Topic: Now I understand why no one likes GFWL

[idolminds]

Got my videocard, yay! Now I can install and play Dead Rising 2! So I do, and it loads up, and it wants me to sign in to GFWL. I already know that my version of the client is out of date so I just let it log me back out and I can play. Its fun killing zombies and such.

Last night I let GFWL update itself to the newest version. Hooray! Now I can...crash at startup? Thats odd. When I try to load the GFW Marketplace the app says I need a "Windows ID Sign-In Assistant" installed. Ok, fine, download that and install it...except it won't install. Doesn't tell me why it won't install, just that it didn't and no changes were made to my system. Useful.

I guess that sign in assistant thing is installed with other Windows Live programs so I grab some installer thing that ends up being corrupt or something because the exe refuses to run. Now I'm trying yet another Windows Live installer, installing some blog writer software thing just to get the assistant program I need. God damn.

While that stuff was downloading I uninstalled GFWL and installed the version that came on the game disc and of course it worked fine, so its definitely a problem with the newest GFWL client. If I can't get this figured out at least I can play the game solo offline, but Pyro and I wanted to try the co-op this weekend. Blah.

Apparently if I had Windows 7 this wouldn't be an issue and I plan on upgrading eventually but this shit is annoying. I really don't want to spend $100 right now for a new OS.

[MysterD]

G4WL sucks. It's got so many quirks and issues like this and the disappearing saved games, that it ain't even funny.
Even EADM is better than G4WL....

[idolminds]

Well after fucking around with this all day and going through a lot of google searches, I found the problem.

I disabled the Windows Automatic Update service.

Thats it. I turned it back on and that sign in assistant program installed just fine. Then I turned WAU off again and everything still worked. Now I'm just dealing with a few "leftover" problems like having to accept some new TOS by going to xbox.com and there was an issue with the title update for DR2 that I've already taken care of.

But my god what a broken mess. At no point did it mention that that particular service must be running for the install to continue. A single error box would have saved me literally hours.

[MysterD]

That's ridiculous, Idol....
*smh*

[idolminds]

On the positive side, smashing the fuck out of zombies is feeling very therapeutic right now.

[Cobra951]

I figured you had worked it out when I got notified you were online.  It's perplexing that they continue to let it be such a mess.

[idolminds]

And hey, just to stay on theme I loaded up Steam and my games list is blank! Woo! But its 2am and Im not going to deal with this shit right now.

[scottws]

Sucks.  FWIW, mine isn't blank.

[MysterD]

And hey, just to stay on theme I loaded up Steam and my games list is blank! Woo! But its 2am and Im not going to deal with this shit right now.

Try booting Steam again. See if it works.

If not, maybe this will help.

What happened to me on Steam before is my actual profile [in My Community] would show what I own, but the Steam program wouldn't boot the list of My Games, no matter how much time I waited [i.e. like 20 minutes].

If you got this problem - you might wanna look below.

The ClientRegistry.BLOB Reset Solution has solved this before for me when Steam would NOT boot my games list up.

[idolminds]

Oh I know about the ClientRegistry.blob "fix", that just forces Steam to redownload itself. Seeing as how that takes 3 hours for me I just keep putting it off. Im sure this week or next they will update the client anyway and I'll do it then.

Just goes to show how shoddy Steam as a program is. What does that file do? Why does it seem to fuck up so much? Why haven't they redesigned it? And when you delete that file, why is it redownloading everything? Can't it run a check and see which files are correct and only replace the broken ones instead of downloading everything over?

[scottws]

In defense of Steam, I've had zero problems with it since that time six or seven years ago when offline mode didn't work.  I appreciate the fact that this isn't the experience for everyone but I personally don't think the Steam client is shoddy at all.

As for your situation idol, I'm sure you realize it but you are in a very tiny minority of regular Internet users that have dial-up and an even smaller minority of regular Internet users on dial-up that are also gamers.  Companies with web services like Valve simply do not care about your category.  The dollars they would probably have to put into Steam to make it more dial-up friendly would most likely not result in revenue from the users whose experience they improved to cover those sunk costs, essentially resulting in a net loss for that project.  It is what it is.  They could do it out of the kindness of their hearts, but I wouldn't count on it.  You certainly have the right to vote with your dollars.

As for your GFWL issue, I agree that GFWL sucks bad.  But I wonder if Microsoft even considered a scenario where someone would disable the automatic updates service.  They've been highly recommending allowing your PC to automatically update for years and it is truly a good idea.  I understand why you disabled it, but again it goes back to the dial-up in 2011 situation where companies simply do not care about you.  But I guess that's not really a good excuse for the problems you've had with it.  It simply is a terrible program/service.

[idolminds]

I'm not expecting them to cater to me, but really...whats up with that file? It seems every problem anyone has with Steam the answer is to delete it and let it redownload Steam. It seems easily corruptible or something.

PS, thank you for stating the obvious to me as if I wasn't aware of the situation.

[scottws]

No need to be a dick about it.  I've seen you make similar complaints for years now where you have suggestions on how something could be improved to make it more dial-up friendly.

Sorry I responded at all.

[idolminds]

Sorry, I'm in a bad mood.

EDIT Also I didnt see your edit before I posted. GFWL is just hokey. I had to go manually run the Dead Rising 2 update and point it to the right directory via command prompt. Seriously?

EDIT2 I really am sorry for snapping at you. Its just...I'm painfully aware that I'm basically irrelevant on the internet. And I was just trying to fix that Steam issue this morning with no luck so far so...yeah, bitter.

[MysterD]

@Idol

Anytime I have huge updates or downloads I need to make that will take hours and hours, I usually will go do something else for a while - like say watch a movie or watch TV or just go do something else. I don't expect many if any companies to be dial-up friendly anymore - since everything seems to be going digital. For dial-up users, this absolutely sucks. Hell, even DSL now, that's really too slow for the way the industry is going.

Far Cry 1's 150 MB patch (which was taking hours on each attempt) constantly failing on me was my breaking point on dial-up years ago, as that was what made me move to DSL. Last year, I couldn't handle DSL anymore after GTA4 PC taking over 10 hours to download - and that there were many really good games being WAY cheaper to buy-to-download, so I had to switch to something else MUCH faster. As this digital trend continues to boom on the PC, I just see this continuing where everything will go digital.

[idolminds]

This isnt GFWL related, but I just tried to play Prototype and Street Fighter 4. Prototype wont play any sounds, and SF4 looks like this. Yes, thats an actual screenshot and no amount of settings changes would fix it.

So I guess I'm just going to enjoy the extra HDD space. I can see why many people shy away from PC gaming when we get ports that do stuff like this.

[MysterD]

@Idol

Way in the past, what was killing me w/ those two games (SF4 and Prototype) - the sound card drivers.
Keep those up-to-date - especially if you have RealTek.

As always - you should always be using newest vid-card drivers, newest DX, VC distributable, and newest sound card drivers.
That should stop most problems from ever occurring.

EDIT:
From the Prototype Thread...There's a pain-in-the-ass solution in there for those having Prototype PC sound and lag issue - especially in FMV videos.
Basically, you have to unpack 3 GB worth of sound files and rename some of them.
I forgot about that issue w/ the sound files, which they never fixed.
You can try the solution there - which worked for me.
It's seems to mainly happen w/ those who have w/ RealTek sound cards.

EDIT 2:
G4WL -> A pretty good thread on how to solve most of Prototype PC's sound problems.
Hope this stuff helps you w/ Prototype PC, Idol. Cheers.

I'll see what I can find on Street Fighter 4 PC.
Looks like a graphics issue.

[MysterD]

This isnt GFWL related, but I just tried to play Prototype and Street Fighter 4. Prototype wont play any sounds, and SF4 looks like this. Yes, thats an actual screenshot and no amount of settings changes would fix it.

So I guess I'm just going to enjoy the extra HDD space. I can see why many people shy away from PC gaming when we get ports that do stuff like this.

Looks like SF4 PC has an issue w/ V-Sync and AA being TURNED ON that can cause ALL kinds of weirdness - from blurred colors to major framerate dips.
Hmmm....Did you try turning those both off?

[idolminds]

I think I left vsync on. Oh well, I'll remember that if I ever bother to reinstall it. I put Borderlands back on so I don't have room for it anymore, heh.