Poll: My problem with Steam.

[Dutchie_Diatribe]

I like Steam.
I like the way all my games are run though the one program, I like that you can buy games through their built in store.
The only thing that bothers me about an otherwise fine program is the constant updates for it's games. Unlike some people I'm not blessed with a decent internet connection.
I pay $50(AU) for 3GB (I know it's insane) and I just cant afford to download much, at the moment I have 7 games that are unplayable until I download about 25GB of game files.
That would cost about $420.
Now I've payed for these games when I didn't have to. I could have downloaded them illegally but I didn't and how to I get rewarded for my non-thieving honesty?
By getting to sit here and watch my unplayable games be paused indefinitely in my download list.
I'm not saying that Steam should stop with the updates, just make them optional or something or make it so i can play my games even when their updating.
So in conclusion
Should Valve change the way that Steam downloads updates?

 

[Vie]

When I first got HL2, day of release, it worked fine on my computer of the time. The first update replaced the fence texture with the good old pink and black checkerboards of missing textures.

The next broke the game.

My current computer has no issues, but I would quite like the chance to say "Nah thanks on that patch". If you do so they should disabled achievements and multiplayer of course, to prevent it being exploited, but would be useful for the next time they cock something up.

 

[Dutchie_Diatribe]

When I first got HL2, day of release, it worked fine on my computer of the time. The first update replaced the fence texture with the good old pink and black checkerboards of missing textures.

The next broke the game.

My current computer has no issues, but I would quite like the chance to say "Nah thanks on that patch". If you do so they should disabled achievements and multiplayer of course, to prevent it being exploited, but would be useful for the next time they cock something up.

Did you get it working again?

 

[Vie]

Not on that computer, but it was base specs. The next one ran it fine so I grudgingly put up with steam.

These days I like it, I just wish it was less dictatorial regarding patches.

 

[Dutchie_Diatribe]

URN! lol sorry I didn't even realize that you wrote that in you first post.
What's your specs now if you don't mind me asking?

 

[oliveira8]

Yes. By Yes I mean, fix the bloody option already! There's an option in steam that lets you chose if you want to update your games or not, but it doesn't work. Kinda defeats the point...

Unless i'ts patches that affect multiplayer, you should have the option to accept download or not. I don't really mind(unlimited traffic and pay only 45 euros for very fast speed ^^) but there's plenty folk who could use it.

 

[insectoid]

Holy wow you need a better internet plan.

Still, I would prefer they did it differently.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

I'm more aggravated by the following:
-Client updates that fix performance issues for games I do not own.
-General slowness of the system when initially starting, or launching a game while online.
-The save cloud.

Any PC with a multiplayer segment will require updates to participate in it. The older games also have far fewer updates than a fresh one, so buying a recently released title is foolish.

 

[Binerexis]

I'd say that it's fine the way it is.

 

[KefkaCultist]

I haven't had a problem with a steam update yet so I have to say no for now, BUT I do have a problem with steam because I can't run the Bioshock that I paid $5 for and Civ 5 crashes after about 5 hours

 

[Vie]

What's your specs now if you don't mind me asking?

I've gone though a couple of systems since that time.

Current machine is based on an old Abit KN9 Sli board with an AMD Athalon64 x2 6000 (running at 3Ghz). Ram wise its DDR2, slower speed, at 3GB. Graphics cards an ATI Radeon HD 4850 1GB, runs rather well. Sounds the on board HD Audio chip which dose the job just fine. Storage is a hodge podge, had the OS HDD burn out last night so had to do a fresh Win7 install today as it happens. Storage is probably now in the 2.5TB region if I include the two external drives that are always hooked up to it.

 

[Infinatex]

It doesn't bother me to much since I upgraded my plan to 100GB. Also with my provider (BigPond) most of what I download from Steam comes through their Game Arena servers and is not counted towards my limit.

snip

Do you know if your provider offers something like this? If they do, Steam has an option in the preferences to set a ISP and location for downloads.

 

[Dutchie_Diatribe]

nah

It doesn't bother me to much since I upgraded my plan to 100GB. Also with my provider (BigPond) most of what I download from Steam comes through their Game Arena servers and is not counted towards my limit.

snip

Do you know if your provider offers something like this? If they do, Steam has an option in the preferences to set a ISP and location for downloads.

Nah it's prepaid but i'll be upgrading to a normal connection when I move into my new house

 

[shado_temple]

I'm sort of in a similar scenario. The college I'm at doesn't allow for more than 3 GB of data to be downloaded within 72 hour period between all internet-using items. While that isn't much of an issue on a day-to-day basis, loads of new updates in addition to normal downloading on three different machines begins to add up. I have games that I may never play again; shouldn't I be able to disable updates for said games?

I haven't had a problem with a steam update yet so I have to say no for now, BUT I do have a problem with steam because I can't run the Bioshock that I paid $5 for and Civ 5 crashes after about 5 hours

You sure that Steam is at fault for that?

 

[Squidden]

YES!

Portal and Half Life: Source ALWAYS download every day when I connect to steam. Instantly, they just start right up. No matter how many times I cancel them it starts the download back. It's because Gmod uses the source engine so it automatically tries to download or update the source games. They need to fix it.

 

[Dutchie_Diatribe]

What's your specs now if you don't mind me asking?

I've gone though a couple of systems since that time.

Current machine is based on an old Abit KN9 Sli board with an AMD Athalon64 x2 6000 (running at 3Ghz). Ram wise its DDR2, slower speed, at 3GB. Graphics cards an ATI Radeon HD 4850 1GB, runs rather well. Sounds the on board HD Audio chip which dose the job just fine. Storage is a hodge podge, had the OS HDD burn out last night so had to do a fresh Win7 install today as it happens. Storage is probably now in the 2.5TB region if I include the two external drives that are always hooked up to it.

Nice man my rig atm I got off my girlfriend so I'm not 100% sure what the motherboard it is but I have a intel dual core CPU running at 3.00GHZ 4 GB of RAM 1 TB of HDD space and also the onboard sound.

EDIT: and a NVIDIA 2850(?) 1 GB Graphics card

 

[sheic99]

YES!

Portal and Half Life: Source ALWAYS download every day when I connect to steam. Instantly, they just start right up. No matter how many times I cancel them it starts the download back. It's because Gmod uses the source engine so it automatically tries to download or update the source games. They need to fix it.

It's because Gmod uses those files.

-The save cloud.

You can turn that off. There's a checkbox in the normal main settings that will turn the cloud off across all games.

 

[Trivun]

Due to the amount of files I have on my laptop, mostly important stuff, I rarely have more than four or five GB of memory as it is. So installing games takes up even more of that. You do realise that you can just have one game installed on your PC, right? When you finish that then uninstall it (it'll keep the save files on Steam, or should do at any rate), then install the next game you want to play. Unless you play multiple games online with multiplayer, in which case I do sympathise, but in that instance I highly recommend you get a better internet plan and a better way of storing memory for your computer.

 

[KefkaCultist]

I'm sort of in a similar scenario. The college I'm at doesn't allow for more than 3 GB of data to be downloaded within 72 hour period between all internet-using items. While that isn't much of an issue on a day-to-day basis, loads of new updates in addition to normal downloading on three different machines begins to add up. I have games that I may never play again; shouldn't I be able to disable updates for said games?

I haven't had a problem with a steam update yet so I have to say no for now, BUT I do have a problem with steam because I can't run the Bioshock that I paid $5 for and Civ 5 crashes after about 5 hours

You sure that Steam is at fault for that?

Well after reading numerous forums about Bioshock, its not really a Steam problem but more of Bioshock's problem and for Civ I really have no idea, but I highly doubt its my computer because I only had it build about a month ago with really good specs

 

[Squidden]

YES!

Portal and Half Life: Source ALWAYS download every day when I connect to steam. Instantly, they just start right up. No matter how many times I cancel them it starts the download back. It's because Gmod uses the source engine so it automatically tries to download or update the source games. They need to fix it.

It's because Gmod uses those files.

Obviously not, if the game works fine without them. They use the files to build stuff in-game, but they don't actually need them.