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[hamchan]

So who here is getting ready for the Steam holiday sale? Its only about 6 1/2 weeks away folks, start saving those $$$.

Is everything on sale? If so I'm gonna go nuts on the purchases.

 

[SmZA]

The Steam backup tool requires the game to be up-to-date before making a backup, other than that it shouldn't be downloading anything. And of course, if there have been updates since you made the backup Steam will need to download those before you can play it again.

Steam backup is garbage. Here's my recent internet usage:

See the last four days there, with up to 40 GB downloads (free and metered)? That's Steam's 'backup' function at work. I have over 100GB of games on Steam and most of them were stored as one backup. Here's what happens when you try to restore 100GB of games from a backup:

1. Steam backup hangs several times, or doesn't start at all. Ctrl-alt-del, stop process, start again.
2. Steam backup offers you a list of games, not in ANY order, all ticked. You have to manually deselect any game you don't want, this takes several seconds each time.
3. Steam starts restoring games incredibly slowly. You think it's just poorly coded but it's actually downloading patches. At NO stage does it tell you it's going to do this.
4. Steam hits a game where the patch isn't available on Freezone (you have non-free servers blocked) and just hangs without telling you why. Ctrl-alt-del, restart.
5. On the fourth day you look at your internet usage and realise Steam's been downloading shit every time you've tried to restore. Swear loudly and post screenshots on internet.

The bits listed as offpeak were where I'd switched off the IP blocking for an unrelated reason and forgot to switch it back on.

Once I realised what was going on I experimented with restoring Company Of Heroes from backup, a game notorious for having ridiculously huge patches. Only 900MB of the game was restored from the backup; the other 5+ GB had to be downloaded. Steam does NOT do 'backups' that any reasonable person would expect, it backs up some obsolete release version and downloads the patches again. Note that the backup is still 6GB, most of it isn't used.

Never use the Steam backup function. Copy the Steam folder instead.

[Edited: to remove the swears]

 

[markot]

Hmm.

Why doesnt ME let you config those things within the game settings, rather then having to tweak the .ini file >.>?

It looks tonnes better with a few changes....

 

[graywolf323]

Is everything on sale? If so I'm gonna go nuts on the purchases.

last time everything was at least 10% off

 

[squinters]

Almost positive my psu has a 6 pin PCIe power connecter, but would the 4890 run on a 475 power supply, or is 500 watts required?

Edit: I just realized I'm kind of trashing up the "STEAM" thread with all my pc talk. Don't worry, I'll take any further questions to the "new pc" thread. Sorry and thanks for all the help.

 

[Slavik81]

Never use the Steam backup function, it's absolutely fucking braindead. Copy the Steam folder instead.

I've wiped or switched PCs 3 or 4 times and I've never done anything else. Copying the Steam folder works brilliantly.

I wouldn't bother with the backup utility, even if it did exactly what was expected from it. No point in using that solution when a simpler one exists.

 

[SmZA]

I wouldn't bother with the backup utility, even if it did exactly what was expected from it. No point in using that solution when a simpler one exists.

Some games seem to need a bit of registry tweaking when they're installed, or some secondary application (eg. Borderlands installs PhysX software). For the most part you're right.

 

[Stallion Free]

No.
Only the Bloodlines.

Uhhh the game is called Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. He asked if Vampire: The Masquerade is on Steam. It is safe to assume he is referring to Bloodlines and not Redemption as that game is far less popular or known of.

 

[Hawkian]

I've wiped or switched PCs 3 or 4 times and I've never done anything else. Copying the Steam folder works brilliantly.

I wouldn't bother with the backup utility, even if it did exactly what was expected from it. No point in using that solution when a simpler one exists.

Yup. I was shocked how well this worked. Reinstalled steam on the new PC and didn't even have to jump through any hoops to get my save games back.

Uhhh the game is called Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. He asked if Vampire: The Masquerade is on Steam. It is safe to assume he is referring to Bloodlines and not Redemption as that game is far less popular or known of.

Yeah... never even heard of it

 

[b.e.r.g]

Well, I'm just too poor right now to pass on ME for €7

 

[Awakened]

1. Steam backup hangs several times, or doesn't start at all. Ctrl-alt-del, stop process, start again.
2. Steam backup offers you a list of games, not in ANY order, all ticked. You have to manually deselect any game you don't want, this takes several seconds each time.
3. Steam starts restoring games incredibly slowly. You think it's just poorly coded but it's actually downloading patches. At NO stage does it tell you it's going to do this.
4. Steam hits a game where the patch isn't available on Freezone (you have non-free servers blocked) and just hangs without telling you why. Ctrl-alt-del, restart.
5. On the fourth day you look at your internet usage and realise Steam's been downloading shit every time you've tried to restore. Swear loudly and post screenshots on internet.

The bits listed as offpeak were where I'd switched off the IP blocking for an unrelated reason and forgot to switch it back on.

Once I realised what was going on I experimented with restoring Company Of Heroes from backup, a game notorious for having ridiculously huge patches. Only 900MB of the game was restored from the backup; the other 5+ GB had to be downloaded. Steam does NOT do 'backups' that any reasonable person would expect, it backs up some obsolete release version and downloads the patches again. Note that the backup is still 6GB, most of it isn't used.

Never use the Steam backup function, it's absolutely fucking braindead. Copy the Steam folder instead.

I've never had any of these problems. I usually just right click an installed game in my list, click backup, maybe check a few other games if I want to include them and then let it make the backup to a folder on my desktop to burn to a DVD. Never noticed my modem light rapidly blinking indicating internet usage during this process and I have a 25GB monthly bandwidth limit so I'd have noticed later. I've used this to copy games to my laptop and after restoring they show up in the list fully updated (unless the backup was made before an update of course).

 

[rohlfinator]

Can't say I've had any problems with the backup tool. I had been copying the steamapps folder for a long time, but I recently had some trouble with a few games not copying correctly and having to redownload a bunch of files, so I switched to using the backup tool and it's been great so far. The backup tool also compresses the data pretty substantially, which is nice.

I can confirm that it doesn't need to download anything except updates, as with my current 256k DSL it would be very noticeable if the restore had to download anything big.

I would recommend against backing up everything in one chunk, though. I usually back up individual games to their own folder, unless they will have a lot of shared data (as with the Orange Box or HL expansions). It seems more manageable that way, and if you do hit a game that gives you trouble, you can skip it more easily and move on to others.

Once I realised what was going on I experimented with restoring Company Of Heroes from backup, a game notorious for having ridiculously huge patches. Only 900MB of the game was restored from the backup; the other 5+ GB had to be downloaded. Steam does NOT do 'backups' that any reasonable person would expect, it backs up some obsolete release version and downloads the patches again. Note that the backup is still 6GB, most of it isn't used.

What exactly did you expect? It backs up the game in its current state when you run the backup. If there are multi-GB updates between then and the time you restore, I don't know why you would expect not to download them.

The only problem I see here is that CoH is inefficient with the way it handles patches.

 

[Brazil]

I'm not having any luck installing Pinnacle Station on my recently bought Steam copy of Mass Effect. I bought it through the EA Store and downloaded it via de EA Downloader, and when I click the "Install" button on the software, it does nothing, and the game stays the same.

Any help? =(

(I did run the game once - only got to the main menu though.)

 

[adg1034]

I'm not having any luck installing Pinnacle Station on my recently bought Steam copy of Mass Effect. I bought it through the EA Store and downloaded it via de EA Downloader, and when I click the "Install" button on the software, it does nothing, and the game stays the same.

Any help? =(

(I did run the game once - only got to the main menu though.)

Go further than that. Use the default Shepard; walk around a little bit. Save your game, if you want to.

That (hopefully) should set up the required files.

 

[Brazil]

Go further than that. Use the default Shepard; walk around a little bit. Save your game, if you want to.

That (hopefully) should set up the required files.

Found the problem. Apparently the EA Downloader version I had was outdated, so I had to update it. Next time I tried it worked perfectly.

Thanks for the help though =)

 

[Volcynika]

Dreamkiller week, get Dreamkiller for 33% off ($29.99 -> $19.99)

 

[vertopci]

Unless you have a bandwidth cap, copying the steam folder is a stupid idea. You can easily download all the games in half the time it takes to copy the folder.

 

[b.e.r.g]

Unless you have a bandwidth cap, copying the steam folder is a stupid idea. You can easily download all the games in half the time it takes to copy the folder.

On computers, you can have several harddrives No need to copy at all, just never delete!

And 157gb at 400kb/s takes a while...

 

[drizzle]

Unless you have a bandwidth cap, copying the steam folder is a stupid idea. You can easily download all the games in half the time it takes to copy the folder.

That actually depends on:

1) Where do you live in the world
2) If there are servers near you
3) Your internet speed
4) your HD speed
5) your backup method

But yeah, only people that do backups are people with metered Internet, which they shouldn't have in the first place (unless there's no alternative, then i'm really sorry for you).

 

[TheExodu5]

Unless you have a bandwidth cap, copying the steam folder is a stupid idea. You can easily download all the games in half the time it takes to copy the folder.

Uhhhh....

Copying from one drive to another usually goes at about 60-100MB/s, depending on your drive speed. Are you actually suggesting you get 30MB-50MB (that's 240-400Mbits) through the internet?

 

[kuYuri]

C'mon, Far Cry 2 deal for $10! Give it to me Steam!

 

[TouchMyBox]

Unless you have a bandwidth cap, copying the steam folder is a stupid idea. You can easily download all the games in half the time it takes to copy the folder.

You're living in the future vert, I'm still dreaming of the day in which I can download 284GB within an hour or two. In the case of halving the time, half an hour to an hour.

 

[eznark]

:lol :lol

Just played the Sacraboar demo via Steam. It requires an ImpulseDriven account for multiplayer.

 

[Eaten By A Grue]

No. The Steam backup is fucking garbage. Here's my recent internet usage:
http://i37.tinypic.com/i6xkep.jpg
See the last four days there, with up to 40 GB downloads (free and metered)? That's Steam's 'backup' function at work. I have over 100GB of games on Steam and most of them were stored as one backup. Here's what happens when you try to restore 100GB of games from a backup:

1. Steam backup hangs several times, or doesn't start at all. Ctrl-alt-del, stop process, start again.
2. Steam backup offers you a list of games, not in ANY order, all ticked. You have to manually deselect any game you don't want, this takes several seconds each time.
3. Steam starts restoring games incredibly slowly. You think it's just poorly coded but it's actually downloading patches. At NO stage does it tell you it's going to do this.
4. Steam hits a game where the patch isn't available on Freezone (you have non-free servers blocked) and just hangs without telling you why. Ctrl-alt-del, restart.
5. On the fourth day you look at your internet usage and realise Steam's been downloading shit every time you've tried to restore. Swear loudly and post screenshots on internet.

The bits listed as offpeak were where I'd switched off the IP blocking for an unrelated reason and forgot to switch it back on.

Once I realised what was going on I experimented with restoring Company Of Heroes from backup, a game notorious for having ridiculously huge patches. Only 900MB of the game was restored from the backup; the other 5+ GB had to be downloaded. Steam does NOT do 'backups' that any reasonable person would expect, it backs up some obsolete release version and downloads the patches again. Note that the backup is still 6GB, most of it isn't used.

Never use the Steam backup function, it's absolutely fucking braindead. Copy the Steam folder instead.

That is crazy, I do backups/restores all the time, I seriously do not think this is the case. I did a restore of a multi-gig game on my parents' PC and they only have a 3Mbs down. If what you are saying is the case their internet would have gone to a crawl, which it did not.

Also it sounds like you are doing a backup of all your games in one giant backup? Why not just backup each game individually? That is what I do and I restore only the games I want to play.

 

[TheExodu5]

You're living in the future vert, I'm still dreaming of the day in which I can download 284GB within an hour or two. In the case of halving the time, half an hour to an hour.

Oh wait he meant half the time for downloading the game? Hahaha. That means a 1.6Gbit internet connection. Mad speed.

 

[Hawkian]

That actually depends on:

1) Where do you live in the world
2) If there are servers near you
3) Your internet speed
4) your HD speed
5) your backup method

But yeah, only people that do backups are people with metered Internet, which they shouldn't have in the first place (unless there's no alternative, then i'm really sorry for you).

You missed
6) The number of games you have

Accounting for all those variables vertopci's suggestion is not so much wrong as it is unadulterated lunacy. Maybe if we switched it to "you could download half the games in twice the time it takes to copy the folder..."

 

[ClovingWestbrook]

:lol :lol

Just played the Sacraboar demo via Steam. It requires an ImpulseDriven account for multiplayer.

:lol :lol :lol Pretty awesome.

 

[faceless007]

Copying the Steam folder also preserves your save games and profile without any more work. Re-downloading the games means you have to manually restore backups of them anyway.

 

[Slavik81]

Copying the Steam folder also preserves your save games and profile without any more work. Re-downloading the games means you have to manually restore backups of them anyway.

That used to be true, but a lot of new games seem to scatter their saves throughout the system. In My Documents, My Games, ProgramData, AppData... Ugh. The best are the ones that put the saves in hidden folders. Isn't that nice.

At least for all Valve games what you're saying is true. For others... There's might be a bit more work involved even if you do the steam folder copying method... It took me a solid 15 minutes to find where to put my Peggle save again.

 

[Twig]

That used to be true, but a lot of new games seem to scatter their saves throughout the system. In My Documents, My Games, ProgramData, AppData... Ugh. The best are the ones that put the saves in hidden folders. Isn't that nice.

At least for all Valve games what you're saying is true. For others... There's might be a bit more work involved even if you do the steam folder copying method... It took me a solid 15 minutes to find where to put my Peggle save again.

Yeah.

This is basically the worst thing about PC gaming.

 

[Joseph Merrick]

http://store.steampowered.com/app/25890/

hearts of iron 3 is 50% off

 

[markot]

I despise the way they just seem to randomly assign a folder to save games >_<

How hard is it to put it in one folder? My documents/My saves?

Hell, Windows has a freaking folder called 'Saved Games' in my user files! USE IT!

 

[ChoklitReign]

That used to be true, but a lot of new games seem to scatter their saves throughout the system. In My Documents, My Games, ProgramData, AppData... Ugh. The best are the ones that put the saves in hidden folders. Isn't that nice.

At least for all Valve games what you're saying is true. For others... There's might be a bit more work involved even if you do the steam folder copying method... It took me a solid 15 minutes to find where to put my Peggle save again.

Why the fuck do they do this? There needs to be a universal save folder, sort of like the Downloads folder, in Windows.

 

[drizzle]

Yeah.

This is basically the worst thing about PC gaming.

I never understood that. Just put the damn save on the folder where the game is installed, preferably under the "SAVE" subdirectory.

I never understood this desire to have multiple users on a PERSONAL computer, each with it's own set of configuration and folders for saving documents - that's just lunacy.

 

[eznark]

Awesome mid-week deals for strategy gamers. Battlestations and HOI III games are all very good.

 

[TrAcEr_x90]

Has there ever been a sale on Crysis?? I saw that it with the expansion is still like 40 bucks? I just got a new 5770 and want to see what it looks like running crysis.

 

[Des0lar]

Why the fuck do they do this? There needs to be a universal save folder, sort of like the Downloads folder, in Windows.

I remember the old days, when there was a folder called "Saves" in the game's directory...

 

[Des0lar]

Is everything on sale? If so I'm gonna go nuts on the purchases.

I just want Shattered Horizon 50% off and I'm a happy man.

Sorry DP

 

[eznark]

Has there ever been a sale on Crysis?? I saw that it with the expansion is still like 40 bucks? I just got a new 5770 and want to see what it looks like running crysis.

Warhead isn't really an expansion, it's a full game. Both for $40 is a very good deal.

 

[Peronthious]

$15 for HoI III? Sold! Odd, I thought it was at $40 originally instead of $30.

 

[ClovingWestbrook]

$15 for HoI III? Sold! Odd, I thought it was at $40 originally instead of $30.

It was $40 but recently was reduced to $30 and then the sale of 50% today.

 

[SmZA]

What exactly did you expect? It backs up the game in its current state when you run the backup. If there are multi-GB updates between then and the time you restore, I don't know why you would expect not to download them.

The only problem I see here is that CoH is inefficient with the way it handles patches.

I backed up CoH, deleted it from Steam, then restored it. I doubt there were 5GB of patches in the 10 minutes it took to do this.

That is crazy, I do backups/restores all the time, I seriously do not think this is the case. I did a restore of a multi-gig game on my parents' PC and they only have a 3Mbs down. If what you are saying is the case their internet would have gone to a crawl, which it did not.

If you own CoH, would you mind doing the procedure I described above and telling us the results?

 

[Confusion Illusion]

That used to be true, but a lot of new games seem to scatter their saves throughout the system. In My Documents, My Games, ProgramData, AppData... Ugh. The best are the ones that put the saves in hidden folders. Isn't that nice.

At least for all Valve games what you're saying is true. For others... There's might be a bit more work involved even if you do the steam folder copying method... It took me a solid 15 minutes to find where to put my Peggle save again.

I really hate this too. Doesn't seem to be any easy fix for it either....

 

[Crazymoogle]

I really hate this too. Doesn't seem to be any easy fix for it either....

Yeah, wtf are devs thinking with that, I have no idea. Borderlands saves to My Documents / My Games, but other games just generate a My Games folder, or save somewhere else entirely. It's a big mess, and there's really no performance reason not to govern a place for game saves, even if the OS has to do it.

 

[Moundir&Tony>you]

Meh , changed the textures settings in Mass Effect , shit's still blurry as hell , even after restarting the game and rebooting the computer .

How do I fixed that ?


(4850 / E8400 / 2GB / Vista)

 

[TheExodu5]

Yeah, wtf are devs thinking with that, I have no idea. Borderlands saves to My Documents / My Games, but other games just generate a My Games folder, or save somewhere else entirely. It's a big mess, and there's really no performance reason not to govern a place for game saves, even if the OS has to do it.

As far as I'm concerned, games should either all save to My Documents/My Games, or to Steam Cloud. Nothing worse than having to format your PC and needing to look through countless directories to back up save files for 50 games.

 

[Baloonatic]

Meh , changed the textures settings in Mass Effect , shit's still blurry as hell , even after restarting the game and rebooting the computer .

How do I fixed that ?


(4850 / E8400 / 2GB / Vista)

Can you post a screenshot or something? I have the same rig as you and never had any problems with the retail version.

 

[vertopci]

Uhhhh....

Copying from one drive to another usually goes at about 60-100MB/s, depending on your drive speed. Are you actually suggesting you get 30MB-50MB (that's 240-400Mbits) through the internet?

If you're copying to an external HDD via USB, DLing is definitely a bit faster. And DLing is about a bazillion times faster then copying to a flash drive.

 

[Kabouter]

It was $40 but recently was reduced to $30 and then the sale of 50% today.

Worries me tbh, sales can't be doing too well :/.
But it's an absolutely great game, and anyone not jumping on this deal is a fool.

 

[poppabk]

Yeah, wtf are devs thinking with that, I have no idea. Borderlands saves to My Documents / My Games, but other games just generate a My Games folder, or save somewhere else entirely. It's a big mess, and there's really no performance reason not to govern a place for game saves, even if the OS has to do it.

Yeah my "User\Documents" folder is littered with game name folders - only Dawn of War II, Titan Quest and crysis demo used the "User\Documents\My Games" folder and my "User\Saved Games" system folder is empty. I had to create a new "My Documents" folder for putting actual documents in.