Updates and DLC's

[PoorOldSpike]

Hi guys I bought F/A-18C on Steam a couple of weeks ago and the impressive flight model is one of the best I've seen in 37 years of flight simming..

 

 

A couple of questions- people sometimes mention "updates" in the forum, does that mean Steam auto-updates the sim for us, or do we have to manually get the updates from somewhere else?

 

 

Likewise there's a bunch of juicy-looking DLC's at Steam such as new aircraft and maps, do I have to buy them from Steam or somewhere else?

[Rudel_chw]

Steam autoupdates the Sim. You have to buy DLC from Steam, if you purchase them on ED Store (https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/shop/modules/) you wont be able to use them on Steam’s DCS.

[PoorOldSpike]

Steam autoupdates the Sim. You have to buy DLC from Steam, if you purchase them on ED Store (https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/shop/modules/) you wont be able to use them on Steam’s DCS.

 

 

Thanks, and incidentally why do game manufacturers put their games on Steam anyway?

And if we have the choice of buying an original game direct from the manufacturer's website or from Steam, which shall we buy from?

[Rudel_chw]

Thanks, and incidentally why do game manufacturers put their games on Steam anyway?

 

They reach additional customers.. so much additional sales that in spite of Steam’s 30% cut, it is still worthwhile.

 

And if we have the choice of buying an original game direct from the manufacturer's website or from Steam, which shall we buy from?

 

I prefer to buy directly from ED, I get the 10% discount from the miles program, enjoy more frequent sales and support the developer 30% more ... plus I still have the option to purchase at Steam on the rare occasion that they have a cheaper offer (as the stand alone version of DCS can use dlc from steam.

[Habu_69]

IMO the few extra $$ to purchase directly from ED is worth avoiding the extra hassles of steam purchases.

[BuzzU]

I agree. I prefer to buy direct from ED.

 

I'm not a fan of Steam.

[denissoliveira]

For me it is cheaper to buy directly from steam, the price is lower without the currency being used, even so the cost is very high in my country's currency, usually 4.5x to 5x more than the dollar.

[Rudel_chw]

For me it is cheaper to buy directly from steam, the price is lower without the currency being used ...

 

Yes, the mysteries of Steams currency conversion .. for my country the prices are almost equal to those from the ED Store, but I know for a fact that for some countries Steam may be much cheaper due to currency conversion: like for example Turkey, Argentina and Brazil .. I'm sure there may be others as well.

[PoorOldSpike]

I agree. I prefer to buy direct from ED.

I'm not a fan of Steam.

 

 

My main beef with Steam is the horrifically-long download times, e.g. 14 hours for X-Plane 11, and 6 hours for F/A-18C.

Oh for the good old glory days of the 1980's/90's when we could buy everything on disks..:)

[Brun]

My main beef with Steam is the horrifically-long download times, e.g. 14 hours for X-Plane 11, and 6 hours for F/A-18C.

Oh for the good old glory days of the 1980's/90's when we could buy everything on disks..:)

 

Suspect those download times are due to your internet connection rather than Steam.

[Pinola]

My main beef with Steam is the horrifically-long download times, e.g. 14 hours for X-Plane 11, and 6 hours for F/A-18C.

Oh for the good old glory days of the 1980's/90's when we could buy everything on disks..:)

 

 

I bought the F-18 2 days ago on steam and took 45 secs to dowload. As Brun said, must be internet conection issues.

[BuzzU]

My main beef with Steam is the horrifically-long download times, e.g. 14 hours for X-Plane 11, and 6 hours for F/A-18C.

Oh for the good old glory days of the 1980's/90's when we could buy everything on disks..:)

 

Yes, we bought the game and got a CD and a full paper manual.

 

Now, we pay more and get less.

[BuzzU]

I bought the F-18 2 days ago on steam and took 45 secs to dowload. As Brun said, must be internet conection issues.

 

What's your download speed?

[PoorOldSpike]

What's your download speed?

 

 

How do I find out? And whatever it is, what can I do about it?

I'm a PC dummy, I only know how to press a few keys and do mouse clicks to make my little men, tanks and guns whizz around shooting their guns.

I've been with AOL Broadband for years, shall I change to a faster provider if there are any?

My PC is high-end so that's not the culprit.

 

 

PS- just to digress, is it best to let Steam auto-update my Hornet, or should I switch off auto-updates? Are there pros and cons with auto-updates?

What do you guys do?

Edited March 25, 2020 by PoorOldSpike

[Rudel_chw]

...

Now, we pay more and get less.

 

That is not really true ... on January 1991, Microprose F-15 Strike Eagle II had a price of us$34 at Chips&Bits (the largest gaming mail order store of that time) .. this is not list price, but actual store price.

 

Since the inflation (on the US) has been 90%, that game in todays money is us$ 65 .. so, no, they were not cheaper, tough they did have a printed manual.

[BuzzU]

That is not really true ... on January 1991, Microprose F-15 Strike Eagle II had a price of us$34 at Chips&Bits (the largest gaming mail order store of that time) .. this is not list price, but actual store price.

 

Since the inflation (on the US) has been 90%, that game in todays money is us$ 65 .. so, no, they were not cheaper, tough they did have a printed manual.

 

You quoted me out of context. I was talking about a CD and a printed manual.

 

We got a CD. We could put it on any system and play offline as much as we want. Try that with DCS. Try it with iRacing.

[Rudel_chw]

We got a CD. We could put it on any system and play offline as much as we want. Try that with DCS...

 

Well, it would be difficult to put a 100+ GB game on a CD, or even a DVD :) but DCS (once installed) can be placed in offline mode and play with it for unlimited time.

[BuzzU]

I thought offline was limited? Good point about the size of DCS.

[Brun]

I just unplugged my network cable to check. You need an internet connection to login and activate your modules, and it'll then run for three days.

 

There's a very helpful message saying multiplayer won't be available.

[Rudel_chw]

I just unplugged my network cable to check. You need an internet connection to login and activate your modules, and it'll then run for three days.

 

Sounds like you just unplugged the network, without activating offline mode first:

 

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=207670

[Brun]

How do I find out? And whatever it is, what can I do about it?

I'm a PC dummy, I only know how to press a few keys and do mouse clicks to make my little men, tanks and guns whizz around shooting their guns.

I've been with AOL Broadband for years, shall I change to a faster provider if there are any?

My PC is high-end so that's not the culprit.

Check your speed by going here: http://www.speedtest.net and clicking the 'go' button.

 

Other than cable companies (i.e. Virgin in the UK) the speed is pretty much limited by the infrastructure. It's possible that your current ISP may have a package with higher speeds. I'd suggest either calling them or checking their website, but that might be tricky since AOL ceased to exist as an ISP a few years ago :)

[Brun]

Sounds like you just unplugged the network, without activating offline mode first:

 

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=207670

Wasn't aware of that, thanks.

[twells555]

Another reason to think about going with ed is that some of the stuff they have is not steam compatable...or is not steam compatable until they have time to make it so...