Thread: TF2sday

Too much homework, I won't make it tonight. Sorry guys.

Originally Posted by AetheLove

So here's something I need to get off my chest: what the FUCK is up with Steam?

I run a complete OTHER partition on my computer that is (a) Windows and (b) Steam. I reboot to play games. I play ONLY games on that OS. That used to sometimes mean BF2 and/or BFBC2, but for more than year now it's not just a dedicated Windows partition, it's a dedicated Steam partition. More than that, I can't remember the last time I played anything but TF2. Like, my whole computer is dedicated to running Windows updates and TF2 on Steam.

Yet somehow, every now and then, something manages to go out of synch. I'll try to start TF2, and it'll bitch about some map file or map cache. So I'll go through the bullshit to "Verify Integrity" - which seems to mean that it scans my entire drive - and eventually I'll get to play TF2. I guess it's a small thing, but it doesn't seem small, and I don't ever remember having to reverify the entire directory tree of a game before I could "fix" one map file being not the same as the server requested.

... and what the FUCK is going on? One goddamned map file? I have to wait 20 minutes for a drive scan and whatever else it does? It's a 4 Meg file! It's smart enough to see that I need to re-download the map file but it's not smart enough to JUST FUCKING GET IT? Four Megabytes takes, uh, what? TWO FUCKING SECONDS TO DOWNLOAD?

And NOW, as if I haven't got ENOUGH FUCKING SPITTLE ON MY MONITOR, tonight it decided that because my copy of cp_steel was somehow 'suspect' it needed to "Verify Integrity" and then (from what I can tell, because it doesn't actually tell you what it's doing) REDOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE TF2 App. Like, Network Monitor shows 3.6 GIGABYTES of download. To fix cp_steel. And I think it downloaded it all from Valve's original Pentium Pro server that they bought from Dell in 1997 - via the goddamned TAPE BACKUP. Seriously, what's the point of having mad bandwidth at home if Valve can't be bothered to push a decent data rate?

So that's more than an hour of not playing a game.

Fuck.

Oh yeah, and Merry Christmas.


Æ

Isn't tf2 on Linux? If all you're using windows for is that...

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

I don't think I've ever seen Ae so angry.

I hope your TF2ing improves.

Originally Posted by EBF

I don't think I've ever seen Ae so angry.

I hope your TF2ing improves.

I'll snailmail him a 4-pack of Guinness.

Some days with Steam...man, fire it up and say a lil' prayer.

Originally Posted by EBF

I don't think I've ever seen Ae so angry.

I hope your TF2ing improves.

Originally Posted by Sketch

I'll snailmail him a 4-pack of Guinness.

Some days with Steam...man, fire it up and say a lil' prayer.

Thanks guys.

Sometimes you just want to play. Sometimes having to wait 90 minutes is the same thing as not getting to play.

Sometimes having Valve apply the 90 minute solution because it's easier for them than thinking about the 2 minute solution is the reason people take rifles up into clock towers.

I'm not a stranger to fussing with games in order to get them to work. I've done it many times. I've even enjoyed it or taken some strange sense of satisfaction from it. But most of my experience is that the fussing is all on the front end and once you get things set up properly then they're set up for good.

It's like finally getting everything set up in the den; the couch and the chairs are all in places such that everyone can talk to each other and everyone can also see the tv, and no one gets glare off the tv from the window, and everyone has a place to set their drink and get to the snacks without tripping over the ottoman and there's still room in the corner for an extra chair (beanbag or normal) if Angela brings her cute friend but forgot to tell me she was bringing her cute friend.

Everything that needs to be plugged in is close enough to an outlet so that I don't have to string extension cords everywhere; the coax and ethernet port are hidden behind one of the end tables (so no one can see that wall plate doesn't quite cover the hole your contractor-friend made in my wall); and the lamp is near the switched outlet so I can turn it on and off from the switch by the door.

It's all Just So. It took some time to get it that way, and if I'd had to re-string the speaker wire one more time I was gonna lose it, but then somehow everything just fell into place and we all knew it was Right and Good.

... which is how it needs to be since I go there to relax and relaxing is something that has to happen in a relaxing way because if I have to struggle with bullshit just to make the space where I relax be relaxing then then the fabric of the space-time continuum is rent asunder and I get sucked into the void.

Or have an aneurysm.

And that's why it's worth it to spend the time sorting it all out in the first place. That's why, when the dog barfs all over the couch and it runs down between the cushions to where it's hard to clean, you sometimes decide to get the entire thing reupholstered rather than get a new couch. A new one would be cheaper, but there's no way you'd find another one that was small enough to fit where it needs to and also has enough interior space to let you lie all the way down. Sure, a longer couch could go against the other wall, but then the sun would be in my eyes. Or it could go in the same place, but now there's no room for grandpa's end table and eventually someone is going to spill a beer for lack of a convenient horizontal space. The couch that's comfortable for tv, comfortable for naps, comfortable for sex, and still fits where you want it to go is a rare couch indeed. In this life, some of us are lucky enough to find a true soul mate. Fewer of us ever find even one perfect couch. Hang the expense - get it reupholstered. You'll regret it if you don't.

And that's just the couch.

Do you understand? It's the place where you go for comfort. That's why Feng Shui is silly nonsense but also really not - there's an actual useful thing going on in there, even though their charts and pictograms are ridiculous. I don't want to listen to the mumbo-jumbo, but I'm happy to have someone get their Tao on because afterwards there's a space, and a peace, and tiny part of the universe has been cured of entropy.

A tiny part of the universe works just the way you want it to work. In your moments of need, you can go to that place and it does what you want.

Without thinking.

Every time.

So I don't mind sorting out driver issues on the front end. I don't mind editing .cfg files by hand. I'm ok with adding a custom rule to my firewall (even if the reason is that the game's network model was made by an idiot). But the only thing that allows me to do it the first time is the implied promise that I will never have to do it a second time.

Don't
Break
My
Shit

The "reinstall everything" solution is the worst possible solution. It's the last resort. It's the point at which I consider getting a new game. From a different company. 90 minutes? 3.6 Gigabytes? Is there any excuse for that? No. I've played many (way many) networked games and I don't ever recall having to fix a problem by gunning the entire directory and starting from scratch. This is the downside of Steam - it allows them trade 2 minutes of their time for 90 minutes of my time.

And even worse than the aneurysm, it makes me rage-post an embarrassing amount of profanity.

Cheers,


AetheLove

Originally Posted by AetheLove

In this life, some of us are lucky enough to find a true soul mate. Fewer of us ever find even one perfect couch.

Hahaha, this is sig-worthy.