Steam

[p-b]

I have signed up to steam as my old account no longer seems to exist.

I have my username and password but for some reason it does not seem to be liking my login, whether it's on the steam powered site or in the application.

I seem to have no troubles logging on within the support section, but when I want to purchase something it asks me to log in and returns an "incorrect login" message.

I am suspecting it's maybe because I used capital letters as part of my username and steam doesn't like that?

Anyone else having issues with logging in?

[edit] Oh and the captcha only serves to infuriate me more when it pops up after a couple of failed logins.

[?>Superman]

delete clientregistry.blob and try again?

I dunno, never had that happen before :D

[TB]

Saw someone talking about just that today. Unfortunately they found no solution either. All you can do is contact Valve support and hope for a solution. Chances are tho they will tell you to delete everything in the steam folder except the steamapps dir and steam.exe.

[p-b]

I am guessing that may not be the answer as the login issue existed on the website prior to my having installed the app.

[luke sky walker]

ive had issuses logging in past couple days maybe problem

[TB]

Originally Posted by luke sky walker

ive had issuses logging in past couple days maybe problem

Valves been working on that patching steam upto 3 times a day.

[p-b]

So apparently my particular account name was created back in 2005 and has has several games purchased under it, so the helpdesk person is insisting I provide previous purchase or proof of ownership however, i had been able to go through the account creation process have a confirmation e-mail sent to me and have been logging into the support area and using their help facilities with no problems...

I know I should probably just try create another account, but this is still a bit of a shambles lol

[Nothing]

This seems to be the thread for discussing Steam, please excuse the length of the post, if you're interested read it, if you're not then stop complaining, I'm not forcing you to read it. So I sent this in to steam:

I live in New Zealand, and I'm not sure if it's true that most of the rest of the world has no data-caps on their internet connections (ISP's charge). The problem I have is that in the last month steam has downloaded 3gb worth of data in updates for games which I have already played through. I may play them again at some point, but I don't play them often enough to worry about whether they are up to date or not. My monthly traffic allowance is about 11gb per month, after that I have to start paying extra per GB of data. As far as I am aware there are no ISP's in NZ that provide unlimited data plans at present. As you can imagine I find it quite frustrating when in 2 days Steam eats 1 quarter of my monthly allowance for 'updates' without providing any warning that it's about to happen or opportunity to delay or stop it.

I do realise that it is possible to simply cancel the download and to set each application to not apply updates, that's fine, but those things are not exactly what I'm talking about. I'd really like to be able to set steam so that it would tell me when an update is available for the game, and then if I choose to install the update steam initiates the download. Sometimes towards the end of the month we're running out of traffic, so it really helps to not have stuff just automatically start downloading with no warning or control over when the update is released, it would be quite useful if the program offered the option of setting a date/time for an update to download and install. In this way if I have none of my free traffic allowance left I can schedule the download to start after the date that my monthly traffic allowance rolls over.

This is pretty basic stuff, and I think that most New Zealand residents who have steam on their computers would probably be quite pleased to have those features available. I'm sure not everyone would use them all the time, I just think that having the option there would be nice.

They replied:

Hello, Thank you for contacting Steam Support. Steam game updates are optimized for a high-speed internet connection. Disabling automatic updates may increase compatibility with your dial-up connection. Please allow downloads that have already started to finish before doing so. To disable future updates, please do the following: Right click on the game, choose Properties. Click on the Updates tab. Choose "Do not automatically update this game" Click close. Exit Steam. Relaunch Steam and attempt to play the game. Disabling updates may have adverse effects on some games. Therefore it is recommended to download these updates before playing. You may need to install all existing updates prior to disabling future updates. If you wish, you can move your computer to a location with high speed internet to download available updates.

I sent them another message:

Way to completely miss the point of what I asked. First off, I'm not on a dial up connection, I'm on broadband, I have 10Mbits of bandwidth. On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being completely unsatisfied, and 10 being completely satisfied, your response to my question rates a 0.5. Please have someone who has superior english comprehension re-read my original question and address the actual problem I raised, your response below tells me nothing I did not already know.

They replied again:

Hello, We do not currently have an option such as you have described where you can be warned of updates and opt in or out. I will pass this information on to our devolopers so that they can consider your feedback.

My final reply:

Awesome! That's exactly what I wanted to hear. Please also mention to the developers that this is something that would most likely be a useful feature for anyone who uses Steam from New Zealand.

Now, my question is this - do you think the features that I've requested here for steam would be useful to you? I guess I've been a bit cheeky by suggesting that anyone who uses steam in NZ is probably going to be keen on these features, I could easily be wrong about that - I don't know for sure. So that's why I'm asking here now, call it curiosity. So what do you think? Is it something you would like to see or not? Amirite?

[orpheus]

Yes, this would be a useful feature in my opinion.

[crocos]

If I went back to a capped plan, this would be very useful, yep.

I'm not currently capped: $1.03 per gig though as I'm through Xnet. It would still be useful for cost-savings... except I as a matter of course disable updates for single-player games (Until I find a bug and also find that Steam have released an update that addresses the bug), and for multi-player games I'm not currently playing.

[iiNEMESISii]

grovey thinking there ole chap,
Just like a wsus update but a click icon next to each game in the grid or icon view right at the end and the update button can flash if an update in waiting to download.
You could click and go DL NOW, put on hold or check back in 72 hours or have a global comand which says set updates auto or to hold and ask
kewl idea ...coz i too hate wanting to play a game then seeing 6 updates all going off and no point playing when that happens,
snap wrist walk away

[Naithin]

I've been wanting such an option for quite some time, but never bothered me enough to actually go ask about it. :P

While on BigTime, I have just let everything go for it, when I'm not, just set nothing to auto update unless I become aware of one I want for some reason or another.

[Rangoon Attack]

So because I have bought too many games off Steam in the last month, they have flagged my account as having fraudulent activity and now my account is locked from purchasing anything else.
Currently waiting on support to unlock my account so I can give them my money, but they're sure taking their sweet time about it.

I love the error message the Steam store gives you ... "your credit card company has declined this purchase, please make sure your details are correct and you have sufficient funds in your account"

Um yea that's not even close to the reason why it was declined

[MadMax]

'oh god no, it's another one of those hicks from new zealand'

[A Corpse]

"Your bank is insolvent and we'd prefer it if you paid some other way."

[crocos]

http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/23/v...-in-the-works/

No Steam for penguins!

[Vrtigo]

absolute gay
that said, i expect theyll about face in a years time like they always do

[Lightspeed]

Why would they build a version of Steam for Linux? What version of Linux has so many gamers using it that it would justify the dev time and support required for it's own Steam client?

[TB]

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

Why would they build a version of Steam for Linux? What version of Linux has so many gamers using it that it would justify the dev time and support required for it's own Steam client?

Quakelive has more players from linux than they do from MacOS. Also, the humble indie bundle sold equally to mac and linux.

Fact is indie developers target linux, as well as mac... and given thats what valve is essentially selling on Steam for mac, there is no reason not to have it running there as well.

[Kryten]

So you're just ignoring that Mac gamers already have access to all of Blizzard and Valve's catalogs, while Linux gamers are so desperate that they'll play anything they can get their hands on?

This makes more sense the Valve not supporting the PS3. As a business decision, it's a no brainer.

[SID|DensitY]

Quakelive has more players from linux than they do from MacOS. Also, the humble indie bundle sold equally to mac and linux.

Fact is indie developers target linux, as well as mac... and given thats what Valve is essentially selling on Steam for mac, there is no reason not to have it running there as well.

Quake is the exception rather then the rule, and I'd say that the indie bundle is also the exception to the rule (it got a lot of press due to potential GPL of the source code on Linux/GPL friendly websites).

US market is a big driver for Valve and their decisions. They built a mac client because Macs are becoming more common in American homes. Linux is still largely seen as a "server OS" by mainstream. It is logical that Valve would target the 2 biggest home desktop OS's (which is windows and MacOS).

So while some games might end up with a bigger user base on Linux compared to MacOS, its safer in general to target based on user base. I've got no doubt that Valve did the numbers on this before building a MacOS client to confirm that they can get a return on investment.

While it isn't ideal, at least Linux users can get some steam action via Wine. Although my view is that if you are truly a serious PC gamer, you'd have a Windows install to dual boot too.

Fact is indie developers target linux

This is actually very incorrect. They target every platform possible unless they're building it for a specific device (iphone). Any indie developer that targets purely linux is simply bat-shit insane if he expects to make a living for any reasonable amount of time.

[TB]

im simply saying that ) there are pope on the platform that want games and B) indie games which is making up the large part of valves mac sales are also prevalent on linux.

[Vrtigo]

Originally Posted by SID|DensitY

While it isn't ideal, at least Linux users can get some steam action via Wine. Although my view is that if you are truly a serious PC gamer, you'd have a Windows install to dual boot too.

this argument doesnt make much sense to me. a truely serious gamer shouldnt have to boot to any one OS, least of all Windows. it just so happens that Windows is where most games are right now. having to use what everyone else is using just because its the only option doesnt seem like a hardcore edgy gamer attribute.

anyway, the gamer market statistics are so skewed, its a shambles. gamers use windows because thats where games are. if games were elsewhere also, you would see some natural migration. have to hand it to microsoft, pushing directx from the beginning and promoting its games for windows brand - it left the legacy we have today where its very difficult to move outside windows if you are a gamer (macs now being the exception, because macs are cooler than pcs, and the late 20's/early 30's crowd who bought macs for business/cool factor now want to enjoy gaming again). linux users (and those that would like to use linux, but dont want to dual boot) are struggling just to be recognized as a potential market. its in microsofts best interests to keep those people using their OS.

yes, i dual boot, but i hardly use the OS i love because the shit i use most often is available only on Windows.

[bladez]

So like because they are updating and not notifying us of these things isn't that like adding more to the bill? I mean... in new zealand thats like extortion or something isnt it?

Can't we all just get together and send them a huge bill for all the wasted internet usage?

im sure in the last few years steam has clocked up close to 100TBS of data? even at telstras $2.75 per gig thats a fair whack of the stick?

[wugambino]

The PC game market is struggling as it is vs Consoles, life is hard enough for developers given the huge spread in PC specs. Developing games for multiple operating systems would not be in our (PC gamers) best interests

[crocos]

Bladez: You want to punish a content provider for NZ's crude internet structure and crazy pricing? Are you MAD? That's just inviting them to cut NZ from their sell-to list.

[Fx.]

some isps offer free steam

[scorpious]

Originally Posted by Fx.

some isps offer free steam

go on...

[bladez]

Originally Posted by Fx.

some isps offer free steam

In New Zealand?????

[Nothing]

Incidentally Slingshot have just recently offered a flat rate plan with no data cap. Limited to the first 10,000 customers. Required 24 month contract tho, so don't do it unless you're sure it'll be worth it. Of course if you don't have to worry about data traffic then it doesn't matter when steam updates (with the exception of the instances in which an update stops you from actually playing). I think it comes to about $120 a month or something. ADSL2+ available if you're in the right area. They prioritize traffic, P2P, torrents etc at the bottom of the priority list and voip + gaming at the top of the priority list with browsing, streaming and normal downloading somewhere in the middle. I'm not 100% sure on this, but to me it sounds quite different from Telecoms flat rate plan. Slingshot say they never throttle the speed because you've used a "lot" of data and there's no talk of data shaping other than the prioritizing of particular kinds of data.

I've decided to give it a shot, maybe if I'm lucky the ping times to the Aussie QL servers will be better than on vodafone's red network.

[Adakar]

slingshot & xnet have their own steam caches

[TB]

Valves looking for new staff... one of the responsibilities is of note

http://www.valvesoftware.com/job-SenSoftEngineer.html

[Detonate]

Originally Posted by Adakar

slingshot & xnet have their own steam caches

And since A5, thanks to Compulink and http://affinity.net.nz, now so does the rest of the .nz internet. (well at least those that peer at APE for now.)

Read: Basically everybody but Telecom/Xtra, & TelstraClear

[Vrtigo]

Originally Posted by TB

Valves looking for new staff... one of the responsibilities is of note

http://www.valvesoftware.com/job-SenSoftEngineer.html

i called it!

[crocos]

Originally Posted by TB

Valves looking for new staff... one of the responsibilities is of note

http://www.valvesoftware.com/job-SenSoftEngineer.html

Fucken magn^H^H^H^H Linux, how does that work?

[Caesar]

Well that's fucked.

I get faster download speeds setting my zone to Singapore than I do NZ, or Aussie for that matter...
Fucken dumbass steam...

[Rince]

(bump, but this seems the most appropriate thread to necro)

Games I've purchased download no problem, but I want to check a demo (http://store.steampowered.com/app/94300/) but when I click on download demo in steam nothing happens (well, not strictly true - the whirly icon thingy (Win7's version of the hourglass) happens, but then that disappears...)

I initially thought it might be I run a steam limiter to keep me to my ISP, so I turned that off, and restarted steam, but it made no difference.

The only thing I haven't tried (it's only just occurred to me) is to try a different demo to check if it related to that specific download....


Any thoughts?

[Madman]

Check the region that is specified in Steam settings, Steam can now limit you to one ISP / region area. If that region doesn't have the download you want, you won't get it.

If you need to, try changing it to USA and no specific server and it should get it. You can always change it back again later.

Also, you don't have particular firewall rules that have been left behind by another Steam download watcher tool?

[Detonate]

Before that gets spread around, nope, selecting a region/ISP doesn't limit you to one ISP/Region.

Steam will use whatever it feels like, but it will try to use the one you set.
However it will most likely use multiple threads from multiple sources.
Unless you firewall it off.

note: exact methodology unknown.

[Cowboy]

The steam region choice doesn't actually stop you from downloading anything. It's just a preferred selection. If it can't find it, it will happily roam out to the rest of the servers to get something.

http://games.orcon.net.nz/forums/ind...pic,114.0.html

There's a list here of the games/demo that are served by Steam's http content distribution. Maybe the one you want is in there and something is stopping THAT from working.