Why did I buy this off Steam?

[Michael Hopcroft]

I should have known better.

As some of you may know, Steam's distribution service is selling PoN in its online store. So I rather foolishly bought it there. The problem is that their bandwidth situation is appalling. For a week or so they've been giving away the popular multi-player shooter Team Fortress 2 and there has been a lot of demand for it. So it feels as if they don't have bandwidth for anything else.

I'm sure that if I'd ordered from the AGEOD store I wouldn't have these problems. So I feel a right fool at this particular moment.

[Gray_Lensman]

deleted

[vaalen]

I should have known better.

As some of you may know, Steam's distribution service is selling PoN in its online store. So I rather foolishly bought it there. The problem is that their bandwidth situation is appalling. For a week or so they've been giving away the popular multi-player shooter Team Fortress 2 and there has been a lot of demand for it. So it feels as if they don't have bandwidth for anything else.

I'm sure that if I'd ordered from the AGEOD store I wouldn't have these problems. So I feel a right fool at this particular moment.

I never buy anything off steam if I have a choice. It seems so convenient, but as you have experienced, there is often a problem.

[ERISS]

I never buy anything off steam if I have a choice.

I don't understand your "if": You always have the choice to not buy on Steam.
'I never buy anything off steam'. Point.
So, Steam kills the pc games with its drm, as it prevent me from buying many games.
You don't like Steam stealing pc games?: Don't give it money, but few richest Steam customer can let Steam live long.. (In the market you vote with your wallet: this is our democracy, still based on the poll tax.)

[Schattensand]

I am not rally a fan of steam, so I too bought it there. It was simply cheeper than ageod and as long as ageod demands more money to download it a second or third time and guaranties that for only 1 year steam is the formally better choice, so I know and experienced that ageod is very helping and unbureaucratic if problems arise.
You dont need Steam to start a game if you start it from the game exe and upgrades you can get everywhere. So there is no problem at all with steam.

[Romtos]

Bought it from GamersGate. I'm very satisfied with their service.

[gekkoguy82]

Bought it from GamersGate. I'm very satisfied with their service.

I second that opinion!

[vaalen]

I don't understand your "if": You always have the choice to not buy on Steam.
'I never buy anything off steam'. Point.
So, Steam kills the pc games with its drm, as it prevent me from buying many games.
You don't like Steam stealing pc games?: Don't give it money, but few richest Steam customer can let Steam live long.. (In the market you vote with your wallet: this is our democracy, still based on the poll tax.)

I bought the Peninsular Campaign DLC from Steam for Napoleon Total War. I could not find it anywhere else. That is what I mean.

Other than that, I have not paid Steam a penny.

I did not buy Shogun 2, because you can only use it with Steam.

[vaalen]

I am not rally a fan of steam, so I too bought it there. It was simply cheeper than ageod and as long as ageod demands more money to download it a second or third time and guaranties that for only 1 year steam is the formally better choice, so I know and experienced that ageod is very helping and unbureaucratic if problems arise.
You dont need Steam to start a game if you start it from the game exe and upgrades you can get everywhere. So there is no problem at all with steam.

Thanks for the tip on starting Steam games from the exe.

But if you buy an Ageod game from Gamersgate, You can redownload it for one computer as often as you want, with no time limit. Gamersgate works very well now.

As for buying from Ageod, I have never found another company that was so helpful if a problem comes up.

My policy is to always buy Ageod Games from Gamersgate or Ageod, because I think that has a good effect on Paradox. I want Ageod to stay in business, and Paradox must make money on these games for that to happen.

I see Steam as a huge corporation that is trying to dominate the gaming market. Their prices may be cheaper now, for many games, but if the day comes when just about every strategy game requires Steam, the prices are going to go up, a lot. That is how monopolies work.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Now I'm starting to feel less ethical than everyone else because of my choice of vendors. I feel just awful now.

Do AGEOD and Paradox get any of the money from sales on Steam, so does Steam just swallow the money whole? That's the only thing I can think of that would make me feel even worse.

[vaalen]

Now I'm starting to feel less ethical than everyone else because of my choice of vendors. I feel just awful now.

Do AGEOD and Paradox get any of the money from sales on Steam, so does Steam just swallow the money whole? That's the only thing I can think of that would make me feel even worse.

Please don't feel bad. I am certain that Ageod and Paradox do get some of the money for every sale by Steam. Every sale of the game helps.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Oddly enough, HEarts of Iron III from PAradox was on sale at a really low price on Saturday. On one hand I wish I'd taken them up on it. On the other hand I've never quite found a WWII grand strategy game that is especially easy to play or works like the boardgames I grew up with.

[ERISS]

I bought the Peninsular Campaign DLC from Steam for Napoleon Total War. I could not find it anywhere else. That is what I mean.

Other than that, I have not paid Steam a penny.
I did not buy Shogun 2, because you can only use it with Steam.

I still don't understand : NapoleonTW is as Shogun2: Steam only. That's why a NTW DLC is only found on Steam too...
I can understand you fell on the Dark Side of the Force with NapoleonTW , I could be weak too but let my anger grow against C.A., Sega and Steam

[vaalen]

I still don't understand : NapoleonTW is as Shogun2: Steam only. That's why a NTW DLC is only found on Steam too...
I can understand you fell on the Dark Side of the Force with NapoleonTW , I could be weak too but let my anger grow against C.A., Sega and Steam

You are right, it was another moment of weakness, I submitted to the dark side and my mind refused to remember the shame of it. I was weak, but at least I did not buy Shogun 2.

[Schattensand]

It was the modding community, that made the TW game up to MediavalTW2
and the HOI series up to now so fantastic. When they decided to use steam to have more control the beauty vanished.

[Stryder99]

PoN was my very first ever computer game DL. And I purchased it here from AGEOD.

Their dl was smooth and effortless. Then for my supporting the devs by buying here, I was able to acquire the Spanish American War.

When I buy more AGEOD games I will only purchase them here, nowhere else. And if they ever give into Paradox and only sell them on GG, no more purchases for me.

This is due to my attempting to DL the WiA game Paradox gave away in their newsletter. I dled it, jumped through the hoops, let it phone home to momma, and got an error on the very first boot up of the game.

To make a long story short, the serial number Paradox gave me is 6 characters too short. So the game keeps coming up with a 'serial number too short' error and closes down.

And to date, Paradox has not answered any of my emails or entreaties on getting the serial number replaced. They had their one shot to show me they were worth buying from and they blew it.

So the AGEOD webshop will get all of my business from here on in.

Stryder

[ERISS]

It was the modding community, that made the TW game up to MediavalTW2
. When they decided to use steam to have more control the beauty vanished.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=463622
They begin to understand. Maybe Sh2TW sold not so well, or Med2TW still sells uterly well out of Steam.. So, there is a hope that future TW could be sold not using Steam.

[sbr]

The problem isn't that Steam is giving away FT2*, it is that they are having their HUGE summer sale and are almost giving games away. All of their servers are pretty stressed ATM. They do this a couple of times a year and it is almost impossible to even download the stuff you buy during the sale, though it is usually so cheap it isn't a huge concern.

http://store.steampowered.com/


All that said Steam isn't the best way to get games if you aren't all that familiar with how they operate, they can be a bit stubborn if you aren't too PC savvy.

*TF2 is fantastic if you can tolerate MP shooters. It is about as good as it gets.

[Romtos]

Now I'm starting to feel less ethical than everyone else because of my choice of vendors. I feel just awful now.

Do AGEOD and Paradox get any of the money from sales on Steam, so does Steam just swallow the money whole? That's the only thing I can think of that would make me feel even worse.

Both Steam and GamersGate (and any other online vendor) take 30% of the price. So it doesn't matter money-wise. Only AGEOD's own shop would differ in this.

In addition, I do have games on Steam, despite my preference for GamersGate. Though the vast majority are Humble Bundle games I redeemed on Steam. :P

[Pierre]

Well, personnally, I am very satisfied with Steam. They keep my games collection tidy and up to date. It's a service I really need now, to the point that I don't buy a game, unless it's available on Steam.

I had two other Ageod games for example, but I can't find (won't rather) the installation cds... Managing these old plastic plates from the ancient ages seems irreal for me now.

[Gray_Lensman]

deleted

[StephenT]

About a year ago I had a total hard drive failure on my PC. I'd kept backups of the important data, financials stuff and so on, but not my games.

Reinstalling my Steam and Gamersgate games on my shiny new replacement PC was simplicity itself. Hunting around in dusty cupboards for hardcopy CDs was a nightmare - and it was even worse when I realised I also needed the manual for the DRM code, which wasn't always in the box with the CD.

Never mind that CDs have a finite lifespan, whereas Steam's servers can presumably be backed up and transferred indefinitely. If it's a race between Valve going out of business and some manky old CD getting scratched or becoming unplayable, my money's on Steam.

The one thing I wouldn't recommend Steam for is games which you're planning to mod, or which get lots of beta patches (which, yes, means most AGEOD and Paradox games). Steam automatically updates your games to the latest official version, which is a great service 95% of the time, but not if you're wanting to modify your game yourself.

the serial number Paradox gave me is 6 characters too short. So the game keeps coming up with a 'serial number too short' error and closes down.

And to date, Paradox has not answered any of my emails or entreaties on getting the serial number replaced. They had their one shot to show me they were worth buying from and they blew it.

But you didn't "buy" from them; you downloaded a FREE give-away. Not quite the same thing. Also, you downloaded it from Gamersgate, not Paradox, so presumably it should be Gamersgate you contact for a proper serial number. They're two separate companies.

And finally, did you notice that Gamersgate showed your serial number in this format:

XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-
GGAXXXX

Yes, on two lines. And yes, those six characters on the second line are part of the serial number.

[Hohenlohe]

There are some certain rules I learned on the hard way...just print out any receipt or just notice any code you get at a download portal sofar...

Related to the old Matrixgames distributor digitalriver I learned that I had some older account I was not able to revive and therefore I was not able to state my legitime ownership to some certain games...*sigh* but now with the new distributor Plimus I hope I did it better.

Sometimes it will be helpful to secure some downloaded setup files on a bigger USB stick(16GB) and then you have it secure if you are not able to add an additional harddrive to your machine although then you should try to use some USB-Harddrive to plugin over USB to secure your data...

In the last 12 months I had some massive problems due to crashes and even Intrusions thus I nearly loose some important data not only games...

Thus be careful in case of any drive-by web attacks or in opening certain phishing emails not recognized by you as such else...

greetings

Hohenlohe

edit: I was two times nearly hacked in the last months...first with the very big Sony hack and now some days ago with the bioware hack...*sigh*

[Stryder99]

But you didn't "buy" from them; you downloaded a FREE give-away. Not quite the same thing. Also, you downloaded it from Gamersgate, not Paradox, so presumably it should be Gamersgate you contact for a proper serial number. They're two separate companies.

And finally, did you notice that Gamersgate showed your serial number in this format:

XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-
GGAXXXX

Yes, on two lines. And yes, those six characters on the second line are part of the serial number.

Gee, Stephan, Gamersgate IS OWNED by Paradox, so, ya know, they are responsible for the product they offer. Also, there was no two lines in my GG serial number. Next time, try not to be an a$$ when someone is in need of help.

And as Phil now knows I found out what the problem really was. Below is the PM I sent him:



Phil, since my last PM I have continued to dig into the problem and I have found the cause. Below is the entry section for the serial number from the unmodified WiA Gen.opt file that came with my DL:

7. Serial number (unencrypted, keep this file for you only)
UseZip = 0
ActivationLevel = 1

As you can see, and I found out after digging through the PoN Gen.opt file the following line is missing:

Serial =

I added that line with my serial number and now the game boots up just fine! The Config utility still does not work, but I can now play the game!

Thanks for all of your help, and you folks now have a loyal follower who will purchase more of your games!

Stryder

[StephenT]

Gee, Stephan, Gamersgate IS OWNED by Paradox, so, ya know, they are responsible for the product they offer.

No, they aren't. They're two separate independent companies. Gamersgate used to be owned by Paradox, but not since 2008.

[Gray_Lensman]

deleted

[Stryder99]

[color="Red"]Careful. This is very close to initiating a flame war. All it now takes is for a moderator/coordinator to report it as such and PhilThib will immediately close the thread and impose a 2 day ban on all those involved in it.[/color]
.

Gray, I apologize for my intemperate wording.

Stryder

[ERISS]

Reinstalling my games. Hunting around in dusty cupboards for hardcopy CDs was a nightmare - and it was even worse when I realised I also needed the manual for the DRM code, which wasn't always in the box with the CD.

Never mind that CDs have a finite lifespan, whereas Steam's servers can presumably be backed up and transferred indefinitely. If it's a race between Valve going out of business and some manky old CD getting scratched or becoming unplayable, my money's on Steam.

The difference is that you own your games on cd (if they have not a drm dependant from internet), and that you are responsible of them: You are free with them, and you have to treat well your CDs.
In my 200 cd games (and I put to bin many others, as all the Starforce games), some are very old, all still work well and I have all manuals and key codes in, and I saved all other stuff on a drive (patches, mods, etc).
Be the more responsible and organized, and you don't need Steam and you are free from it as you then own your games.

Ok, since ten years, almost all games on CD have a bad drm, and that's why now I almost buy only downloaded games trough internet on drm free (or drm easily cracked) webstores, despite I then no longer can have paper manuals: GOG and DotEmu (very good as insurance for our old CDs), Impulse, Gamersgate, Ageod, Matrix, Paradox, Shrapnel (they deserve some free ad')

[Hohenlohe]

Gee, Stephan, Gamersgate IS OWNED by Paradox, so, ya know, they are responsible for the product they offer. Also, there was no two lines in my GG serial number. Next time, try not to be an a$$ when someone is in need of help.

And as Phil now knows I found out what the problem really was. Below is the PM I sent him:



Phil, since my last PM I have continued to dig into the problem and I have found the cause. Below is the entry section for the serial number from the unmodified WiA Gen.opt file that came with my DL:

7. Serial number (unencrypted, keep this file for you only)
UseZip = 0
ActivationLevel = 1

As you can see, and I found out after digging through the PoN Gen.opt file the following line is missing:

Serial =

I added that line with my serial number and now the game boots up just fine! The Config utility still does not work, but I can now play the game!

Thanks for all of your help, and you folks now have a loyal follower who will purchase more of your games!

Stryder

Dear stryder had you any problems with your anti-virus-proggie the scanner with a false message that the AGESettings.exe was falsely descripted as infected with something like a Trojan virus or worm , because in former times I got such messages once with Norton Antivir and even later with Avira Antivir Scanner some years ago...Thus it could be possible that you will be not able to use the config utility...

You should also regard to minimze or end any other application beside Internet access proggies to reduce possible problems and even if no other solution will be possible to deactivate for a short time your virus scanner or you can use Microsoft Security Essential because it is very games friendly and do not pop up with wrong messages related to usual games.

Otherwise you should do a total check if you have some hidden proggies working...eventually a bot like system proggie. Do not underestimate nowadays such possibilities as I have learned on the hard way...

greeting

Hohenlohe

edit: please be careful and kindful with words here...we want still the same: playing good games and to get good infos about them and some help...

[Schattensand]

I said before, that there is no problem with steam, now I have one.
Have to relode the game and it will take 14 hours estimate and that is far to long and a reason not to buy there again.