New to steam

[Bazz]

Hi All,

I'm am brand new to steam - going to use it to get the games needed for the Disco's lan -but am 100% ignorant.

Hope someone has the time to answer a few q's?

Can I back up the games I download to disc?
Can I install on more than one PC? - by this I mean if I remove it from the machine I download it onto, can I then transfer it to a different machine? EDIT - found the answer to his in the sticky

Does bring up another question - do I have to have net access to play the games so it can verify my account etc?

Is it good value?


Appreciate any help and pointers I may be able to get -
Thanks gang.

[MadMax]

If you download a game purchased via steam over the internet then yes you can back it up any way you choose.

Yes you can copy entire steam directory over to another system, but you can only be logged into steam in one place. So when you upgrade to a new computer simply copy across to the new system (may be some other steps to make it work right).

Steam has an offline mode, but you have to verify the game online when you buy. So if it's a singleplayer game usually you can play it while not on the net, but I think you have to go on the net to signon, then change it to offline mode so make sure you have access to the net before you change. (Hope I'm right with that one, I don't really use this mode).

Is steam good value? Hell yes, fantastic, I prefer to purchase a steam game than a store game now.

Advantages:

Almost ALWAYS cheaper than store.
You won't need the CD in the drive to play (major annoyance).
No more lose or scratch the cd so you can't play any more.
You have a permanent backup of the game, simply re-download it.
Protection seems good, and there are lots of games with added achievements which adds more fun to a game.
See when your mates are online, make new friends through it.
Excellent management of updates and patches to all your games.
Can add non-steam games to your steam list and start them through steam as well.

Disadvantage:
Downloads can be huge, and bite your ISP plan's download limits, but some ISPs have their own content servers, so if you are in Internode or BigPond you can restrict downloads to these so it can be overcome as it won't add to your metered downloads.

[Mixa...]

Offline is great. My son often logs onto my account then fires up offline mode. He can play offline while I log back on to play online multi. Basically getting 2 licences for the game. Theoretically you could have many instances of your account running in offline mode.

[Bazz]

Nice - thanks for the help guys.....Think I'll pop off and get TF2 and the Half life series.


Again - cheers!