Disappointed with Steam for Mac?

[glimp7]

Portal BC-WIN > Portal OSX

There is a huge difference between running Portal in Windows through Bootcamp and Portal in OSX. Windows runs portal better on my 15" unibody MBP (9600M GT 512MB). This is a decent but non-optimized port. We are playing this game in OpenGL, when it started out in DirectX.

Valve will supposedly release new games on "subsequent" Wednesdays. If porting a small game like Portal to the Mac took this long, I can't imagine how long it will take for Half-Life 2 and its sequential episodes. I REALLY hope Team Fortress 2 is a game in the next batch of ports.

 

[Pojo458]

Give it some time, they seemed to have rushed through the beta so it may be weird at first. I've had no problems with it and portal runs great, I'm hoping to get Torchlight next.

 

[mixel]

I don't mind steam looking like steam.. Once the little GUI glitches are fixed anyway. It supports skins in a pretty comprehensive way so it won't be long before users make it more Mac-like.

I'm happy with it! Portal is performing okay.. Just needs a little optimization.. L4D2 will be the real test though!

 

[meinink2y]

I downloaded Steam with Braid last night, but I can't get the game to start. A box pops up saying "Preparing to launch Braid," but nothing happens. It prompted me to allow Universal access in a submenu, so I did that, but still to no avail. Anyone have similar problems or know what I need to do to play the game? I'm dying to finally play Braid!

 

[0098386]

Valve will supposedly release new games on "subsequent" Wednesdays. If porting a small game like Portal to the Mac took this long, I can't imagine how long it will take for Half-Life 2 and its sequential episodes. I REALLY hope Team Fortress 2 is a game in the next batch of ports.

You know this isn't how it works, right? From the Mac announcement to release, they weren't just developing Portal. Porting the Source engine over to OpenGL likely finished somewhere between the announcements and release. Games go goldmaster a while before they're released (though digital games don't require pressing).

I'd go as far as saying the staggered releases is to prevent server overloading. The whole Steam store was broke due to the massive number of sales during the Rockstar Sale week recently, and it took a very long time to download Portal. Imagine if they released all 10 of their Source engine games instead of just 1?
Well that's my guess .

 

[The Final Cut]

ui is same as windows, I think its a huge step foward... portals graphics are Awful compared with pc.

 

[Krevnik]

ui is same as windows, I think its a huge step foward... portals graphics are Awful compared with pc.

Make sure you have the resolution set correctly. Without setting it to the native resolution, it's kinda blurry (LCD display thing).

 

[nsorrelle]

I really wish Apple gave a damn about games on OS X. It doesn't seem like they're making any effort to get games onto OS X and get them running well. OS X has a long history of running games worse than Windows; this is far from being only Valve's issue.

 

[aiqw9182]

ui is same as windows, I think its a huge step foward... portals graphics are Awful compared with pc.

Turn off color correction, it makes everything blurry.

 

[allfunandgames]

Sounds like some of the complainers here need to take some cement and harden up! Giving away a $30 game for free on release is bound to have a negative impact on the servers, but would you rather they didn't?
Also, (hopefully) most of the bugs will be corrected with future updates.

One thing is for sure; Mac gaming is in a much better position today than it was a week ago, and for that we should be very grateful!

 

[ScottishDuck]

It's more stable than Snow Leopard at release

 

[rbarris]

Valve will supposedly release new games on "subsequent" Wednesdays. If porting a small game like Portal to the Mac took this long, I can't imagine how long it will take for Half-Life 2 and its sequential episodes. I REALLY hope Team Fortress 2 is a game in the next batch of ports.

There is a common engine at work here... More of these games are up and running than you might think.

 

[misterwebmaster]

There is a huge difference between running Portal in Windows through Bootcamp and Portal in OSX. Windows runs portal better on my 15" unibody MBP (9600M GT 512MB). This is a decent but non-optimized port. We are playing this game in OpenGL, when it started out in DirectX.

I wonder which is better - Portal on OSX or Portal on Parallels?

 

[palebluedot]

We need to institute a "No whiney Mac users" policy on Steam or else the rest of us are gonna get a bad rap* from the e-pros on Counter Strike: Source.

(*Anyone who switched to OS X back in the day and told their gaming buddies that while in Windows will know what this means.)

 

[Halamolo]

Why the hell we have to start the stupid Steam client to play a game?

Why can´t we play the games we bought and paid for without starting the Steam app?

MY GAMES WON`T EVEN START NOW!

Few hours ago they worked just fine.

I´m already starting to hate this "Steam system"!

 

[Halamolo]

I downloaded Steam with Braid last night, but I can't get the game to start. A box pops up saying "Preparing to launch Braid," but nothing happens. It prompted me to allow Universal access in a submenu, so I did that, but still to no avail. Anyone have similar problems or know what I need to do to play the game? I'm dying to finally play Braid!

Exact same problem!

This really pisses me off!!!!!!!

 

[misterwebmaster]

Why the hell we have to start the stupid Steam client to play a game?

Why can´t we play the games we bought and paid for without starting the Steam app?

MY GAMES WON`T EVEN START NOW!

Few hours ago they worked just fine.

I´m already starting to hate this "Steam system"!

I'm having the same problem. Except for Portal, my games won't even start up. Steam customer support is totally unresponsive. It's not unreasonable to expect a service or software that I paid for to work.

 

[mixel]

Exact same problem!

This really pisses me off!!!!!!!

Have you tried steam in offline mode and seeing if they run then?

 

[misterwebmaster]

Have you tried steam in offline mode and seeing if they run then?

thanks for the tip. Nope, they still won't start. Still no word from Steam. They sure were efficient in taking my money though...

I hope the service works properly in the future, but so far they have really soured my view of them.

 

[tkingart]

Disappointed no, anxious for more games, yes.

If you're having problems running Portal or TorchLight, right-click (or cmd+click) on them, and choose Delete Local Content, then re-download. That solved things for me everytime.

 

[Mackilroy]

Why the hell we have to start the stupid Steam client to play a game?

Why can´t we play the games we bought and paid for without starting the Steam app?

MY GAMES WON`T EVEN START NOW!

Few hours ago they worked just fine.

I´m already starting to hate this "Steam system"!

You bought them through Steam, what did you expect? It's not as if it was hidden from you.

Steam has worked perfectly for me every single time I've used it. I'm sorry this isn't the case for you, but this is a brand-new program and there are bound to be bugs. If they waited until there were no bugs left, Steam would never have been released, and nor would any other software.

 

[stujmac26]

I downloaded Steam with Braid last night, but I can't get the game to start. A box pops up saying "Preparing to launch Braid," but nothing happens. It prompted me to allow Universal access in a submenu, so I did that, but still to no avail. Anyone have similar problems or know what I need to do to play the game? I'm dying to finally play Braid!

Same problem for me - other games opened fine but Braid just disappeared after that dialogue box popped up. I was in a rush so didn't do extensive testing - might just have required a restart, I will do some testing tonight.

 

[misterwebmaster]

If they waited until there were no bugs left, Steam would never have been released, and nor would any other software.

There's a big difference between a zero-tolerance for bugs and an expectation that a program will simply load properly.

A lot of disappointment comes from high expectations, but Valve is not distinguishing itself with its poor communications. They should tone the hype down a bit until they have a stable service.

 

[Halamolo]

You bought them through Steam, what did you expect? It's not as if it was hidden from you.

Actually I didn´t know that. I assumed I could just download games through Steam and then play them without Steam, standalone. Anyway it still was my mistake to not know this, but now that I do I think it´s a stupid system and I won´t probably ever buy a single game through Steam. I hate that kind of Big Brother control.

Steam has worked perfectly for me every single time I've used it. I'm sorry this isn't the case for you, but this is a brand-new program and there are bound to be bugs. If they waited until there were no bugs left, Steam would never have been released, and nor would any other software.

GOOD! I´d rather have no software than buggy software. There should be somekind of law for companies doing beta tests with paying clients!

But this is actually a new level of buggy! I´ve never seen this crappy app on OS X. Seriously! It´s an insult to release crap like this on OS X!

Good for you that your Steam is working. There are lots of people though with serious problems, which is unacceptable.

 

[nasabaer]

Hamolo - sorry... all you had to know about Steam - BEFORE - you purchase some games you can get on their site.
http://www.steampoweredgames.com

I cannot understand your problem. Meanwhile i have for sure about 60 PC games purchased through steam - without problems.

Some games (also Portal) you can play offline.

I never had a problem with steam at all.

You are blaming here valve/steam for absolutely clear things that you could read BEFORE you purchase.

so... stop this ******** and RTFM.
Have a nice day