Once upon a time, when computers were big, and games for them were very small, no one could have thought what heights the industry of this kind of entertainment would reach. After all, then no one was seriously engaged in the development of systems that prevent the unlicensed use of games.
In addition, there were practically no online games, since the Internet capabilities at that time were very stunted. The maximum that was available to gamers was to stretch a coaxial cable between their computers.
As time passed, the gaming industry was developing at an increasingly rapid pace. Not surprisingly, the developers faced both of these problems in full growth. Simply put, they faced the need to provide players with a stable and reliable service for battles in an interactive mode, as well as to protect their creations from illegal copying.
One of the most successful developments was the Steam service from Valve. By the way, what is Steam? What is it for?
Brief historical background
Steam was created relatively recently, only in 2002. However, then he was known by the name of Grid or Gazelle. Its revolution was that fans of Valve creations could buy a digital version of the game without bothering with shopping trips.
While the active development of Half-Life-2 was underway, so the company wanted to receive funds from the contributions of the creators. This venture was 100 percent successful.
The first version of "Steam" was sent for testing exactly to the release of CS 1.4. At that time, the service allowed the following:
- a person could independently search for servers of interest to him;
- of course, you could use registered games;
- buy (!) a digital copy of the program (once again, note that at that time it was a real breakthrough);
- "Cut yourself" into a simple client of chess or drafts.
Further development of the service
A major event in the industry was the release of Half-Life 2. No less excitement was caused by Counter-Strike: Source, which was released at the same time. Here are just buyers of games on physical media (that is, on disk) faced with a lot of inconvenience:
- Internet was required to activate the product;
- the game had to not only be installed, but also updated via the same Internet;
- the size of updates and patches was considerable even according to modern concepts;
- activation often failed;
- in a word, everything was not very good.
The author of this article at the time bought the famous Orange Box. Expecting to play his beloved Half-Life 2, he inserted the disc into the drive ... and spent the next two days languidly waiting for all add-ons and updates to be downloaded through the stunted GPRS channel.
The main innovations of subsequent years
The main innovation was a seriously redesigned and improved store. All old sample servers were permanently disabled.
Valve then 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. The release of the Orange Box pleased all fans with the Steam Community service, which soon turned into a real social network for gamers.
When the famous Left 4 Dead appeared, the service formed a matchmaking (search for suitable opponents in online games). However, a much more important innovation was the Steam Cloud, which finally made it possible to fully synchronize settings between user accounts. Since then, the need for a physical medium for games (that is, to purchase a disc) has almost completely disappeared.
At about the same time, iMac users learned about what Steam is. Today this platform has considerable weight in the community. Finally, last year a truly epochal event took place: Steam was released for Linux systems, and Steam OS was also announced.
Where to get it from?
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 a game (on a physical medium) that can be linked to your account in Steam, the operation will be performed automatically.
If you plan to purchase programs in the Valve company store, then visit their official website and download the client installation package. The program “weighs” several tens of megabytes, which is simply ridiculous at the present time.
Note! We have already talked about the large size of patches and updates that will be downloaded after installation. If you do not have more or less sane Internet (at least 1 Mb / sec), then you should not contact Steam at all. Spend a ton of time and nerves.
By the way, what is a Steam key? This is a game permission that supports activation and assistance through this service. Such a possibility will be announced on the packaging with the disc or on the manufacturer's website.
How to install it?
Everything is simple here. Right-click on the installation file, select the item “Run as administrator”. The installation dialog box opens.
Very important! In no case do not install "Steam" on the "C" drive, as 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 full.
Following the prompts of the “installation wizard”, thoughtfully click on the “Next” buttons. After he finishes work, the client will automatically start, update, after which you can start buying games. However, it is far from always necessary to purchase: Valve constantly arranges chic sales, or even gives some programs. In a word, just be in time!
By the way, about sales. The fact is that not only a credit card is required for the purchase, the data of which can be linked to Steam. What is a billing address that is useful to confirm your order? This is your own home address where invoices may be issued or written notifications may be received. As a rule, filling this field can be neglected. In this case, some obligations are withdrawn from the company.
Some problems
Immediately, we note that personally the author of the article for all the time working with the official Steam client did not notice any problems (except for cases with poor Internet). However, if you download the "broken" versions of No Steam Edition games from Vasya Pupkin, then you will certainly see them. In particular, you will immediately learn what Steam dll is.
The fact is that when you try to start a "broken" game, a window often pops up with a message about its absence. How to fix the situation? The easiest way is simply to buy licensed content. If for some reason you don’t have such an opportunity, you can try to launch the game not through its shortcut on the “Desktop”, but by double-clicking on the .exe file, which you will find along the path D: (or another disk) \ Steam \ bin.
Viruses
It must be admitted that sometimes even owners of completely legal content that was bought for their hard-earned money encounter problems at launch. So, you may well see a message about the same missing DLL in the case when the normal file was modified by some virus.
In a word, if problems started from scratch, immediately install a normal anti-virus package.
Developer Features
Do you know what Steam api is? This is a unique service that allows players to try themselves in the field of creating entertainment. Speaking in Russian, this is a special tool that makes it possible to receive data about the game and modify its code.
So, the Steam Web Api mechanism is involved in those games that have a corresponding icon in the store. This means that you can not only participate in online battles, but also produce your own content. Of course, in most cases this is limited only to drawing the famous hats in Team Fortress, but sometimes users create fashion that is incredible in functionality and beauty.
The creator of Minerva MOD for Half-Life 2 was particularly famous for it. He was so good that he was immediately added to the official store, and his developer was invited to work at 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 a Steam-identifier, the presence of which is sometimes required to connect to some internal servers? This is your unique network name assigned depending on the characteristics of the computer hardware. 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.
What is Steam id? This is the second name of the same identifier, which we talked about a little higher.
To find out, in the game (which supports this feature), press the ESC key, and then enter the Status command in the console that appears. A long list of recipients opens. Among them, find the one that starts with your same game nickname. Near it will be an index of the form "STEAM_1: 0: 12345678". This is the same identifier.
This is what Steam is and why it is needed!