Why would a game try to associate itself to a Steam account when the game isn't even offered on Steam?

I posted my initial comments about "Rockin' the Dead" in the game discussions thread yesterday, and then tried to determine why the game fails to exit properly, giving me an error message.

I uninstalled the game, and reinstalled, getting the same error message about "breakpoint exception", and having to ctl/alt/del to get the game to quit. I uninstalled again, and went into my computer, searching for all files, game saves, etc. and deleted them. I rebooted and got the same thing, the game cannot exit properly.

But the game installation starts with the Steam Setup Program and the installation process shows the charcoal grey window that Steam users will recognize while it installs. I uninstalled again, and a charcoal grey window popped up saying that the game would remain in my Steam library, but I would have to install again to be able to play it. My Steam library was shown, showing three games: Puritas Cordis, Tunguska, and The Rockin' Dead, showing that I'd played the game for 71 minutes. I've only bought two games from Steam - they don't even offer The Rockin' Dead on their site! I took a couple of screen shots of the steam windows and saved them as proof.

I completely uninstalled the Steam.exe program, rebooted, and tried again. The game installation still tries to open with steam.exe, but now cannot find the steam program, and setup, of course, fails. I was hoping that not being able to associate itself with Steam would cure the exit program problem.

The game was installed from a DVD that was ordered from Amazon, it's not a downloaded game. Can anyone explain why is this happening?

I have several retail games that require Steam. It's possible that this one does as well.

Steam is used for product registration and program updates, so it may be normal. I don't own the game, so I can't say for sure.

Just because a game comes on a CD or DVD doesn't mean it doesn't use Steam. I think Half Life 2 was one of the first games that came on disc and required Steam. One clue about whether a game uses Steam or another type of online activation is if it lists an internet connection in the game requirements.

Thanks for responding, InlandAZ.

I would understand requiring Steam if the retail version happens to be a game that Steam offers as a download, as well, but with a game they don't even offer??

I remember entering the product code from the DVD case when I first installed the game, but I don't recall whether it was in the Steam installation window or before that.

I recall seeing that there was a product registration page for the game on either the Bit-Composer or the Viva Media website. I would have thought I would be redirected there.

Forgive my ignorance, but I've just never had this happen with a game installation before. Even if I do re-download the Steam downloader and re-install the game, I don't think that will resolve the problem with the "Breakpoint Exception" error, which is something else I have never encountered before.


Edit to add: Thanks for your reply, Jenny100. I was not aware that some games require Steam for a retail version of the game. I got out a magnifying glass to read the DVD box, and there was no mention of internet connection on the box, but there was some kind of message about being logged into Steam when the game was installing. So it looks like I have to try again on the installation. Any idea about the error message?

I've tried searching Google and the best I came up with was one of the posts ***here*** which mentioned a similar problem with Zone Alarm before it was updated. So my guess is that there's either a problem with the game or a problem with Steam. Or it could be due to a conflict with an antivirus, if you have one running in the background. You might also try notifying Viva-Media about the error.

Thank you very kindly, Jenny100.

I've no idea what zone alarm is. I was sure to turn anti-virus OFF before I started all this. I wasn't even logged into Steam the first installation. When I did log in to try to see what was going on, I wasn't allowed to log in until I checked the email they just sent to me:



I found that very strange as I have been using the same computer and Firefox for three years straight. (??) I logged in, and they didn't have anything about The Rockin' Dead in "my game library". But you've since explained about some games requiring Steam.

I'll try one more time to install the game. If it happens again, I'll follow your suggestion and contact Viva Media.

Thanks very much for the explanations.

What happens if you are someone who likes to keep a PC for gaming that is not connected to the internet? (not me, but there are some people who do this, and if you bought an actual disc, surely typing the serial number on the box it came with should be sufficient?). Seems to me there ought to be more of a compromise between anti piracy and a gamers right to enjoy the game they bought.

Hi. I, too was annoyed at the Steam/ VALVE installation for The Rockin" Dead DVD. I kept getting errors such as: 1316, found steam.exe but could not delete, unable to update, steam network unavailable, and others. Never had steam before. I also couldn't seem to completely uninstall steam/ game.

It took me hours to discover how to install on my Windows7- 64 computer. Using a tip from Steam forum superuser, finally was successful. In case someone else has trouble with this game and steam, this worked for me. YMMV.

1. Let install start/ or use seup.exe/ right-click if you can to run as administration. Let install continue until you see the screen that says install done and to click "Finish" on it- DO NOT CLICK. Close window with X-or ignore it.
2. Ctl/Alt/Delete= to select/open Task Manager.
3. In Task Manager processes tab- select any msiexec- and click close. I only had one. This closed the game install with "Finish" screen and ended the game installation.
4. There should be an icon for "Steam " on your desktop.
5. Restart your computer in "Safe Mode" by Start/ Shutdown pick RESTART. **AS computer is restarting keep pressing F8 until you see screen with options. Pick "Safe Mode WITH Networking", and press enter.
6. After entered into Safe Mode- click on Steam icon on desktop. If you can't see it= go to Start/ Computer and find/click on "Desktop", icon for Steam will be there.
7. Clicking on the Steam icon in safe mode should install the correct Steam files to let the game run.

HTH , Karen

Thanks for posting the procedure.
It's hard to believe they expect the average gamer to cope with that.
It sounds like a real pain in the aspidistras.

So, do you still need to have Steam then or no?

Will you be going on-line in Safe Mode for the Steam files to install?

Is this safe to do? (Won't mess up the computer some how?)

It doesn't sound very "safe" to me.
Antivirus, anti-spyware, and software firewalls will be turned off in Safe Mode. If you have to install this way, be sure to reboot to normal mode as soon as the installer has finished whatever it has to do.

This is the first I've heard of a Steam game requiring that you install in Safe Mode, so I don't know what Viva Media did differently.

Be sure to let Viva Media know that you don't consider having to jump through these kinds of hoops to be an acceptable form of copy "protection."

Thank you Jenny. I emailed Viva Media inquiring if that is true that you need a Steam account to install the game, and that I and a lot of people I know are not buying the game because of this. We'll see if I get a response.

I hope someone also mentions having to use Safe Mode to finish installation of the game. I nearly bought this game, but if I have to jump through the hoops mentioned above, there is no way I will buy it. I will not download files from Steam or anywhere else without my antivirus etc. I have a Steam account and have no problems with using Steam, just not having to install in Safe Mode.

It's bad enough that you have to activate a boxed game on-line to play it. I refuse to be bullied into creating an account at Steam to do it whether the process is easy and safe or not.

What in heaven's name is the rationale behind this?

Gil.

Just to clarify, I did NOT have to use safe mode to register my game. I have a steam icon on my desktop, and the familiar charcoal gray window popped up during the installation, for the registration. Aside from what I already posted above, I had no problems, and the game played fine on my XP computer. This was a retail copy, not a download copy.

Well, that's good to know, LadyCav - gamern's post about Safe Mode had me very concerned. Steam, I'm OK with!

One of the first boxed retail games that required Steam was Half Life 2. The Half Life 2 disc did not include all the files necessary to play the game. So not only did Half Life 2 use Steam for activation, it used it for downloading the files that weren't included with the game. In some cases people had to wait over an hour for these files to finish downloading, sometimes longer, depending on their Internet speed. Just because you buy a game on a disc doesn't mean it's a complete game that only needs to be activated. And I wonder if there isn't a similar problem with this game, with the downloading portion of the installation having to be done in Safe Mode.

All this messing about sounds very horrible to me

I, too, bought the disk version of the game but I've never been anywhere near Steam so I'm not at all looking forward to trying to get the game running

The way I was reading gamern's post, is that you can use the Safe Mode as a work around to finish installation if you don't have a Steam account. Am I misunderstanding that?

Which is the lesser of the two evils, the Steam Account or the Safe Mode route? I read up a little on Steam and it sounds like they collect a lot of your information and make automatic updates to some games whether you want it or not. Again, don't know if I was understanding that right either.

Oh, downloading in Safe Mode with your security software turned off by far.

Steam can be annoying, but it's still a good site for downloading games.

LadyCav said she already had a Steam account.
In her first post she said:

So already being a Steam member doesn't mean this game will install correctly in normal mode and you still may have to boot to Safe Mode to install it, even if you're already a Steam user.

I don't think this kind of thing is acceptable as a copy "protection" mechanism. Steam users don't normally have to go through this rigmarole when they buy games through Steam, so why do they have to do it with this particular game?

Just for info - the Adventure Shop download of Rockin Dead is "steamless".