Some things that Steam COULD bring to the table

[Blackdog_kt]

Originally Posted by Cobra8472

Or, you know, we actually trust the developers for once that a patch is good?

Simply letting Steam patch your game is infinitely more useful than having to google for patches, getting the correct patch order, and finally installing the damn thing.
The patch actually being terrible and breaking the game is the fault of the developer, not the content distribution method.

..and there is no such game on Steam that requires 40-50mb patches between each round of gaming, or whatever some other poster was referring to.

Even the buggiest games do not get more than one patch per week, and that is for about a month after release, then it dies down.
Stop spewing redicilous accusations.

@Skoshi Tiger;
You simply aquire two seperate Steam accounts and buy it on both. Alternatively, you buy two copies on your main account, and then send one of them as a gift to the other account (Easy to do.)

I'm not spewing anything, you make up accusations so you can have something to rattle yourself about. I said something which to my knowledge is accurate: you can't roll back a patch.

It's not steam's fault if the patch is bad, it's their fault completely if you can't do it manually to stop patching at a previous version. And since i don't want to make assumptions just so you can have something to complain about, i'm going to ask you, obviously a steam user, about it:

1) Let's say i want to rollback a patch, so i reinstall the game and start patching. Can i tell steam to stop at a certain patch/version or does it automatically apply the latest one?
2) If i have the patch package files already on my disk, can i point steam to them or will it ignore their existence and download the whole thing again?

Very valid questions imho and i expect an honest answer. Anyone?

[Kikuchiyo]

Originally Posted by Blackdog_kt

I'm not spewing anything, you make up accusations so you can have something to rattle yourself about. I said something which to my knowledge is accurate: you can't roll back a patch.

It's not steam's fault if the patch is bad, it's their fault completely if you can't do it manually to stop patching at a previous version. And since i don't want to make assumptions just so you can have something to complain about, i'm going to ask you, obviously a steam user, about it:

1) Let's say i want to rollback a patch, so i reinstall the game and start patching. Can i tell steam to stop at a certain patch/version or does it automatically apply the latest one?
2) If i have the patch package files already on my disk, can i point steam to them or will it ignore their existence and download the whole thing again?

Very valid questions imho and i expect an honest answer. Anyone?

How many times across how many threads will you ask these questions?

I have explained that the only way to not eventually end up with the latest patches is to a) back up the game (just copy it to another location from the steam location), or b) go into offline mode and stay there.

It, as I have admitted, the biggest short fall of the STEAM platform, but all in all it generally makes for a smoother MP experience with games that use Steamworks as it ensures that everyone (even the server) is up to date.

[Les]

Originally Posted by Blackdog_kt

1) Let's say i want to rollback a patch, so i reinstall the game and start patching. Can i tell steam to stop at a certain patch/version or does it automatically apply the latest one?
2) If i have the patch package files already on my disk, can i point steam to them or will it ignore their existence and download the whole thing again?

1. When you re-install it will patch you up to the latest version in one hit, so you won't be able to stop it at a certain patch version. It may be adding the patches one by one but you won't know where it's up to at any given point during the process and it won't let you interrupt the process anyway.

And when I say re-install, I mean one of three things - a) re-installing off a retail disk. b) re-installing a prior version of the game that you have previously copied elsewhere using Steams built-in back-up facility. c) re-installing by re-downloading the game directly from Steam. As a side point, Steam has an automated procedure for installing using a copy of the game you've saved using it's game back-up feature, you don't have to manually re-insert the files you've copied back into the Steam program's folder structure.

2. Yes, if you've backed up a previous version of the game (it's not a separate patch package as such but a complete version of the game), you can uninstall the current version and re-install the previous version, and no it won't get automatically updated if you don't want it to.

You make sure it doesn't get updated by selecting 'Do not automatically update' in one of the drop down menus in the 'Properties' section of your game. If you always run Steam in off-line mode, you don't have to (and can't) select 'Do not automatically update' as it's not going to do it anyway.

[Catseye]

2. Yes, if you've backed up a previous version of the game (it's not a separate patch package as such but a complete version of the game), you can uninstall the current version and re-install the previous version, and no it won't get automatically updated if you don't want it to.

Les, thanks for the above info. I'm beginning to understand STEAM more fully now. Particularly that I can create a backup copy of each "version" if I want to. This helps to counter the "big brother" initial thoughts I had. Also, it seems prudent to me to always keep a copy of versions on hand if you want to play offline with a previous version for example - particularly if you don't like one of the upgrade features or should STEAM go T*ts up for example.

Cheers,

[Les]

Originally Posted by Catseye

Les, thanks for the above info. I'm beginning to understand STEAM more fully now. Particularly that I can create a backup copy of each "version" if I want to. This helps to counter the "big brother" initial thoughts I had. Also, it seems prudent to me to always keep a copy of versions on hand if you want to play offline with a previous version for example - particularly if you don't like one of the upgrade features or should STEAM go T*ts up for example.

Cheers,

Yeah, it's a good idea to back up your Steam games at least once, just to save yourself having to download them again should you have to for any reason. The only downside is the size of the file you can end up with. Some games are getting up around 16GB nowadays, that's about four DVD's worth. Depending on how often a game gets patched and it's overall size, if you're backing up every version you could easily end up with 50+GB worth of backups that you have to store on a hard-drive or other media somewhere. At least it's an option.

[Cobra8472]

Originally Posted by Blackdog_kt

I'm not spewing anything, you make up accusations so you can have something to rattle yourself about. I said something which to my knowledge is accurate: you can't roll back a patch.

It's not steam's fault if the patch is bad, it's their fault completely if you can't do it manually to stop patching at a previous version. And since i don't want to make assumptions just so you can have something to complain about, i'm going to ask you, obviously a steam user, about it:

1) Let's say i want to rollback a patch, so i reinstall the game and start patching. Can i tell steam to stop at a certain patch/version or does it automatically apply the latest one?
2) If i have the patch package files already on my disk, can i point steam to them or will it ignore their existence and download the whole thing again?

Very valid questions imho and i expect an honest answer. Anyone?

I apologize, the spewing comment was about another poster, not you.

Failed to quote properly.

[Blackdog_kt]

Originally Posted by Les

1. When you re-install it will patch you up to the latest version in one hit, so you won't be able to stop it at a certain patch version. It may be adding the patches one by one but you won't know where it's up to at any given point during the process and it won't let you interrupt the process anyway.

And when I say re-install, I mean one of three things - a) re-installing off a retail disk. b) re-installing a prior version of the game that you have previously copied elsewhere using Steams built-in back-up facility. c) re-installing by re-downloading the game directly from Steam. As a side point, Steam has an automated procedure for installing using a copy of the game you've saved using it's game back-up feature, you don't have to manually re-insert the files you've copied back into the Steam program's folder structure.

2. Yes, if you've backed up a previous version of the game (it's not a separate patch package as such but a complete version of the game), you can uninstall the current version and re-install the previous version, and no it won't get automatically updated if you don't want it to.

You make sure it doesn't get updated by selecting 'Do not automatically update' in one of the drop down menus in the 'Properties' section of your game. If you always run Steam in off-line mode, you don't have to (and can't) select 'Do not automatically update' as it's not going to do it anyway.

Thanks, that explains it in just the amount of detail i was looking for

Originally Posted by Cobra8472

I apologize, the spewing comment was about another poster, not you.

Failed to quote properly.

Happens to all of us. Don't worry, no offence taken

[Bryan21cag]

Sorry for the previous long post i will try and remember to hit enter more

Thanks for telling me that there is an offline mode for all the steam games that does make me feel a little better but i guess it still does bother me a bit that even when i found the game files the executable's only error without first running the third party program. Just seems like an extra step considering I have already activated the game

I do have a question about offline mode.

Once the game is unlocked the first time and then put in to offline mode do you then have to ever put it back into online mode to play the game again? Or can i just leave it in off line mode forever until either a new patch is needed or i want to buy a new game? or does it default to online mode every time i try and start the game and then i have to turn it off each time? i wouldn't do this any way but just curious.

I have been leaving mine online all the time and it doesn't seem to make a difference.

hmm I guess this also fixes my other concern that if for some reason Steam goes down or out of business or just disappears off the face of the earth (it could happen) then i can still play the games i bought i would just have to make sure my installation of steam was in offline mode and they would all run just fine correct?

[Les]

Originally Posted by Bryan21cag

...Once the game is unlocked the first time and then put in to offline mode do you then have to ever put it back into online mode to play the game again? Or can i just leave it in off line mode forever until either a new patch is needed or i want to buy a new game? or does it default to online mode every time i try and start the game and then i have to turn it off each time? i wouldn't do this any way but just curious.

I have been leaving mine online all the time and it doesn't seem to make a difference.

hmm I guess this also fixes my other concern that if for some reason Steam goes down or out of business or just disappears off the face of the earth (it could happen) then i can still play the games i bought i would just have to make sure my installation of steam was in offline mode and they would all run just fine correct?

Once you've put Steam into offline mode, it will always start up in offline mode until you manually restart it in online mode.

If Steam ever does just disappear, then yes, you'll still be able to play all your games offline. The only way I can think of for them to prevent that, would be for them to actually delete content off your computer, and if anyone thinks that's really likely, well, whatever.