Widescreen Gaming Forum

I have installed a GFWL game on three operating systems (XP, W7RC, W7) and every time I did I was forced to go to the support webpage and follow instructions on changing some really in depth settings to get it to work. Once it is working it's fairly transparent though, until a patch comes out; then you are forced to either install the patch through GFWL or be signed out and lose access to your saves.

Never had any of those issues, always worked straight away and I download the patches and apply them with no issues.

I've had the PC collectors edition of Assassin's Creed 2 pre-ordered since about the day it was allowed. I'm now very tempted to cancel it, but if I do, there's no chance of getting the CE again...

The online save thing is seriously worrying. Hopefully there will be enough of a furore to at least kill that bit of nonsense off - the game itself... I'm sure there will be a crack along soon enough. Probably a few days before the game is actually launched...

...

Had various issues with GfWL upon installing; including it refusing to let the game run because "the excutable has been altered/corrupted" when it was a fresh install off the Fallout 3 GotY DVD - I just give up with GfWL games and only have an offline account... which Microsoft hide pretty well. Rarely play MP anyway, so I don't care much on that front.

Not really, Xbox accounts are just microsoft accounts, so if you ever had a hotmail, Xbox or what-have-you then you are setup already. The Rockstar one you could make your account right there within the program in like 10 seconds. For all the complaining I heard about GTA4's account troubles it took me like 2 minutes to get everything setup, hardly a chore.

perhaps but still... I must say that disabling both of those will free processor ressources and this might just get you an increase in performance for this very demanding game ... (depending on where the bottleneck is in your system)
even though it should be two very lightweight applications it appears it's not the case...

[quote]small diversion off topic, but still along those lines... I bought GTAIV the other day and by the time I installed windows live, and rockstar social club, I wanted to punch myself in the face and delete the game. I'm okay with new drm, as long as it doesn't install fucked up shit on my hard drive.

I've never really understood why some people are so bothered by such things. I don't even notice really.

I don't really have an issue with GFWL in general, and I like have a service auto-detect patches. Since I already have Xbox Live, I was able to just use that. Was a pain to remember my password and get it set up. The RSSC is another animal. It loads every time Windows starts - not every time I start GTAIV - so there is another process and app eating up resources. I never signed up as I had no intent of using the video upload stuff or the social aspect. And, RSSC app had a habit of hanging and crashing while I was benchmarking something else.

You can cancel out of the sign up and login to simply play GTAIV offline, but stop loading your app every damn time I load Windows. And I shouldn't need some other TSR style app to validate DRM. Take advantage of GFWL or Steam.

[quote]Not really, Xbox accounts are just microsoft accounts, so if you ever had a hotmail, Xbox or what-have-you then you are setup already. The Rockstar one you could make your account right there within the program in like 10 seconds. For all the complaining I heard about GTA4's account troubles it took me like 2 minutes to get everything setup, hardly a chore.

perhaps but still... I must say that disabling both of those will free processor ressources and this might just get you an increase in performance for this very demanding game ... (depending on where the bottleneck is in your system)
even though it should be two very lightweight applications it appears it's not the case...

Well, you can mod them out. I never noticed them causing issues but I didn't pay a ton of attention I guess. Next time I play GTA4 I will mod them out and see what happens.

You can cancel out of the sign up and login to simply play GTAIV offline, but stop loading your app every damn time I load Windows.

That part's actually fairly simple.

I like have a service auto-detect patches.

I like that too, what I don't like is when I'm forced to do the patch. This forcing that GFWL does is made worse by the fact that you can't really tell if the process is frozen or not. During the summer when I installed GTA IV after upgrading to W7-RC1, the game needed a patch. The patching process took 30 minutes to download and install. During those 30 minutes nothing happened onscreen. In truth I had to do this twice because the first time I thought it had frozen.

STEAM wins because it auto-detects patches, the progress bars actually move, and I can make pointless posts on here while all that happens.

I've had few issues with the online authentication and redundant programs thing, but I'd still prefer not to do any of that crap. Just install a game, slap on a serial, and play the damned thing without having to worry about a connection or the other shit.

On a tiny up-side, the Ass Creed 2 specs are pretty reasonable:

Minimum Configuration:
SUPPORTED OS: Windows XP (32-64 bits) /Windows Vista(32-64 bits)/Windows 7 (32-64 bits)
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 GHZ or AMD Athlon X2 64 2.4GHZ
RAM: 1.5 GB Windows XP / 2 GB Windows Vista - Windows 7
Video Card: 256 MB DirectX 9.0-compliant card with Shader Model 3.0 or higher (see supported list)
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0 -compliant sound card
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0
DVD-ROM: DVD-ROM dual-layer drive
Hard Drive Space: 8 GB
Peripherals Supported: Keyboard, mouse, optional controller

Recommended Configuration:
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 2.6 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ or better
Video Card: GeForce 8800 GT or ATI Radeon HD 4700 or better
Sound: 5.1 sound card
Peripherals: Keyboard, mouse, joystick optional (Xbox 360 Controller for Windows recommended)



Though until a crack comes out, there's no way in hell I'm going to buy a copy and put up with that bullshit.

You can cancel out of the sign up and login to simply play GTAIV offline, but stop loading your app every damn time I load Windows.

That part's actually fairly simple.

Whenever i switched it to "don't run when windows starts" it would still run. So fricking annoying. Tried everything. Going into my boot programs list etc. etc. still couldn't get it to stop starting up. Only way around it was to uninstall GTAIV.

Well, I cancelled my pre-order of Assassin's Creed 2. I decided that playing the 'wait for a no-internet-crack' game was stupid, as it still involves giving Ubisoft my money... and quite a lot of it, since I had the £60 Collectors Edition ordered. If I buy AC2 at all, it'll be when they remove that stupid permanent-net-connection-needed idea, or possibly on a console when I see it going for a fiver.

Well, I cancelled my pre-order of Assassin's Creed 2. I decided that playing the 'wait for a no-internet-crack' game was stupid, as it still involves giving Ubisoft my money... and quite a lot of it, since I had the £60 Collectors Edition ordered. If I buy AC2 at all, it'll be when they remove that stupid permanent-net-connection-needed idea, or possibly on a console when I see it going for a fiver.

Why do you need to wait for a crack? The crack would be for long-term reasons, to ensure you can play the game in 20 years. When it releases I plan to play it online, because why not?

Because I do not agree with needing to be online to play a single player game.

Unless I'm playing a multiplayer game on Steam, I game in Offline mode. And with the modem off. I don't see the point in having my system online when it isn't necessary.

Because I do not agree with needing to be online to play a single player game.

Unless I'm playing a multiplayer game on Steam, I game in Offline mode. And with the modem off. I don't see the point in having my system online when it isn't necessary.

Well I agree it shouldn't be required, but I would also say it is no big deal. I don't see why you would shut the Internet off to game, almost every game is designed for the exact opposite now.

*for security reasons... well it could be a reason, the less online you are the less vulnerable
it's also why I don't endorse the fact that it's not possible anymore to have a dynamic IP
while a fixed IP is nice for server roles & the like... a bit variation prevents overexposing one's computer to all kind of threats...

*for privacy ... these days almost all apps connect to the internet without explicit content, I know some knowledgeable people are watching what happens, but what if something important is missed by them ?
like an app giving out personal data under the cover of online verification ? how much time till it's found out ? but then what if you were affected ?

so as a rule of thumb an app that doesn't need internet should be forbidden to access it (I actually do that, although there's ways around a firewall...)

*for ease of use : if you play while travelling or not at your home ...

Well I agree it shouldn't be required, but I would also say it is no big deal. I don't see why you would shut the Internet off to game, almost every game is designed for the exact opposite now.

When I'm gaming, I can't see what activity there is on my network connection. I like to know what is going on. If there is activity I cannot account for, I get concerned. Call me a control freak. It's why I hate auto-updaters - there is this sudden, random burst of activity for some inexplicable reason. If my system isn't online unless it needs to be, while offline, it's not vulnerable to an external nasty.

Now, if I'm playing a multiplayer game, I'll accept the necessity of an active network connection (of course) but a network connection should not be necessary in any way, shape or form for a single player game. I use Steam under sufferance more than anything else, because it doesn't force you to always be online; you can still play in offline mode.

As for Firewalls... the only firewall worth using is one in between the internet and the PC - a hardware firewall. Software firewalls are utterly, utterly useless as the threat is already on the system before the firewall can do anything about it.

Let's just sum it up as: I don't trust the internet as much as other people obviously do.

*for privacy ... these days almost all apps connect to the internet without explicit content, I know some knowledgeable people are watching what happens, but what if something important is missed by them ?
like an app giving out personal data under the cover of online verification ? how much time till it's found out ? but then what if you were affected ?

Ah, what was that iPhone app that phoned home to the developer every time you ran their program to tell them where you were, IMEI number of the phone, what you had run since you last opened their program and other deeply personally identifiable information?

yeah well I don't know about this particular issue since I'm not fond of iphones in the first place...
however simply searching "iphone privacy issue" raises particularly interesting results ;)

http://kotaku.com/5474209/assassins-creed-ii-pcs-drm-sounds-as-pleasant-as-a-stab-in-the-neck

Wow it is actually worse than I imagined.

http://kotaku.com/5474209/assassins-creed-ii-pcs-drm-sounds-as-pleasant-as-a-stab-in-the-neck

Wow it is actually worse than I imagined.

Ok I'm not longer getting this game on release I'll wait until there is a crack available for it. I can see it now, many excised people get there new games login to play, and the volume crashes the server, everyone losses there game and any unsaved progress. Or, an annoyed person with this idea of DRM to stop piracy at the expense of the customer, hacks the server and brings it down.

Hmm that gives me an idea (eyes up 4chan) :twisted: .

http://kotaku.com/5474209/assassins-creed-ii-pcs-drm-sounds-as-pleasant-as-a-stab-in-the-neck

Wow it is actually worse than I imagined.

I must :bowdown before this "ho so wise" move from ubisoft ... :roll:
how about dissuasive nuclear power directed at pirates hum ?

:cheers ubisoft
*whispers to some virtual ubisoft guy* you know that a crack will come out anyway right ?so .... what's the point ?

welcome to the new world, where a crack is the only "freedom" they will leave to us :(
and where I'll have to teach people left & right where to search for solutions to their problems, isn't that a bit counter-productive ?
*bangs his head against the door*