Steamed about STEAM!

G

Gunslinger

Mildly Dipped
My heart's a'breaking, folks. In theory, I should be ecstatic, exultant even! Version 1.6 of Counter-Strike has been released after many false announcements. That's right, my terrible secret: I play one of the most popular online shooters (so get the lynch strung up, hardcore RPG genre fanatics!). Anywho, this should be a happy gaming moment for an avid gamer. But the hurdle prevents this avid gamer from leaping about with manic joy? The STEAM client. For those of you who don't know, STEAM is now the platform that Counter-Strike officially requires to run. It takes over (usurp, in my opinion) the WONID's and, in theory, the role of game shops since you can order some games and download them through STEAM (fanciful as that seems).

So what's wrong with STEAM? Alot, in fact. My main "piss-off-factor" of STEAM is that it is mandatory, which is bullshit since 1.5 and all prior versions did not require a middle man. I guess its just another way for Valve to raise funds. Secondly, mods are having quite some compatibility troubles. I find the skins and models of the defaults so...meh. I like high quality, touched up, multi-poly models that makes an old game not seem so outdated. In addition to that, various mods cannot be used with 1.6. I don't care for the inane useless mods that has a voice screaming out "HEADSHOT!" everytime you score a headshot, but I like the admin mods that add stability to the game. My final pet peeve is the ludicrous download waits. Okay, granted that this is a rather popular game and thus many people will be hogging bandwidth to download. But I'm damn tired of waiting for eighty minutes in a line so that I can then download a 300 MEG file with the pitiful rate of 25.0KB/SEC (and with cable that goes up to 1.8MBS!). My download took me 3 hours.

An upgrade in the game I so love is great. It'll add variety after spending a couple of years playing the same thing. But there's the inherent problem: all the old tactics and strategies I had hammered out will have to be reworked. Plus, there's two new rifles to account for and a riot shield. And just as I had mastered the AK47's three-round burst headshot.

Anyway, gg and I hope this thing works out.
 
Gunslinger said:
But there's the inherent problem: all the old tactics and strategies I had hammered out will have to be reworked. Plus, there's two new rifles to account for and a riot shield. And just as I had mastered the AK47's three-round burst headshot.
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Well, that just sealed the deal for me. I got sick of playing largely because people knew the game so well that frankly they were doing things they shouldn't be able to, and that can include things like that ak headshot. Despite STEAM, I may go ahead and give CS 1.6 a shot. Is STEAM crammed with spyware?
 
I'm afraid it is, Gwydion. It takes awhile to exit the game (which leads me to the suspicion that it is relaying the information or at least saving it in a packet) and you can only completely exit the game by using Ctrl+Alt+Del to end the STEAM process (which continues to run even after exiting Counter-Strike).
 
I started using Steam when it was stillin beta, it was kinda funky, a few hiccups here and there, but other than that, it worked great. Easily find servers, a "freinds" list so you can find your friends, even chat with them in game, easily mute people. It was a pretty nifty program. Then it was released offically. Their servers were immediatly overloaded, thus you couldn't really DL the ~350mb CS update very easily, with all their servers down and such. (most of the problems I heard people complaining about, and i idled in #steam on gamesnet for a little while, so I heard more than a few, were assocatied with the servers being down.) Apprenly, the same thing happened when it was first released in beta, so yes, valve fucked up, but it really isn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Couple more days and everything will be fine. Of course, the actual steam utility is still kinda funky, but they should have that worked out in good order.

Gunslinger said:
(which continues to run even after exiting Counter-Strike)
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Of course it does, steam runs in the background just like MSN or ICQ (and why not? it automatically updates your games, no more having to find and DL the latest patch, and it also functions as an IM client) Although yes, I had that problem occasionally of having to open the task manager and end the process several times as well, they'll have to fix that.

Gunslinger said:
But there's the inherent problem: all the old tactics and strategies I had hammered out will have to be reworked. Plus, there's two new rifles to account for and a riot shield. And just as I had mastered the AK47's three-round burst headshot.
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oh boo hoo! People whine about the changes *every* time there is an update. Would you rather it stayed *exactly* the same? There's a word for that, stagnation, it's generally considered a bad thing.

Gunslinger said:
and, in theory, the role of game shops since you can order some games and download them through STEAM (fanciful as that seems).
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BS, it doesn't creat a middleman, it gives you the option of removing the middleman (retail stores). You don't *have* to DL the game off steam, but you *can*. Personally I like options, and although I will be buying HL2 in a brick-and-mortor store, I like having the option of being able to choose that (besides, only being able to buy games at walmart is really starting to piss me off)

Gunslinger said:
In addition to that, various mods cannot be used with 1.6. I don't care for the inane useless mods that has a voice screaming out "HEADSHOT!" everytime you score a headshot, but I like the admin mods that add stability to the game.
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As far as I know, AMX and admin mods are compatiable with 1.6 and considering they've had about six months, if any other mods you want had proper support they shoudl be updated by now. Hell when it was still in beta, I played on a server with the WarCraft 3 metamod.

Gwydion said:
Is STEAM crammed with spyware?
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There's some remours going around but I doubt it.
 
Observations on Counter-Strike using STEAM so far:

Performance: I've noticed that my FPS has dropped from 60 to 45 without any other accountable reason other than STEAM; however, I experience little packet loss. Booting up STEAM at the beginning took longer (when compared with programs like HLSW) but I seem to be able to connect to servers quicker (possibly because I no longer need to validate my WONID). This is just me, but it seems that the resolution seems a bit more blockier (and I'm using OpenGL at 800X640) but by the same merit, the game moves seamlessly.

Gameplay: At heart, it's the same game I've spent numerous hours playing. Some maps (such as de_aztec and de_cbble) have been slightly retouched but all for the better to allow the terrorists a fair chance. Now, the game comes with two new rifles which some people have resolved would completely ruin the game balance. Which is not necessarily true. The new said rifles are the Israeli Galil and the French FAMAS.

Here's the thing: The terrorist originally possessed an advantage at the second round if they won because they could buy Ak47's. Now, with the inclusion of the Galil, that advantage has been increased. Basically, in my opinion, the Galil is a better and badder varient of the Ak47 with the following differences: 5 extra rounds (35 round clip), 200 dollars cheaper (costing $2000), faster rate of fire, faster recoil recovery, and recoil doesn't throw off aim terribly until around the fifth shot (compared to about the third shot in the AK47). Only difference I see is that the Galil does less damage. You'lll still find people using the AK47 but the Galil is easier, in my opinion, to master.

Now for the FAMAS. Here's the cons: it is a bullpup design so it takes longer to reload, the spread is slightly tighter than a P90 after the sixth shot, and it only carries 25 rounds. But here's the pros: it's cheap (with a price tag of $2250), it's got sharp accuracy for the first initial three rounds, and it's got a punch. Currently, I have mixed feelings over the three burst feature. On one hand, a three round burst can effectively score headshots at a long distance. On the other hand, you have to spend time switching the gun from three round burst to full auto and an unexpected bad guy popping out of a corner can make short work of you if you're stuck on secondary fire. I don't see the FAMAS being used that often and I doubt it'll take over the trusted M4A1's role.

And last, but most definitely not last, is the riot shield. It's Counter-Terrorists only, which gives an unfair advantage, with a price tag of $2200, which means you can purchase it on the second round if you save. I consider the riot shield terribly imbalanced. For one thing, it completely blocks every bullet in the game (from 9mm to AWP rounds). Even when the shield isn't placed in front of you, the riot shield can still block most of your body especially if you are crouching. The hitboxes still need to be tweaked when the shield is not extended because it protects half of your torso and most of your head, meaning that only your legs and arm are a viable target but that's rather moot since both body parts take reduced damage. I may give the impression that I hate the riot shield but that's not true. In practically every server I join, there's at least two people complaining about the shield. But, it's like the AWP; it takes strategy and skill to use. I personally cannot use it effectively but I respect those who've learned the tricks. Two riot shielders working in tandem are a deadly force and you'll find many people using the riot shield and pistol even when most are carrying assault rifles.

Minor changes: First off, the font is bolder which makes it easier for the eyes to read. Another benefit is that pressing ESC no longer exits you from observing the game to look at the menu but now opens up an ingame menu while you can still play. As I've said, some official maps have been tweaked but it's all for the better. The Glock now does some more damage which evens it out as an accurate and strong pistol. From what I've experienced, the AUG has a tighter grouping and the recoil doesn't force your barrel up until around the fifth to sixth shot. Both the AUG and the SIG 550 experience greater accuracy in scoped mode and I'm under the impression that the damage on both rifles have been tweaked. I've yet to test all weapons but I'll give you an update.

1.6 Summed Up In My Opinion: Pros or veterans of the game won't experience a major shock (I'm able to keep a consistent 5-1 score margin) but the game is significantly easier for newbies and the new weapons are easy to master.
 
Well, the release process last week and over the weekend was pretty rocky. The community managed to get 500,000 accounts created and are currently seeing about 15,000 people playing Counter-Strike 1.6 at any given time. We know that the conversion process has been anything but smooth for many of our users. We're going to get this fixed. We've done our best to support the Half-Life community over the past 5 years, and we're still committed to doing whatever it takes to make the community happy. We've listened to the response, and we'll be repairing the problems with Steam until it performs the way we all want it to.

Tomorrow we will release new installers which include the cache files for all of the games available via Steam (Day of Defeat, Team Fortress Classic, the dedicated server, etc). If you haven't already done so, please use the installer that includes Counter-Strike and Half-Life.
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http://www.steampowered.com/news

Still they could explain why with every program closed my Norton Security monitor showed that my comp was sending tons of information after i installed STEAM again (i`ve uninstaled it again, too unstable to my taste).
 
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