How does Steam work?

Auraomega

Auraomega

Auraomega

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Leicester
Ok, I've never used Steam, and I've heard some pretty bad things about it as well as some good. When I order my new PC parts I'll have 2 vouchers for games from Steam, however my frankley pathetic download limit won't allow me to get the games :(

However, fear not because I have friends, and I'm sure I'll find one willing to get both of the games for me, burn to disc and if needs be, send them to me in the post, I'm just kinda worried about if that will work or not? Is there some lame software that means only the downloading PC can play the game or download in the future? Actually, can I re-download the game if my PC crashes and burns, or is it a download once kind of thing?
 
Probably a mechanism in place to stop you reading other people's backup files of games, unsure.

You can redownload them all as many times as you want, but they can only be played in one location at a time (locked to Steam account, only one sign in)

Also, you can't sell the games once you've bought them.

Try one of these retail games if you have any of them - https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7480-wusf-3601

Steam account is free.
 
Steam works using logins.

Once youve logged in, you can add games to your account. You can download games on your account as many times as you like.

If your internet sucks, you can get a friend to use the 'backup games' feature, save to an external hard drive and then restore it to your computer. Obviously you will have to download any future updates (which steam does automatically)
 
steams good, its only annoying if you dont have a connection decent enough to get updates fast, or one that isnt always on - i dont get to make use of it really due to my shocking 3g modem and coverage etc currently.

You can get all the steam install files from a mate, steam has a built in backup tool, they could use that and send you the disc it creates.
 
Auraomega said:
However, fear not because I have friends, and I'm sure I'll find one willing to get both of the games for me, burn to disc and if needs be, send them to me in the post, I'm just kinda worried about if that will work or not? Is there some lame software that means only the downloading PC can play the game or download in the future?
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In that case, the only thing I can suggest is that you create a Steam account, then give your friend the log-on details and let them download the games, create the back-up files and burn them to DVD. Then you use your log-on details on your own PC and restore the back-ups from the DVDs. That way will definitely work because your own credentials will have been used throughout the process.
 
You don't even need to use backups, you can just copy the directory across onto a usb stick, place it on the new machine, then log into steam with an account that has the game. It will probably need to check through the files, maybe a small update and then will work fine :)
Done it tonnes of times at LANParties to save having to try and download them :)
 
Only disadvantage of backing up someone elses directory is that you end up with their maps, configs, sound files, screenshots etc (which can obviously be deleted) whereas the steam backup is quicker and only copies the base game files.
 
Auraomega said:
Ok thanks, thats good to know. I quite like the idea but at 2gb a month limit, I wouldn't be able to do it otherwise.
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Steam used to be iffy once at a time, but recently has become very stable and decent. (the last few years especially).

This is completely off topic, but 2GB a month is insane, perhaps consider changing to a different ISP if possible?:)
 
Dark_Angel said:
This is completely off topic, but 2GB a month is insane, perhaps consider changing to a different ISP if possible?:)
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Its a free connection, and its rare I go over 1gb anyway so no real issue unless I'm having a Linux failure :p... although every so often it'd be nice to go all out nuts and download something giant like a game (Rappelz is something thats looked interesting for a while).
 
Steam is the best software ever i buy all my games on there and wont be buying the DVD's for as long as i can imagine. I've got nearly 50 games now on steam and the beauty of it. Is that none of them need discs to be inserted it is so easy to buy everything too. The fact you can log in anywhere and download your games wherever you are is amazing as well.
 
Auraomega said:
Ok thanks, thats good to know. I quite like the idea but at 2gb a month limit, I wouldn't be able to do it otherwise.
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And sort that out that is just ridiculous!

Broadband is so cheap nowadays you can get 8meg with unlimted download for £13 and under.

I recomend 'Be Unlimted' £13.50 a month, 8 meg line, unlimted useage and free wireless router. Also it is one of the rare ISP's that actually hits it's stated speeds.
 
Auraomega said:
However, fear not because I have friends, and I'm sure I'll find one willing to get both of the games for me, burn to disc and if needs be, send them to me in the post, I'm just kinda worried about if that will work or not? Is there some lame software that means only the downloading PC can play the game or download in the future? Actually, can I re-download the game if my PC crashes and burns, or is it a download once kind of thing?
Click to expand...

Yeh that will work. As long as your friends have the same games as what your are entitled too from your vouchers. I have "steam backed up" my games to disk, coz I know I will be up grading to windows 7 soon.

Steam is awesome man. I honestly cant fault it. The one time I had an issue (the Orange box actually) I managed to get all the games free! Amazing! But dont tell steam that :P
 
demon8991 said:
Steam is the best software ever i buy all my games on there and wont be buying the DVD's for as long as i can imagine. I've got nearly 50 games now on steam and the beauty of it. Is that none of them need discs to be inserted it is so easy to buy everything too. The fact you can log in anywhere and download your games wherever you are is amazing as well.
Click to expand...

It's a great service, ruined only by the generally uncompetitive pricing. The weekend deals are usually rather good, but day-to-day prices have a long, long way to go yet.
 
demon8991 said:
I recomend 'Be Unlimted' £13.50 a month, 8 meg line, unlimted useage and free wireless router. Also it is one of the rare ISP's that actually hits it's stated speeds.
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13.50 a month x 12 months = £162 a year, now consider that compared to £0 per year... Now take into consideration that, as I said, I rarely ever go above 1gb, its going to cost me money for a benift I'm hardly going to see.
 
Auraomega said:
13.50 a month x 12 months = £162 a year, now consider that compared to £0 per year... Now take into consideration that, as I said, I rarely ever go above 1gb, its going to cost me money for a benift I'm hardly going to see.
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You think you wont use it, but then when you have it, and can download alsosorts, you will then wonder how the hell you managed without it.
 
The Jaded Raver said:
Yeh that will work. As long as your friends have the same games as what your are entitled too from your vouchers. I have "steam backed up" my games to disk, coz I know I will be up grading to windows 7 soon.
Click to expand...

Hard disk partitioning for the win - don't even need to mess about with backing up, just leave steam on a different partition to the OS ;)
 
Auraomega said:
Ok thanks, thats good to know. I quite like the idea but at 2gb a month limit, I wouldn't be able to do it otherwise.
Click to expand...
2Gb month limit :eek:

(Just vista two Service Packs and updates i downloaded two days ago after i formated were over 1.5GB)
 
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