Partially, although Valve has said in an interview that they don't focus on piracy and it's a very small issue.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/09/15/we-ask-gabe-newell-about-piracy-drm-and-episode-three/

I've been using Steam for hundreds, maybe thousands, of hours, and I have never had any issues with other programs.

Elaborate on these issues.

Not that Steam svcks or anything, but I prefer my game to be installed from the DVD, get patches installed when I want them to and a simple disk check and not being forced to register online would have been fine. Just like Fallout 3 and any number of games.

The only way I see Steam interfering with any sort of process or crashing applications is if your specs are really low.

And honestly, I'm seeing it as the only way to survive because the only place I can find hard copies of PC games is Walmart (which usually has nothing that I want) or Amazon/other online retailers (which I don't want to have to wait a week for my game to get in AND pay shipping). With Steam, PC games are usually retail price or CHEAPER, and instead of having to wait a week to get your game in the mail and pay shipping, you can instead wait a couple of hours for the download to finish and not pay any extra charges like taxes or shipping. It is WAY MORE CONVENIENT.

Not to mention that Steam handles patching for you and you can install your games as much as you like on your system or anyone else's that has Steam.

Steam is almost a godsend for the modern PC gamer.

Tell me more.

I run Steam when I need it, I do not have it set to auto-start, there is no reason to run it all the time. Even when it's running I cannot recall a single time my PC suddenly became a crash box . The alternative root-kit style DRM was coded to start with the PC, could not be easily removed and got some very bad press, even so I don't recall it ever causing random crashes though it would sometimes 'out trick' itself and require a reboot.

I hated Steam when I was first forced to use it for Half-Life2. They have made many improvements since that time, now it is quick and easy, sometimes far too easy to just dl and get on with life, sorry for you guys with slow or non-existent net connections. Steam sales are excellent at times but even when paying a little over shop price the convenience + saving in gas is well worth while. Finally, Valve are still a private company, no share holders to appease, and for the moment appear to be the customer focused good guys - look at the help they gave modders supporting Morrowind, Oblivion, Fo3 and FoNV.

Valve can have my money, as can Bethesda/TES/Fo, CD-Projekt and a few select others especially in today's climate where some of the big players are totally losing the plot.

Hi All.

If this the wrong thread for this question. I'm sorry.

Never seen or heard of steam before Pre Ordering this game. "no mention of Steam on the website"

Game runs fine,but I'm now getting worried!!!

Do i have to be online everytime I play? If not.How can i get the game to run Offline please?

Thank you for your time and help.

James.

Not at all. Steam allows for offline play.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3160-agcb-2555

No problem. :foodndrink:

Steam is awesome. It gives you so much and asks so little in return. If you don't like being given a FREE voice/text/browser WHILE IN GAME then there's something amiss.

I wasn't too thrilled about having Steam either. I've never been a fan of buying a game and then having to install 3rd party software just to play it, this was one of my concerns also people with slower internet connections.

I've never really used Steam much until recently, I normally buy my games from D2D or from the store, but since I heard NV was going to be integrated with Steam I decided to just buy the steam version instead.

I like Steam quite a bit for one reason:

one click takes care of all the install. I don't have to worry about typing in a CD key (and the fact if I lose the CD key the game CD is a glorified coaster), I don't have to worry about the install process at all, click and go.

Not to mention the fact as long as I have my account I have my games, I never have to worry about misplacing a CD or it getting scratched and unreadable. I've lost probably 300 bucks worth of games over the last 10 years to CD and CD-key mishaps, so Steam is a godsend.

Here’s what I like about Steam. Some months back, being on a forum asking around about another decent game after just finishing Bioshock and fifteen minutes later without leaving my chair I’m playing Dragon Age: Awakening.

Not at all ss Rahu X said.

I have Steam and a few of my games installed on my laptop for business trips. No internet? No problem. Just start Steam, give it a minute or so to sort itself out and it defaults to off-line mode all by itself, very useful for train journeys, some hotels etc

@TheArsenal04, Emma Peel

I was concerned at first, but after I played, it was awesome! I was surprised when I could play the game without the disc, the screenshot button works for me now (it never worked in Fo3), and the internet browser is very helpful, although sometimes it is hard to read console codes from The Vault because the font is small. The only thing that annoys me is Shift+Tab to open the Steam browser. I can't use the Pip-Boy while running unless I turn auto-running on or press f1, f2, or f3.

IIRC, you can actually change the binding for that if you need to. Just open Steam and go to Steam > Settings > In-Game and there's an option named "Press shortcut keys:"

Oh another Steam is so wonderful thread:

The perfect place to tell about my experience with this software:

My New Vegas runs best if I disable the community feature of steam. If this is enabled CTDs after one or two hours are guaranteed and no my PC is not underpowered.
As a modder it's essential to start NV very often. Make the changes in GECK look if it worked as it should in game, correct it in GECK and so on. Steam has the bad habbit to reset my FNV ini files at random so my mouse configuration in the game is gone. Heavily annoying.
Speaking of GECK and INI files. No idea why but steam resets my GECK INI files too at random.
Starting steam is always a experience it needs extremly long to login and surprises me always with unwanted advertisemants.

To sum it all up if this is the 'Future of PC gaming' then I see dark clouds coming. Steam is nothing more then a major annoyance for a paying customer in my opinion.

I used to get games less than legally alot, but after using steam again after a couple of years, Ive been buying more games in total than I have done in years as well. Not had any problems whatsoever.

Sure. With steam installed, I can no longer play oblivion or freespace/freespace 2. Uninstalling Steam and removing anything relating to it allows the games to run just fine. Oh and Medieval 2: TW

Other various applications such as the vista services optimizer, and a couple of versions of CC cleaner will refuse to work. Again removing steam, allows these applications to run.

Let me build on top of this because I'm sure that people will ask.

Edit the Fallout_default.ini in the install folder. The launcher for some reason overwrites the ini file every time it's run.



Set Steam to offline mode, should cut the preparing time and disables adds. Also i think there a setting somewhere to not show pop-up adds?

I've been using Steam continuously since Half Life 2 came out (wow, six years now!). Currently, I have 68 games which I have purchased via Steam. They range from the "simple" (Peggle, Bookworm, Bejeweled), to the processor intensive (FO3, FO:NV, Call of Duty series).

I have never had Steam cause my computer to crash, freeze, or any other "bad" thing while it is running -- which it is from the moment I turn on the PC. And this is on a PC that I built quite some time ago, by gaming standards (3+ years, I believe) and one which has now run Windows XP, Vista and now 7.

One of the other things I love about Steam is this: When I do build a new rig, I don't have to manually reinstall anything from disc (heck, I don't have or even need the discs). I can simply re-log onto my Steam account, and have Steam reinstall the games for me. In fact, I keep older game uninstalled now -- and have Steam reinstall them when I feel like playing an older one.

Another great thing: I don't have to worry about patching. Its done for me.

Yes, it has its flaws, most notably server overload (downloads may stall out when a new game comes into the store).

However, I have never seen it mess with any other programs, nor have I ever had it crash other applications.

(OK, one caveat... I cannot have the Steam overlay active when trying to play Call of Duty 4, or the cheat protection system (PunkBuster) for COD4 will kick me out of a game. However, that is NOT a Steam issue. That's an issue with PB not allowing overlay programs.)

The fact is that when a game crashes (or whatever), it is the game, not Steam, that is at fault.

Strange. I don't have this issue at all. The only reason why I disabled the Steam community in my game is because to many of my friends wanted to talk to me because I was playing New Vegas and I just wanted to play it without that.

Playing New Vegas is my alone time. :disguise:


This is caused by the launcher for New Vegas repeatedly copying the data from Fallout_default.ini in the root directory and pasting it over the Fallout.ini in the My games directory. There are plenty of means to bypass the launcher so this does not happen, such as http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=34935 and even the application which enables the LAA flag for New Vegas without interfering with Steam, http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=35262.

@Rahu X & @ToJKa

I know these engine very well in the meantime and start the game always without launcher. I added my mouse settings to the Fallout_default.ini in the Steamapps Directory. Used the batch file method, used 4 GB patch with and without batch file method it doesn't help. I assume as soon as I add files the Data folder (I do a lot of meshwork in the moment) steam thinks to reset my key configuration.
And there is no way that I have found to disable the ads at steam start if you are not in offline mode.

I've never had any trouble at all with steam and i have been using it since 2005. Also you do know that you can turn off those game advertisemants in your preference settings(which only appear when you login). Steam takes no more than 5 seconds to log in for me and i also use the GECK a lot and have no trouble starting and closing the game in a few seconds.

Fact is steam is indeed the future for PC gaming its growing faster than ever and has become the PC's version of LIVE/PSN.

Takes me ten seconds to login. Not very long.

Also, I haven't seen an advertisemant in months. Looking through the settings is not that hard.

Hmm, well I've played all 3 of those (though not recently) and never had issues with them launching with Steam running myself. And if they're not even the Steam version, I really don't see why it would be affecting them at all.

@FalloutFTW & @Orchish
Login time between 30seconds and 2minutes here in Austria. I tried several servers same result and if anyone would tell me where to disable the advertisments at steam start while being online I would be thankful. I am no newbie but I simply can't find the option. The online documentation isn't very helpful and the interface pretty unintuitive.

Btw. I can start my old non steam Oblivion without troubles here (haven't checked yet about the mouse setting but I doubt it would be make troubles because it's a non steam version).