Steam+Empire TW-PHAIL!

DeadlyByDesign

Sitting here for an hour looking at it download....1% complete. At this rate I may not get to play it today. CA for future reference please avoid steam. I fail to see why you went with this platform in the first place. Is a bloody disgrace and the only reason I let the icon grace my desktop was because of your game.:mad::mad::mad:

BuddhaJoe

Maybe theres something up at your end? I started download Empire 23 mins ago and im already at 9%.

magick

yeah, whats ur transfer rate?

Besides steam is more expensive anyway.

BuddhaJoe

magick wrote: »

yeah, whats ur transfer rate?

Besides steam is more expensive anyway.

If thats directed at me its currently 653KB/s

DeadlyByDesign

its at 253kbits now. I take it I cannot just install straight from disk no? It has to go through steam..?

Spear

DeadlyByDesign wrote: »

its at 253kbits now. I take it I cannot just install straight from disk no? It has to go through steam..?

You can install from disks if you have them.

cianr

I just posted in another thread that it was stuck on 2% for ages with me so i went into File-Settings-Download and changed the region from "UK and Ireland" to "Belgium" and within a couple of minutes I was in business!

Cuddlesworth

DeadlyByDesign wrote: »

its at 253kbits now. I take it I cannot just install straight from disk no? It has to go through steam..?

3mb broadband?

Mantel

Tried restarting steam? Mine gets stuck getting updates sometimes, either at 1% or at 99% a restart usually sorts it out.

humanji

Is there any way to turn off Steam's automatic updates? I know you can do it in each individual games properties, but is there a way to default that? I'm tired of installing a game and then being forced to update (which takes me hours or days with my sh*tty connection), and I'm just after getting Empire and don't want to have to wait til the weekend to play it.

Mantel

humanji wrote: »

Is there any way to turn off Steam's automatic updates? I know you can do it in each individual games properties, but is there a way to default that? I'm tired of installing a game and then being forced to update (which takes me hours or days with my sh*tty connection), and I'm just after getting Empire and don't want to have to wait til the weekend to play it.

Offline mode might do it.

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

bizmark

Cant activate my retail copy servers are to busy:rolleyes:

ShadowHearth

bizmark wrote: »

Cant activate my retail copy servers are to busy:rolleyes:

Good old times, when you bought a game then: "Pop this f*cker in" and play...

Sierra Oscar

If you buy the game via retail you install via the games discs, do not download it over Steam.

If you are getting server errors, have a read of this FAQ.

sink

Ok I bought it on DVD, inserted clicked install and the first thing it installed was steam, then it went and asked me to type my product keycode and then proceeded to download the entire 11gb installation from the interenet. WTF, why to I have F**KING the disks?

pablomakaveli

I bought the hardcopy of this yesterday. I put this the disk in and then had to install Steam. I then had to put in the keycode and installed the game. It was then two hours before i was able to activate the game on Steam and actually play the game.:mad:

Iv never used Steam before and i'm not really sure what it's for but it seems pointless to need to activate the game through this bloody thing.

Cy_Revenant

pablomakaveli wrote: »

I bought the hardcopy of this yesterday. I put this the disk in and then had to install Steam. I then had to put in the keycode and installed the game. It was then two hours before i was able to activate the game on Steam and actually play the game.:mad:

Iv never used Steam before and i'm not really sure what it's for but it seems pointless to need to activate the game through this bloody thing.

It never ceases to amaze me that in this day and age there are people who have had no prior experience with Steam.

As for what Steam is for? Simple. Online distribution of games, an online game store, a non intrusive DRM system which defeats Day Zero Piracy, the ability to download and play your games on any computer with an internet connection anywhere in the world, and an online community that tracks your gameplay, provides in game IM and voice chat, etc, etc, etc

I picked this up yesterday for my Dad and it all went flawlessly. Stuck the disc in, created him an account, and installed from the disc. Didn't take any longer than an install should. He was playing in under an hour.

MooseJam

I Like Steam

pablomakaveli

Cy_Revenant wrote: »

It never ceases to amaze me that in this day and age there are people who have had no prior experience with Steam.

As for what Steam is for? Simple. Online distribution of games, an online game store, a non intrusive DRM system which defeats Day Zero Piracy, the ability to download and play your games on any computer with an internet connection anywhere in the world, and an online community that tracks your gameplay, provides in game IM and voice chat, etc, etc, etc

I picked this up yesterday for my Dad and it all went flawlessly. Stuck the disc in, created him an account, and installed from the disc. Didn't take any longer than an install should. He was playing in under an hour.

This is Ireland. Not everyone has a great internet connection. Not everyone uses Steam either.

The game itself installed in about 15 mins. It was two hours before i could activate it on steam.

BlitzKrieg

I like steam, reminds me of classic gamespy (before it went arcade and to sh*t) and all seeing eye with how its neat and simple in its server listings (and easy to search etc)

Didnt have any problem with Empire Total War installation, but I did opt to go and buy it in the shop because from my experiance of prior total war games I knew it would be too big for my bandwith.

Zombrex

meh ... blaming Steam for these problems is a bit like blaming HMV for being sold out of an incredibly popular game/cd when you stroll in at 6pm on a 12 midnight launch day.

the reason the servers get over loaded is because Empire is very popular and everyone wants to have it when it launches. No computer network in the world is going to be responsive if a couple of million people hit it all as the same time. Try sending a txt message in the evening on 31st december.

I installed the game from disks yesterday and had no trouble at all. And I support the idea of internet verification because piracy is destroying the PC industry and that is something I don't want to happen. Yes it can be a little annoying at time, but the upside is that these companies can actually make money and thus produce future games.

BlitzKrieg

And I support the idea of internet verification because piracy is destroying the PC industry

I think Steam has the best system for it too. Being able to verify your game once and never have to put the discs in again even if you uninstall the game is great.

Ok its a kick to the teeth for the 2nd hand game market on the pc, but really on the pc 2nd hand game was non existent by the time Steam came around, none of the main retailers will take 2nd hand pc games.

MOH

Wicknight wrote: »

meh ... blaming Steam for these problems is a bit like blaming HMV for being sold out of an incredibly popular game/cd when you stroll in at 6pm on a 12 midnight launch day.

It's not though.

You buy the game on DVD, you don't expect a 2 hour download after installing.

Cuddlesworth

Its already been pointed out, if you buy the retail game and your not a moron you can install it from both the disks or net.

Shiminay

Does the box not say that it's got to be activated on the internet?

If people aren't savvy enough to think "gee, this is the first day this game's come out, it *might* be busy..." then so be it, but it's the sort of thing people should really be aware of by now. This can't have been the first game to suffer from this and certainly won't be the last. There simply isn't anything else that can be done though short of renting a million servers and a gajillion terabytes of bandwidth for the first 2 days of a game's release

Cuddlesworth

Kharn wrote: »

If people aren't savvy enough to think "gee, this is the first day this game's come out, it *might* be busy..." then so be it, but it's the sort of thing people should really be aware of by now. This can't have been the first game to suffer from this and certainly won't be the last. There simply isn't anything else that can be done though short of renting a million servers and a gajillion terabytes of bandwidth for the first 2 days of a game's release

Peer to peer downloads before release date with internet activation have solved it for a lot of MMO's.

PaddyTheNth

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Its already been pointed out, if you buy the retail game and your not a moron you can install it from both the disks or net.

Reading other forums there seem to be a lot of people who are seeing ****ed up installation activity when installing from disks.

Also there is apparently a 100mb or so patch which isn't on the disks.

MOH

Kharn wrote: »

Does the box not say that it's got to be activated on the internet?

If people aren't savvy enough to think "gee, this is the first day this game's come out, it *might* be busy..." then so be it, but it's the sort of thing people should really be aware of by now. This can't have been the first game to suffer from this and certainly won't be the last. There simply isn't anything else that can be done though short of renting a million servers and a gajillion terabytes of bandwidth for the first 2 days of a game's release

Activating it on the internet is fine, I've no problem with that.
But download megloads of stuff is a bit more than just "activation".

Ri_Nollaig

activation should be almost instant, even with a shíte connection. It was the 100+ mega zero day patch that slowed it down completely.
It should ask if you want to update rather then just downlaoding away. Atleast that way you could play it straight away and if you do have problems atleast you know the delay is fixing them.

thebman

Well in fairness to Valve, it isn't unfair to assume most gamers will have a decent broadband connection.

Updates contain important security patches and prevent cheating too I'd assume so voluntary updates cannot work in such a system as the cheater will just never update.

If you want to blame someone, blame FF and the greens for not putting in a decent Broadband infrastructure. Even the NBS is a disgrace and will stop you getting proper Broadband for the next 10-15 years if you can't get it currently.

If you are p*ssed, email your local TD expressing your concerns andd while your at it state you wish to be part of the knowledge economy but how can you when you can't even play a computer game online let alone download the software required to educate yourself for the knowledge economy.

/rant