PC disks are crippled

[abaris]

The thing about Steam is its very very rare to find a game that has patches that make the game worse. Thus 99.99% of the time the auto update feature is seen as a good thing.

 

But there's something else to consider. The first game I ran into this problem was NWNII. You have no longer access to patches stored on your hard drive. You have to download each time you install the game. If there are quite many patches that could take up to several hours.

[Wursthan]

The thing about Steam is its very very rare to find a game that has patches that make the game worse. Thus 99.99% of the time the auto update feature is seen as a good thing.

 

Total War: Shogun 2 must be the 00.01% then, although I doubt somehow it's on its own.

[ModelV]

00.01 is one in a thousand i think. Anyway it might be an underestimation but its a rare occurrence non the less.

[faifh]

00.01 is one in a thousand i think. Anyway it might be an underestimation but its a rare occurrence non the less.

 

You never cared much about math to think twice about it, didn't you? :)

 

1% is 1 in hundred (definition of percent)

0.1% is 1 in thousand

0.01% is 1 in ten thousand.

[Wursthan]

00.01 is one in a thousand i think. Anyway it might be an underestimation but its a rare occurrence non the less.

 

 

It's better - or worse, depending on one's argument - than that. One in ten thousand, which must surely be an underestimation. The false Shogun 2 patch was an intriguing occasion, waiting until CA came up with a patch to unscrew everything, and unfortunate for anyone who was naively enthusiastic enough to want to play the game during those hours then having Steam foist a phoney patch on them, whether they liked it or not.

 

This was only a day after Steam had kindly deigned to 'activate' it. I remember my delight at receiving it early was negated by not being allowed to install it for another 5 days, even then it was about 7 hours before the queue died down enough to activate it. I haven't pre-ordered anything Steam-driven since.

[gigantibyte]

Wait, I just read through your link now. You're stating a few people's random claims on a forum as fact that there was 200mb missing? That's very doltish of you. The 200mb file was the day one patch. I thought everybody knew that, considering that Bethesda basically announced it. If Cecill-whatsisname wants anyone to believe him, we're going to need more evidence than just 'there's 200mb missing because I think so'.

 

"Cecill-whatsisname" doesn't seem to be your average random poster, but your are right, the claim could be BS. So let me rephrase: Can anyone prove that the complete game is on the disk? Missing content or zero-day patch, Steam is controlling the version players get, and only non-approved and possibly illegal methods can stop it. Every other game disk I've bought to date can be installed independently, so I never have to worry about having an internet connection or third party software controlling whether I can play. So I stand by my original claim until shown otherwise - Skyrim PC disks are crippled.

 

Do Xbox gamers require internet access to play?

Edited January 11, 2012 by gigantibyte

[Halororor]

 

"Cecill-whatsisname" doesn't seem to be your average random poster, but your are right, the claim could be BS. So let me rephrase: Can anyone prove that the complete game is on the disk?

 

Nobody needs to. What would Bethesda gain from putting an incomplete game on the disc? Methinks you are flapping your mouth without even knowing why you're doing it. There isn't even a claim at all. It's one random, uninformed poster who installed his game, saw he had to download 200mb and then simply assumed it's missing content. If there really was missing content, the internet would have been abuzz about it by now, seeing as it's not to hard to pause your download after installation and monitor what files Steam are adding/changing.

 

Missing content or zero-day patch, Steam is controlling the version players get, and only non-approved and possibly illegal methods can stop it.

 

So you're complaining because Steam automatically patches games when you install them? Ok.

 

Every other game disk I've bought to date can be installed independently, so I never have to worry about having an internet connection or third party software controlling whether I can play.

 

Oh, you mean like Origin? Or uPlay, which requires you to have a constant internet connection to play at all? Or even the simple SecuRom checks that required me to activate my game online, a feature that has been standard practice for the last four or five years?

 

So I stand by my original claim until shown otherwise - Skyrim PC disks are crippled.

 

And I stand by my previous statement. You're flapping your mouth about nothing of interest.

[Iv000]

gigantibyte,

Have you read my previous post?

Like I said, the 200 mb content is a patch. Because of the laws of physics, it is impossible to add a patch to an already shipped DVD disk.

The only way of adding a patch to a game, is to download the patch from the official site or the patch will be automatically downloaded by a program (Like Steam, Ubisoft launcher, Origin etc).

If you turn off the Internet, delete the whole Skyrim folder, and then install Skyrim from the DVD, you will get the 1.0 version of the game. Without Steam downloading any more content.

When the 200 Mb patch is downloaded the game will go to version 1.1.

 

The disk is not missing any content, it's just Steam doing auto updates.

[mehungry]

I dislike Steam. It feels like when you buy a game on Steam, you're really renting it or just borrowing it because you have really limited control over it.

 

Yeah it keeps ur games in one place but I'd rather have full control over it (ie. I don't need the dumb steam client to play a game I paid for)

[gigantibyte]

Patch or missing content, its installation is forced. Skyrim PC disks are 100% useless without an internet connection.

 

 

Nobody needs to. What would Bethesda gain from putting an incomplete game on the disc?

Content control.

 

Edit:

 

And the advantage it gives companies to release incomplete games that are not ready by production time.

 

So you're complaining because Steam automatically patches games when you install them? Ok.

Yes because it denies the consumer legitimate control over the content. What other product can you think of that forces updates? Even for software it's rare.

 

 

Oh, you mean like Origin? Or uPlay, which requires you to have a constant internet connection to play at all? Or even the simple SecuRom checks that required me to activate my game online, a feature that has been standard practice for the last four or five years?

We obviously buy and play different games. This has not been my experience.

 

 

And I stand by my previous statement. You're flapping your mouth about nothing of interest.

 

Since Skyrim is such a financial success, it concerns me that more companies will adopt this business model. PC game disks will become little more than download time savers, and useless on their own. All fine (for those with internet) until one of those companies go belly up.

 

Again I ask, do Xbox players require an Internet connection to play?

 

If No: Unequivocal evidence that Bethesda is shafting PC disk owners.

If Yes: Wow. The problem is worse than I feared.

Edited January 11, 2012 by gigantibyte