Stuck on "updating steam platform"

<mmaker.TakeThisOut@my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:1146931581.687210.255240@v46g2000cwv.googlegroups.com...
> Schrodinger wrote:
>> Also a shame, because I will not be able to use any of my Steam games
>> until
>> I sort a new ISP. Strikes me as a little unfair. Maybe I should have
>> pirated them all.
>
> Maybe you should use an ISP which doesn't try to control what its
> customers do.
>
> Just imagine if the phone company tried to tell you that you couldn't
> call certain phone numbers: why would anyone accept the same from an
> ISP?
>
> Mark
>

I agree. I have been with them for 2 years and this is the first I've heard
of *any* ISPs blocking certain ports - never mind mine!

Had I known they did this I wouldn't have joined. I'll have to change now,
but the complication is that we may be moving house shortly and I cannot
afford to be tied into a one year contract, which many providers have.
 >> Stay informed about: Stuck on "updating steam platform" 

On 6 May 2006 09:06:21 -0700, mmaker DeleteThis @my-deja.com wrote:

>Schrodinger wrote:
>> Also a shame, because I will not be able to use any of my Steam games until
>> I sort a new ISP. Strikes me as a little unfair. Maybe I should have
>> pirated them all.
>
>Maybe you should use an ISP which doesn't try to control what its
>customers do.
>
>Just imagine if the phone company tried to tell you that you couldn't
>call certain phone numbers: why would anyone accept the same from an
>ISP?

some Mobile Phone operators in the UK don't allow you to phone certain
numbers (ie premium rate)...
 >> Stay informed about: Stuck on "updating steam platform" 

riku wrote:
> Why would anyone accept Steam single-player games not working in
> offline mode, if the net connection fails for one reason or another?
> Well, it seems quite a few of the sorry Valve apologists are doing
> just that.

Next you'll be complaining that you can't play WoW when your Internet
connection goes down...

But, oddly, not complaining that you can't play
Random-Single-Player-FPS when the CD is lost.

Mark
 >> Stay informed about: Stuck on "updating steam platform" 

"Schrodinger" <no RemoveThis @way.com> wrote in message
news:Sp47g.115180$2g2.6926@fe07.news.easynews.com...
>
> <mmaker RemoveThis @my-deja.com> wrote in message

>>
>> Maybe you should use an ISP which doesn't try to control what its
>> customers do.
>>
>> Just imagine if the phone company tried to tell you that you couldn't
>> call certain phone numbers: why would anyone accept the same from an
>> ISP?
>>
>> Mark
>>
>
> I agree. I have been with them for 2 years and this is the first I've
> heard of *any* ISPs blocking certain ports - never mind mine!
>
> Had I known they did this I wouldn't have joined. I'll have to change
> now, but the complication is that we may be moving house shortly and I
> cannot afford to be tied into a one year contract, which many providers
> have.

They'll have done this for the new 'free broadband' offering. Queues a mile
long to join up so they have to restrict the service somehow or their whole
infrastructure will implode. I looked at it - would have saved me over £20
per month but didn't take it due to the port throttling etc. I like to
d-load episodes of series I've missed. Didn't know it'd affect Steam
though.

I have a friend on talk-talk and have had a word - he's never had an issue
so far but he's testing it out tomorrow for me (beer is the priority
tonight). I'll let you know how he get's on. If this is purely down to the
ISP wouldn't others be coming to AGHL or steampowered complaining though?
It's a fairly large ISP and they must have a number of other Steam users...
 >> Stay informed about: Stuck on "updating steam platform" 

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 >> Stay informed about: Stuck on "updating steam platform" 

> Tsk tsk. The offline mode was supposed to work in case of any net
> connection problems, wasn't it? Yes, Valve is 100% at fault in that.
> Don't be such a dumb Valve apologist.

Doh!!! you shouldn't have said his name 3 times... you *knew* he'd be
back! bye bye difool/steamkiller/sayno2steam/whatever *plonk*



--
Ben Cottrell AKA Bench
 >> Stay informed about: Stuck on "updating steam platform" 

"riku" <riku.TakeThisOut@none.invalid.com> wrote in message
news:bmbq52p1qjn9e2pbmi1fbr9j3o4j2skfm9@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 06 May 2006 10:35:38 GMT, "Schrodinger" <no.TakeThisOut@way.com> wrote:
>
>>It turns out that my ISP, talktalk - who I have been with for over a
>>year -
>>have started blocking ports above a certain number, to stop people using
>>file sharing and bittorrents.
>>
>>Looks like I'll have to move ISPs. A shame, because they have so far
>>provided far better service than BT ever did.
>>
>>Also a shame, because I will not be able to use any of my Steam games
>>until
>>I sort a new ISP. Strikes me as a little unfair. Maybe I should have
>>pirated them all.
>
> Are you talking about single-player games? Weren't they supposed to
> work in "offline mode" in case you are unable to connect to Steam
> authentication servers?
>
> Or is this YET another example of the offline mode working in theory
> and in test labs, not when it actually matters? I've had two instances
> in the past where I couldn't connect to Steam servers, and in both
> cases I was unable to run HL2 single-player in offline mode, even
> though Steam claimed the game is ready for offline playing. Apparently
> they STILL haven't sorted out these offline issues? Maybe they just
> don't care enough?
>

I can't play HL2 and Darwinia. I could play HL1, but would have to
reinstall from the original CD. The problem came when Steam *thought* I had
a net connection, switched offline mode "off" without asking me, proceeded
to try to update and was blocked. No other MP games are affected (i.e. only
Steam is affected) and, even if they were, they wouldn't prevent me from
starting the game itself.

<sigh> just another case of a game publisher bending us over and giving us
a metaphorical rogering.
 >> Stay informed about: Stuck on "updating steam platform" 

"Schrodinger" <no RemoveThis @way.com> wrote in message
news:ybZ6g.161956$%_1.129032@fe01.news.easynews.com...
> Hi
>
> I've been having real trouble over the last few weeks starting Steam.
>
> I went into offline mode a bit back and when I went back online, starting
> Steam did nothing - no splash screen, no CPU usage in task manager.
> Nothing.
>
> Reading up on it, I deleted clientregistry.blob and started again. This
> time I got "updating steam platform" which either stuck on nothing or go
> to, say, 30% and stopped.
>
> This whole process has now happened 3 or 4 times and, yet again because of
> Steam I cannot play a load of games I have paid for.

That's funny, I haven't experienced any problems at all. All my games start
up deterministically and reliably - worst case, a reboot is needed to fix
things (and very rarely at that.)

Wait a minute, I don't own any Steam games.

That explains it.

[Happily going back to a nice weekend of trouble-free, offline-forever
gaming.]
 >> Stay informed about: Stuck on "updating steam platform" 

"Shawk" <shawk.DeleteThis@clara.co.uk.3guesses> wrote in message
news:1146934954.9142.0@ersa.uk.clara.net...
>
>
> I have a friend on talk-talk and have had a word - he's never had an issue
> so far but he's testing it out tomorrow for me (beer is the priority
> tonight). I'll let you know how he get's on.

Yup, he's having probs. He was previously on TT but it looks like they're
doing it to all customers not just the new free-broadbanders
 >> Stay informed about: Stuck on "updating steam platform" 

Schrodinger wrote:

> Shows how likely it is that Valve will come up with a workaround to let us
> play our legally paid for games.

I'm wondering what exactly you think they could do about it. short of
reworking steam to use alternative ports... and then what happens if
*those* ports become blocked?

Come to think of it, it's not too much different to people who are
unable to get in to Steam because their connection has been throttled as
a result of exceeding bandwidth usage.. I'd be surprised if it doesn't
say somewhere in the T&C that valve aren't responsible for shortcomings
of ISPs like TT.

--
Ben Cottrell AKA Bench
 >> Stay informed about: Stuck on "updating steam platform" 

"Ben Cottrell" <bench RemoveThis @bench333.screaming.net> wrote in message
news:4c6s7cF149tt6U1@individual.net...
> Schrodinger wrote:
>
>> Shows how likely it is that Valve will come up with a workaround to let
>> us play our legally paid for games.
>
> I'm wondering what exactly you think they could do about it. short of
> reworking steam to use alternative ports... and then what happens if
> *those* ports become blocked?
>
> Come to think of it, it's not too much different to people who are unable
> to get in to Steam because their connection has been throttled as a result
> of exceeding bandwidth usage.. I'd be surprised if it doesn't say
> somewhere in the T&C that valve aren't responsible for shortcomings of
> ISPs like TT.
>
> --
> Ben Cottrell AKA Bench

They should give an option for switching offline mode on *before* it starts
to go online. It isn't rocket science.
 >> Stay informed about: Stuck on "updating steam platform"