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What is Steam? Installation and use

Long ago, when computers were big, and games for them were very small, no one could think, to what heights the industry of this kind of entertainment would reach. After all, then no one seriously engaged in the development of systems that prevent unlicensed use of games.

In addition, there was practically no network games, since the Internet at that time was very stunted. The maximum that was available for gamers is to stretch between their computers a coaxial cable.

As time passed, the game industry developed more and more rapidly. Not surprisingly, the two developers faced these problems in full growth. In simple terms, they were faced with the need to provide players with a stable and reliable service for online battles, as well as protect their creations from illegal copying.

One of the most successful developments was the Steam service from Valve. By the way, what is Steam? Why do you need it?

A Brief Historical Reference

Steam was created relatively recently, only in 2002. However, then he was known as Grid or Gazelle. His revolutionary nature was that fans of Valve's creations could buy a digital version of the game without bothering to go shopping.

While there was an active development of Half-Life-2, so the company wanted to receive funds from the deductions of the creators. This venture was 100 percent successful.

The first version of "Steam" was sent for testing exactly to the output of CS 1.4. At that time, the service allowed the following:

  • A person could independently look for servers of interest to him;
  • Of course, you could use registered games;
  • Buy (!) A digital copy of the program (let us note again that at that time this was a real breakthrough);
  • "Cut yourself" into a simple client of chess or checkers.

Further development of the service

A major event in the industry was the release of Half-Life 2. No less excitement was caused by the released at the same time Counter-Strike: Source. That's only buyers of games on a physical medium (that is, on a disk) are faced with a lot of inconvenience:

  • Necessarily required the Internet to activate the product;
  • The game needed not only to install, but also to update via the same Internet;
  • The size of updates and patches was quite large, even according to modern concepts;
  • Activation is often frustrated;
  • In a word, everything was not very good.

The author of this article at one time bought the famous Orange Box. Expecting to play in his favorite Half-Life 2, he inserted the disc in the drive ... and spent the next two days in a weary wait for downloading all add-ons and updates through a stunted GPRS channel.

Main innovations of the next years

The main innovation was a seriously reworked and improved store. All servers of old samples were permanently disabled.

At the same time Valve began to attract third-party developers, offering them to sell games through their service. The release of the first part of HL2 was marked by the emergence of regional protection. Release of the same Orange Box pleased all fans of the service Steam Community, which soon turned into a real social network for gamers.

When the famous Left 4 Dead appeared, the service was formed matchmaking (finding suitable opponents in online games). However, much more important innovation was the "cloud" of the Steam Cloud, which finally allowed the full synchronization of settings between user accounts. Since then, the need for physical media for games (that is, buying a disc) has almost completely disappeared.

At about the same time, iMac users found out what Steam is. To date, this platform has considerable weight in the community. Finally, last year there was a truly epoch-making event: Steam was released for Linux systems, and Steam OS was announced.

Where can I get it?

So we found out what Steam is. It's time to turn to its direct use. There are two ways to install: if you bought the game (on physical media), which can be tied to your account in the "Steam", the operation will be performed in automatic mode.

If you plan to purchase programs in the Valve brand store, then visit their official website and download the client installation package. The program weighs several tens of megabytes, which is ridiculous by the present times.

Note! We have already talked about the large amount of patches and updates that will be downloaded after installation. If you do not have a more or less sane Internet (at least 1 Mb / sec), then you do not need to contact "Steam" at all. Spend a lot of time and nerves.

By the way, what is the Steam key? This is the resolution for the game, which supports activation and help through this service. About such an opportunity will be reported on the package with the disc or on the manufacturer's website.

How to install it?

Here everything is simple. Right-click on the installation file, select "Run as administrator". The installation dialog box appears.

Very important! In no case do not install "Steam" on the drive "C", since all your games will be installed there. Given that the same Left 4 Dead 2 or Force Unleashed "weighs" more than 10 GB, your system drive will soon be packed to the eyeballs.

Following the prompts of the "setup wizard", click the "Next" buttons thoughtfully. After he finishes the work, the client will automatically start, update, after which you can start buying games. However, it will not always be necessary to purchase: in Valve, they constantly arrange smart sales, or even give some programs. In a word, only have time!

By the way, about sales. The fact is that for the purchase you will need not only a credit card, the data of which can be linked to Steam. What is the billing address that is useful for confirming your order? This is your own home address, to which bills can be issued or written notices can be received. As a rule, the filling of this field can be neglected. In this case, some obligations are discharged from the company.

Some problems

Just note that personally the author of the article for all time working with the official client Steam did not notice any problems (except for cases with bad Internet). However, if you download the "broken" versions of No Steam Edition games from Vasya Pupkin, then you will see them without fail. In particular, you will immediately learn about what the Steam dll is.

The fact is that when you try to run a "broken" game, a window often pops up with a message about its absence. How to fix the situation? The simplest way is simply to buy licensed content. If you do not have such an opportunity, you can try to run the game not through its shortcut on the Desktop, but by double-clicking on the .exe file that you find on the D: (or other drive) \ Steam \ bin.

Viruses

It must be acknowledged that sometimes owners of completely legal content, who were bought for their own blood, face problems when launching. So, you can see the message about the same absent DLL in case the normal file was modified by some virus.

In short, if the problems started in "nothing", immediately install a normal antivirus package.

Opportunities for Developers

Do you know what the "Steam api" is? This is a unique service that allows players to try themselves in the field of creating entertainment. If you speak Russian, this is a special tool that makes it possible to receive data as a game, so to modify its code.

So, the mechanism of Steam Web Api is involved in those games that have a corresponding icon in the store. This means that you not only can participate in online battles, but also produce your own content. Of course, in most cases this is limited only by drawing famous caps in Team Fortress, but sometimes users create incredible in functionality and beauty of fashion.

This was especially noteworthy for the creator of Minerva MOD for Half-Life 2. He was so good that he was almost immediately added to the official store, and his developer was invited to work for Valve. In short, thanks to this tool, the corporation finds its new promising employees, and gives ordinary users a unique chance for self-expression.

Identifier

By the way, what is the Steam-ID, the presence of which is sometimes required to connect to some internal servers? This is your unique network name, assigned depending on the hardware characteristics of the computer. Simply put, if you log into your account from a computer, and then from a laptop, in both cases you will be assigned a separate identifier.

And what is the Steam id? This is the second name of the same identifier, of which we spoke just above.

To find out, in the game (which supports this feature) press the ESC key, then enter the Status command in the appeared console. A long list of recipients opens. Among them, find one that begins with your own gaming nickname. Near it there will be an index of the form "STEAM_1: 0: 12345678". This is the same identifier.

That's what Steam is and why it's needed!

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