Steam

[Hort]

Anybody here got a Steam account yet?

[HailtheGoat]

Yes.

[stapuf]

Yep. I playd CS:Source a few times. Pretty smooth.

[-F7]

Yeah...someone took F7 and FSeven dammit. :( Had to use _F7_

Puf - How did you play CS Source?

[HailtheGoat]

Go to play games then click on CS Source. You have to have Condition Zero or the ATI promotion I think.

I played it, it was exactly like CS, cept for the moving barrels. ooohhhh aaaaahhhhh.

[stapuf]

The ATI promotion....I never played the old CS - so I thought it would be nice. It is ok - I am playing the WW2 mod right now.

puf

[Hort]

Yah- somebody already had Hort so I'm in as HortonsWho-


List your account names and I'll add you to my friends list.

[HailtheGoat]

<------ :D

[radio667]

ok - i have to ask ... is steam like gamespy - in the sense that it lists and connects you to servers ? - btw is steam free ?

[-F7]

Steam is free. It's not really like Gamespy. It's solely for Valve games; HL, HL2, CS, etc.

Basically, it's Valve's own online validation system for it's games to prevent piracy and supply instant patches, etc. for their games. I believe it's now a necessity for any Valve game.

[Hort]

I found _F7_ and added to my friends list but HailtheGoat and Stapuf don't show up in searches.

[Salyavin]

Steam is free. It's not really like Gamespy. It's solely for Valve games; HL, HL2, CS, etc.

Basically, it's Valve's own online validation system for it's games to prevent piracy and supply instant patches, etc. for their games. I believe it's now a necessity for any Valve game.Valve is also using Steam as a distribution channel. It's similar to what Yahoo! Games, Atari's Games on Demand, and TotalGaming.net are doing to bypass the publishers/retailers and stream or download the game files to your hard drive. There are rumors that HL2 files are being streamed to Steam users now so that it will be playable on the release date... which could still be a long way off depending on how the rollout goes.

Cheers,
Salyavin

[Hort]

Yup- not rumors- they are preloading textures and other assets.

[HailtheGoat]

Hort,

I think the searches are case sensitive. try hailthegoat all lowercase. I added you and _F7_.

[stapuf]

Can't find you goat.

I am under 'stapuf' user name - real name 'major stapuf' hehe.

[StealthDP]

Could only find F7. I am StealthDP.

[Hort]

OK- Maybe it's a little glitchy but I found everybody and have added.


:)

[radio667]

so what is everybody playing on steam ? Would Like to know what to buy when i go to EB Gamez next weekend :) !!

[Hort]

Nothing ATM- just waiting for HL2.

[Zinia]

I am RZinia. Who the hell took "Zinia"? Dammit!!!!!

[SoBeiT]

Figured with so many names being taken I'd better sign up quick.. so it's So_Be_iT

that or I'd be sobeit with a gazillion numbers after my name.

[Salyavin]

I am RZinia. Who the hell took "Zinia"? Dammit!!!!!Hehe, Steam-squatting. In a few weeks you'll probably get an offer to sell you back your name for beaucoup bucks. :)

Cheers,
Salyavin

[Hort]

I'll let Zinia go for only $500... not worth much more than that.


Taking bids.... NOW.

[radio667]

LOL - give it to me ...i want to be Zina667 :D !!!!

[StealthDP]

Still cannot find hailthegoat. Found everyone else...

[Freakish]

Ooh! *starts installing*

[Hort]

Still cannot find hailthegoat. Found everyone else...Third time was a charm- I found Goat this morning- we even exchanged a few IM's. I think it's a little flaky about always finding peeps.

Cool Freak- I'll add you when you are in.

EDIT- just looked for Freakish- bad news but there are several in - maybe you can have the same name if you enter something under real name, etc so it can differentiate you?

[Hort]

Hmmmm... It let me change my nick to Hort- account name still HortonsWho- anybody see me as Hort? First name H, second W

[Freakish]

I'm UTFreakish..

unless I can find a way to make Freakish work. :ink:

[Freakish]

How do you change your nick!!? I don't see it in the settings..will poke deeper..

[Freakish]

Hmm..can't find Hort H W or HortonsWho...

[Hort]

Just try Hort- then see what you get.


In the Friends window I clicked options and changed my nick to Hort. Dunno if that is just for the friends list or will be your in-game name too.

[Freakish]

Hmm..I'll re-try the searches but it hasn't found anyone listed in this thread. And I'm searching in the UserName field..

edit: I see what you did hort - changed my nick to 'Freakish'.

[Hort]

Found you Freakish- Hmmm now how do you start a chat?

[Hort]

Maybe you need a little time to pass through the system

[Hort]

Bizzarro- while I was looking at the friends window, _F7_ disappeared from my list.

EDIT: Hmmm... I double-clicked on Stapuf to change the notify me settings. I clicked OK then StealthDP disappeared from my list... :cry:

[Freakish]

Tight - restarted the program and now have all y'all. It took me several repeated searches on variants of hailthegoat for it to show up, but the rest showed up first or second time. Weird..

Now to install Half-Life again so I can see what Steam does with it. :D

[Hort]

Hmm Stealth, F7 and Freakish all disappeared from my list and I can't add them back... nobody likes me... :p

[Freakish]

LOL..you try restarting the program? I'm online now and it shows everyone as offline, but I think that's because they have to accept me as a friend first. :eek:

Just installed Half-Life.. now Steam is downloading 4 gigs of stuff for all the games associated with it. Wow.. o.O

[Hort]

I wondered about the "being accepted"- I don't get any notice to authorize anybody...

[stapuf]

It seems as tho' you are all authorized and in there.

Now if they'd load HL2, I'd be set :)

[SoBeiT]

Sta put me on his list.. it shows up on the top in a highlited puke green.

[Hort]

Hmm.. did you get any kind of opportunity to authorize folks? I haven't-

[HailtheGoat]

I have. When I logged in tonight I had Creeper, Freakish, Sobe and Stealth to authorize.

[StealthDP]

I have not had to authorize anyone either...

[radio667]

WOW - sounds like the Steam people really have their Stuff together :p !!

[SoBeiT]

Might be because you are also asking for them to authorize you? Just a thought.

[Zinia]

I can't find Goat nor Puf. And there are only about 20 Creepers.

[SoBeiT]

The Freakish I choose had "cow" listed in the row. Is this you Freakish?



Weird how it works.. took me a few tries at different times to get the names to show up.

[Creeper]

^ UTCreeper .. Shock Ho. :p

[Sid6.7]

My alias


Jay

Nightstalker500@hotmail.com

[Hort]

Well- I had everybody and just found and added Creeper. Yesterday STealth, Freakish and F7 dropped off my list. I can find Stealth and 7 but they don't show when I added, and can no longer find UTFreakish.


:dunno:

[Freakish]

The Freakish I choose had "cow" listed in the row. Is this you Freakish?



Weird how it works.. took me a few tries at different times to get the names to show up.

Nick: Freakish
Name: Freakish Cow

You found me! :loopy:

Everyone's stayed on my list but I've had no requests to auth anyone yet. Maybe there is no authing. ..time to try one of those 50 billion half life addons I now have..

[StealthDP]

w00t! Pre-loading HL2 now!!

[stapuf]

I tried to pre-load, but the servers are too busy. :(

Good luck Stealth.

pfu

dislexic for puf

[StealthDP]

25% complete...

[Hort]

How do I do that? I don't see where the option is.

EDIT: Ah- I had to restart it...

EDIT: Gah... please try again in a few hours.

EDIT: w00t! When in doubt keep hitting the button.. I'm loading now

[StealthDP]

50% Complete

GAH!! Now EB is showing Nov. 1st as the release date... :smirk:

[SoBeiT]

You're preloading a game that isn't available?


Are you nuts to believe them?


*peeps on my list dropped off, poof :( *

[SoBeiT]

My alias


Jay

Nightstalker500@hotmail.com


Well hello Nightstalker, nice to see you here :)

[StealthDP]

75%

[StealthDP]

Pfft... stuck at 83% for the last 45 minutes or so....

[Freakish]

See..if valve had built in the bit torrent stuff (they hired the creator I think) then nobody would have to wait to preload HL2 right now.

*mad at having to keep clicking*

[Freakish]

ricochet is weird, by the way. It came down with the half life updates..interesting game.

[stapuf]

How do you get the update option?

I have an ATI promotion subscription....the option never came back after the servers were too busy.

:(

[Freakish]

At the top of my games list (click Play Games) it shows HL2 under the Coming Soon header. I can double-click it to attempt a preload. It wasn't always in the list.. it appeared this afternoon when I clicked Browse Games at the bottom. :weird:

[stapuf]

Domo arigato mister bovino.

[stapuf]

I am glad I have broadband....all done with the preload!!!

[HailtheGoat]

I wish more games used this method for distribution.
I know I'd use it a lot. Time to cancel my hl2 pre-order and just order it from steam when it's available. I hate waiting 1-2 weeks for a game.

[HailtheGoat]

Got another authorization

The system must be flaky.

[Hort]

I started the preload last night and went to bed- where did the files go (what directory) and can somebody give me a file name to look for? Offhand I don't see anything different in my Valve or Steam folders.
Though Steam says the dl is complete and a locked copy of HL2 is on my comp.

EDIT: in the valave/steam/steamapps folder: "base source shared materials.gcf

1 gig of textures. :bow:

[radio667]

OK.....................Now Im Very Confused Here :eyes: Half Life 2 is OUT ...NOW...............and only through Steam ??????????????

[StealthDP]

It is only preloading textures and such, Radio. It will countinue to preload encrypted pieces of the game until it is released. What is nice about this is that the game is basically already installed on release date; as long as you pay for it, it will be available immediatly. Not a bad system...

I have not seen any auth messages. Hort was in my list, then dissapeared. I can find and add him again, but he still does not show up. I would guess that they are getting pretty hammered right now. I had to pause and then restart my preload to get it past that 83% freeze.

[Salyavin]

See..if valve had built in the bit torrent stuff (they hired the creator I think) then nobody would have to wait to preload HL2 right now.I thought they had already implemented some of Cohen's stuff in Steam. A high ratio of leechers to seeders and clients with the right ports open makes for very slow .torrents; Steam may well be having the same problem with the current high demand for HL2 files.

Side topic: it's a given that some of the people pulling HL2 files over Steam are devoting a huge number of CPU cycles to breaking the file encryption. I haven't heard of any distributed cracking rings being set up, but I'd be very surprised if they're not out there and already chugging away. If the encryption is defeated, it'll be an even bigger fiasco for Valve than the source code theft.

Cheers,
Salyavin

[Freakish]

I thought they had already implemented some of Cohen's stuff in Steam. A high ratio of leechers to seeders and clients with the right ports open makes for very slow .torrents; Steam may well be having the same problem with the current high demand for HL2 files.

Side topic: it's a given that some of the people pulling HL2 files over Steam are devoting a huge number of CPU cycles to breaking the file encryption. I haven't heard of any distributed cracking rings being set up, but I'd be very surprised if they're not out there and already chugging away. If the encryption is defeated, it'll be an even bigger fiasco for Valve than the source code theft.

Cheers,
Salyavin

On the cracking..I was thinking about that. I hope they've got it locked down good enough to prevent that because, well, that would just be sad if it was cracked.

I'm still letting my order stand, I remember long ago they mentioned there being some difference between ordering via steam and buying the cd in stores and the cd had some advantages. Of course, my info's well over a year old now. ;)

I don't think they're using bit torrent for this..it gives a message that their servers are overwhelmed right now and to try back later. If it was torrent based they could just let the download start. Unless they're trying to keep up a nice seed/leecher ratio. I dunno...when I can finally start preloading I'll see if I upload at all.

[Hort]

Hit try again a few times and you'll likely get in...

[Hort]

Heh- go to the STeam news page... then status... then detail... 70,000 people currently playing Counterstrike. :eyes:

[StealthDP]

Remember, this is not the source code. The pirates will get cracked copies regardless of how it is distributed. Right now, all they are sending out is textures and such anyways...

[Freakish]

LOL! From Slashdot comments.. http://www.filerush.com/download.php?target=Half-Life%202%20Preload%20Cache

[Freakish]

Any of you play Opposing Force? It's another singleplayer campaign for HL - same crisis but from a soldier's POV. I remember liking it long ago when I played it and seeing it on Steam now has me trying it out again..

[Salyavin]

Remember, this is not the source code. The pirates will get cracked copies regardless of how it is distributed. Right now, all they are sending out is textures and such anyways...Sure, but Valve is trying to build Steam into a business model where developers can get their games directly to the customer, bypassing the whole publisher-distributor channel. For it to be a viable business they need more developers other than themselves to put their games up on Steam. If the file encryption is cracked and Steam users can suddenly get all of the games preloaded on their hard drives for free, it'll ruin their business. Any developers who have already signed with Valve will pull their games and probably demand compensation for loss, and no developer will ever trust them again. That would be a much bigger blow than the texture files or the source code to one game.

Cheers,
Salyavin

[Freakish]

Wewt! [/mango] :p

Pre-loading.

[Freakish]

Now pre-loading the second stage. Yay me...

http://steampowered.com/index.php?area=news&id=109416553474586500

[Zinia]

Now Steam is telling me that "RZinia" is an invalid UserID. I hate this thing.

[Hort]

Ummm- when I launch STeam- shouldn't I get a link/notice to start the second preload? I don't, and cannot now find where to start the preload.

???

[StealthDP]

Go to the Games section, and click on HL2. You should get a status. It preloads in the background, so you may have already got it.

[Hort]

Ah- the "shared sounds.gcf"? Looks like I have it-

[NLA*Madison]

I am in the Steam network as madisonb44@aol.com. When I first signed up about 5-6 months ago when I bought my 9800XT, they asked me to sign up under my e-mail address and I haven't changed it.

Orig. HL ran great under Steam when I played it again, except for one thing. Elevators would freeze the game unless you were jumping and in the air when the elevator hit bottom or top. Your feet would just glue to the ground, and no movement was possible but you could still shoot. This may have been fixed by now.

Can't get into the friends section atm due to "friends network maintenance".

EDIT: I do have a nick [didn't realize it]

It's Maddie -- David Butler

You all should have auth. requests from me.

[Freakish]

Orig. HL ran great under Steam when I played it again, except for one thing. Elevators would freeze the game unless you were jumping and in the air when the elevator hit bottom or top. Your feet would just glue to the ground, and no movement was possible but you could still shoot. This may have been fixed by now.


Nope..the bug still got me in opposing forces a few times.
:bash:

[Zinia]

This says it all

[Freakish]

part 3 preloading...

[StealthDP]

I have four files now....


:D

[Hort]

81% there

[Freakish]

Hmm..CompUSA just charged me for my HL2 preorder.

[Hort]

Hmm..CompUSA just charged me for my HL2 preorder.
!

Amazon is now saying Nov.1

[Freakish]

Well keep in mind they emailed me in June or so saying they were 'processing' my order. :rolleyes:

[NLA*Madison]

Started getting another large chunk o'game from Steam today, taking a long time to dl as usual. I guess this thing will be taking up half my hard drive until Vivendi lets Valve out of the woodshed.

[StealthDP]

I have a total of five files now. I will let everyone know as soon as I hear anything from Vivendi, as they send us tons of press releases and pre-release notes.

[Hort]

I too have 5:

base source shared materials
base source shared models
base source shared sounds
cs-shared content
platform


Is that it?

[Freakish]

Yeesh..they added another piece yesterday (29th). Didn't realize it - I have the 5 listed now too (and a bunch more, but those are for HL1 related items).

[Zinia]

Yeesh..they added another piece yesterday (29th). Didn't realize it - I have the 5 listed now too (and a bunch more, but those are for HL1 related items).

I do as well. That damn CS file I dl'ed yesterday took forever.

[Hort]

I still have only the five files... :confused:

[The_Stranger]

I finally downloaded the damn thing and registered, despite intense reluctance. I feel as though I have just installed the world's biggest trojan horse/spyware program. I am anticipating unprecedented levels of annoyance, and hard drives overflowing with unwanted game files. I want to play Half Life 2, however, so I don't see much alternative.

Perhaps I am just experiencing Neo-Luddite paranoia, and everything will work beautifully, but I am not really impressed with Valve's mastery of network security, so far. My firewall is ready to hit it on the nose with a stick, if it misbehaves, just in case.

[Salyavin]

I want to play Half Life 2, however, so I don't see much alternative.There is one alternative: get the game in the basic retail box. The word is that you don't need Steam for HL2 single-player. After all, they still want to sell the game to people w/o broadband or even any 'net connection at all and those people really don't need Steam. I'm pretty sure the installer will push it anyway (like so many game installers do with Gamespy Arcade... speaking of crapware/adware) but the single-player game should be playable without it.

Cheers,
Salyavin

[StealthDP]

Hey Stranger, what is your Steam name? I will add you to my freinds. I added everyone else in again.

I do like the concept of Steam, and went ahead and took the plunge with pre-purchasing the game there. My desire to bypass the idiots at the game retailers overcame my concerns surrounding Steam game distribution. I have been assimilated....

[The_Stranger]

It's StrangerTF, but I may show up as just "Stranger" . I haven't been able to sign into the Friends Network very consistantly however. I already added most of the peeps here.

[Hort]

I still get "authorization request has been sent"

[NLA*Madison]

I just signed on to Steam and got a message that said "unlocking Half-Life 2 files", then proceeded to begin to dump more data into my pre-load. 81.2% as we speak and going sloooooow......

[Nevermind]

SteamPoweredChappy :D

[Salyavin]

There is one alternative: get the game in the basic retail box. The word is that you don't need Steam for HL2 single-player. After all, they still want to sell the game to people w/o broadband or even any 'net connection at all and those people really don't need Steam.Looks like I was wrong about this. The installer for the boxed retail HL2 does require a connection to the internet to create a Steam account and authenticate the CD-key.
http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/half-life-2/558931p1.html

I wonder if you'll still need the CD in the drive to play.

Cheers,
Salyavin

[The_Stranger]

No matter, I already bought the "Silver" package via Steam anyway. Can non-officially recoginized mods be installed easily in "Steamed" games?

I am also wondering about installing the game on my laptop. I guess I should go read the Steam forums. *sigh*

[Creeper]

Ya.. what if my work computer's firewall won't let steam through, but I still wanna slack off in style? I'm sure Deviance will figure it out. I also plan to buy it, but hopefully they'll make it easy to use/install.

[Salyavin]

Apparantly the retail box versions do require the CD (or DVD for the collector's) to be in the drive. It's completely unnecessary because online key authentication is much stronger than a CD check. Maybe Safedisc was Vivendi's contribution to HL2. :p That and an installer that dies on disc 4 if you decide to install HL2 without Counterstrike:Source (http://promos.vugames.com/halflife2/).
(Historical note: Sierra $#@%ed up the HL1 installer too. When uninstalled it wiped out the directory above HL1 and anything in it. So if you installed to C:\HalfLife your system got screwed.)

As for Steam authentication, it's a hassle right now because the servers are overloaded (who didn't see that one coming). However, once you get it authenticated, there's a workaround (http://steampowered.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/steampowered.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=213) so that you don't need to stay online. You can even move the game to a different computer... like one at work behind a firewall. That bronze version on Steam is looking better all the time.

Cheers,
Salyavin

[Nevermind]

Bronze worked for me. :)

[Phanataz]

I'm sure Deviance will figure it out.

Another group already beat them to it. The crack removes the activation requirement.

[King Mango]

after trying several times to add buddies I have given up. Is there something I am missing? I enter username and it always returns no results.... :/

I'm King_Mango

[Salyavin]

after trying several times to add buddies I have given up. Is there something I am missing? I enter username and it always returns no results.... :/ They open a connection back to the client for the Friends stuff in Steam. If you're behind a NAT router you need to forward a port, and if you have a firewall you need to configure it to allow incoming connections on that port. See http://steampowered.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/steampowered.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=71&p_sid=xhxw5Xqh.

Workaround: Use Xfire, which doesn't require any listening ports. :)

Cheers,
Salyavin

[stapuf]

Another group already beat them to it. The crack removes the activation requirement.


I'd be careful messing with authentication.

It seems VALVe is floating out 'warez' versions (entrapment) to ppl, and then intends to cut them off from Steam (lifetime ban?).

[Salyavin]

It seems VALVe is floating out 'warez' versions (entrapment) to ppl, and then intends to cut them off from Steam (lifetime ban?).I really doubt that Valve needs to make the effort to put out warez versions of their highly sought-after game. There are enough real warez groups putting out cracked copies and they can just ban those from Steam. There's not much threat to a Steam ban anyway if there aren't any purchased games attached to the account... just make a new account with a new e-mail address.

The real danger of warez isn't from Valve, it's from the backdoors the crackers put in at the same time they bypassed the authentication and copy protection. As soon as you run their .exe on your PC, they've got access to more disk space and network bandwidth to distribute their warez.

Cheers,
Salyavin

[}OPP{DrunkAndy]

Hey I just got my copy and my steam registration is under "DrunkAndy". Everything has run pretty good so far.

[SuperDank]

w00t im in!...

SuperDank <-----

i think i got lucky with my name being around! (there is only one)

ill post later what a pain and $$$ to get HL2 going....

[SuperDank]

so we all on Steam or x-Fire? - Steam is a bit glitchy... it deleted all the people i wanted to add when I check the "Sound Option when friends are logged in"