Is there any ETA on the Steam release? I see they've updated the achievements for SoD, but the game itself isn't available as DLC on the main BGEE store page.
I don't know exactly how the Steam store works, but given the size, I would guess that new products are introduced maybe once or twice a day at specific times through some sort of automated process, which means there was no way to coordinate the release to be simultaneous with Beamdog.
If I have to paraphase @Dee on twich: "We did push all buttons on our parts. Now we wait steam to do their part".
Seems likely. Valve just operates this way. I just wonder if a loose time frame is available. Will we be waiting for just a few hours, or a day, a week, etc.?
If it goes live on Steam today, there's a good chance that whoever buys it over there will be playing before most people who bought it from Beamdog. Their servers are currently choked with all the downloads. I've been downloading it for the past two hours and it's still at 10% (on a 10MB connection).
If I have to paraphase @Dee on twich: "We did push all buttons on our parts. Now we wait steam to do their part".
Seems likely. Valve just operates this way. I just wonder if a loose time frame is available. Will we be waiting for just a few hours, or a day, a week, etc.?
Well, it's almost 5:30pm where I am, still no sign on steam. I've got a feeling that I will be downloading tonight and playing tomorrow. lol
If it goes live on Steam today, there's a good chance that whoever buys it over there will be playing before most people who bought it from Beamdog. Their servers are currently choked with all the downloads. I've been downloading it for the past two hours and it's still at 10% (on a 10MB connection).
Yeah, I'm in Skype with my regular group and they're dealing with the Beamdog client noise as we speak. It's pretty unrealistic to expect them to have the same infrastructural capabilities Valve does, but that doesn't make the pain any easier to take. lol
This is kind of a clusterfudge. I understand that things are a bit buggy and glitchy on release day, but Steam makes things so simple. I don't understand why getting the game on Steam isn't most developers' #1 priority. I even went to the Beamdog site to just get it there, but nope: It wants me to buy BG:EE again, and won't let me just purchase the expansion. I'll just wait for Steam, and to any developers watching this thread, that's probably something to keep in mind for next release...
This is kind of a clusterfudge. I understand that things are a bit buggy and glitchy on release day, but Steam makes things so simple. I don't understand why getting the game on Steam isn't most developers' #1 priority. I even went to the Beamdog site to just get it there, but nope: It wants me to buy BG:EE again, and won't let me just purchase the expansion. I'll just wait for Steam, and to any developers watching this thread, that's probably something to keep in mind for next release...
I understand, and I'm probably just as frustrated, but we should keep an open mind and consider that Beamdog may have been on top of this from day 1, and it's Valve who is slacking on their end. They do this regularly and people just put up with it because there's no better platform for buying and managing PC games at the moment.
I agree that preloading would have been a major benefit. I think the limitation is the fact that the goal with their EE games is to keep them as moddable as possible, so the game files are released in a sort of roundabout raw form. Preloading would have opened people to mining game files for spoilers, hacks, exploiting any bugs, etc. I can see why they didn't do it, and that's the price we pay for good open content.
If you bought the original game on Steam, they have no way of knowing it because it's a completely separate platform. So these people try to buy the expansion directly from them and then complain because they won't sell you without the original game (which you already have and thus shouldn't have to buy again).
But if they allowed you to purchase the expansion on their website without checking for a BG:EE license, then there's always going to be folks who are going to buy it without reading the "requires the original game" fine print. And then these folks are going to complain that they were duped by Beamdog (even though they weren't).
The only sensible approach is to advise people to stick to one platform. It's not like you would be able to play the game on Steam before it's available on their store, anyway. And once it is, might as well buy it from them.
By the way: just saw it on Steam and I've found out that it costs HALF of what I paid for pre-ordering from Beamdog (because of the conversion from USD to BRL).
Happy gaming, brothers and sisters! Mine downloaded in under a minute and man, I'm blown away. No spoilers, but watch the intro movie. They brought back the same narrator from original BG and it's glorious.
For any modders out there, my Override and Portraits folders didn't get altered in any way. Still make a backup, but you should be safe if you didn't remember to.
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I don't know exactly how the Steam store works, but given the size, I would guess that new products are introduced maybe once or twice a day at specific times through some sort of automated process, which means there was no way to coordinate the release to be simultaneous with Beamdog.
OH WELL.
As good as you guys are, I'm really surprised you didn't have pre-loading set up.
I have a 300mbs connection and my download is being measured in kbs .... kbs!
If you bought the original game on Steam, they have no way of knowing it because it's a completely separate platform. So these people try to buy the expansion directly from them and then complain because they won't sell you without the original game (which you already have and thus shouldn't have to buy again).
But if they allowed you to purchase the expansion on their website without checking for a BG:EE license, then there's always going to be folks who are going to buy it without reading the "requires the original game" fine print. And then these folks are going to complain that they were duped by Beamdog (even though they weren't).
The only sensible approach is to advise people to stick to one platform. It's not like you would be able to play the game on Steam before it's available on their store, anyway. And once it is, might as well buy it from them.