I bought some games from Steam and could never get to them. Put them aside then tried again, after cooling down. Now, I can get to my little library, but I'm told the games are 'Pre-Loaded' whatever that is, and they won't play. Does anyone here have any idea what that means and if I can get Still Life to play. The other games I have on GOG. I have tried and tried to get someone to respond and help with this, but I might as well be talking to the walls. Thank you.

Pre-loaded means you can download a game before it is released, and it will unlock (be available to play) as soon as the release date is reached. For example if a game is released on the 15th, you can pre-load it on the 13th (download it on your computer) but you won't be able to play it until the 15th (or whenever is the release date).

As to why it's giving you that message, I have no idea. Perhaps they are pre-loaded but not fully downloaded. Have you tried installing them again?

No, I considered myself lucky to even find them after over a year trying to even get on Steam. I no longer have the codes to do anything, but be happy the 'Still Life' disc runs on this PC and the other games play great through GOG. I'm too afraid to uninstall them still. Thank you for the suggestion, though.

BubbyJake if you can see them in your library you should not need a code... you should be able to click on them and download them to your computer.

Moving to Glitches as this is not a Game Discussion.

Which games are these?
As Butcher said, "preloaded" means you can download and install the games, but that they won't play until they are officially released.

If Still Life is one of the games, that was released LONG ago and shouldn't be appearing as "preloaded."

If these are all games that have been released,
There are some suggestions in ***this 5-year-old thread at Gamespot***

One person suggests "verifying game cache"
Instructions for verifying game cache ***here***

Another person says their games play when they switch to "offline mode" but don't play when connected to Steam.
Instructions for "offline mode" ***here***

The games are released, Tesla Effect, Still Life and The Pandora Directive. Both Tex games I already have through GOG and they're fine. I have the original Still Life, but wanted to try it on Steam. Bad choice. I guess I'll try re-downloading Still Life and hope for the best as they don't respond. Thank you all for your input. Oh and thank you, too Brown Eyed Tigre, I don't put stuff in the wrong place on purpose, I didn't consider this a game glitch thing. Thanks for putting the subject where it belongs. Sorry.

I ordered games through steam and wrote for refund, they answered my emails and refunded. I finally decided to quit steam, too intrusive. I only buy from GOG, mac game store or BigFish now.

The only problems I have with STEAM are their LACK of "service" and support to their customers. Many times I've asked for tech support, and rarely do I ever get a reply. Very frustrating! I'm not the only one with this complaint, I assure you
Sandy

BubbaJake, do you have the games already installed on your computer through GOG or disc and maybe that is why Steam won't download/play them?

Well,I bought it over from GOG to finish it, installed it and left the Steam version on my PC. I also did this with Pandora Directive, but not with Still Life. I only have one copy of that on the PC and it's from Steam. I have NEVER gotten a response from Steam for problems and when they give me updates it only adds to the problems. I can still get onto Steam and look around, but the games don't even try to start. The games include a freebie from them that I don't have another copy of which won't play. I tried reloading but since I don't have the codes for any of them I can't get another download of any of them.

Like Winfrey said, if you have them in your list, you don't need codes. You should be able to just re-download them.