Steam help

Philippe · June 20, 2014, 10:19:19 AM

I've had a Steam account for about six months. I resisted at first (that's why it took me so long to get around to getting one) but when CK II migrated to Steam I had to bite the bullet.

My original hesitation had to do with patching and modding. My Battle Academy flag mods (Germans and Italians are finished, Americans still a work in progress) get obliterated every time I check the integrity of the game cache, but I'm sure that sooner or later I'll figure out how to get Steam to recognize my mods as something other than a faulty download.

My latest concern is a bit more serious. I've just ordered a new computer.

Will Steam give me a hard time when they detect a different system accessing my account (but using the same IP address)? I'm hoping this won't be too problematic since people do buy new computers from time to time (and probably a lot more often than I do).

I'm hoping that I will be able to run the two computers in tandem for a month or two while I migrate in an orderly and stately way from one computer to the other. While I realize that that plan will probably collapse after an hour of plugging, un-plugging, and re-plugging cables, will Steam object if I have a Steam game on both computers? I suppose the analogy would be that I'll have a real computer and a really old, antiquated, unmoveable laptop with an enormous desktop footprint. Don't some of you have games on their desktops and laptops at the same time?

Eventually I'm going to move, so my one consolation is that at least I won't have to explain why I'm trying to connect to them from a different IP address.

Jarhead0331 · June 20, 2014, 10:22:40 AM

Absolutely not. I run three PCs and two laptops from the same IP and have many of the same steam games installed on each. You just cannot be logged in on more than one machine at a time.

mirth · June 20, 2014, 10:22:57 AM

I access my steam account from multiple machines, both Mac and PC. Steam occasionally prompts me to authorize a machine that it doesn't recognize (which requires inputting a code emailed to me), but I've never been prevented for accessing my account or playing my games.

Philippe · June 20, 2014, 10:32:28 AM

Thanks, guys. That's really good to hear.

I guess the real fun will start in about six months or so when I change IP addresses.

Staggerwing · June 20, 2014, 08:50:23 PM

That probably won't matter either or everyone with a dynamic IP would have been frakked a long time ago.

panzerde · June 20, 2014, 08:56:29 PM

Steam is really very tolerant of those sorts of changes. I've had at least four different computers as my main gaming system since I've had my Steam account and never had any issue at all. My latest system is a gaming notebook that I took with me to Origins. I connected to Steam from multiple different IPs while I was in Columbus, including hotel WiFi and the hotspot on my phone. Steam just worked.

Nefaro · June 21, 2014, 01:24:00 PM

Steam bothered me a couple times when I would switch between my notebook and desktop a couple years ago. So I turned that damned double-check crap off and it left me alone.

I got sick of d!cking with it. Perhaps they improved it since then.. I dunno.

Huw the Poo · June 21, 2014, 05:08:27 PM

I turned Steam Guard off for a while because I have ultra-~~paranoid~~secure cookie settings and it really got on my tits. However, since I started playing Dota 2 I've interacted with the community market a fair bit which you can't do with Steam Guard disabled. :(

Nefaro · June 21, 2014, 05:49:31 PM

Quote from: Huw the Poo on June 21, 2014, 05:08:27 PM
I turned Steam Guard off for a while because I have ultra-~~paranoid~~secure cookie settings and it really got on my tits. However, since I started playing Dota 2 I've interacted with the community market a fair bit which you can't do with Steam Guard disabled. :(

Yep. They essentially ban you from certain Steam content if you turn SteamGuard off. *Grumble*

Huw the Poo · June 21, 2014, 06:31:21 PM

I also committed the cardinal sin of using a different debit card to buy something yesterday, so now I'm barred from the market again for a week. Jesus.

Nefaro · June 22, 2014, 03:09:58 AM

Quote from: Huw the Poo on June 21, 2014, 06:31:21 PM
I also committed the cardinal sin of using a different debit card to buy something yesterday, so now I'm barred from the market again for a week. Jesus.

Their "market" stuff is crazy.

I decided to sell all the collector's cards I had junking up my Steam Inventory, shortly after that crap first arrived, but it wouldn't let me do shit without activating SteamGuard. After my bad experiences with that annoying thing, I decided it wasn't worth it.

Your story only further convinces me.