Register UT3 Retail Key With Steam

[Bagenholt]

That has got to be the funniest thing I've found on the net for along time. Seriously I nearly pissed myself

 

[UnrealGrrl]

Let me be the second to say YESSSSSS!

Thanks, Epic. You know, guys, they really went out of their way to do this. I hope everyone appreciates it. I know I do.

fraggin awesome job Epic - ya know we still luv you!!! (and appreciate this muchly)

and why so happy? Most of all because this will hopefully generate a Buzz and More Players!

 

[Skold]

If you have the game installed in another location, there is a REALLY simple way to get it hooked into Steam, and that is using the MKLINK command line tools. This is available in Vista->Windows 7. Here's an example:

You have Steam on C:\Program Files\Steam
You have UT3 on F:\Unreal Tournament 3

Here is the command to run from cmd:

mklink /J "C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\unreal tournament 3" "F:\Unreal Tournament 3"

If you're in XP it is only slightly more tricky:

1) Download junction.exe from sysinternals:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896768.aspx

2) Extract junction.exe to a folder in your Path (or your user folder or whatever, wherever you can easily find it).

3) from the command line run:
junction "C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\unreal tournament 3" "F:\Unreal Tournament 3"

Once you've done this it will be as if your UT3 directory is in the steamapps folder regardless of where it is actually installed. You can then verify game cache in steam and it will fix the executable and such.

Thx for trying! this does not work for me because i have no space on C:/. i have a great installation of UT3 on f:/ tho!

edit: i've got to try this again after rereading everything.

 

[Wowbagger]

The reason im as excited as Brizz and Hal is that all of the sudden Epic is doing the right things all over. I dont know why and i dont care

Ive been naggin Epic for years about better builtin community support but you know what? this is even better. Epic can concentrate on what theyre good at (games) and Valve the same through Steam.

Let me add two more things to Streetpreachers list,

• Steam Cloud If Epic decides to support this it will store your Settings and Savegames. So if youre visiting a friend for the weekend you can just login on his spare PC and start downloading, not only UT3 but also all your Keyboard and Mouse settings AND your Savegames. Same goes if your HD failes, fix your PC, reinstall, and youre back were you were before the crash.
  
• VAC (Valve AntiCheat) With the active player numbers atm im not sure cheating is that a big problem but with all these changes more people will start playing again and then UT3 needs a working anti cheat system.
  Its not 100% but its a helluva lot better than letting the cheaters roam free in UT3 land. Its not confirmed to work with UE3 atm (UE2 is supported though)
  

So what's so great about Steam? Others have tried explaining but there still seems to be some confusion, so I'll take a crack at it. Which ones are really "worth it" is of course subject to personal preferences, but here's my list:

• Easy Purchase & Installation - GameStop doesn't hardly even carry PC games anymore, and the shelf space and selection at other outlets like Best Buy, Target, etc. seem to get smaller every day. With Steam you never have to deal with them - great games are just a few clicks away from the comfort of your chair.
  
• Great Sales - I've seen quite a few great deals come and go on Steam. I got the entire id library from Commander Keen through Doom 3 for $35. Bioshock for $5. TF2 for $10. Their recent holiday sale was crazy, and included UT3 for $10 or Unreal Gold, Unreal II, UT99 GOTY, UT2K4 ECE, and UT3 for $20.
  
• No CD's or Keys - Once you own something, you own it forever. Just install on the fly with the click of a button and let the system do the rest. No CD's to get scratched or lost in the last move. No cryptic keys to enter (or worse, LOOSE). Just click and play. Esp. great when you rebuild your system or get a new one. Some games even keep your config (like key bindings and video prefs) "in the cloud" so that they're applied automatically with each installation.
  
• Auto-Updates - Never worry about searching for patches, or whether you and your buddies are all patched to the same version. And never deal with crap like FilePlanet and the like.
  
• Friends List - Contact list of people you play with. Get a notification in-game when they come online, and see what game they're playing. Just click to join the same server, even if you're in a different game (remember, no CD's!). See when your friends add friends, get achievements, or buy a new game. Check their stats page to see what they've been playing lately and how much.
  
• Built-In IM & VOIP - One of the really nice things is that it has a "community" overlay available from in-game for any game that it supports (which is most games, even if they're not sold on Steam). You can fire up a chat window w/ friends from in-game, or use their excellent VOIP. Crystal clear and no increase in lag that I can see. You can even browse the web in-game.
  
• Community - It's easy to start your own Steam groups, or join existing ones. There's a ton of them for all kinds of things, or start one for just you and your friends. Get a homepage for it. Easily browse group game servers, and what group members are currently online. Get a feed of group updates and announcements. Get a prompt when a group "event" starts (like a scheduled game).
  
• Achievements - I put these last for a reason. People like to hype them, but they're really just there for fun and bragging rights. It's not a reason to go Steam vs. retail. Although some Valve games do give you real in-game benefits from certain achievements (like unlocks in TF2). But they're still fun.

There's probably more, but those are the things that have made an evangelist out of me. I don't buy games anywhere else anymore. If it's not on Steam, it's not worth the hassle IMHO.


That's a common misconception. Just click File / Go Offline and it'll do just that. Steam will restart in "Offline Mode" and will let you play till your hearts content. It will also revert to this mode if it cannot detect a web connection when started in online mode (but will warn you).

 

[Alhanalem]

@ the above- I think UT3 will get installed to steamapps\common\unreal tournament 3 (note the \common\)
Does this mean the new patch, steam achievements, etc is coming soon? >.>

Last I checked VAC is a feature of source engine games and it only protects those.

You need to register the CD key, NOT install the game (if the directory is created you'll have to delete it), then issue that command above for it to work.

 

[Flak]

Nice to see how many people are excited about this.

 

[UnrealGrrl]

did i say this is fraggin awesome?! WTG Epic ppl - keep the good news flowing

more players = thebomb!

 

[MuLuNGuS]

this is damn nice and for sure a step in the right direction.

 

[Beelzebud (Satanas)]

Good stuff. I like steam and am really glad they decided to do this. Between this, the upcoming patch and bonus pack, I just might have to take UT3 for a spin again.

 

[dub]

This is good news. And I guess Epic had to jump through a couple of (burning) hoops to get this to work. :tup: (tbh I feel like they also owe me a back flip through those hoops)
The reason I'm really looking forward to the steam integration are the achievements and the steam community.

I would have been happier not having to download the entire game again... but it looks like there might be ways around that.
(with my ****ty connection, if I would start the UT3 download right now, it'd only be done by the time the patch hits)

If someone manages to install UT3 on Steam without having to re-download everything, do let us know how you did it.
Thanks for that link to the Steam page Bort. (I'm hoping for a cleaner way than described in that post though)

 

[{Ogre}Spin]

Just to mention, it's also a doddle to relocate your steam DIR, so if you have games on your F: drive, as an example, install steam, drag/drop the DIR from program files (x86) to F: and merely update the links to represent it's new location, should then be a breeze to relocate your ut3 install.

Personally my steam DIR sits on D: and works fine.

Thanks to Epic for this, can't help feeling this is the best business decision in a long time, I know for a fact that I'll play if I get in from work and see mates online I'd hop in....just like I do with TF2 et al.

 

[TheIronKnuckle]

So, this basically gives me nothing worth getting excited about. steam is horrible In my experience anyway.

1.my download limit is capped at 7 gb a month, i have to pay 1$ per MB if i go over that, so that means i would be paying $1000 to download and reinstall ut3 from steam all because it is an 8 gb game

2.I prefer physical disks to digital certificates. I don't have to worry about losing my "box" because i take care of my games.

3.Achievements do sound nice but they aren't worth the hassle imo.

4.I find manually downloading patches to be no worse then letting steam do it for me.

5. And finally, i'm an offliner so all this "community" crap doesn't give me the gamers-erection that you all seem to be suffering from.

But that is just me though, don't take this post as me saying "Steam sucks". It has it's uses and i know it is good for a lot of guys out there, i'm just not one of them.

 

[Sir_Brizz]

Those of you who have bandwidth limits should check with your ISP and see if they host Steam content servers in your area. If they do, they may not charge you for Steam downloads.

 

[dub]

Personally I find it a bit strange that an "offliner" would buy UT3 in the first place... but that's just me.

I feel for people with download limits... I had a 10 GB monthly cap for years... and I think I went over the limit ever month. (cost me a fortune)
But if these afore mentioned methods work of not having to download UT again, this would be a moot point.

 

[Ignotium]

So, this basically gives me nothing worth getting excited about. steam is horrible In my experience anyway.

1.my download limit is capped at 7 gb a month, i have to pay 1$ per MB if i go over that, so that means i would be paying $1000 to download and reinstall ut3 from steam all because it is an 8 gb game

2.I prefer physical disks to digital certificates. I don't have to worry about losing my "box" because i take care of my games.

3.Achievements do sound nice but they aren't worth the hassle imo.

4.I find manually downloading patches to be no worse then letting steam do it for me.

5. And finally, i'm an offliner so all this "community" crap doesn't give me the gamers-erection that you all seem to be suffering from.

But that is just me though, don't take this post as me saying "Steam sucks". It has it's uses and i know it is good for a lot of guys out there, i'm just not one of them.

yay!

let us take the crap for you, we wont care

 

[Larkin]

What do you guys think the chances are that valve will add the editor to the tools tab? My bet is that its not going to happen, but damn, that would make my day even better.

 

[zynthetic]

UEd is started through the frontend. Skipping that small step removes the option for batch cooks, compiling script, choosing the platform, and several other things.

 

[TheIronKnuckle]

yay!

let us take the crap for you, we wont care

Of course! Not only won't you care, but I daresay you'll enjoy the crap too

 

[toniglandyl]

w00tage !

 

[Hunter]

Will be sorting this out later. It's good news and I'm loving Steam. I keep looking through the store because I know I can click buy, download it and be playing it the same evening (depending on download size) without leaving my chair!