How to Unlock?

[weakciv]

ok so I pre-ordered through steam. First steam purchase, ever. I have pre-loaded and have been sitting like that for days as expected.

Now with about 30 min before it is supposed to unlock, how do I know if it has unlocked?
The button in the games section for CivV still shows pre-load, will that change to something else?
By just leaving steam open will there be a quick download triggered automatically that unlocks it?
Is there something specific I should do?

(this thread intended for all of us noobs who have never used steam before, thank you for your support )

 

[Takeda]

the game will automatically unlock at the appropriate time

just make sure steam is running

 

[NinjaCool]

Sometimes restarting Steam might do it if things seems stuck after demo/full version is released.

 

[Auncien]

Have you seen the movie 2012? It will be kind of like that, but specific to the room in which your computer is set up.

 

[playshogi]

I never had a Steam game before, either. I'm assuming go to Library / Downloads / press play.
It already says 'play', but it doesn't work for another 24 minutes.

 

[Twahn]

Yep. Don't fret people. It'll all be easy.

 

[weakciv]

Have you seen the movie 2012? It will be kind of like that, but specific to the room in which your computer is set up.

Dang! I was kinda hoping for the room to go completely dark then the monitor to begin slowly lighting up untill bright lights came shooting out of the screen. Then the music starts as the opening video comes into focus.

Not worried just thought I'd ask. I'm sure there will be others.

 

[weakciv]

I never had a Steam game before, either. I'm assuming go to Library / Downloads / press play.
It already says 'play', but it doesn't work for another 24 minutes.

mine actually still says pre-load even though I have done that already.

 

[ZimbuTheMonkey]

It will start the process automatically.

Sometimes you need to restart Steam (after it's been confirmed that authentication has begun) to help speed the process up.

It's fairly straightforward, for those of who you are using Steam for the first time.

 

[Shafi-is-back]

Not worried just thought I'd ask. I'm sure there will be others.

I'm one of them others. my first time with steam too ... the things i do for Civ ...

 

[Grey2ham]

You guys know what valve time is right?
http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Valve_Time
It'll activate sometime between now and the apocalypse.

Seriously though. Just hang tight. Remember the server load is going to be ridiculous at launch time, try and be patient.

 

[Brota]

Make a Civ5 shortcut on desktop from Steam, click it every 30sec.

 

[HamTard]

Its unlocked now, just restart Steam if it isn't showing up. Takes like 20 seconds.