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Steam Updates On Hardware Changes, Debugging Innovations
Thanks to Planet Half-Life for reprinting a note from Gabe Newell discussing the latest changes and survey results regarding Valve's Steam 'content delivery system'. He compares the recently mentioned hardware survey to an earlier one, mentioning: "There's lots of interesting info, for example Windows 98/Windows ME users going from 62.8% down to 8.25%." Newell also discusses the code debugging innovations that Steam is now providing: "We've been able to increase the level and speed of our Steam upgrades by direct reporting of client bugs back through Steam. If a Steam client reports a problem, we can replicate it on our machines and jump directly to the line of code in our debugger", before ending by revealing that the much-delayed Counter-Strike: Condition Zero is now available for pre-order via Steam.
If you already have counterstrike 1.5 installed, the download via steam to update to 1.6 is small enough to be manageable. Also, most of the counter strike community has moved over to 1.6 now, so the survey should be fairly accurate of the gamers playing counterstrike, as you have to have steam installed to play 1.6
well....It (CS:Condition Zero) is already apparently on my computer already (via the steam 'trickle feed' update) - the 'gcf' (game cache file?) is there. Apparently all I have to do is wait for them to 'release' it officially, so delivery on time seems to be a moot point.
hmmm...have I got time to attempt to hack it out...?
-- Mod me down. I am not a karma tart. ffs,gag
I recently changed my gaming PC's OS to Windows XP Pro. I'd previously used Windows 98SE. Why did I, a rabid hater of all things XP (updates, EUL"A"s, wizardry, etc.) give up on 98 for my gaming OS?
DirectX 9 broke 98. I've been telling everyone within earshot that this was the way that MS was going to force the gamers off of 98 - via DirectX. All video files, under any format that I can find, (except real; I don't use it) are broken. They refuse to load. Breakdown of the issue here and here
It isn't a critical problem at this point, but the second "solution" is so obscure that I wonder how anyone managed to find it. (The first involves re-running the directx installer, which will allow the system to play back videos fine until the subsequent reboot.) How likely is an official fix for this issue? That's what I thought. Too bad, though - Win98SE still had a year or two worth of gaming life left in it.
HL2 was not originally going to, and as far as I know, won't require Steam, as long as someone buys a boxed copy. ... Until you patch it. You should have seen the thread on the Valve/Steam forums that blasted that decision to hell and back. No one, save Valve/Vinvendi, likes it.
I won't buy or play HL2 if it requires Steam. Exception: when I can buy a used copy off of someone for single-player or when a LAN fake-Steam server will fool the software, I might buy it (used) for ten bucks, as long as my purchase won't add a tick to their sales figures.
Think about it - the entertainment industry (Vivendi/Universal, hello? MPAA/RIAA, hello?) wants to own everything. Forget about fair use if this Steaming crap becomes the norm; you won't even be able to use your computer when your ISP borks your net connection. The only way to fight this crud is to fight it by keeping your money away from the people resonsible for this farce, even if it means passing up something that might actually be really fun.
If HL2 really will require Steam, then don't purchase the game. Don't increase their sales figures, don't let them think this is a profitable way to force DRM down our throats. Behave like customers, not simpering consumers, and take your business elsewhere.
Sometimes using nail polish remover will get rid of tape residue. I haven't taken organic chemistry in years, but I believe you need a like solvent to dissolve the "gunk."
If all you have are silver bullets, everything looks like a werewolf.