Steam questions.

[Omaeka]

I have a few questions about Steam, well more problems. These are about the millionth issues I have had.

1) Whenever I close a game, it doesn't close anymore about 70% of the time, instead the process continues to run and it still has my status as in-game for whatever I was playing:

That was a good 10 minutes after closing Shogun 2.

2) RESOLVED - Another issue I have is with Deus Ex Human Revolution. When I try and launch it I get this error:

Does that mean I have to copy and paste the BinkW32.dll into the app folder? I can do that, its just I'd rather have it confirmed, the last thing I want to do is mess around with any .dll and system32 files blindly.

EDIT: I don't even have BinkW32.dll on my computer!?

3) RESOLVED - (not sure how, maybe temp files? not there now). - When I launch Deus Ex Human Revolution it installs 'Microsoft VC Redistributable' which is C++ and I'm fine with that (even though I have had it installed by about 1,000,000 other games) but it leaves this behind:

Whenever I delete those, and try and launch Deus Ex Human Revolution it puts them back there! I don't want all that useless clutter in my ( C: ) directory!

Another interesting thing is that while Shogun 2 and the Steam overlay were still in my processes, I'd configured and launched Deus Ex (before getting that error) meaning I effectively had two games running at once.

4) Whenever I try and join a public multiplayer game on Shogun 2, it says I have an incompatible version (not trying to join Rise of the Samurai DLC games)

5) RESOLVED - Another thing is that my Steam is really starting to eat up memory, I've clocked it running at 200,000 K in the Task Manager on several occasions, is this normal?

6) RESOLVED - I believe that my Steam may require a fresh install, is it safe to uninstall Steam and reinstall it without messing with any of the games I have in my steam program files(x86) folder? If not how can I run a fresh reinstall?

7) Here is my 'steam calculator':

I'm confused as to why Risen 2, Sniper Elite, Shogun 2, Arma II (not OA) & Torchlight II aren't on there, they were all activated via Steamworks with a retail key (Arma II being a direct download in the Combined Ops bundle and Torchlight II being a pre-order).

8) Is Steam god? When I had no internet, Steam still managed to figure out it needed an update, that kinda scared me to be honest.

I think that's all of it, I do appologise for flooding the forums but this place has much faster and better help than anywhere else I know. I just seem to have constant issue after issue with almost any game I try and play on the first time. Thanks!

EDIT: Kinda pointless but I had an urge to do it I've made a quick image explaining the games I've had issues with -.-

Red means severe issues, probably an hour + trying to fix them.
Yellow means minor issues, no more than a few minutes to fix.
Green means no issues, worked from install.
White means not played yet

I've had more issues with S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat than any other game (besides Skyrim) but those were the fault of mods, not the actual game.

 

[Hudzy]

1) This isn't normal, I'm not sure what would cause it though.

2) This is also not normal. I played Deus Ex without ever seeing that error.

3) I've had Steam running all day and it's currently at 120,000 K. I think it's fairly normal, but not really an issue unless you're running low I guess.

4) You can uninstall Steam and reinstall. Personally I'd move your \steamapps folder somewhere else and then paste it back after the reinstall. Bear in mind if it's a problem with game files though, you'd have to redownload them anyway probably. Try verifying the game files through Steam first, see if any problems go away.

 

[Omaeka]

1) This isn't normal, I'm not sure what would cause it though.

2) This is also not normal. I played Deus Ex without ever seeing that error.

3) I've had Steam running all day and it's currently at 120,000 K. I think it's fairly normal, but not really an issue unless you're running low I guess.

4) You can uninstall Steam and reinstall. Personally I'd move your \steamapps folder somewhere else and then paste it back after the reinstall. Bear in mind if it's a problem with game files though, you'd have to redownload them anyway probably. Try verifying the game files through Steam first, see if any problems go away.

1 isn't just on certain games either, even non-steam games are doing it, for the BinkW32.dll, I've never heard of it and have no idea how to get it, the last thing I want to do is download a .dll file and put it in my Windows dir .

I'm not running low on memory at all, I'd just rather not have it eating more than it needs, and as for the reinstall, do you think its worth it? I've verified every game that isn't non-steam and all of them are 100% and up to date. No idea why I have no BinkW32.dll on my machine if its verifying all of that though.

 

[Hudzy]

As far as I know, that dll is related to the Bink Video software. It's probably included in the standalone download for that if you want an official source for it.

There's no harm reinstalling Steam just to eliminate it as the issue. Don't forget to move the \steamapps folder somewhere safe first.

 

[Omaeka]

As far as I know, that dll is related to the Bink Video software. It's probably included in the standalone download for that if you want an official source for it.

There's no harm reinstalling Steam just to eliminate it as the issue. Don't forget to move the \steamapps folder somewhere safe first.

I just downloaded the RAD video tools and no sign of a BinkW32.dll in either the system32 folder or the RADvideo folder in program files. :/

I'm reinstalling Steam now. Thanks

 

[thingemajib]

reinstall steam as said above, then if 2) persists, try verifying game cache (right click on the game >properties >verify).

and for 8), i can never even make offline mode work, so you're one step ahead of me there..

 

[Omaeka]

reinstall steam as said above, then if 2) persists, try verifying game cache (right click on the game >properties >verify).

and for 8), i can never even make offline mode work, so you're one step ahead of me there..

Steam has been reinstalled, all desired icons and non steam games readded, every game is 100% 'verified' and up to date with the latest patches. They 'should' all work now, I've downloaded the BinkW32.dll from a dll site, although the site is trusted and the file has gone nowhere near my system32 (just put it straight in the Deus Ex directory) these fixes are and I quote; 'no more than a temporary bandage for a deeper, underlying problem'. This is annoying as I downloaded Bink and Smacker from Radgametools, the official source, and searched the entire thing for the BinkW32.dll and found nothing. Even after I installed it and done all of this, Deus Ex wouldn't work until I used a raw .dll from the internet.

I never got Steam to work in offline mode, but I was using it normally Monday, then Virgin bodged the hub installation up on the Tuesday, and then I had no net until the Thursday. I tried going on Steam on the Tuesday, way after the bodge job and it hadn't said anything about an update up until this point, yet I had absolutely no internet.

I had to change my undergarments and was tempted to arrange a technological exorcism.

 

[Reza86]

I've never understood why some people have such horrific issues with Steam while others like me have never had a single problem.

Let us know how a re-install goes. I would be tempted to scrap the lot and re-download everything.

 

[Omaeka]

I've never understood why some people have such horrific issues with Steam while others like me have never had a single problem.

Let us know how a re-install goes. I would be tempted to scrap the lot and re-download everything.

I have reinstalled and reverified. Incase you didn't know, verifying the games caché searches for any corrupt or missing files and replaces them, re downloading will do the exact same thing except at a cost of bandwith and time.

Everything's working, don't dare try Arma 2 though, god that game is a nightmare to get working with DayZ. :/

EDIT: PEOPLE! I have found an amazing launcher option config for Arma II Combined Operations!

-mod=@dayz -beta=Expansion\beta;Expansion\beta\Expansion -nosplash -skipintro -noPatchCheck -world=empty -noFilePatching -cpuCount=4 -exThreads=7

Use this, I'm somehow running the game on highest settings with absolutely no frame drop.

 

[poker_999]

Steam has always been full of crippling bugs and lackluster features.

just be thankful it works when it works

 

[Omaeka]

Steam has always been full of crippling bugs and lackluster features.

just be thankful it works when it works

True... but I do like it, it gives a dashboard feel the same as what the Xbox and Playstation 3 have, something which IMO the PC platform needs, the game library looks beautiful when you mod it and the deals are amazing.

Just wish there weren't a bug of some kind with almost every game I've used on it.

 

[orderoftheflame]

Steam has always been full of crippling bugs and lackluster features.

just be thankful it works when it works

Not sure if tro...

Oh, it's poker_999, nm...

@OP

1) Is this all games or just Shogun. Some titles can be a PITA for this (certainly not unique to Steam), if it's all games, that's extremely odd.

3) The issue with the VC distributable is also a pain, but it's caused by how MS have decided to package it. Unfortunately, Steam it's something needs to do to ensure that you definitely have the files that game needs. It can't just look to see if it's been done, as there's differences with versions iirc.

5) 200k isn't a lot in the grand scheme of things. It would be a major problem if we were still all using 512mb-1gb ram. Today rocking 4gb is pretty much the bottom end of the scale.

6) What makes you think it needs a reinstall?

7) The Steam calculator site is pretty notorious for missing games or counting them multiple times.

8) Yes.

9) You've got a bigger problem than all of that. You haven't played Amnesia, Braid, Bastion, Limbo and SMB! They're better games individually than all the AAA ones put together.

 

[Omaeka]

Not sure if tro...

Oh, it's poker_999, nm...

@OP

1) Is this all games or just Shogun. Some titles can be a PITA for this (certainly not unique to Steam), if it's all games, that's extremely odd.

3) The issue with the VC distributable is also a pain, but it's caused by how MS have decided to package it. Unfortunately, Steam it's something needs to do to ensure that you definitely have the files that game needs. It can't just look to see if it's been done, as there's differences with versions iirc.

5) 200k isn't a lot in the grand scheme of things. It would be a major problem if we were still all using 512mb-1gb ram. Today rocking 4gb is pretty much the bottom end of the scale.

6) What makes you think it needs a reinstall?

7) The Steam calculator site is pretty notorious for missing games or counting them multiple times.

8) Yes.

9) You've got a bigger problem than all of that. You haven't played Amnesia, Braid, Bastion, Limbo and SMB! They're better games individually than all the AAA ones put together.

1) Haven't tested it since the reinstall yet, the only games I've ran are Deus Ex which didn't do it and Arma II which didn't. Before I did a reinstall they did though, even non Steam games did.

3) It's not doing it anymore, the files are gone and I'm launching Deux Ex fine, they were probably temporary files for the installation.

5) Yeah, 200k is fine, I'd just rather it not take more than it should, but if that's normal then all is good, I have 8000MB.

6) Because every game almost is running into issues and the overlay and games aren't closing properly. Since the reinstall, not only has launch times improved drastically (takes about 3 seconds to launch Arma II Combined Ops) but I haven't seen the process problem yet, but I haven't really tried many games yet.

7) I thought so, its bloody weird as I never owned Red Orchestra, only had a 3 day trial and now it counts in my game list too?

8)

9? ) I'll play them at some point xD just right now I'm totally hooked on Shogun 2 and Deus Ex.

God, what a weird way to communicate!