Follow on from Steam sales, should win7 be 100% supported?

Every single game on Steam has a System Requirements section. It's at the bottom of the page, but it's not exactly cunningly hidden.

I suppose maybe they could flash it up in lights when you click the 'Add to Cart' button, just to cater for idiots and litigious americans.
 
Sleepery said:
Every single game on Steam has a System Requirements section. It's at the bottom of the page, but it's not exactly cunningly hidden.

I suppose maybe they could flash it up in lights when you click the 'Add to Cart' button, just to cater for idiots and litigious americans.
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No, some of the older games either have nothing (GTA for example) or have incomplete information (Civ 3 for example), which just leads to people buying the game only to find it doesnt work. Altho it's relativly easy to do people shouldn't have to go and find out the minimum specs on google, especially in cases like Civ 3 where it appears that there's already minimum specs listed.

As for the OP, I dont think it's Steam's responsibility to make sure their games work on every OS, nor should the devs have to update games to work with new OS'. I do think that games which don't have all the information listed, or none at all, should either be refundable if they don't work or have their requirements added/completed.

If the above was done it would be fine IMO, as it would then be just like any retail game has been since the start of PC games.
 
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One thing that I do wish was available in the system specifications is the resolutions that the game supports, more specifically the maximum.
 
Rroff said:
Thing is - sure theres a couple of games that didn't work too well out the box - but a little digging fixed them - tho the customer shouldn't really have to do that... but a LOT of the games that people moan about not working on Windows 7... work absolutely fine for me on Win 7 64bit... so I think in many cases its just user error.
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Most definitely.

Some people have a hard time accepting that they can't get something working.

I have a friend who regularly can't get stuff with his PC working, which usually ends in him raging about how it's really crap and badly made.

Same thing generally works on my PC, and when I re-install it for him it works.

He does have a habit of refusing to do things the conventional way though which is generally the very reason why he has so many computer problems.

He likes to think he knows better, despite very rarely getting computer related stuff right.

He likes to install his games in to a "*X*:Games" folder and then rages that his games don't work after an OS re-install, which then means using a partitioned drive is crap and "doesn't work" because he won't install them in the right places.

Despite the fact that I very rarely have to completely re-install games after re-installing windows, he doesn't listen and insists on his games going in a folder he's decided is best. :rolleyes: :o :p
 
platypus said:
No they shouldn't have too, but what they should do is offer refunds for games that don't work if you try all the various workarounds.
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For a digital download, once you've downloaded it they will NEVER give out refunds, as far as i know no company will.
 
Evilsod said:
For a digital download, once you've downloaded it they will NEVER give out refunds, as far as i know no company will.
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I'm aware of that, and its not just digital downloads it applies too. The issue being related to the cd key.

However, the capability exists to offer refunds, as the key could be banned and a new one generated in its place.
 
platypus said:
I'm aware of that, and its not just digital downloads it applies too. The issue being related to the cd key.

However, the capability exists to offer refunds, as the key could be banned and a new one generated in its place.
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tescoes now have a sign up saying "due to copyright laws we can no longer offer refunds or exchanges on digital media (CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray, Games)"


Maybe the new digital economy bill has affected this.
 
Kenai said:
Well you said 'most people use XP' but they don't, 60% of people (ie. most people) do not use XP :p

It is the most popular singular OS version but most people use something else.
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Windows XP 32 bit.....(0.00%) 38.99%
Windows 7 64 bit.......(0.00%) 24.29%
Windows Vista 32 bit..(0.00%) 16.55%
Windows 7...............(0.00%) 11.40%
Windows Vista 64 bit..(0.00%) 7.53%
Windows XP 64 bit.....(0.00%) 0.59%
Windows 2003 64 bit..(0.00%) 0.43%
Windows 2000..........(0.00%) 0.10%
Other......................(0.00%) 0.12%


now look at it this way....if they were votes who would you say got most votes ?

would your answer be 'everyone but xp' ? :p
 
Tefal said:
only if they explicitly said it would work on your os.

otherwise like all software it's up to you to make sure you meet the specs.
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Thanks for that useful insight.

store.steampowered.com said:
Minimum: IBM PC or 100% compatible, Windows 9X/ME, Pentium II 300 MHz (or equivalent), 64 MB RAM, 100% DirectX® 8 compatible 3D Accelerator card with at least 12 MB VRAM, 100% DirectX® 8 compatible (or higher) Sound card, DirectX® 8 (DirectX 8.0a included), 2 GB uncompressed hard drive space, 100% Windows 95/98 compatible Keyboard and Mouse

Recommended: Pentium II 450 MHz, Windows 98SE/ME, 128 MB RAM, 100% DirectX® 8 compatible 3D Accelerator card with 32 MB VRAM, 3 GB uncompressed hard drive space
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store.steampowered.com said:
System Requirements

Minimum:
o Supported OS: Windows XP (32 bit)
o Processor: 1.6 GHz Intel or AMD processor
o Memory: 512 MB RAM
o Sound: DirectX compatible Sound Card
o Graphics: DirectX 9 compatible 128 MB graphics card with support for pixel/vertex shader 1.1 (GeForce 3 and above)
o Hard Drive: 6 GB HD Space

Recommended:
o Supported OS: Windows XP with SP2
o Processor: 3.0 GHz Intel or AMD processor
o Memory: 1024 MB RAM
o Sound: DirectX compatible Sound Card
o Graphics: DirectX 9 compatible 256 MB graphics card with support for pixel/vertex shader 3.0 (GeForce 6/Radeon x1x00 and above)
o Hard Drive: 7 GB HD Space
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store.steampowered.com said:
System Requirements

Minimum:
o Operating system: Windows XP/Vista
o Processor: 2.4 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor
o Memory: 1 GB (XP)/ 2 GB (Vista)
o Hard disk space: 7 GB
o Video: Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 256MB RAM (NVIDIA 6800 or better/ATI X850 or better)
o Sound: DirectX®: 9.0c
o Controller support: Xbox 360 controller
o Other Requirements: Online play requires log-in to Games For Windows - Live

Supported Video Card Chipsets:
o NVIDIA GeForce 200 series, Geforce 9800 series, Geforce 9600 series, Geforce 8800 series, Geforce 8600 series, Geforce 8500 series, Geforce 8400 series, Geforce 7900 series, Geforce 7800 series, Geforce 7600 series, Geforce 7300 series, GeForce 6800 series
o ATI HD 4800 series, HD 4600 series, HD 3800 series, HD 3600 series, HD 3400 series, HD 2900 series, HD 2600 series, HD 2400 series, X1900 series, X1800 series, X1600 series, X1300 series, X850 series

Recommended:
o Operating system: Windows XP/Vista
o Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo processor
o Memory: 2 GB System RAM
o Hard disk space: 7 GB
o Video: Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 512MB RAM (NVIDIA 8800 series, ATI 3800 series)
o Sound: DirectX®: 9.0c
o Controller support: Xbox 360 controller
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I wonder what part of those would indicate to me that the games, installed with default settings, wouldn't work, first on Vista, then on Windows 7?
 
ok...

Windows 9X/ME,
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Minimum:
o Supported OS: Windows XP (32 bit)


Recommended:
o Supported OS: Windows XP with SP2
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They don't mention vista or windows 7 so it's a risk with either.


Minimum:
o Operating system: Windows XP/Vista
Recommended:
o Operating system: Windows XP/Vista
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that one says vista so it should work with vista, if it did not you'd have a case for refund. (assuming the rest of your system and software complies with the list and it is certain the os is the problem)

But it does not mention windows 7 so again that is a risk you take.
 
You're annoyed because some software you bought for your unsupported os did not work on said unsupported os?



If my car says supported driving surfaces "smooth tarmac, concrete and firm flat earth" I wouldn't expect it to drive down the Thames estuary.
 
Tefal said:
You're annoyed because some software you bought for your unsupported os did not work on said unsupported os?



If my car says supported driving surfaces "smooth tarmac, concrete and firm flat earth" I wouldn't expect it to drive down the Thames estuary.
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You're not [reading]listening.

The game that cost me £45 did not work for me on Vista, despite it clearly stating in the minimum recommended specification:
Minimum:
o Operating system: Windows XP/Vista
Recommended:
o Operating system: Windows XP/Vista
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you quoted it in your first reply..

This was despite a default install, and me employing various (non-official) workarounds. That is what annoyed me more.

Of course I was annoyed about Commandos and Darkstar One not working, but as I paid less then £10 for then it didn't bother me for long.

I suppose I should point out in case it's somehow not clear that I used to run Windows Vista, and recently upgraded to Windows 7.

Is that clearer?
 
So what was the game?

does it work for others on vista?

Are you 100% sure it's vista not something else in the system?

If you can prove it's vista contact trading standards as it's not fit for purpose/as described.
 
Yes it works for others on Vista, and Windows 7.

I'm certain its my hardware related rather then anything else. However, as I read, and have met the minimum and the recommended specification requirements, I am annoyed that I am not entitled to a refund.

I cannot trading standards about it because its software, which is a special case. Best I can hope for is Valve's goodwill to get my £45, which they of course told me to do one over.
 
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