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Is this even legal?

Posted By: GogKbob

Is this even legal? - 07/18/14 08:33 PM

I own train simulator 2013 which I activated via steam the day I purchased it. I played it for a few hours then put it away and went on to other things because mainly, the clickity clackity of the tracks put me to sleep. ( Don't laugh, I'm an old man). I decided, after seeing some wonderful screenshots of train sim on this site, to give it another try. When I tried to start the game it tells me that I have to download an update that will take 8 days to complete, and that I own Train simulator 14, not 13. I have hughesnet internet service which restricts my downloads to 250 mb per day. I am sure an 8 day download would exceed that. Anyway, why can't I play the game I purchased? If my car gets a recall because it needs updated (which it recently did) I can still drive my car until I get the update because I paid for said car and it is mine. Why is computer software different?
Posted By: JimK

Re: Is this even legal? - 07/18/14 08:59 PM

The reason I hate Steam. Had 4 Steam games installed and went back to them months later.
All decided to update at the same time locking up my computer and crashing it. Every time
I would reboot, Steam would try again and crash it. Had to go into safemode and uninstall
Steam from taking over my computer. Never again will I touch a game with Steam on it.
Posted By: Coot

Re: Is this even legal? - 07/18/14 09:00 PM

Try going into steam, then select "Go Offline" and see if it will allow you to play the game as is. Being online with an update pending is probably keeping you from playing it. If you get it running you might also select in the game's options to only update game manually not auto so it won't try to install an update for you.
Posted By: kail

Re: Is this even legal? - 07/18/14 09:28 PM

you can disable auto updates in steam for any games/programs listed in your steam account.
Posted By: Chef

Re: Is this even legal? - 07/18/14 09:35 PM

Steam off-line is how my three kids play one version of Terraria in multiplayer together.
I hate update. God knows TF2 got updated all the time with those annoying hats.
Posted By: Force10

Re: Is this even legal? - 07/18/14 09:45 PM

Originally Posted By: kail
you can disable auto updates in steam for any games/programs listed in your steam account.



This only works for awhile. A lot of the time a Steam "platform update" will reset your don't update settings.


Originally Posted By: Coot
Try going into steam, then select "Go Offline" and see if it will allow you to play the game as is. Being online with an update pending is probably keeping you from playing it. If you get it running you might also select in the game's options to only update game manually not auto so it won't try to install an update for you.


This won't work either. Once a new update is discovered, it will not let him play his title…I'm afraid he's screwed. I've been in the same situation…I just wanted to play Shogun 2 for a few and it force a 20 gig update on me even though I had previously told it not to do updates and had it in offline mode before it forced me to go online.
Posted By: BKHZ_Furbs

Re: Is this even legal? - 07/18/14 10:30 PM

Dont know if this is possible, but take the PC to somebody you know with better connection, download the update then take it home.

I know its not practical and its a pain in the arse, but its one way to get round it.
Posted By: Coot

Re: Is this even legal? - 07/19/14 12:11 AM

Can he uninstall it then reinstall it with his disk then select auto update to off then play?
Posted By: Fudge93

Re: Is this even legal? - 07/19/14 06:11 PM

I don't think he can even just reinstall it from the Disk. Steam will automagically look for updates. It may not even install in offline mode.

If you right click on the game in steam and go to properties you can set the game to not get updates.

It is possible to make a back up of a steam game install. If you know someone local who has the sim you could ask them to make a backup disk and send them to you.
Posted By: Force10

Re: Is this even legal? - 07/19/14 09:02 PM

Sometimes the latest "tech" isn't better. Just ask anyone that has IL-2 on Steam and wants to run DBW and the awesome Superpaks. They require the version to be 4.10 and now steam automatically updates to the latest TD version 4.12…no way around it.

Removing users options…especially where flight sims are concerned…is crap. You should be able to pick what patch level you want to run…patches sometimes break things. Sure you might have issues running multiplayer…but there is more to life than multiplayer for a lot of us.
Posted By: Murphy

Re: Is this even legal? - 07/19/14 09:43 PM

Originally Posted By: Force10
Sometimes the latest "tech" isn't better. Just ask anyone that has IL-2 on Steam and wants to run DBW and the awesome Superpaks. They require the version to be 4.10 and now steam automatically updates to the latest TD version 4.12…no way around it.

Removing users options…especially where flight sims are concerned…is crap. You should be able to pick what patch level you want to run…patches sometimes break things. Sure you might have issues running multiplayer…but there is more to life than multiplayer for a lot of us.


Gotta agree with that.
Sure wish they went back to DVD's.
I'd be playing a lot more games.

I don't do STEAM.
Posted By: Jedi Master

Re: Is this even legal? - 07/21/14 01:34 PM

Digital delivery is the present. I would say the future, but only if this was 10 years ago.

Most games would now require 2 DVDs to install, some would take 5 or more. The expected usage of Bluray for PC games never happened, likely because Sony wanted far too much and even today BDs aren't a standard in new PCs.

So, blame the rise of digital on the failure of Bluray, which had pretty good CP in it. If you personally don't own a BD for your PC because you thought "DVDs are good enough," well you were wrong, and that's the reason why they are now digital.




The Jedi Master
Posted By: RSColonel_131st

Re: Is this even legal? - 07/21/14 02:00 PM

Nothing wrong with digital distribution. Just look at GOG.COM how it's done properly.
Posted By: GogKbob

Re: Is this even legal? - 07/21/14 04:20 PM

Have to agree with you there. You buy the game, download the game and it's yours. How hard would it be for Steam to have a pop up box giving you the choice to update your game then or later? Even those with a persistent fast internet connection don't want to sit and wait a half hour to play their game.
Posted By: Farcaster

Re: Is this even legal? - 07/21/14 09:21 PM

I guess my question is, how does anyone survive on 250MB a day?

I'm banging on my 180GB limit every month.
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