Most Frequently Asked Questions
1. Can I register this __Insert Game Here__ on Steam?Here's a list of games you can register on Steam. You can always add a non-Steam game to your Steam games list, so that people can see you playing it.
2. If I buy a game pack that already includes a game I own, can I gift that game?
No, this was a one-time thing for people who already owned Half-Life 2 and bought the Orange Box. Additional copies you own are lost forever to the ether.
3. Why isn't __Insert Game Here__ available in my region?
Many Steam games might be unavailable in your country if you have the temerity to live outside of the United States.
This is not Steam's fault. Regional game availability is determined solely by the publisher, who should be the source of your ire. Gifting works regardless of region so you might find some helpful person in North America who can gift you the game.
Helpful Stuff
AUSTRALIANS!!!!
You need this program.
It reconfigures your Windows IPSEC settings (run it as an admin) to block out all but the servers which don't count towards your download quota on Steam. Now supports a bunch of ISPs through a graphical interface.
Basically guarantees you won't add to your download quota with Steam.
150KB/s
Download TCPview:
TCPView
Then, use TCPview (run as admin if you're on Vista) to close all Steam TCP servers (this is important, NOT the UDP ones, just the TCP ones). Steam will then reconnect to a different server, which will hopefully get you a better speed. If you don't go faster in a couple of seconds, retry until you get a speed you like.
This shit totally needs to go into the OP, I've tipped this to so many people already.
Cool Community Add-Ons
Steam Signatures
With such a cool service, someone must have done some extra things to build on it.
The forums have one such man, who made some super cool Steam signatures.
Suds is his name and killing is his game. Except for the killing. The signatures automatically use backgrounds for the games and the correct icon. Pretty neat, and they're 100% free!
Sample signature:
Steam Calculator
You can also use a script on
his Steam Calculator page to see how much your Steam account would be worth if you had taken advantage of some obscure, arcane combination of special deals that nobody could ever have taken advantage of. Or something sort of like that.
Steam Sales Tracker
You might want to add this page to the steam links section - a complete sortable list of every game on steam, the metacritic score, and if its on sale, the % its discounted by. Yes.
http://steam.addhawk.net/[/QUOTE]
The Mis-Adventures of LewieP
As funny as the following comic is, LewieP does spend a lot of time
looking for bargains, for us.
Posts
I'd help ya out, Art, but I bought mine for half off by myself back in the day.
What? Why?
Not that I haven't played Valve's games on other computers, but I want to play them on this one damnit! :-)
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
Sure.
Mail the cd to Gabe Newell.
Last thread stopped at 98, then 96, 94, so on - so forth.
The demo alone is such an amazing source of fun, although it seems the game might be unbalanced... Especially once I started jacking military helis by taking out the SAM's with miniguns and then taking off.
I wish I could afford it. The second it goes on sale it will be mine.
I can feel my brain gradually heating up with each passing puzzle, and at some point there's going to be a meltdown.
Only a buttwit would doubt its savory succelence!
Haberdashery!
All right, people. It is not a gerbil. It is not a hamster. It is not a guinea pig. It is a death rabbit. Death. Rabbit. Say it with me, now.
The new UI is a big improvement. It'll be out today. If you download the beta now, you won't have to download it when it gets pushed out to everyone else when the servers might be hammered.
You can always gift it at 20 USD, but if you want to buy a 4pack you can't already own the game (4 packs always buy the game for yourself + 3 gifts).
I haven't seen a definitive list of what games are going to be ported, so I wouldn't get your hopes up for HL1. That said, hopefully Valve will include Half-Life: Source.
*Valve time.
This, this so hard.
My only beef with the new UI (I love it to death otherwise) is that the Grid View of my games always takes a day and a half to populate all of the gorgeous pictures. Is it redownloading these images every time I fire up Grid View? You would think that once they were local they would pop up more quickly.
Robots Will Be Our Superiors (Blog)
http://michaelhermes.com
That's true. And a good thing it's your major complaint too
Maybe it's just a sign that I have too many games.
Robots Will Be Our Superiors (Blog)
http://michaelhermes.com
None of us want to admit we have a problem. You're on your own.
Ok, you have a point there. So I downloaded it
Yeah so it's all pretty and stuff. But I cannot for the life of me figure out how to punch in web addresses. Can someone help me?
Game developers live up to original vague fan-pleasing promises shocker!
When they first stuck them on Steam, they made a statement to the effect that if the first 2 sold well enough, they'd port them to PC and release on Steam. Evidently, they did.
The craziest part of this is the fact that no PC ports of either of these games exist, so this may be possibly the most delayed port job of all time - Wiki tells me that Munch was released back in 2001! This is rather like Jordan Mechner announcing a stunningly faithful port of the original Prince of Persia in 1999. Of course...
Or maybe 2007...?
But there is none when you're not ingame?
EDIT: To clarify. When I go to community or store or whatever I can see the goddamn address in a position where I'd expect an address bar to be, but I can't edit it.
Why would you want to use the main Steam window as a web browser? You have an actual web browser for that. The address bars are so you can copy the address and link to people or other stuff.
Also, How would I go about getting an invite to the giant PA steam group?
The Pipe Vault|Twitter|Steam|Backloggery|3DS:1332-7703-1083
Yeah, Half-Life: Source is what I was thinking and I can't imagine them not porting that over when the engine and all the accompanying Source engine games are coming too. If not, well, I guess I've got crossover if need be...
Opposing Force and Blue Shift, but they only work with the original release of HL1. Also, it's really open to debate if they're official canon or whatnot, although they are pretty fun.