Bought Of Steam.. HELP!

[jhoge555]

Ok Guys, I bought this game off steam after playing the demo for about 4-5 days (loved it btw)

So I bought it and after I did I went to "My Games" tab and the only game that was there was Team Fortress 2!

I don't know what to do but cry!

I went on steams support page but no answer yet and I don't know their phone number!

Please somone shed some light!

thanks

Jhoge

 

[Seismica]

When you bought it you must have got a serial key?

If i'm right in thinking, i had this same problem with Empire total war.

Open steam, select the games tab

There should be a button at the bottom above where it says "servers" that says 'activate a product on steam'

I think if you enter your CD key in there, steam will recognise that it is a serial key to M&B, and will add M&B to your games list.

Although my copy of M&B is a boxed version so i did not activate it with steam, so i'm most likely wrong.

All i'm thinking is, does activating through steam remove the level limit, or do you have to activate it ingame aswell? if so, does it use up one of your serial key uses when you activate it through steam (by following the instruction i listed above)

I wouldn't try this, its better if someone who activated it through steam helps you out.

 

[jhoge555]

I never got a serial key or anything and I checked My email and I got some numbers but they don't work...

Please help me thanks for the try though!

 

[jhoge555]

Oh Thank God I almost had a heart attack!

I got it and downloading it now! Thanks guys

 

[Seismica]

Oh Thank God I almost had a heart attack!

I got it and downloading it now! Thanks guys

If you have the demo you shouldn't need to download it  The demo has all the files the full game does, the serial key registration just removes the level limit etc.

Thats the problem with Steam, it doesn't recognise games you already have. For instance, Empire Total war, it tries to download the game through steam, when you have the game disk in, it doesn't even check, you have to tell it to stop downloading, exit steam, and load the launcher from the disk.

Steam is a fail, a complete and utter fail, i despise it.

 

[Goromous]

Steam is a pain in the ass. But it is rather convenient at times.

But god.. Talk about laggy..

 

[Lord Shields]

Steam is a pain in the ass. But it is rather convenient at times.

But god.. Talk about laggy..

The games don't run through the client... there's no lag. If you're talking about games made by Valve... then yes, I agree with you.

Oh Thank God I almost had a heart attack!

I got it and downloading it now! Thanks guys

If you have the demo you shouldn't need to download it  The demo has all the files the full game does, the serial key registration just removes the level limit etc.

Thats the problem with Steam, it doesn't recognise games you already have. For instance, Empire Total war, it tries to download the game through steam, when you have the game disk in, it doesn't even check, you have to tell it to stop downloading, exit steam, and load the launcher from the disk.

Steam is a fail, a complete and utter fail, i despise it.

Well I had no problem with my game. I had the demo, purchased the game, and it played. At first Steam forgot to add the CD key to the game (when you purchased the first day it was on there, they didn't have a key). But within an hour or so, it was fixed. Lucky me I had to play through the trials first few levels anyway and the key applied itself. I never stopped playing.

Steam is perfectly fine for most games. Of course you might not get the latest build and patching MAY be difficult (just depends on the game).

 

[Goromous]

Steam is a pain in the ass. But it is rather convenient at times.

But god.. Talk about laggy..

The games don't run through the client... there's no lag. If you're talking about games made by Valve... then yes, I agree with you.

I'm talking about the client being laggy, not the games. Just slow in general, especially right when it starts.

 

[Lord Shields]

Can't say I've experienced that at all. It takes a second to load the store window... but if you run the game specifically from a desktop icon shortcut, then it takes only 30 seconds or so to get going. Not much lag as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Seismica]

It laggs, i only ever use it for Valve games.

Although i was pretty pissed off when Empire total war was exclusive to steam...

My brother installed it on his highish spec computer. It took him about 3 hours to get it working, with the problem i mentioned above about registering in steam, then cancelling the download and running the disk etc. (The game manual just says run the launcher from the disk. We did that and he waited about half an hour, while the loading bar did not shift one bit. But because it registers through steam, you have to register it with steam before you run the launcher, its complete bull****...)

Anyways, i have an account on my brothers computer, he set it up for me for when i wanted to play Empire total war (because my laptop can't run it). But, Steam only registered it with his account. Its the same bloody computer!!! If somebody is accessing steam by putting the username and password in, and the game is claerly installed on the computer, then why does it refuse when i try and launch the game (just to clarify, i was using his steam id, the one which he registered the game to). Some bull**** about taking copy protection way too far... In the end i have to ask my brother to enter the password for his account (he won't trust me with it, what is he hiding in his pictures/videos folders i wonder ;D). This is a major inconveniance, because he has to be there to type it in. But i only get to go on it, when he isn't there, so theres the basic flaw.

To sum up, Steam sucks. They should stop trying to revolutionise the world of gaming by making it worse. Most gamers still prefer to buy their games boxed, yet steam seem to think you would rather pay more for a digital copy that you have to download, using the internet connection that you are paying for.

 

[Lord Shields]

I wouldn't go as far as to say MOST gamers prefer boxes. I don't for one and plenty of others don't either. There's a half dozen direct to drive sites now (Play, Steam, D2D, etc) when there used to be only one (or none at one point). It's a convenient set up and I've never had the problems you have. I'd call that bad luck for you.

It does have its faults that's for sure. But it's still the better option most often than not.

 

[Seismica]

It's a convenient set up and I've never had the problems you have. I'd call that bad luck for you.

My point is, Steam basically did a big **** on all users who like boxed versions of games, or liked to play games without needing internet access. The problem my brother had with installation, was because of the boxed version, but they only arised because steam assumed everybody downloaded. But with internet being relatively slow in the UK outside the London area (8Mb/s or less, we only currently have 2Mb/s) downloading is not a viable option, especially for 10GiB+ games.

They also disregard all users who still play games offline. Some people buy gaming computers and don't connect them to the internet for various reasons (although mainly so there is not risk of viruses). But the majority of games these days require internet activation, and some even require the internet, even for offline play (steam has the offline mode feature, but some games require the internet to launch, even when playing offline).

To prove my point there, there has been nearly 30 million Xbox consoles sold around the world. But there are less than 10 million live subscribers. Now this could be because 2/3rds of Xboxs have broken (highly likely ), or it could be because around half of gamers are perfectly happy without online features (i said 1/2 not 2/3 there because some people own multiple Xbox consoles, and as i said, some consoles do actually break, and many are not willing to pay the cost of live, but the figures still prove, not all gamers use internet services, and nor do all gamers have internet connections)

I think if you have fast internet, downloading games is a very sensible idea. it is often cheaper, and it means you don't require a disk in your drive to launch the game. But if you install it through steam, it is completely unnecessary. It is just a middle man for technologically incompetent gamers. Given the option, i would always go for the non-steam version. You can always add the game to steam afterwards anyway if you want to use the chat feature, whilst the game remains in its own file so you can patch it, mod it to your hearts content without steam messing you about.

 

[Archonsod]

I wouldn't go as far as to say MOST gamers prefer boxes.

Brick & Mortar sales still account for around 80% of the market.

There's a half dozen direct to drive sites now (Play, Steam, D2D, etc) when there used to be only one (or none at one point).

Play isn't direct to drive. D2D were the first commercial, but it's something that was standard in the shareware/indie market for around five years at that point.

It's a convenient set up and I've never had the problems you have. I'd call that bad luck for you.

Then you've been lucky enough to never have to use Steam when it's busy or pre-order a popular game. It's a problem now unique to Steam since most other services have switched to a client free or client independent system.

But with internet being relatively slow in the UK outside the London area

London's actually one of the slowest areas in the country, comparable to some of the Scottish Islands in speed. Too many people wanting to connect, not enough exchanges to handle the traffic. Thank the Conservatives for privatising our communications infrastructure.

Now this could be because 2/3rds of Xboxs have broken (highly likely ), or it could be because around half of gamers are perfectly happy without online features (i said 1/2 not 2/3 there because some people own multiple Xbox consoles, and as i said, some consoles do actually break, and many are not willing to pay the cost of live, but the figures still prove, not all gamers use internet services, and nor do all gamers have internet connections)

More likely a significant majority are using a chipped console.

 

[Lord Shields]

I don't think 80% is very accurate. I thought Play did direct downloading on top of retail sales. EA, EBGames, and dozens of other sites I didn't mention also do direct downloading. It's up and coming and will continue this way while we have high end internet connections.

I'd venture to bet your location has a lot to do with your difficulties of using Steam. I've never had an issue with any game I've downloaded (aside from a CD key mishap that was resolved right away). I've purchased some new games, and old... but rarely do I buy into the immediate hype of a game and rush out to get it. So maybe that's why I don't have problems downloading.

Either way, you're not going to convince me that Steam is the root of all evil. It's an option for me when my local stores don't carry it and I don't want to wait for a few days delivery via Amazon or another site.