 2009 12:12:17

That's more to do with Company of Heroes than Steam. Even the standalone version needs to download about six billion patches before it'll even let you get to the main menu.

I suspect the new patch is all the content for the new expandalone that's out shortly.

MoFo 31 Mar 2009 12:16:46 282 posts
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Ah wasn't aware of any expansion. Wish there was an opt out option for updates. I've no intention of buying any expansions, I don't play the game online and it seems perfectly stable to me so why should my gaming afternoon be ruined by the publisher/Steam?!!

rudedudejude 31 Mar 2009 12:18:48 2,374 posts
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I agree - on Buying DoW2 and wanting to play the singleplayer only with NO online interest at all, I still had to wait 4 hours for a patch download on the day before the game could be started up.

You can turn this off by choosing not to keep up to date, but I think if it's started downloading anything of the next patch, it won't start until the current download is done.

Wastelander 31 Mar 2009 12:19:08 1,848 posts
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I've stopped buying stuff on Steam after the UT3 debacle.
Disc versions for me daddio!

Deleted user 31 March 2009 12:20:26

Yeah, it fucked me off majorly when I wanted to play a quick game of CoH a few months back. Was really in the mood for it, so popped in my disc, installed in a few minutes, then it promptly told me I had to create an account with their online service, so I did, then it told me I needed to install a patch before I could log in, so I did - then when that had downloaded it told me I needed another patch

and another

and another

Why it couldn't do it as one big update I've no idea, and it forcing me to update before I can even play offline is worse than Hitler.

MoFo 31 Mar 2009 12:24:52 282 posts
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Yep it's why I chose not to get Empire Total War. Shame because I like Valve and their openness with their games but Steam seems a bit draconian and their pricing structure is pure piracy on the high seas! I like to support the developer directly but not to the extent that a downloadable copy of a game is more expensive than a boxed copy in the shops. Ludicrously!

Deleted user 31 March 2009 12:40:14

Steam is awesome.

Ravenger 31 Mar 2009 12:40:57 190 posts
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You CAN opt out of updates. Right click on the game's name and select properties. Then change the updates option to 'do not automatically update this game'.

urban 31 Mar 2009 12:42:21 13,148 posts
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/still loves steam

Deleted user 31 March 2009 12:51:44

Lol. It's hardly Steam's fault if a company does an update. Does anyone not remember the days when you started up your game and try to connect to a server only to find some message saying "Sorry, the clients server files are different to yours." and just disconnect? Even more annoying then, when you had to start actually manually searching for that 30 minute update. Just leave Steam running, and then it will just update as and when it needs. Steam is a great app, and has totally changed the way I buy, store and even play games.

MoFo 31 Mar 2009 13:08:36 282 posts
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Yep but I don't play Company of Heroes online. I just want to jump on my PC and play the game when I want to. I don't want or need a patch.

thedaveeyres 31 Mar 2009 13:13:41 13,925 posts
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Steam is an abomination.

morriss 31 Mar 2009 13:15:30 71,293 posts
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Steam's great but still far too expensive. Denmark is incredibly expensive compared with the UK for games, but Steam games are more expensive when the Euro is converted to Kroner than games are in the shops. i.e. Dead Space cost 299kr in the shops, on Steam it's 339kr or something. If I'm going to pay for a download that doesn't come with a booklet, case etc., I'm not going to pay more.

Also, they've got Thief: Deadly Shadows for 149kr. I just bought "The Thief Collection" - that's 1,2 and 3 - for 89kr from a Danish online retailer.

Stupid. Make it cheaper guys, or I simply won't buy anything.

UncleLou Moderator 31 Mar 2009 13:15:56 40,723 posts
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MoFo wrote:
Yep but I don't play Company of Heroes online. I just want to jump on my PC and play the game when I want to. I don't want or need a patch.

Right-click, turn off auto-updates, and you're done.

No offence, but while Steam certainly has a few genuine issues, 90% of user rants are unjustified.

And yeah, as others have pointed out, it has nothing to do with Steam in the case of CoH. Besides, if you have vanilla CoH, and haven't played it in a while, it downloads all assets of the expansion pack, so you can play multiplayer against people who also have Opposing Fronts. That's a huge download.

Deleted user 31 March 2009 13:24:45

MoFo wrote:
Yep but I don't play Company of Heroes online. I just want to jump on my PC and play the game when I want to. I don't want or need a patch.

I think you sort of missd the point here. If you just leave Steam running, it will do all this automatically. Then when you want to play your game, you can. No waiting. If this is not possible, then turn off auto-updates and select able to play offline, and it will never happen again. Again, it's not Steam's fault, especially when people don't even look at the options.

roz123 31 Mar 2009 14:00:29 7,104 posts
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Apparently some people have trouble with really long updates or messages saying the servers are too busy. Someone found a solution in changing your location in the steam menu, apparently some places work better then others.

Jockie 31 Mar 2009 16:26:41 79 posts
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^ yeah i usually stick my location to eastern US coast when theres something big to download, usually maxxes out my connection speed, whereas the EU/UK servers tend to be pretty slow.

I have another gripe with steam at the moment though, my pc overheated recently during a game of left 4 dead, due to a blocked fan. However now whenever i try to play l4d, steam crashes, not l4d itself but steam. I've tried repairing the steam install, deleting all traces of l4d from my system, following multiple step by step guides from various forums, reinstalling, running on a single core but to no avail, which makes me a sad panda.

superjag86 31 Mar 2009 16:45:44 233 posts
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I think the price issue is publisher related. It's dictated by whatever Ubisoft/EA/Whoever want it to be.
If you look at Valve's own games on Steam they're pretty reasonable.

DodgyPast 31 Mar 2009 16:50:14 9,353 posts
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Post deleted

JonFE 31 Mar 2009 17:07:48 2,071 posts
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Jockie wrote:
I have another gripe with steam at the moment though, my pc overheated recently during a game of left 4 dead, due to a blocked fan. However now whenever i try to play l4d, steam crashes, not l4d itself but steam. I've tried repairing the steam install, deleting all traces of l4d from my system, following multiple step by step guides from various forums, reinstalling, running on a single core but to no avail, which makes me a sad panda.

I've had a similar problem in the past. I remember I ended up re-downloading the SteamInstall.msi installer from their site, which fixed things for me. Hope that helps.

PS. I do hope a mod changes this thread's title, as it's both offensive and wrong at the same time...

rudedudejude 31 Mar 2009 17:13:24 2,374 posts
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The issue is people even if you turn auto updates off, if even 0.001% of that update has started downloading, you can't play it until the update is complete.

Deleted user 31 March 2009 17:29:03

Steam is the best thing to ever happen to software distribution.

Baron_Crumbly 31 Mar 2009 17:33:30 12 posts
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I love steam but I hardly ever buy AAA titles over it apart from Valve's own stuff.
My list is mainly full of indie and older games (id super pack ftw).

Jockie 31 Mar 2009 17:45:21 79 posts
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I fixed my issue by disabling steamcloud, thanks for the suggestion though JonFE. Until this issue i've never had any problem with steam really, some people hate it passionately and some defend it with equal exuberance. I think it's pretty good until the day it breaks, in which case it's got poor technical support and a baffling database for troubleshooting. They need to get their day 0 support and download servers improved though. The Empire launch was a bit of a mess for those who bought through steam by most accounts.

Best thing about it are the weekend deals and excellent support for indie games that have never had such a mainstream and well publicized way of launching their games.

FWB 2 Jul 2009 22:39:12 56,369 posts
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You know what sucks balls? Anything Microsoft related in computers. Every single one of their shitty, shit, fuck, crap shit, cancerslut programs sucks more than a toothless crack whore. FACT.

Deleted user 3 July 2009 07:30:10

gamersgate gamersgate gamersgate gamersgate gamersgate gamersgate gamersgate gamersgate gamersgate gamersgate gamersgate gamersgate gamersgate

nullifidian 3 Jul 2009 10:18:25 23 posts
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Paint.

Notepad.

Calculator, with Scientific version as an option I might add.

Three Micro$oft programs that do not suck. Steve Jobs built the apple OS to rival these simple programs, so it is told. FACT.

;-)

Steam... does suck the galactic monkey balls though.

Destria 3 Jul 2009 11:39:38 2,901 posts
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nullifidian wrote:
Micro$oft

AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!