qubit's Steam troubleshooting thread

[qubit]

A lot of TPU members now game on the Steam platform, including me. For Steam problems, one can go to the Steam forums. However, we may prefer to discuss these in our awesome TPU community instead. Therefore, post all your Steam related problems, hints and tips here. I'll get us started:

Move your Steam install from one hard drive to another From this Steam HowTo

Your games reside in the SteamApps folder. Be sure to back up this folder before starting, or you could lose all your game files if something goes wrong and big downloads will ensue...

• Log out and exit Steam
• Navigate to the folder where Steam is installed (by default: C:\Program Files\Steam\)
• Delete all of the files and folders except the SteamApps folder and Steam.exe
• Cut and paste your Steam folder to the new location, for example: D:\Games\Steam\
• Launch Steam
• Steam will briefly update and then you will be ready to play
• All future game content will be downloaded to the new folder D:\Games\Steam\Steamapps\

Miscellaneous odd problems with Steam

Delete ClientRegistry.blob in the Steam folder. This forces to Steam update and rebuild itself, usually ironing out the problem in the process.

 

[Chryonn]

If you're in another country with internet access and it happens to be one of those Steam Sales seasons that they have and you desperately need to buy a game, contact support and explain the situation. They'll release the control they have on using your payment details in another country and you can purchase away!

 

[LifeOnMars]

Nice idea for a thread Qubit. I would much rather sort out Steam problems on this forum as you tend to get alot of muppets on the Steam forums and the lack of any quality moderation leaves alot to be desired.

 

[qubit]

www.steampowered.com is currently not loading in the browser. Starting up the Steam client logs in ok, but game updates are stuck and the store page won't load.

Anyone else seeing this?

 

[erocker]

www.steampowered.com is currently not loading in the browser. Starting up the Steam client logs in ok, but game updates are stuck and the store page won't load.

Anyone else seeing this?

It works for me but it's slow. Lots of traffic on Steam right now, thus this is the way it is during the hollidays, Steam sales, etc.

 

[qubit]

It works for me but it's slow. Lots of traffic on Steam right now, thus this is the way it is during the hollidays, Steam sales, etc.

You'd think that with the amount of money Valve makes, they'd spec their systems to cope with this peak demand, wouldn't you? :shadedshu

 

[Batou1986]

There load handling ability greatly varies from place to place i have no problems with the Wash DC server but new york or philly servers take forever to dl stuff.

 

[_JP_]

I guess they don't have what it takes to serve Portugal and Spain (same server).
It doesn't load any page. Gives me error 118.

 

[erocker]

You'd think that with the amount of money Valve makes, they'd spec their systems to cope with this peak demand, wouldn't you? :shadedshu

Of course they are. Ever think that the lines going in to Valve's servers can get overloaded?

 

[qubit]

I've just had a Steam update install itself on my PC like it normally does after I accept it. However, this time, it's screwed Steam up:

Tried playing Hard Reset, which I'm part way through, but it's no longer installed and wants to download it. However, much more annoying is that it will likely lose my place, which is quite a way in.

Half of my games are all automatically redownloading! Nice waste of bandwidth.

Note that just before this update went on, I had to re-enter my password at Steam startup, which was odd, as I hadn't accessed it from anywhere else.

I tried Googling about this, but couldn't find anything.

Anyone else seen this?

 

[RejZoR]

Cannot use OFFLINE mode when your internet connection is down?
Offline Mode refuses to activate in such scenario? This usually only happens if you're using wireless or wired router. Make sure you disable the connection by unplugging the cable from PC or disabling connection through Windows settings. If you don't, Steam will think it's actually connected, but when it will try to go into Offline Mode, it will fail because connection doesn't actually exist (it sees the router link).

When you disconnect the computer from connection, use Offline Mode again and it should switch.
I was banging my head against wall because of this when my ISP link dropped off the Earth for 3 days and i couldn't play a single Steam game. Then i found out it was router's fault to fail like this...

 

[_JP_]

This already happened to me quite a few times.

If you are running Vista or 7, and are getting errors based on Steam being forced by Windows to run in XP Compatibility mode, or are being booted from the servers for a failure to connect to VAC secure network, try this out:

Run "Regedit"

Follow this:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers

If Steam.exe is in there, delete the file.

If that doesn't work, follow:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers

And again, find and delete the steam.exe file.

Further to this, if those dont work, follow:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Compatibility Assistant\Persisted

Again, look for the Steam.exe file and delete it.

Basically, all this does is stops Windows from automatically setting your compatibility for Steam, which it shouldn't be doing anyways. This is a problem for some reason with the new Steam, so it just started happening.

Follow this link for source.

 

[qubit]

Cannot use OFFLINE mode when your internet connection is down?
Offline Mode refuses to activate in such scenario? This usually only happens if you're using wireless or wired router. Make sure you disable the connection by unplugging the cable from PC or disabling connection through Windows settings. If you don't, Steam will think it's actually connected, but when it will try to go into Offline Mode, it will fail because connection doesn't actually exist (it sees the router link).

When you disconnect the computer from connection, use Offline Mode again and it should switch.
I was banging my head against wall because of this when my ISP link dropped off the Earth for 3 days and i couldn't play a single Steam game. Then i found out it was router's fault to fail like this...

Thanks for the tip.

Follow this link for source.

Thanks for that. I can't look at it now, as it's blocked at work however, while Hard Reset had to redownload, I didn't lose my position in it.

 

[Sinzia]

I'm in for subbing, I rarely have issues with steam tho.

 

[Wrigleyvillain]

For those not aware another basic troubleshooting method when you are having issues with a game is the "Verify Cache Integrity" or some such option when you right-click on a game in your list. If it finds something missing or wrong it will re-download that part.

You can furthermore utilize this to get a new, fresh .exe too or something if you know/think you need it. Just dump your present one before running it.