Steam Q&A and FAQ

Is there a way to make it so I don't have to look at an ad for some computer game every time I close Civ V?

Steam -> Options -> Interface

Remove the last check mark. Click OK. Done.

I'm a volunteer mod at the official steam forum and a huge Civ fan. (sounds a bit confessional) And... apparently, a glutton for punishment, or so we'll find out in this thread.

That said, please post any questions you have regarding Steam. I'll add them into the OP and give links to the Steam page as need be.

My goal is to be helpful in terms of giving factual information about Steam to dispel misperceptions and hopefully help you have a good experience w/ Civ5 on Steam.

Rules:
1. If you want an answer post in a civil and reasonable manner.
2. Its OK to be critical so long as you follow rule #1.
3. Any uncivil or inappropriate questions will be directed to the mod staff for removal and/or appropriate disposition.
4. No questions about things that are business decisions on the part of 2K or Valve. For example, pricing, release date, etc... these don't have anything to do w/ how steam works and are beyond what I can answer.
5. No questions on other games, IE "WTF is what that TF2 update?"

Notes:
1. I work F/T, have kids, etc... so if it takes me a couple days for an answer or two, please be patient.
2. As I said, I'm a VOLUNTEER mod. I'm not paid by Valve nor do I speak in any official capacity for them.

Useful links:

General Steam Support
Steam Forums
Civilization forum in Steam Forums (all games are handled in 1 forum)

1. Can I play offline?
Yes, you can. But you have to register the game with steam first.

Offline Mode allows you to play games through Steam without reconnecting to the Steam Network every time you wish to play - this is particularly useful if you do not plan on playing over the internet and would prefer not to download new updates for your single-player games.
Please note that you must connect to the Steam Network and test each of the games you would like to use in Offline Mode at least once to set up your account and configure Offline Mode on your machine.

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2. Can I change the homepage in the overlay? From Knug
Not that I am aware of. However, you can skin it. This links to a lot of well known interface skins.

3. What happens if someone tries to gift me Civ5 and I already own it? From Turkey_ballz

This situation should not be possible. Source

How can I tell if my friend already owns one of these games?
If you are sending a gift directly through Steam, users who already own this game will automatically be filtered out of the potential list of recipients. You could always just ask to make sure as well.

If you are positive that they do not have this game, you can send it to their email. Users who already have a subscription to a gift they’ve received will not be able to activate it on their existing account.

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4. Can I load my steam account onto more than one PC?
Yes. You just cannot access the account simultaneously. Source

I receive the error message "Your account <account name> is currently in use at another machine. You'll need to shut down Steam on your other computer in order to log in here." What should I do?

This error indicates that another computer has recently been logged in to this Steam account. A Steam account can only be logged in from one computer at a time. Rapidly switching the account between multiple computers may result in a temporary lockout.

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However, you cannot "share" the account. Meaning, if I load my account on my friends PC, so long as I am logging in and not giving him the PW, this is OK. Plus, its just smart protection of your own interests to not share a PW. Source

You may not reveal, share or otherwise allow others to use your password or Account. You agree that you are personally responsible for the use of your password and Account and for all of the communication and activity on Steam that results from use of your login name and password. You may not sell or charge others for the right to use your Account, or otherwise transfer your Account.

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Spaceholder 2

should this not rather be in tech support?
Or do you want it to be here?

The_J said:

should this not rather be in tech support?
Or do you want it to be here?

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FYI, I ran this by BirdJag and TF before posting. I realize it is kind of technical, but given the hordes are posting here and a lot of the questions about steam pop up here, this is good, but if you think that's better, go ahead.

I guess I think it should be where it will be of the most use. And, with that, I'll defer to the CFC judgment.

Cheers.

hhmm
Okay, if BJ + TF agree, i can't disagree .
Let's keep it here. If a troll invasion occurres, it should be moved to the tech support to fight against it.

1. Can you clarify what ports does Steam/Civ5 use? I'm assuming that as a Steamworks matchmaking game, that it is Steam that is dictating this and not Firaxis's code. And I have had several MP players not able to host games and ask me what ports to forward. Data that seems to be hard to find.

2. Can you clarify how the regional servers effect game data transmission? I have recommended that all Civplayers members use a single server, the NY one in particular, but some european players are stating this causes even more lag in game. I would not think that in a p2p game that Steam would route data threw game list servers, but it seems like it does.

It would really be best if Steam would give Civ5 a global server as we are not that large of an MP community and regional servers serve to fragment what we do have.

Thanks for volunteering to help the community too.

CS

Is there anyway to set a homepage in the overlay interface web browser? (for CFC of course )

IF my account has a civ5 copy already and someone else tries to gift me civ5, can I then pass that civ5 copy onto someone else since I already have it?

Is there any way for steam to fix bugged achievements (i.e. Maggellan) or is that up to the developer of the game?

Not to steal the guy's thunder, but since I don't have anything better to do now may as well answer the questions out right now

1. Can you clarify what ports does Steam/Civ5 use? I'm assuming that as a Steamworks matchmaking game, that it is Steam that is dictating this and not Firaxis's code. And I have had several MP players not able to host games and ask me what ports to forward. Data that seems to be hard to find.

2. Can you clarify how the regional servers effect game data transmission? I have recommended that all Civplayers members use a single server, the NY one in particular, but some european players are stating this causes even more lag in game. I would not think that in a p2p game that Steam would route data threw game list servers, but it seems like it does.

It would really be best if Steam would give Civ5 a global server as we are not that large of an MP community and regional servers serve to fragment what we do have.

Thanks for volunteering to help the community too.

CS

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Here's the list of ports needed for both the Steam client and Steam servers.



For question number 2, it'd be advisable for players to stick to their own regions, as data transfer is better for players who are geographically near the servers. So it will be natural for European players to have some problems with American servers. This is pretty much true for any multiplayer game on steam, dedicated servers or not.

IF my account has a civ5 copy already and someone else tries to gift me civ5, can I then pass that civ5 copy onto someone else since I already have it?

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Sadly no. The only games that allow you to keep multiple copies for gifting are the Half Life 2 games (Half Life 2, Episode 1 and Episode 2) and the friend bundles (Borderlands 4 pack, L4D and L4D 2 four pack).

Is there any way for steam to fix bugged achievements (i.e. Maggellan) or is that up to the developer of the game?

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It depends. Sometimes it may be on the end of the game developers themselves. Sometimes it's just a problem on the Steam server's end. All people can really do is hope for the achievements to be fixed though an update.

Anyway, I hope I don't earn the wrath of the topic creator for this. I went out of lurking because it seems many people here need help with Steam. If the topic creator permits it, then I'd also try to help with answering the questions that I can answer.

Each time Steam gets started, it is trying to send out a crash report (regardless if a crash has happened or not). According to the privacy policy, this (automatically created) report contains data about hardware and software installations on one's computer.

I understand that all installed software is reported.

Question 1:
In which way are these information stored and analyzed?

Question 2:
Who except Valve's (Steam's) technical staff (if confronted with technical problems) gets access to these data?

Question 3:
Which additional data (= more than hardware configuration and installed software) are sent by these hidden reports?

This is my first game purchased via Steam (heck, I'm really old school, its the first game I've ever purchased online).

I've generally been pretty happy, except this past weekend where I had a 12 hour trip to London (I'm based in Asia) and was pretty psyched to continue the 200 turn game I had nicely going.

I'm strapped in, taken off in flight, captain turns off the fasten seat belt sign, boot, and try and load the game and lo and behold:

"installation error"

I guess there were some pending updates / patches that hadn't been installed, but I had no idea:

1) that these patches were pending installation
2) that I would be unable to play / resume an old game via the current version (pre-patch)

To STEAM:

1) it would be nice to have some notification that this is indeed the case.
2) even better would be the option to play the game without the update / patches (kind of like when you get a "nag" notice that an update is ready for a particular software, giving you the option to patch / install or do it later)
3) the way it works now is -- if you have downloaded pending patches (and, again, there isn't a very clear message to the user that this is indeed the case) and the next time you boot up, if you are sans internet connection, you are basically SOL.

So, yeah, I was pretty pissed. Eventually I landed and of course connected and updated, so I made very good use of the game on my return flight back, but its something I wanted to bring up.

i.e. This is clearly a case where if I had just bought the physical copy, I never would have run into this issue. It seems to me that in order for the STEAM method of distribution to be as successful as possible, it should try to be at least equal to (if not superior to) a physical copy. In many ways, it is better than a physical copy, but at least in this instance, it clearly wasn't.

hopefully STEAM can address this going forward.

thanks!

Carolus Caputus said:

Each time Steam gets started, it is trying to send out a crash report (regardless if a crash has happened or not). According to the privacy policy, this (automatically created) report contains data about hardware and software installations on one's computer.

I understand that all installed software is reported.

Question 1:
In which way are these information stored and analyzed?

Question 2:
Who except Valve's (Steam's) technical staff (if confronted with technical problems) gets access to these data?

Question 3:
Which additional data (= more than hardware configuration and installed software) are sent by these hidden reports?

Click to expand...

I re-read the Privacy Statement and Terms of Agreement just in case, so here's what I know and understand of it from experience and reading the terms.

The only software Steam collects information about is the ones you installed using Steam, as well as your device drivers. Otherwise, I know a lot of people who'd get in deep trouble from some of the stuff they run on their computer, some of which they even make shortcuts of on Steam.

1 - All information is stored on their servers, and have different uses. Sales figures are usually for planning deals and is also given to the publishers for reference. Usually the less popular titles or older games gets lots of them. Game data on Valve's games (Half Life 2, Team Fortress 2, etc) are used by Valve themselves to gauge how well these games are doing with it's users, as well other info like the average skill level, completion time, etc, which is pretty useful when going into game design. Hardware info is of course to ensure that their games can be played by a wide range of people and hardware. Things like chats, server logs, user reports and other similar data are used for various purposes, like customer support (specially for people who fall into phishing scams and get their accounts stolen), and Valve Anti-Cheat bans. Credit card info is of course for transactions with them, which they also keep a track of in their transaction history page for your account.

2 - Publishers usually get data on bug and error reports, as well as sales figures. Valve's own development teams get access to the game play data as well as user feedback to help them plan out patches or future game releases.

3 - The hidden reports are mostly about game play data. Time spent playing the game for every game. For Valve developed games, they also take additional information, like how long it takes for players to beat the game, achievements, favored levels/weapons/maps/characters, servers people visit on the multiplayer games (Team Fortress 2 has a server blacklist/whitelist function, etc.), chat logs in Steam friends as well as profile action in Steam community.

You can see the game play related data here:

http://store.steampowered.com/stats/

If there are any corrections for these, please feel free to point them out.

agoodfella, there is an option to turn off automatic updates. Just go to your games library tab, right click on Civilization V, then click properties. Click on the Updates tab then select "Do not automatically update this game". Next time around if a new update is out, the game wouldn't automatically patch it.

But if you ever re-install the game, it will always automatically patch to the latest version.

I have been unable to connect a local area network game using Hamachi software to simulate LAN though the internet. Does steam somehow prevent the use of hamachi, or is it just Civ 5, or is there a deeper truth hidden from my inexperienced network user eyes?

Fernaske said:

agoodfella, there is an option to turn off automatic updates. Just go to your games library tab, right click on Civilization V, then click properties. Click on the Updates tab then select "Do not automatically update this game". Next time around if a new update is out, the game wouldn't automatically patch it.

But if you ever re-install the game, it will always automatically patch to the latest version.

Click to expand...

Thanks, good to know.

Behemoth said:

I have been unable to connect a local area network game using Hamachi software to simulate LAN though the internet. Does steam somehow prevent the use of hamachi, or is it just Civ 5, or is there a deeper truth hidden from my inexperienced network user eyes?

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My friends tried to do the same too, and they have steam installed copies. It didn't work for them too, so it's not just you. As for what causes it, I'm not sure.