Difference between revisions of "Store:Steam"

Revision as of 20:33, 7 March 2012

System Specifications
Category	Minimum
OS	Windows XP; Windows Vista; Windows 7; Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.8 or later.
Processor	1 GHz
Memory	512 MB
Hard Drive	1 GB

Steam is a digital distribution platform launched by Valve Corporation in 2003.

Information

First Time Setup

When launching a freshly installed game on Steam for the first time the game will normally initiate "First Time Setup", installing DirectX, Visual Studio redistributable and .NET libraries. While you may be running the latest and greatest versions of these programs, especially if you're a Windows 7 gamer, the individual games may still require specific versions of APIs like D3D10. More information on this can be found on this Steam forum post. Occasionally after carrying out first time setup you may find the root of your hard drive filled with a dozen or so "vcredist" files, these can be safely removed as they're temporary files created as part of the install and are meant to be cleaned up after the install is complete.

Work Arounds

Steam game not starting

Sometimes a game on steam may not start up, so you may be able to get it working by: Library > [Game] > Right click > Properties > Local files > Verify Integrity of Game Cache It can take over 10 minutes to detect the bad files and replace them

Steam gets stuck on update

Steam updates sometimes get stuck at a certain amount of percent, however, you can usually fix it by deleting clientregistry.blob which can be found in the following locations:

C:\Program Files\Steam\

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\

~/Library/Application/Support/Steam/

(Mac OSX)

This will delete your saved password for steam, and force it to re-download the Steam client update. This method usually always fix other problems with Steam, so it is usually a good idea to delete this whenever steam encounters an error.

When installing a game: "missing configuration"

The exact cause of this error is unknown. However, the solution is to simply walk away from your computer for a while, and try again when Steam is not under heavy load.

Steam will not launch at all

If Steam will not launch on a Windows 7 64 bit, delete the appcache\ directory

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\

Restart steam it will then re-download and launch successfully.

Saving Steam games for re-install

If you wish to re-install steam, or transfer your game data to a new hard drive, simply move the

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\

folder to a new destination. Depending on the size of the folder it may take some time. Then, on the new system, install Steam and let it run once. Replace the newly created steamapps\ directory with the previous steamapps\ directory. Restart Steam and it will recognise the files. This saves having to re-download every game when you move to a new system.

Offline Mode

For some reason, if your internet connection is limited (i.e. if ports required for Steam to run are closed), Steam will not start in off-line mode and will return the following error:

Could not connect to steam network. This could be due to a problem with your internet connection, or with the Steam network. Please visit www.steampowered.com for more info.

Solutions:

Find a proper network. Open Steam whilst internet connection is working.
Click "Steam" > Go Offline. Steam should now restart.

Steam offline mode should now work even with limited connection.

Alternative Method:

physically unplug your network cable from your computer, or disable the adapter under the network settings in the control panel.

Other tricks

Moving Steam games to another drive

Chances are your steamapps\ folder is huge and taking up a lot of hard drive space. It is possible to move the entire steamapps\ folder, or indeed individual games to another drive by utilising symbolic links. Symbolic links are like shortcuts except they are seen by the operating system and programs as the real thing. Symbolic links are supported in Windows as part of the NTFS filesystem, but are not accessible by default. So you will need the Link Shell Extension.

Once you've installed the extension, close Steam (open task manager too and make sure the process has ended). Now navigate to your steamapps\ folder, right click it and move it to your other drive. Wait for it to finish moving (it will probably take a while) and then right click it, choose "Pick Link Source" and go back to your Steam directory. Right click it and choose "Drop as -> Symbolic Link". When you relaunch Steam, it will continue to be able to detect your Steam games as if they never moved.

It is of course also possible to move individual Steam games and not just the whole directory. If you wanted to move Fallout: New Vegas, for example, you would go to steamapps\common\fallout new vegassteamapps\ move it somewhere else and then pick link source, drop it as a symbolic link in steamapps\common\

Optimizing Steam's GCF Files and Batch Maintenance

Steam's Game Properties offers an interface to validate and physically and internally de-fragment the game's GCF files if it has them, however Steam itself uses 2 GCF files but does not provide a way to do this, and there is a lot of time, prompting, and UI lockout between tasks.  GCFScape has some batch mode utilities to handle this.
Get Nem's GCFScape.  Once downloaded and installed, shutdown Steam*.  Go to GCFScape's Tools menu -> Batch -> Defragment.  Navigate to the Steam App Cache in

C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\

or

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\

Select as many GCF Files as you want to batch de-fragment.  If you decide to do all the files, this could take a long time!  Consider making it an overnight task.  If you just want to de-fragment the two unreachable files used by Steam, they are winui.gcf and sourceinit.gcf.

Shutting down Steam is optional, however winui.gcf<c/ode> and sourceinit.gcf<c/ode>, the two files Steam uses, are locked while Steam is running.  Steam can run while performing maintenance on the other GCF files, but it may cause problems if there is an update while the files are being worked on.

GCFScape also provides batch validation, but does not have the repair facility that Steam has when it detects a corrupted file.  Batch validation as an overnight task prior to backing up your files is a great idea.  If it finds a problem, have Steam do a validation and repair on it.

Official Links

Official Steam Store
Official Support
Official Forums

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-'''Steam''' is a digital distribution platform launched by [[Valve Corporation]] in 2003.
 {| class="wikitable" width=40% align="right"
 |+ System Specifications
@@ Line 7: / Line 4: @@
 ! width=15%  style="text-align: center;" | Category !! Minimum
 |-
-| OS || Windows XP, Vista, 7, or Intel Mac, OS X version Leopard 10.5.8, Snow Leopard 10.6.3, or later.
+| OS || Windows XP; Windows Vista; Windows 7; Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.8 or later.
 |-
 | Processor || 1 GHz
@@ Line 15: / Line 12: @@
 | Hard Drive || 1 GB
 |-
+|}
-|}
+=='''Steam''' is a digital distribution platform launched by [[Valve Corporation]] in 2003.==
 ==Information==
@@ Line 24: / Line 22: @@
 ==Work Arounds==
-=== Steam game not starting ===
+===Steam game not starting===
 Sometimes a game on steam may not start up, so you may be able to get it working by:
-<pre>Library > [Game] > Right click > Properties > Local files > Verify Integrity of Game Cache</pre>
+<code>Library > [Game] > Right click > Properties > Local files > Verify Integrity of Game Cache</code>
 It can take over 10 minutes to detect the bad files and replace them
-=== Steam gets stuck on update ===
+===Steam gets stuck on update===
-Steam updates sometimes get stuck at a certain amount of percent, however, you can usually fix it by doing this:
+Steam updates sometimes get stuck at a certain amount of percent, however, you can usually fix it by deleting <code>clientregistry.blob</code> which can be found in the following locations:
-OS:
+<pre>C:\Program Files\Steam\</pre>
-*Windows 32Bit: <pre> 'C:\>Program Files>Steam' and delete 'clientregistry.blob'</pre>
+<pre>C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\</pre>
-*Windows 64Bit: <pre>'C:\>Program Files (x86)>Steam' and delete 'clientregistry.blob'</pre>
+<pre>~/Library/Application/Support/Steam/</pre> (Mac OSX)
-*Mac: <pre> '~/Library/Application\ Support/Steam/' and delete 'ClientRegistry.blob'</pre>
 This will delete your saved password for steam, and force it to re-download the Steam client update. This method usually always fix other problems with Steam, so it is usually a good idea to delete this whenever steam encounters an error.
-=== When installing a game: "missing configuration" ===
+===When installing a game: "missing configuration"===
-The exact cause of this error is unknown. However, the solution is to simply walk away from your computer for a while, and try again when Steam is not under heavy load.Note: this may take several hours.
+The exact cause of this error is unknown. However, the solution is to simply walk away from your computer for a while, and try again when Steam is not under heavy load.
+===Steam will not launch at all===
-=== Steam will not launch at all ===
+If Steam will not launch on a Windows 7 64 bit, delete the <code>appcache\</code> directory
+<pre>C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\</pre>
-If Steam will not launch on a Windows 7 system (64 bit) you can try this trick.
-Delete the appcache directory found here:  '''C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\appcache'''
 Restart steam it will then re-download and launch successfully.
-=== Saving Steam games for re-install ===
+===Saving Steam games for re-install===
-If you wish to re-install steam, or transfer your game data to a new hard drive, simply move the ''~/Steam/steamapps/'' folder to a new destination. Depending on the size of the folder it may take some time. Then, on the new system, install Steam and let it run once. Simply replace your temporary steamapps with the ''~newarea/Steam/steamapps/'' folder. Restart Steam and it will recognize the files. This saves having to redownload every game when you move to a new system.
+If you wish to re-install steam, or transfer your game data to a new hard drive, simply move the <pre>C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\</pre>
+folder to a new destination. Depending on the size of the folder it may take some time. Then, on the new system, install Steam and let it run once. Replace the newly created <code>steamapps\</code> directory with the previous <code>steamapps\</code> directory. Restart Steam and it will recognise the files. This saves having to re-download every game when you move to a new system.
-=== Offline Mode ===
+===Offline Mode===
-For some reason, if your internet connection is limited (i.e. if ports required for Steam to run are closed), Steam will not start in offline mode and will return the following error:
+For some reason, if your internet connection is limited (i.e. if ports required for Steam to run are closed), Steam will not start in off-line mode and will return the following error:
 Could not connect to steam network. This could be due to a problem with your internet connection, or with the Steam network. Please visit www.steampowered.com for more info.
@@ Line 58: / Line 58: @@
 Solutions:
-#  Find a proper network. Open Steam whilst internet connection is working.
+# Find a proper network. Open Steam whilst internet connection is working.
 # Click "Steam" > Go Offline. Steam should now restart.
 *Steam offline mode should now work even with limited connection.
@@ Line 67: / Line 67: @@
 ==Other tricks==
 ===Moving Steam games to another drive===
-Chances are your steamapps folder is huge and taking up a lot of hard drive space. It is possible to move the entire steamapps folder, or indeed individual games to another drive by utilising symbolic links. Symbolic links are like shortcuts except they are seen by the operating system and programs as the real thing. Symbolic links are supported in Windows as part of the NTFS filesystem, but are not accessible by default. So you will need the [http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/hardlinkshellext.html Link Shell Extension].
+Chances are your <code>steamapps\</code> folder is huge and taking up a lot of hard drive space. It is possible to move the entire <code>steamapps\</code> folder, or indeed individual games to another drive by utilising symbolic links. Symbolic links are like shortcuts except they are seen by the operating system and programs as the real thing. Symbolic links are supported in Windows as part of the NTFS filesystem, but are not accessible by default. So you will need the [http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/hardlinkshellext.html Link Shell Extension].
-Once you've installed the extension, close Steam (open task manager too and make sure the process has ended). Now navigate to your steamapps folder, right click it and move it to your other drive. It doesn't matter '''where''' it goes, just put it somewhere that makes you happy. Wait for it to finish moving (it will probably take a while) and then right click it, choose "Pick Link Source" and go back to your Steam directory. Right click it and choose "Drop as -> Symbolic Link". When you relaunch Steam, it will continue to be able to detect your Steam games as if they never moved.
+Once you've installed the extension, close Steam (open task manager too and make sure the process has ended). Now navigate to your <code>steamapps\</code> folder, right click it and move it to your other drive. Wait for it to finish moving (it will probably take a while) and then right click it, choose "Pick Link Source" and go back to your Steam directory. Right click it and choose "Drop as -> Symbolic Link". When you relaunch Steam, it will continue to be able to detect your Steam games as if they never moved.
-It is of course also possible to move individual Steam games and not just the whole directory. If you wanted to move Fallout: New Vegas, for example, you would go to steamapps\common\fallout new vegas, move it somewhere else and then pick link source, drop it as a symbolic link in steamapps\common.
+It is of course also possible to move individual Steam games and not just the whole directory. If you wanted to move Fallout: New Vegas, for example, you would go to <code>steamapps\common\fallout new vegas<code>steamapps\</code> move it somewhere else and then pick link source, drop it as a symbolic link in <code>steamapps\common\</code>
 ===Optimizing Steam's GCF Files and Batch Maintenance===
-Steam's Game Properties offers an interface to validate and physically and internally defragment the game's GCF files if it has them, however Steam itself uses 2 GCF files but does not provide a way to do this, and there is a lot of time, prompting, and UI lockout between tasks.  GCFScape has some batch mode utilities to handle this.
+Steam's Game Properties offers an interface to validate and physically and internally de-fragment the game's GCF files if it has them, however Steam itself uses 2 GCF files but does not provide a way to do this, and there is a lot of time, prompting, and UI lockout between tasks.  GCFScape has some batch mode utilities to handle this.
+Get [http://nemesis.thewavelength.net/index.php?p=25 Nem's GCFScape].  Once downloaded and installed, shutdown Steam*.  Go to GCFScape's Tools menu -> Batch -> Defragment.  Navigate to the Steam App Cache in
+<pre>C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\</pre>
+or
+<pre>C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\</pre>
-Get [http://nemesis.thewavelength.net/index.php?p=25 Nem's GCFScape].  Once downloaded and installed, shutdown Steam*.  Go to GCFScape's Tools menu -> Batch -> Defragment.  Navigate to the Steam App Cache in C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps or for 64bit OS: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps.  Select as many GCF Files as you want to batch defragment.  If you decide to do all the files, this could take a long time!  Consider making it an overnight task.  If you just want to defragment the two unreachable files used by Steam, they are winui.gcf and sourceinit.gcf.
+Select as many GCF Files as you want to batch de-fragment.  If you decide to do all the files, this could take a long time!  Consider making it an overnight task.  If you just want to de-fragment the two unreachable files used by Steam, they are <code>winui.gcf</code> and <code>sourceinit.gcf</code>.
-*Shutting down Steam is optional, however winui.gcf and sourceinit.gcf, the two files Steam uses, are locked while Steam is running.  Steam can run while performing maintenance on the other GCF files, but it may cause problems if there is an update while the files are being worked on.
+*Shutting down Steam is optional, however <code>winui.gcf<c/ode> and <code>sourceinit.gcf<c/ode>, the two files Steam uses, are locked while Steam is running.  Steam can run while performing maintenance on the other GCF files, but it may cause problems if there is an update while the files are being worked on.
 GCFScape also provides batch validation, but does not have the repair facility that Steam has when it detects a corrupted file.  Batch validation as an overnight task prior to backing up your files is a great idea.  If it finds a problem, have Steam do a validation and repair on it.