Shame on you for using STEAM !

[Kikuchiyo]

Originally Posted by Blackdog_kt

Well, i never register any games with any publishers. Also, having to back up an entire game folder to keep an older version is a major pain in the balls and exactly what half the IL2 community was bitching about when mods appeared: multiple installations. Well, if it's bad when the modders do it it's also bad if publishers do it, we can't have double standards.

In any case, i shouldn't have to be forced to jump through fiery hoops to enjoy something i paid for, especially when it's common knowledge that it is perfectly capable of working as it should without the layers of tacked on external software and without needing extra work. It doesn't need the devs to spend time on it to improve it, when in fact it's the integration with all the external applications that is costing them time. If they didn't integrate with them the game would probably be more customizable, run smoother and save them time as well.

See, this is the issue with all these external apps. They are supposed to be "added value" tools and this is true but only up to a point, because they usually introduce as much inconvenience as they do useful features.

In steam's case the only worthwhile advantage for a player would be the ability to download the game if the original disc gets damaged. The whole "friend's list" and contacts feature is nice to have but not critical. Finally, for people who are already owners of other Steam games it's a good chance to advertise CoD to their existing friends, for example when you log in and they see "player X is not playing Cliff of Dover".

As for disadvantages, forced patching and multiple backups required to circumvent it are downright unacceptable. I sincerely hope they only use it as a mutliplayer lobby that can be bypassed and not as an all-in-one "manage your entire game experience" tool.

Finally,



That's my take on things as well. We know it will already have Solidshield DRM, so i guess that Steam is not there for copy protection. I hope they only plan to use it as a match-making/multiplayer lobby service.

I don't mind it as long as
a) it works
b) it doesn't force any additional DRM checks on top of Solidshield
c) it can by bypassed if i want to use another multiplayer server browser
d) i can revert to an older patch and finally
e) i can install the game to the drive and folder i want to


A lot of conditions some of you might say, but i'm a customer and since i'm not asking for something new (it's not exactly cutting edge technology to have the ability to select your installation folder or skip a problematic patch until the hotfix is released) i think it's not much to ask.

Anything less and i'll still get the game, but i'll lobby and raise a fuss on Ubi's forums to make it optional in the next expansion until i'm blue in the face, and that's a commitment

Hate to break it to you, but 1C are the big proponents of Steam. I am suspeting that it is 1C that is in charge of the DD decision here(speculative based on things said by Oleg and Ilya maybe they can confirm deny this) If that is the case then more money will go to 1C for a Steam purchase.

As for the backing up thing being a pita I agree, but at the same time if the game does exclusively use the Steam MP platform then the need for backups would be moot anyway. I honestly don't know why someone would be a huge advocate of running older buggier versions of software other than the very few instances that a patch makes a game less playable than it was before.

Your opinion on what is worthwhile is not factual ergo I will leave it at that.

a. Barring the highly unlikely chance that 1C Maddox releases it in a super buggy state, it will work.

b. Steam doesn't force DRM checks beyond when you are using it in online, and that really is just a "is this in their owned games list?". Nothing intrusive just a quick load screen.

c. unfortunately the way it's worded I suspect that it will use the steam MP platform by default, but I imagine there will be a mod from this community to circumvent that if possible.

d. I already laid that out, yes it's a pita, but it allows that.

e. You tell Steam where it installs itself and it will always add your Steam software to that folder (it creates subfolders that your games go in in that drive.) Not sure the importance of putting it in special folders. Understand the drive thing and just trying to ensure you understand how it works.

All in all I hope no one boycotts the game because of Steam, and maybe just maybe some of you will find that you actually like Steam. I was really adverse to it in the beginning too, but I can't really imagine doing a lot of my PC gaming without all the conveniences and fringe benefits it offers.

[Blackdog_kt]

Well, i prefaced everything with a clear enough "i don't mind as long as". It's not like i'm claiming facts that Steam is a certain way, i'm just saying what i don't like IF it's a certain way

On this particular matter however

Originally Posted by Kikuchiyo

As for the backing up thing being a pita I agree, but at the same time if the game does exclusively use the Steam MP platform then the need for backups would be moot anyway. I honestly don't know why someone would be a huge advocate of running older buggier versions of software other than the very few instances that a patch makes a game less playable than it was before.

there are many reasons to keep running an older version. Usually, dedicated servers take some time to catch up with the latest version. If they too update via Steam then this won't be an issue.

Another reason is mods. I still don't have 4.10 because i knew that the mod pack i use would have to wait for the 4.101 hotfix first before releasing a new mod pack version that's compatible with it. This will depend on how mods will be handled in CoD.

Finally, it's not uncommon to have a patch introduce new bugs along with fixes to older ones. I want to have some control over what version i'm using for this exact reason, sometimes the new bugs can be worse than old ones so i skip an update until everything is sorted out.

This has been an issue for some RoF players as well, because with every few updates the system requirements are going uphill a notch. Some people have computers that are perfectly capable of running it in the state it was 3-4 patches back, but they don't have the option to rollback because the updates are forced. Well, anything that shuts a legitimate buyer out is bad as a matter of principle, plus it's one more reason to prefer a pirated copy for many people. I've used cracks on a few games i bought just for that reason, the cracked one worked better than the stock one and this is just absurd no matter how we look at it.

As for the rest of your post, i appreciate your explanation on how steam actually works. If i can install on the drive of my choice and have the ability to update manually (as someone else stated is possible) then it's a big reassurance.

I'm not anti-Steam as a principle, i just don't want unnecessary layers of complexity interfering with my gaming. I mostly fly offline and only use a couple of servers when going online, flying with a small set of people. In that sense the fringe benefits of Steam integration are completely useless to me. I'm not saying it shouldn't be there because it's useless to me, since it is clearly useful to others. However, i appreciate not having someone's software set-up preferences forced on me just like i'm not keen on forcing my own on others. Introducing a lot of features and making them optional is what works best in the long run for everyone involved.

[Revvin]

Yes I can sympathise about the RoF system requirements suddenly ramping up. About a year or o ago I bought RoF and on my old dual core system with 2GB ram it just about ran with just me and a computer pilot dogfighting. I was ok with that because I took a chance on buying it then knowing I'd upgrade anyway at some point (though circumstances meant that upgrade got delayed a year). So quite happily I'd hone my 1 on 1 dogfighting skills waiting for the day I'd upgrade. It was fun doing that but then a patch went live and suddenly my little 1 vs 1 ground my PC to a halt. I was into very low single digit FPS and the game was unplayable. Since then I've upgraded so I can play again but appreciate how patches can impact performance.

That said you can chose to not update a game via Steam, its just a quite right click on the game and selecting its properties and select not to automatically keep up to date. I think though with 1C's track record we're safe from any game killing patches. I hope that those cautious about Steam will perhaps find as many of us did that its not something to be cautious about but in fact something I'm happy to see when developers use the Steamworks system.

[tintifaxl]

Another thing regarding Steam: if the decision to use the steam libraries wasn't made a few weeks ago, I don't think we will see a release on the 25th with working multiplayer. Integrating a framework this far down the development process will take some time.