Steam Civ4 Update

[Commodore]

So are all of our PB games dead?

For now, for people with Steam versions of Civ, yes.

Sunrise, just in case you don't follow the game...looks like we're still good in PB19.

[Krill]

18 is not going to be in a good place, that's for sure.

[Lord Parkin]

I don't understand the logic. Pitboss games are run between individuals on a server hosted by another individual. At no point in that loop is there any need for third party involvement. It's as close to LAN as you can get without having the people physically in the same room at the same time. So why exactly did they break Direct IP for steam users?

Just glad I don't have the steam version.

[LexiSilva]

Yeah, thank goodness I use a disk for my game. c: Now if I could get a job and buy my CivV friends a copy of the superior game in the series (in my opinion). They said they'd already be cool with trying it out.

[Lord Parkin]

As a side note, this kind of reinforces why I've always been uneasy with the concept of Steam and similar services. If you buy a physical copy of the game (at least before about 2010), you can install it wherever you like, play it whenever you like, modify it however you like and there's no interference from a third party telling you how you must play in your sandbox. On the other hand, with Steam you're locked into the current patch version, and access to your game is completely at the mercy of a third party. I can't imagine what an awful mess it'll be when Steam eventually shuts down (whether in a few years or a few decades) - sure they say they'll make everything available, but who's realistically going to manage the logistics if they're ever in that situation?

[Bobchillingworth]

So I purchase this stupid game, and Valve or Firaxis or whoever the fuck decides to release a patch arbitrarily removing a gameplay option that never had any relation to whatever "service" their business provides. Great. Why am I paying for games, again?

[Lord Parkin]

i.e. Commercial desicion. They don't want to allow any possible replacement for Gamespy and force everyone to use their service. I despise this desicion

This might be right. I despise it too.

I guess at some point might be forced to download Steam version, if I want to play MP games .

If you own the CD version, I can't see why it would ever be the case that you'd be forced to download the Steam version. They can't update your CD to disable you from playing Pitboss.

[LexiSilva]

They can't update your CD to disable you from playing Pitboss.

Oh, you underestimate gaming companies. ;-; I have no faith in anybody anymore.

That's why i'm getting a self-sufficient house with its own solar power and internet, and a few of my favourite games!

[Thoth]

Wow. What an incredible ratfuck 2k has produced.

Pity buying games on actual physical media isn't an option for consumers anymore.

[spacetyrantxenu]

Well, in the UK it is legal to make copies of electronic media from end of this month...so I'll just copy my discs and then if someone in the UK needs my disks I can mail them around.

Also, I've emailed 2K asking for a copy of the patch. I want to install if over a copy of CIV and see what steamworks is like...I'm not sure if there actually is going to be a way to host pitboss games similar to what they wanted in civ 5, which was that the host remains logged into the game constantly. Really unlikely IMO, but should be looked at.

So, at the end of the month whenever it's legal to copy your disks...

http://www.imgburn.com/

Insert game disks, burn to ISO, post them somewhere on a server in the UK for your own personal backup copy. Definitely don't PM a publicly accessible link to other people to download the ISOs, that would probably be a sin or something.

Hey, in the US, what does the DMCA say about this?

You're exactly right! No one cares about the DMCA!

As an alternative method of backup, I think I've heard around here before that there aren't really any Windows registry settings involved with a Civ 4 or BTS installation, so you can copy and paste an existing installation from Program Files or wherever to somewhere else, even on another computer, and just launch the game that way. If that's true the it would seem that anyone who has a working non-Steam version of the game should be able to take the whole Civilization folder from inside their Program Files directory, zip it all up into a .zip file, and then back it up somewhere...definitely not online where anyone else could get it, unless you live somewhere where that kind of thing doesn't damn your immortal soul.

I'm testing a third alternative right now. It seems I have a three year old backup copy of my Civ4 and BTS installations on my computer. Going to try setting Steam offline (or see if there's a way to disable updates), restore the game data, and see what happens....