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Question about Steam...

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  • 04-08-2012 10:24pm
    #1
    Eggy Baby!
    Registered Users Posts: 1,142 ✭✭✭


    Okay, so I buy games on steam nowadays. Its quick and easy. But my PC is pretty old and I don't want to run steam + the overlay in the background as it eats up my resources.

    Is it possible to play games without running the steam process in the background? I attempted it with Warband and it won't work. Stuttering in Warband multi is really bad with steam in the background - a game that i can run without any hiccups.

    Thanks!


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    #2
    dreamers75
    Registered Users Posts: 20,558 ✭✭✭✭dreamers75


    You can start most games from their EXEs located:

    E:\Steam\steamapps\common\arma 2

    But on your own pc with your own exes and directory :)

    Some Valve games require steam.


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    #3
    shaneb92
    Registered Users Posts: 214 ✭✭shaneb92


    You can play games with steam turned offline if thats any use to ya


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    #4
    dreamers75
    Registered Users Posts: 20,558 ✭✭✭✭dreamers75


    if you pc is rubbish, try gamebooster. It actually does work.

    http://www.iobit.com/gamebooster.html

    I use it on the kids pc and does the job im too lazy to do manually :)


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    #5
    ShadowHearth
    Registered Users Posts: 22,929 ✭✭✭✭ShadowHearth


    Steam does not use mix recourses running in the background. Even if you could shut it down completely it won't do any noticeable improvement.
    You better off turning down graphics to get better fps.


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    #6
    Eggy Baby!
    Registered Users Posts: 1,142 ✭✭✭Eggy Baby!


    ShadowHearth wrote: »
    Steam does not use mix recourses running in the background. Even if you could shut it down completely it won't do any noticeable improvement.
    You better off turning down graphics to get better fps.

    I've played warband before on my PC without steam- no stuttering.
    if you pc is rubbish, try gamebooster. It actually does work.

    I use that but steam is the culprit here.
    You can start most games from their EXEs located:

    E:\Steam\steamapps\common\arma 2

    I did that with warband but whenever I run the shortcut to the actual EXE it starts up steam and then loads


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    #7
    aN.Droid
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,911 ✭✭✭aN.Droid


    You can turn the overlay off by pressing steam in the top left corner of the client and then going to settings. From there click in game and turn it off from there.


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    #8
    Eggy Baby!
    Registered Users Posts: 1,142 ✭✭✭Eggy Baby!


    Thanks for that- at least the overlay is gone!

    But the worst thing is the pointlessness of running steam in the background.

    I play mods occasionally on Warband. Some of these mods are usually system-heavy, and also I use battle size changer. I don't see the point of running steam in the background if it fulfills no purpose to do so (it doesn't enhance my gameplay experience in any way- in fact, it slows my game down).

    Why do I have to run steam in the background for Warband? I have tried the exe trick with both Sins of a Solar Empire and FO3 GOTY edition and they run without steam. Its just warband really.


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    #9
    Gigabytes
    Registered Users Posts: 72 ✭✭Gigabytes


    Buy more ram, if you can, 32 bit OS

    allows 4GB that's including your gpu ram


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    #10
    hooradiation
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,922 ✭✭✭hooradiation


    Eggy Baby! wrote: »
    Why do I have to run steam in the background for Warband?

    Many titles have very basic steam DRM applied, where the code will check that steam is running, you are logged in and you have the license for that game before you can launch it.
    Likewise if it has any steamworks features, it needs the client running for that - also, I think the DRM polls for the existence of the client and and the license at random intervals, but I'm not 100% on that.


    Mostly, it's not an issue because people are using machines that are more powerful than your average sandwich toaster.
    So... either upgrade or by a console (the sane option)


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    #11
    aN.Droid
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,911 ✭✭✭aN.Droid


    In all fairness you didn't need to buy the game on steam. There is many other retailers that have it.

    Also steam uses a minimal amount of resources, right now it is using 100mb of ram on my PC and has been running for about 2 weeks. I am 100% sure if I restarted it it would at least half. Any modern pc or pc from the last 5 years should be able to handle it without any hiccup.

    I'm not trying to be funny but you should really get an upgrade if you can't play properly with steam running.


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    #12
    danthefan
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,770 ✭✭✭danthefan


    Just had a look, Steam is using roughly 44mb RAM for me at the moment. Significantly less than Chrome for example.


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    #13
    Eggy Baby!
    Registered Users Posts: 1,142 ✭✭✭Eggy Baby!


    I can run other games without steam grand though. I have Fallout 3 GOTY and I can run it from the root EXE file, the same with Sins of a Solar Empire. I think its just the way Warband is, if I'm honest.
    In all fairness you didn't need to buy the game on steam.

    I know but it was pretty cheap and accessible to do so.
    Buy more ram, if you can, 32 bit OS

    allows 4GB that's including your gpu ram

    I have 3.5GB :( my PC has an ancient processor.


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    #14
    PerrinV2
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators Posts: 6,331 Mod ✭✭✭✭PerrinV2


    Quick question on steam?
    Can you pause downloads and resume them a day or 2 later?


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    #15
    danthefan
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,770 ✭✭✭danthefan


    PerrinV2 wrote: »
    Quick question on steam?
    Can you pause downloads and resume them a day or 2 later?

    Yes certainly.


    To the OP - if you've 3.5GB RAM turning off Steam isn't going to make a difference, that's more than enough to run nearly any game.


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    #16
    aN.Droid
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,911 ✭✭✭aN.Droid


    danthefan wrote: »
    Yes certainly.


    To the OP - if you've 3.5GB RAM turning off Steam isn't going to make a difference, that's more than enough to run nearly any game.

    I agree and steam would be negligible on your processer too. My recommendation is if you where able to play before when you did not have steam is to reinstall windows or if your prefer not too then do some housekeeping like turning off apps and services you don't need via msconfig.


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    #17
    Logical_Bear
    Closed Accounts Posts: 799 ✭✭✭Logical_Bear


    as people above have said steam takes up f all resources if your pc is struggling it's not steam causing it.

    Whats your cpu and mobo??and more importantly what graffix card have you got?

    EDIT:I see you have a good bit of ram but if you are using a stock desktop pc from dell or some other manufactuor(SP??)the cpu and graffic card is gonna struggle


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    #18
    Eggy Baby!
    Registered Users Posts: 1,142 ✭✭✭Eggy Baby!


    The lag is neglibigle in singleplayer so I'm guessing (as I was playing online when the stutter happened, and also due to the large-scale nature of online matches in Warband) it was just minor frame rate lag. I wasn't lagging internet-wise (my ping was 30).


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    #19
    aN.Droid
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,911 ✭✭✭aN.Droid


    Eggy Baby! wrote: »
    The lag is neglibigle in singleplayer so I'm guessing (as I was playing online when the stutter happened, and also due to the large-scale nature of online matches in Warband) it was just minor frame rate lag. I wasn't lagging internet-wise (my ping was 30).

    Ahh yeah with more and more models to reproduce in the game your processor and video card are going to take a hit and whatever fills up first will cause the game to have those stutters.

    My recommendation still stands though RE turning off apps and services via msconfig to free up resources for your game.


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