For a flat $100 you get a 3.2 GHz Dual Core Black Edition (read, easy to overclock) AMD that'll blow any single core waaaaay out of the water (and probably somewhere into orbit).
Pair it with a decent Gigabyte Motherboard, and you're set.
If you need help, I can guide you through setting up a system for under $500 if you want :)
BTW - going to PM this to you in case you miss it with the spam
The above thread has two solutions for the problem within 10 posts from the beginning that you may want to try.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Thanks you for the post.
<!--quoteo(post=1791159:date=Aug 3 2010, 07:30 PM:name=Harimau)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Harimau @ Aug 3 2010, 07:30 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1791159"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Hard copy formats will always, ALWAYS deteriorate. You can lose a disc, maybe when you're moving house, or maybe through carelessness. It can get damaged.
Digital on the other hand, that's always available - but it's clear the problem with you is that you've got a trust issue, or some sort of paranoia. Do you happen to use any online banking? Maybe you shouldn't.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Geeze, I better not buy a car then! They have online banking on the internet now?! HEY MARGE!
I wasn't saying digital distribution is a negative thing, but it's sometime to watch over. People are complaisant, trust these distributors, click "yes" on every T&A. It could bite people in the arse in the future. Any problems occur, you then have 1 account tied in with nearly every game you own.
Product deterioration isn't a reason alone to completely bypass tangible copies. I have cheap blank back-up CDS from 15 years ago kept in cases that load no problems. It's not that I don't trust--I did say most of my games are bought online--it's just being mindful of future consequences having all your gaming private ownership online. It's a gateway topic anyway, so before I start veering off; I"ll just leave it at that. :)
I read somewhere that Valve does have a doomsday scenario plan. If the STEAM servers ever have to go offline permanently then Valve has stated that they will release patches/fixes to play your games offline.
<!--quoteo(post=1791395:date=Aug 3 2010, 08:52 PM:name=Talesin)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Talesin @ Aug 3 2010, 08:52 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1791395"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Anyone hear about the recent invalid VAC ban Steam did for a few tens of thousand accounts?
Or about how they immediately apologized when they figured out what had happened, and gave everyone that they'd banned for all of a day a free copy of L4D2 by way of apology?
Yeah, there's a reason Valve gets my money. And a lot of it. On a regular basis.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> yeah, but they didnt even apoligize to those whose money theve wasted with single cores! i mean SINGLE CORES CAN PLAY THE GAMES!!!!!! THEY CANNOT PLAY THE NEW UI!!!!! ive played everything i have with a single core CPU, and it worked until the new STEAM UI, which kjept on disconnecting me because of VAC timeouts! and now its only regular client timeouts! WHY DID VALVE NOT FIX THIS? they fixed that OTHER THING, but not THIS THING! single cores can work the games just fine they cant work the new over blown steam UI! and just because they did some big publicity stunt doesnt win my trust
<!--quoteo(post=1791802:date=Aug 4 2010, 05:08 PM:name=k4t4l1zt)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (k4t4l1zt @ Aug 4 2010, 05:08 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1791802"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Are you seriously blaming Steam for having issues on a single core computer? Oh the irony.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> dude, LISTEN TO MY POSTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! STEAM WORKED ON A SINGLE CORE COMPUTER BUT THEN THEY CHANGED IT WITH OUT TELLING US TO CHANGHE CPU'S!!!! THAT LEADS ME TO BELIEVE THEY DIDNT EVEN TEST IT!! and their new hardware survey says about 20% have single cores its not that their products cant be run and for me its not that im angry that they cant run on my specific CPU ITS THE GOD DAMNED FACT THAT THEY WORKED AT 2010, STEAM SCREWED US OVER, AND WONT EVEN BOTHER TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE ###### PROBLEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
look for all the pople saying GET A NEW CPU HURR DURRR i have only this to say Steam worked great for 3 years! then steam UI updated and now it disconnects regularly! the game requirements still say single core CPU at the minimum. so Steam screwed us over. I can understand that, they expect us to be up to date! BUT THIS IS WHAT ###### BUGS ME!!!!!!!!!! THEY DID NOT ###### TELL US THEY PROBABLY DONT EVEN KNOW! THERE ARE LIKE 40 THREADS ABOUT THIS AT THE STEAM FORUMS AND THEY DONT EVEN ACKNOWLEDGE ANY ONE OF THESE!!! THEY DONT EVEN BOTHER TO READ THEM ANY MORE, PROBABLY im just a little 20 year old kid, i have a few friends, my job, my apartment, and my games summers over so i cant go swimming, looks like ill either have to hang out with my friends, or play my games however, i dont meet new friends at my curreent job, so all my friends are from my last job, and they work really late. so all i have to do on the weekdays after work is: 1:go to mall (fat chance, i dont have much money) 2:hang out with friends(not really, most of them work late, this is only option on weekend) 3:play games(bingo) and i dont have enough money to buy a PS3, dont have enough to pay for XBOX LIVE subscription, ######, i barely have enough for internet! so please, dont insult me im just angry that steam screwed me and the people like me, and arent even going to tell us sorry...
look lets make this simple .. you have an issue with steam's ui the devs choose steam for a reason, the game is next gen designed for next gen hardware are you going to complain when your relic of a pc cant play the full game? the issue here is not steam , its your hardware .. why should the devs or valve change things to make you happy? the rest of the world updates to newer tech why cant you? I'd like to add im a student (read: extremely poor) yet im still sitting with a machine that works well , PCs are cheap. Valve wont change steam for you, and I doubt the devs would drop it just to make you happy.
Kouji_SanSr. Hινε UÏкεεÏεг - EUPT DeputyThe NetherlandsJoin Date: 2003-05-13Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
edited August 2010
I don't get it... Steam isn't using any resources more then before the change... It's still comfortably idling around 60mem 70Mb memory usage and 0% CPU.
When I start for example TF2, it goes to 90Mb to 130MB while the game is booting up with 50% CPU on 1 core of my dualcore. So this is probably 100% on your singlecore, which is normal, because that is what I saw on my oldschool AMD Barton singlecore.
However once the game/map is loaded it goes back to 0% load with the memory load going down to 20Mb-50Mb...
<b>NOTE:</b> I have turned off the buggy/unstable ingame steam community thingy, so maybe your problem lies here?
I can't see any reason why you would have trouble playing games, unless you actually have the Steam Community Overlay (SHIFT+TAB) thingy enabled... Disabling it can be done by right-clicking on your systray steam icon then go:
Settings -> In-Game (tab) -> unckeck the checkbox there
Still weird though with having connection problems related to CPU load... I would've blamed your router/switch for this first, might be steam is making more connections now with their new interface, making your router/switch crash
Sadly this is the way games are going, all online distribution as it cuts out copys of games being made and passed around the internet (not that it does it well but it cuts it down alittle).
As for the single core thing the only thing i can suggest is try and find the money to get a cheap motherboard and cpu deal (+ RAM if your old ram isnt supported by the new mobo) from older tech (newer for you in your case). If your in the UK ebuyer.com is a good place now and then for cheap deals on mobo/cpu deals for older tech.
I can understand why your angry i was the same pretty much when adsl/fibre optic broadband came around into full swing and i was on a standard 56k modem trying to play cs1.6 and i kept getting disconnnected from won/steam i was fuming. But its the way technology goes sadly, newer tech comes out replacing older tech every year and consumers either upgrade or get left behind and business's and game companys are always trying to push the boundrys to get great gfx and functions from there software.
The same can be said for consoles, a new one comes out and people jump on the bandwagon until the next console is released offereing something better. As for steam in general i've had problems with steam over the last couple of years from games not working to steam not even loading but most of my problems with steam i've found were down to general hardware errors. Steam have probably got a new UI update in the works to patch certain errors with single cores if not then theres not much you can do realy apart from try and get your current computer upgraded.
<!--quoteo(post=1790740:date=Aug 2 2010, 12:33 PM:name=mr.klean)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (mr.klean @ Aug 2 2010, 12:33 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1790740"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->i have a problem with steam you see, i have a single core CPU, and the new steam update doesnt do well with that SO, it randomly disconnects me and that sucks please, make a NON-STEAM version! for the 20% of steam users who have a single core CPU and cant afford a better one at the moment<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Is this a new thing with Steam? Up until recently, I had a tower that used single core, never had any issues. Actually, a friend of mine still has a single core tower, and I haven't heard anything from him about it. Are you sure its a CPU issue?
Can't test this out on my end since I had to cancel my SE, so anything below is assuming your description is correct. The only technical support you can (theoretically) expect is from Valve Corporation. If they igore this issue in their forums, use their support system and pester them until you get a satisfactory response or your issue resolved. If your system meets or exceeds their proclaimed minimum specifications, you should be entitled to have it at least operational on the most basic level. Now NS2 also has minimum specs, but the game being in an alpha state probably voids any entitlement to operate within these detailed specifications. Even if not, should the issue be with Steam, then the best thing the UWE guys can do for you is refund your expenses. The game was initially advertised as being available as a download directly from the developers, regrettably those plans were cancelled. It's highly unlikely that they'll be able to commit the ressources necessary to release such a version without the constraints of Steam.
Would be nice if you could link the thread you've been referring to. Sounds quite shady from your description, but that is to be expected from someone like Valve Corporation. If offline mode and connecting via console is still possible in the alpha release, you might want to give it a try.
Been with Steam for years, sure it started out as bloatware and buggy(as most things do) but now all my game purchases are on Steam.
I have had a couple of customer service incidents relating to games vanishing and also purchases not being processed for what ever reason, but following the instructions given from their support team I have never had an issue getting things resolved.
There was one time a couple years ago I started blaming Steam for issues I had but after doing some investigating I actually found I had a faulty RAM stick.
Call me a Steam fan-boy if you want, but then you better call the other few million people who use it daily fan-people as well: <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/stats/" target="_blank">http://store.steampowered.com/stats/</a>
And with regards to what Comprox said, if it helps UW do what they need to do with less then that is never a bad thing.
<!--quoteo(post=1790740:date=Aug 2 2010, 08:33 PM:name=mr.klean)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (mr.klean @ Aug 2 2010, 08:33 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1790740"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->i have a problem with steam you see, i have a single core CPU, and the new steam update doesnt do well with that SO, it randomly disconnects me and that sucks please, make a NON-STEAM version! for the 20% of steam users who have a single core CPU and cant afford a better one at the moment<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> the likly you have a single core not going to handle the game anyways ether upgrade and spend 250 dollars on new backbones kit on tigerdirct or dotn play at all.... that like asking halo to make halo reach on xbox using halo 1 graphcs so no
Im gonna chime in here to stand up for the single core guy. If steam worked on a single core computer, then they made a cosmetic UI change and it no longer works on single core computers that is a BUG! The solution is simple, make 'simple UI' option similar to the 'classic windows' option in XP for people who are running on lesser hardware.
And about people claiming that single core computers are legacy now, I must disagree. My main computer has 8 cores (4 + 4HT), but I just built it one year ago. I have an older computer that is running an FX-55 single core processor that can still chug its way through CRYSIS! If it can run crysis at a playable frame rate then there is NO REASON it should be brought to its knees by a cosmetic change in the launch program...
<!--quoteo(post=1792266:date=Aug 6 2010, 12:05 AM:name=Disodium)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Disodium @ Aug 6 2010, 12:05 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1792266"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I have had a couple of customer service incidents relating to games vanishing and also purchases not being processed for what ever reason, but following the instructions given from their support team I have never had an issue getting things resolved.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Funny - i've never had an issue of a physical media game vanishing.... maybe you need to change your friends?
and steam sucks. When it first came out, I was horrified - I knew exactly what it meant.
A test for cloud computing on gamers... and boy have you guys paid for it. I will never support steam, and if forced, will play NS2 through it, but very begrudgingly.
Haha, I can't believe people are still paranoid about steam. When it first came out all people talked about was how it was spyware. I didn't like it either, since I found WON to be a lot more reliable. I remember I used to be able to alt tab in CS on steam and when I tabbed back in I could see through walls, so I guess that was one of the few pluses steam had back in the day. Nowadays its amazing
But going to the digital distribution vs physical media debate, sure there can be some bugs with your games on steam, as with any software. It's still reliable as hell, even more reliable than physical media at this point. Physical media can be scratched or lost (especially when you have a cd drive that gets old and chews up discs), I've even bought games that didn't have the cd key in the case, requiring me to drive all the way back to the store to get another copy. Dealing with steam support from your home is much less of a hassle. Having all your games ready to be downloaded whenever you want and never being able to lose them is a great feature. Digital distribution is the future and just thank god that Valve is the company leading us forward instead of Activision. Just imagine steam if it were created by Activision and that should put things in perspective.
Anyways OP, I used the new steam UI for months on my single core, back when it was the beta too. It ran a little slow sometimes but I never had any issues with crashes or anything. You should try running memtest to see if your ram checks out, and maybe test some of your other hardware as well just to make sure. If it is purely a software bug then I'm sure they are looking into it. If there are really 40+ threads on the steam forums like you say, then I'm sure they are aware of the problem. Just because they aren't posting in the threads does not mean they are not aware.
I actually had an issue trying to make a purchase just the other day - there was an authorisation error. Tried it with paypal first, then tried it directly with my debit card, both failed with similar errors. I made an account with Steam Support, put in a ticket detailing my problem, and any information I'd expect them to need to resolve it. They got back to me, having fixed my issue, within half a day (I made the purchase during daytime and I live on the opposite side of the globe so this is within reasonable expectations), and I got to buy the games I wanted, without issue. I have to say, I was pleased. In fact, I bought a game for my friend, just this morning. As I was just about to leave home, I got a call from my friend asking for it - I navigated to the item and I made the purchase and gifted it within a total of 2 minutes. Say what you want about Steam, but damn if it isn't efficient.
<!--quoteo(post=1792292:date=Aug 6 2010, 04:09 PM:name=RooK)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (RooK @ Aug 6 2010, 04:09 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1792292"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I will never support steam, and if forced, will play NS2 through it, but very begrudgingly.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> We have a gun to your head, and we hold your closest friends and family hostage.
TalesinOur own little well of hateJoin Date: 2002-11-08Member: 7710NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators
<!--quoteo(post=1792291:date=Aug 6 2010, 02:08 AM:name=RooK)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (RooK @ Aug 6 2010, 02:08 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1792291"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Funny - i've never had an issue of a physical media game vanishing.... maybe you need to change your friends?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> I have. Found it later under the couch though. Down side to having a cat, and paying for an EA game where the DRM isn't hidden away by Steam.
<!--quoteo(post=1792289:date=Aug 6 2010, 08:57 AM:name=JAmazon)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (JAmazon @ Aug 6 2010, 08:57 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1792289"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Im gonna chime in here to stand up for the single core guy. If steam worked on a single core computer, then they made a cosmetic UI change and it no longer works on single core computers that is a BUG! The solution is simple, make 'simple UI' option similar to the 'classic windows' option in XP for people who are running on lesser hardware.
And about people claiming that single core computers are legacy now, I must disagree. My main computer has 8 cores (4 + 4HT), but I just built it one year ago. I have an older computer that is running an FX-55 single core processor that can still chug its way through CRYSIS! If it can run crysis at a playable frame rate then there is NO REASON it should be brought to its knees by a cosmetic change in the launch program...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'm pretty sure that software/games taking advantage of current hardware can't really be classed as a bug. That pretty much saying that Windows 7 is a bug. That and it is the natural order of computer hardware. Hardware refreshes come out every 6-9month and new generations come out every 18-24month. Usually like clockwork and constantly.
They aren't legacy, but they can't be expected to work flawlessly (or at all) with new-gen games and current software. That is being very unrealistic. STEAM is nearly 7 years old, and 80% of its users have hardware capable of running it. Developers realistically, and as much as it upsets, will always go the larger majority. The money is there and Valve is a business at the end of the day, a business that uses the same profit model as every other.
dude use small mode and use the skin from fpsbanana to get it to use even less then use a flash drive with windows 7 ready boost to get even more performance. helped me but i got 2 cores
best solution here: don't buy anything on steam any more. All older games on steam can be bought somewhere else, non steam: <a href="http://www.gog.com" target="_blank">http://www.gog.com</a> offers a ton of games, 100% DRM free & you can download at any time, direct2drive is less intrusive, etc. Gamestop/EB normally have "older" games for $10 & under. You can get tons of used games on amazon & e-bay. Many companies offer steam-free games. Many offer copies you don't need the disc in the drive. Others offer games where you don't even need to install, you can copy from the disk if the installer doesn't work in a newer OS.
Steam doesn't offer any price cut vs a physical game (even Valve games can be bought cheaper in stores), doesn't offer any more security (odds are you'll be w/o internet before the disc naturally dies).
What steam DOES do is give you the option to buy stuff you want by download gb's for hours vs minutes off a CD/DVD. And the ability for someone else to take it away.
The # of quality games on steam is ~1% of all quality games out there. Most are junk, quick $ grabs by small companies & "indie" dev's just using steam to get a quick initial $ because of the front page hype.
Sadly, UW decided to make this game steam required. Many games still don't need it though. As you can see from this thread, a steam-fan's response is you need to buy new stuff, not actually try to figure out the problem & solve it. I don't find it strange that all games I've played that are steam-based have fans that don't help when you have a steam issue. I've seen non-steam game fans bend over backwards to help fix issues. It's the mentality (shown in this thread): don't say it's not good, if it wasn't good then millions of people wouldn't use it.
I don't remember reading anything in history where the majority was morally or legally right when they screwed the little guy over. A bigger majority from outside always stepped in to stop it. There's just no bigger majority yet.
EDIT: the new UI, I agree, is crap too. Bloated, sluggish & very badly organized. Click anything & it takes a second for it to happen. Nothing's better then loading up steam to play a game, clicking on something & then finding out you can't play because it's autoupdating something you planed on playing.
But you can't play online w/o the new updates, so good-bye game time, help multiple naps per day!
<!--quoteo(post=1793449:date=Aug 10 2010, 11:10 PM:name=The Happy Friar)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (The Happy Friar @ Aug 10 2010, 11:10 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1793449"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Steam doesn't offer any price cut vs a physical game (even Valve games can be bought cheaper in stores), doesn't offer any more security (odds are you'll be w/o internet before the disc naturally dies).<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I don't know where you are making this up from, but Steam constantly offers amazing deals. They often have sales of top games for 20-75% off and they do crazy things like Half Life for 99 cents on its anniversary, etc.
I've bought CS:Source as a gift for friends several times when it has been on sale for $10. It's still $20 at retail outlets. Not to mention the L4D sales where you could buy a 4 pack of a new game for $150 as opposed to $60 a piece individually at Best Buy when the game first came out..
You must have had a bad experience with Steam, but there is no need to lie and spread garbage about it. I'm glad NS2 is going to be distributed via Steam.
I personally love being able to take my game collection with me wherever I have an internet connection. The cloud is awesome!
Has there even been any official word from Valve on this "single core" issue? I've got a single core machine here (Athlon64 3200+), and Steam runs 100% fine on a 3 years old clogged Vista install; my father games a few hours every day on it, both SP and MP games and never had any issue so far. I'm sure they are investigating the problem.
Oh and @"Steam doesn't offer any price cut", by all means, please find me a retail copy of Stalker for 2$, Red Orchestra or DoD:S for 2.50$ or even Mirror's Edge or Bioshock for 5$. That's about what it'd cost to drive to the store, gas-wise.
Comments
<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103846" target="_blank">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819103846</a>
For a flat $100 you get a 3.2 GHz Dual Core Black Edition (read, easy to overclock) AMD that'll blow any single core waaaaay out of the water (and probably somewhere into orbit).
Pair it with a decent Gigabyte Motherboard, and you're set.
If you need help, I can guide you through setting up a system for under $500 if you want :)
BTW - going to PM this to you in case you miss it with the spam
The above thread has two solutions for the problem within 10 posts from the beginning that you may want to try.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Thanks you for the post.
Digital on the other hand, that's always available - but it's clear the problem with you is that you've got a trust issue, or some sort of paranoia. Do you happen to use any online banking? Maybe you shouldn't.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Geeze, I better not buy a car then! They have online banking on the internet now?! HEY MARGE!
I wasn't saying digital distribution is a negative thing, but it's sometime to watch over. People are complaisant, trust these distributors, click "yes" on every T&A. It could bite people in the arse in the future. Any problems occur, you then have 1 account tied in with nearly every game you own.
Product deterioration isn't a reason alone to completely bypass tangible copies. I have cheap blank back-up CDS from 15 years ago kept in cases that load no problems. It's not that I don't trust--I did say most of my games are bought online--it's just being mindful of future consequences having all your gaming private ownership online. It's a gateway topic anyway, so before I start veering off; I"ll just leave it at that. :)
Oh the irony.
Or about how they immediately apologized when they figured out what had happened, and gave everyone that they'd banned for all of a day a free copy of L4D2 by way of apology?
Yeah, there's a reason Valve gets my money. And a lot of it. On a regular basis.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
yeah, but they didnt even apoligize to those whose money theve wasted with single cores!
i mean SINGLE CORES CAN PLAY THE GAMES!!!!!!
THEY CANNOT PLAY THE NEW UI!!!!!
ive played everything i have with a single core CPU, and it worked until the new STEAM UI, which kjept on disconnecting me because of VAC timeouts! and now its only regular client timeouts! WHY DID VALVE NOT FIX THIS? they fixed that OTHER THING, but not THIS THING!
single cores can work the games just fine
they cant work the new over blown steam UI!
and just because they did some big publicity stunt doesnt win my trust
Oh the irony.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
dude, LISTEN TO MY POSTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
STEAM WORKED ON A SINGLE CORE COMPUTER
BUT THEN THEY CHANGED IT WITH OUT TELLING US TO CHANGHE CPU'S!!!!
THAT LEADS ME TO BELIEVE THEY DIDNT EVEN TEST IT!!
and their new hardware survey says about 20% have single cores
its not that their products cant be run
and for me its not that im angry that they cant run on my specific CPU
ITS THE GOD DAMNED FACT THAT THEY WORKED AT 2010, STEAM SCREWED US OVER, AND WONT EVEN BOTHER TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE ###### PROBLEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i have only this to say
Steam worked great for 3 years!
then steam UI updated and now it disconnects regularly!
the game requirements still say single core CPU at the minimum.
so Steam screwed us over.
I can understand that, they expect us to be up to date!
BUT THIS IS WHAT ###### BUGS ME!!!!!!!!!!
THEY DID NOT ###### TELL US
THEY PROBABLY DONT EVEN KNOW!
THERE ARE LIKE 40 THREADS ABOUT THIS AT THE STEAM FORUMS
AND THEY DONT EVEN ACKNOWLEDGE ANY ONE OF THESE!!!
THEY DONT EVEN BOTHER TO READ THEM ANY MORE, PROBABLY
im just a little 20 year old kid, i have a few friends, my job, my apartment, and my games
summers over so i cant go swimming, looks like ill either have to hang out with my friends, or play my games
however, i dont meet new friends at my curreent job, so all my friends are from my last job, and they work really late.
so all i have to do on the weekdays after work is:
1:go to mall (fat chance, i dont have much money)
2:hang out with friends(not really, most of them work late, this is only option on weekend)
3:play games(bingo)
and i dont have enough money to buy a PS3, dont have enough to pay for XBOX LIVE subscription, ######, i barely have enough for internet!
so please, dont insult me
im just angry that steam screwed me and the people like me, and arent even going to tell us sorry...
the devs choose steam for a reason, the game is next gen designed for next gen hardware
are you going to complain when your relic of a pc cant play the full game?
the issue here is not steam , its your hardware .. why should the devs or valve change things to make you happy? the rest of the world updates to newer tech why cant you?
I'd like to add im a student (read: extremely poor) yet im still sitting with a machine that works well , PCs are cheap.
Valve wont change steam for you, and I doubt the devs would drop it just to make you happy.
When I start for example TF2, it goes to 90Mb to 130MB while the game is booting up with 50% CPU on 1 core of my dualcore. So this is probably 100% on your singlecore, which is normal, because that is what I saw on my oldschool AMD Barton singlecore.
However once the game/map is loaded it goes back to 0% load with the memory load going down to 20Mb-50Mb...
<b>NOTE:</b>
I have turned off the buggy/unstable ingame steam community thingy, so maybe your problem lies here?
I can't see any reason why you would have trouble playing games, unless you actually have the Steam Community Overlay (SHIFT+TAB) thingy enabled... Disabling it can be done by right-clicking on your systray steam icon then go:
Settings -> In-Game (tab) -> unckeck the checkbox there
Still weird though with having connection problems related to CPU load... I would've blamed your router/switch for this first, might be steam is making more connections now with their new interface, making your router/switch crash
As for the single core thing the only thing i can suggest is try and find the money to get a cheap motherboard and cpu deal (+ RAM if your old ram isnt supported by the new mobo) from older tech (newer for you in your case). If your in the UK ebuyer.com is a good place now and then for cheap deals on mobo/cpu deals for older tech.
I can understand why your angry i was the same pretty much when adsl/fibre optic broadband came around into full swing and i was on a standard 56k modem trying to play cs1.6 and i kept getting disconnnected from won/steam i was fuming. But its the way technology goes sadly, newer tech comes out replacing older tech every year and consumers either upgrade or get left behind and business's and game companys are always trying to push the boundrys to get great gfx and functions from there software.
The same can be said for consoles, a new one comes out and people jump on the bandwagon until the next console is released offereing something better. As for steam in general i've had problems with steam over the last couple of years from games not working to steam not even loading but most of my problems with steam i've found were down to general hardware errors. Steam have probably got a new UI update in the works to patch certain errors with single cores if not then theres not much you can do realy apart from try and get your current computer upgraded.
you see, i have a single core CPU, and the new steam update doesnt do well with that
SO, it randomly disconnects me
and that sucks
please, make a NON-STEAM version!
for the 20% of steam users who have a single core CPU and cant afford a better one at the moment<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Is this a new thing with Steam? Up until recently, I had a tower that used single core, never had any issues. Actually, a friend of mine still has a single core tower, and I haven't heard anything from him about it. Are you sure its a CPU issue?
Also, turn off Cloud sharing/sync.
Now NS2 also has minimum specs, but the game being in an alpha state probably voids any entitlement to operate within these detailed specifications. Even if not, should the issue be with Steam, then the best thing the UWE guys can do for you is refund your expenses. The game was initially advertised as being available as a download directly from the developers, regrettably those plans were cancelled. It's highly unlikely that they'll be able to commit the ressources necessary to release such a version without the constraints of Steam.
Would be nice if you could link the thread you've been referring to. Sounds quite shady from your description, but that is to be expected from someone like Valve Corporation.
If offline mode and connecting via console is still possible in the alpha release, you might want to give it a try.
I have had a couple of customer service incidents relating to games vanishing and also purchases not being processed for what ever reason, but following the instructions given from their support team I have never had an issue getting things resolved.
There was one time a couple years ago I started blaming Steam for issues I had but after doing some investigating I actually found I had a faulty RAM stick.
Call me a Steam fan-boy if you want, but then you better call the other few million people who use it daily fan-people as well: <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/stats/" target="_blank">http://store.steampowered.com/stats/</a>
And with regards to what Comprox said, if it helps UW do what they need to do with less then that is never a bad thing.
you see, i have a single core CPU, and the new steam update doesnt do well with that
SO, it randomly disconnects me
and that sucks
please, make a NON-STEAM version!
for the 20% of steam users who have a single core CPU and cant afford a better one at the moment<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
the likly you have a single core not going to handle the game anyways ether upgrade and spend 250 dollars on new backbones kit on tigerdirct or dotn play at all.... that like asking halo to make halo reach on xbox using halo 1 graphcs so no
And about people claiming that single core computers are legacy now, I must disagree. My main computer has 8 cores (4 + 4HT), but I just built it one year ago. I have an older computer that is running an FX-55 single core processor that can still chug its way through CRYSIS! If it can run crysis at a playable frame rate then there is NO REASON it should be brought to its knees by a cosmetic change in the launch program...
Funny - i've never had an issue of a physical media game vanishing.... maybe you need to change your friends?
A test for cloud computing on gamers... and boy have you guys paid for it. I will never support steam, and if forced, will play NS2 through it, but very begrudgingly.
But going to the digital distribution vs physical media debate, sure there can be some bugs with your games on steam, as with any software. It's still reliable as hell, even more reliable than physical media at this point. Physical media can be scratched or lost (especially when you have a cd drive that gets old and chews up discs), I've even bought games that didn't have the cd key in the case, requiring me to drive all the way back to the store to get another copy. Dealing with steam support from your home is much less of a hassle. Having all your games ready to be downloaded whenever you want and never being able to lose them is a great feature. Digital distribution is the future and just thank god that Valve is the company leading us forward instead of Activision. Just imagine steam if it were created by Activision and that should put things in perspective.
Anyways OP, I used the new steam UI for months on my single core, back when it was the beta too. It ran a little slow sometimes but I never had any issues with crashes or anything. You should try running memtest to see if your ram checks out, and maybe test some of your other hardware as well just to make sure. If it is purely a software bug then I'm sure they are looking into it. If there are really 40+ threads on the steam forums like you say, then I'm sure they are aware of the problem. Just because they aren't posting in the threads does not mean they are not aware.
They got back to me, having fixed my issue, within half a day (I made the purchase during daytime and I live on the opposite side of the globe so this is within reasonable expectations), and I got to buy the games I wanted, without issue.
I have to say, I was pleased.
In fact, I bought a game for my friend, just this morning. As I was just about to leave home, I got a call from my friend asking for it - I navigated to the item and I made the purchase and gifted it within a total of 2 minutes.
Say what you want about Steam, but damn if it isn't efficient.
<!--quoteo(post=1792292:date=Aug 6 2010, 04:09 PM:name=RooK)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (RooK @ Aug 6 2010, 04:09 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1792292"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I will never support steam, and if forced, will play NS2 through it, but very begrudgingly.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
We have a gun to your head, and we hold your closest friends and family hostage.
I have. Found it later under the couch though. Down side to having a cat, and paying for an EA game where the DRM isn't hidden away by Steam.
And about people claiming that single core computers are legacy now, I must disagree. My main computer has 8 cores (4 + 4HT), but I just built it one year ago. I have an older computer that is running an FX-55 single core processor that can still chug its way through CRYSIS! If it can run crysis at a playable frame rate then there is NO REASON it should be brought to its knees by a cosmetic change in the launch program...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'm pretty sure that software/games taking advantage of current hardware can't really be classed as a bug. That pretty much saying that Windows 7 is a bug. That and it is the natural order of computer hardware. Hardware refreshes come out every 6-9month and new generations come out every 18-24month. Usually like clockwork and constantly.
They aren't legacy, but they can't be expected to work flawlessly (or at all) with new-gen games and current software. That is being very unrealistic. STEAM is nearly 7 years old, and 80% of its users have hardware capable of running it. Developers realistically, and as much as it upsets, will always go the larger majority. The money is there and Valve is a business at the end of the day, a business that uses the same profit model as every other.
STEAM isn't the enemy here.
With its system requirements being this: (assuming they are true)
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->System Requirements
Windows XP, Vista, or 7
512 MB RAM
1 Ghz or faster processor<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
It seems more likely it is a bug, the UI requiring multiple threads would be rediculous.
I did laugh at the mac requirements though "Two button mouse strongly recomended" ;)
don't buy anything on steam any more. All older games on steam can be bought somewhere else, non steam: <a href="http://www.gog.com" target="_blank">http://www.gog.com</a> offers a ton of games, 100% DRM free & you can download at any time, direct2drive is less intrusive, etc. Gamestop/EB normally have "older" games for $10 & under. You can get tons of used games on amazon & e-bay. Many companies offer steam-free games. Many offer copies you don't need the disc in the drive. Others offer games where you don't even need to install, you can copy from the disk if the installer doesn't work in a newer OS.
Steam doesn't offer any price cut vs a physical game (even Valve games can be bought cheaper in stores), doesn't offer any more security (odds are you'll be w/o internet before the disc naturally dies).
What steam DOES do is give you the option to buy stuff you want by download gb's for hours vs minutes off a CD/DVD. And the ability for someone else to take it away.
The # of quality games on steam is ~1% of all quality games out there. Most are junk, quick $ grabs by small companies & "indie" dev's just using steam to get a quick initial $ because of the front page hype.
Sadly, UW decided to make this game steam required. Many games still don't need it though. As you can see from this thread, a steam-fan's response is you need to buy new stuff, not actually try to figure out the problem & solve it. I don't find it strange that all games I've played that are steam-based have fans that don't help when you have a steam issue. I've seen non-steam game fans bend over backwards to help fix issues. It's the mentality (shown in this thread): don't say it's not good, if it wasn't good then millions of people wouldn't use it.
I don't remember reading anything in history where the majority was morally or legally right when they screwed the little guy over. A bigger majority from outside always stepped in to stop it. There's just no bigger majority yet.
EDIT: the new UI, I agree, is crap too. Bloated, sluggish & very badly organized. Click anything & it takes a second for it to happen. Nothing's better then loading up steam to play a game, clicking on something & then finding out you can't play because it's autoupdating something you planed on playing.
But you can't play online w/o the new updates, so good-bye game time, help multiple naps per day!
I don't know where you are making this up from, but Steam constantly offers amazing deals. They often have sales of top games for 20-75% off and they do crazy things like Half Life for 99 cents on its anniversary, etc.
I've bought CS:Source as a gift for friends several times when it has been on sale for $10. It's still $20 at retail outlets. Not to mention the L4D sales where you could buy a 4 pack of a new game for $150 as opposed to $60 a piece individually at Best Buy when the game first came out..
You must have had a bad experience with Steam, but there is no need to lie and spread garbage about it. I'm glad NS2 is going to be distributed via Steam.
I personally love being able to take my game collection with me wherever I have an internet connection. The cloud is awesome!
And the wheel is pure witchcraft.
Oh and @"Steam doesn't offer any price cut", by all means, please find me a retail copy of Stalker for 2$, Red Orchestra or DoD:S for 2.50$ or even Mirror's Edge or Bioshock for 5$. That's about what it'd cost to drive to the store, gas-wise.