Civilization 5 Steamworks questions/concerns for inclusion in the FAQ

[Tylerryan79]

If the faq is a moving target, as you put it, he could easily post what he has, with a disclaimer stating not all features are complete, and the faq is subject to change.

@PoM - Good luck contacting Valve, and getting answers. Please let us know how they respond, Im curious about the non civ5 specific questions myself. Also if 2K is unable, or unwilling to supply the answers, I doubt they will reveal the truth to you. I guess we can really only wait this one out, and see what happens huh? Maybe you could send out a mass email, and hope one of the employees responds! LOL Good luck!

 

[Blue Smarties]

I'm sure by now I've missed the band-wagon; I read the first 20-odd pages and then skipped to the end... I am a massive Civ fan (I've been playing it since the first incarnation) and I've grown to love each version for its own strengths (and weaknesses). So as soon as the release date for Civ V was released, I pre-ordered it. That was before I found out it was a Steam game.

I work long hours and I'm away from home a lot; I game on my laptop (I'm currently playing DoW2 through Steam) and I do have a broad-band dongle. However, I do not get enough time to do the whole online gaming thing and I don't get the bandwidth or speed necessary for some games. I am a reasonably intelligent adult and I am completely capable of patching something when I believe it needs it (i.e. it stops working). My biggest complaint of DoW2 is Steam; specifically, I have to run Steam, Virus checker, etc just to play a game... I've spent longer waiting for the laptop to get everything loaded than I've spent on some missions... I realise Steam and the future incarnations are likely to be the norm for subsequent game releases due to the advantages to the games manufacturers. Sadly, I find the disadvantages, especially on marginal systems, outweigh the few advantages (like, having the game patched in your free hour, so you end up finding something else to do instead).

This call-sign will not be joining the Civ V community if Steam is involved.

*Cancels pre-order, puts box back on shelf and sadly walks away*

 

[kozzer]

I'm sure by now I've missed the band-wagon; I read the first 20-odd pages and then skipped to the end... I am a massive Civ fan (I've been playing it since the first incarnation) and I've grown to love each version for its own strengths (and weaknesses). So as soon as the release date for Civ V was released, I pre-ordered it. That was before I found out it was a Steam game.

I work long hours and I'm away from home a lot; I game on my laptop (I'm currently playing DoW2 through Steam) and I do have a broad-band dongle. However, I do not get enough time to do the whole online gaming thing and I don't get the bandwidth or speed necessary for some games. I am a reasonably intelligent adult and I am completely capable of patching something when I believe it needs it (i.e. it stops working). My biggest complaint of DoW2 is Steam; specifically, I have to run Steam, Virus checker, etc just to play a game... I've spent longer waiting for the laptop to get everything loaded than I've spent on some missions... I realise Steam and the future incarnations are likely to be the norm for subsequent game releases due to the advantages to the games manufacturers. Sadly, I find the disadvantages, especially on marginal systems, outweigh the few advantages (like, having the game patched in your free hour, so you end up finding something else to do instead).

This call-sign will not be joining the Civ V community if Steam is involved.

*Cancels pre-order, puts box back on shelf and sadly walks away*

Can't you buy it on disc, install it, do the one-time Steam activation, set Steam into offline mode and then use your firewall to block Steam's access to the net?

 

[Mark Havel]

That won't make the Steam requirement disappear nor make Steam loading shorter, unfortunately. The way you will buy the game will absolutely not matter by the way, whether you buy it through Steam or with a disc, it will still tied to a Steam account and accessible as any Steam game. So you can use the game disc to put glasses of beer on it, as long as you remember your Steam credentials.

 

[Senethro]

I'm sure by now I've missed the band-wagon; I read the first 20-odd pages and then skipped to the end... I am a massive Civ fan (I've been playing it since the first incarnation) and I've grown to love each version for its own strengths (and weaknesses). So as soon as the release date for Civ V was released, I pre-ordered it. That was before I found out it was a Steam game.

I work long hours and I'm away from home a lot; I game on my laptop (I'm currently playing DoW2 through Steam) and I do have a broad-band dongle. However, I do not get enough time to do the whole online gaming thing and I don't get the bandwidth or speed necessary for some games. I am a reasonably intelligent adult and I am completely capable of patching something when I believe it needs it (i.e. it stops working). My biggest complaint of DoW2 is Steam; specifically, I have to run Steam, Virus checker, etc just to play a game... I've spent longer waiting for the laptop to get everything loaded than I've spent on some missions... I realise Steam and the future incarnations are likely to be the norm for subsequent game releases due to the advantages to the games manufacturers. Sadly, I find the disadvantages, especially on marginal systems, outweigh the few advantages (like, having the game patched in your free hour, so you end up finding something else to do instead).

This call-sign will not be joining the Civ V community if Steam is involved.

*Cancels pre-order, puts box back on shelf and sadly walks away*

Your loading times are because you're on a laptop. If a virus checker is causing problems for your games then you could add the games installation directory to the list of exceptions (and consider upgrading). If you want to forgo needing the AV altogether then just play in offline mode and temporarily deactivate it.

You would not see noticeable performance improvement from removing Steam.

 

[kozzer]

That won't make the Steam requirement disappear nor make Steam loading shorter, unfortunately. The way you will buy the game will absolutely not matter by the way, whether you buy it through Steam or with a disc, it will still tied to a Steam account and accessible as any Steam game. So you can use the game disc to put glasses of beer on it, as long as you remember your Steam credentials.

But it seemed his main complaint was regarding Steam's amount and timing of its internet access. And that's the point my post was addressing.

 

[Mark Havel]

Well, the only thing that a disc version of the game will bring, apart the game disc itself, is a probable and dramatic shortening of the game installation. It will stay a Steam game through and through so you can also redeem the code given in the game box and never insert the game disc as well.

 

[kozzer]

Well, the only thing that a disc version of the game will bring, apart the game disc itself, is a probable and dramatic shortening of the game installation. It will stay a Steam game through and through so you can also redeem the code given in the game box and never insert the game disc as well.

Well, obviously! But if you get it on disc, you won't need to do the ~2GB download. And since he's concerned about the amount of internet use, I'd imagine he doesn't want to have to download the game.

 

[Tylerryan79]

He does understand the whole offline mode concept, correct? Because I'm not getting that he does. Install game, verify game, put in offline mode, disconnect Internet, turn off av, play, exit game. Next time you play disconnect Internet, turn of av, click on civ v icon, wait for load, play. If you want to shop steam etc put steam in online mod, and if your just going to be playing single player, put steam in offline mod. Load times may vary!

 

[12agnar0k]

Can't you buy it on disc, install it, do the one-time Steam activation, set Steam into offline mode and then use your firewall to block Steam's access to the net?

Yes, if you are concerned with accidentally going onto Steam online mode and accidentally updating your game so you mods don't work, a solution is to do the above.
Otherwise blocking its internet access doesn't accomplish anything other than denying going onto online mode.

 

[diligence]

So you can't leave the internet on and use the firewall to block Steam and play offline?

 

[Senethro]

So you can't leave the internet on and use the firewall to block Steam and play offline?

You can, but why bother?

 

[diligence]

So steam cant collect informaation from me thats why. If steam can't give accuracte details of their data collection, then I don't want them to collect information on my computer.

I sometimes just use the desktop button so that i can check my emails and return to the game (civ4) and would like to continue to have that choice. without steam taking almanner of information which is not specified in their privacy policy.

 

[kozzer]

So steam cant collect informaation from me thats why. If steam can't give accuracte details of their data collection, then I don't want them to collect information on my computer.

I sometimes just use the desktop button so that i can check my emails and return to the game (civ4) and would like to continue to have that choice. without steam taking almanner of information which is not specified in their privacy policy.

Plus, if you just set your firewall to block Steam, then you don't have to remember to disable/enable your internet connection every single time you want to play Civ. Do it once, and forget about it.

And granted, this is a limited solution. If you don't want Steam running at all, then you aren't going to be playing Civ. If you want to do anything but single player and install any mods manually, then you're gonna have to bite the bullet and let Steam connect which will lead to patches/Steam updates/usage reporting/etc.

 

[diligence]

I only ever play single player, not even played the mods that come with BTS

 

[Mark Havel]

So steam cant collect informaation from me thats why. If steam can't give accuracte details of their data collection, then I don't want them to collect information on my computer.

I sometimes just use the desktop button so that i can check my emails and return to the game (civ4) and would like to continue to have that choice. without steam taking almanner of information which is not specified in their privacy policy.

The most personal information Steam can collect are hardware related ones, as far as I know. And it's not mandatory. They might collect some kind of stats trough Steamworks, but I guess they are more related with the Achievements than anything else and I doubt they are used in other ways than having some kind of passive feedback about games, how they are played and thus, how to improve them.

 

[Commander Bello]

The most personal information Steam can collect are hardware related ones, as far as I know. And it's not mandatory.

And software, which means reading your registry.
And it is done, as Steam states in their privacy policy.

 

[Mark Havel]

I dare say they also state that this data is thoroughly anonymised.
When I read this survey, I feel this must be an useful tool for developers to see what kind of machine they can expect their potential customers to have and therefore, adapt their games to the said machines.

Obviously, you're free not to believe them and to refrain from using Steam, which will prevent you from playing Civ V. Personally, I like Steam I find it brings us more than it gets from us, but I understood that players may be defiant about it.

 

[Blue Smarties]

He does understand the whole offline mode concept, correct? Because I'm not getting that he does. Install game, verify game, put in offline mode, disconnect Internet, turn off av, play, exit game. Next time you play disconnect Internet, turn of av, click on civ v icon, wait for load, play. If you want to shop steam etc put steam in online mod, and if your just going to be playing single player, put steam in offline mod. Load times may vary!

I wasn't aware of the whole offline mode concept. Well spotted and many thanks for that! However, it seems strange to me that I find out about it here, (a forum on Civ V) where it's not clearly stated in the game literature/steam bits (unless I have to start digging - again, why?) and, as I'm sure you've gathered, I'm no internet gamer.

However, I still don't particularly like a program that 'automatically' does anything. If I wish to connect to the internet and install updates, that's fine. Should I need to do that to install an expansion, I have no problem. Especially if the program warns me it's going to be x.xGb, which Steam didn't. My dislike of Steam probably extends from my experience of DoW2. I've had it for a while, but it's the first time it's been on my lap-top. I install it, authenticate then try to play, only to find that there is an expansion pack released (all 2.7Gb of it) and it automatically starts patching.

Is this stopped by remaining off-line in Steam (i.e. could someone buy Civ V in a couple of years time, install and authenticate, go off-line then play immediately without installing every single patch released in that two years)? If not, that's rubbish. If so, why is this not made clearer when initially installing/authenticating through Steam?

 

[ori]

the steam client will indeed force the update of itself and the game(s) installed when authenticating - it won't let you go into offline mode prior to being updated and having the game you want to play offline updated as well (according to the Steam FAQ site on offline mode).

Edit: oh and welcome to CFC