Games for Windows Live, Bioshock 2, and Steam

[Left Hand of Dorkness]

I've searched around some trying to find an answer to this, but thus far no luck. Maybe someone here can help out?

I downloaded Bioshock 2 from Steam awhile ago and just fired it up. I entered the CD key before the game would start.

Then Games for Windows Live prompts me to use their service. Screw you, I think, and close the window and start playing, only to discover that it won't let me save unless I create a GFWL profile.

So I follow their links, and it seems to think I'm on XBox, but whatever, I did what they told me to, and now I have a login (my email), an idiotic profile name they assigned to me, and a password.

Now GFWL wants me to enter a product key. I think this is the CD key I can get from the Steam menu, so I enter it.

But I get an error message: it tells me that

The Profile could not be signed in to LIVE. There may be a network problem or the Windows LIVE ID service may not be available.

When I click on "Network Status," I get:

Network Adapter: Wireless Network
Internet IP address: not signed in
Local IP Address: 192 etc.
System Link address: not active
PC Account: PC.000etc.
UPnP: Not Active

Obviously I'm online, so I'm not sure why it's saying I lack an Internet IP address.

Any thoughts? I've logged onto LIVE using their browser using my profile and password, so that doesn't seem to be the issue.

[Left Hand of Dorkness]

I just found the link to create a local profile, so hopefully that'll solve the problem. No achievements, but that's okay. Still, it'd be nice to figure out how to link to a real profile.

[Kinthalis]

I hate games for windows live for many reasons, but the hassle of getting a game to run is reason number 1.

The issue might have been with their servers, maybe try at a later time?

[Left Hand of Dorkness]

Bright side: I got it to run, saved my game a couple of times.

Down side: it crashed, and now it crashes on loading.

I hate everyone involved.

[Whack-a-Mole]

I got three games that are GFWL over Christmas. I got one to work for a few days then it stopped. Now absolutely none of my GFWL games work...at all.

I have spent hours trying to troubleshoot it to no avail.

I literally now check to see if a game is using GFWL and if it is I won't buy it. That is not sour grapes generic internet rant. I literally cannot play them and Steam refuses a refund.

In my hours of research I have come to the conclusion that GFWL is a nightmare and the worst of the worst of these things (which is saying something).

Fuck you Microsoft!

[Omniscient]

Originally Posted by Whack-a-Mole

I got three games that are GFWL over Christmas. I got one to work for a few days then it stopped. Now absolutely none of my GFWL games work...at all.

I have spent hours trying to troubleshoot it to no avail.

I literally now check to see if a game is using GFWL and if it is I won't buy it. That is not sour grapes generic internet rant. I literally cannot play them and Steam refuses a refund.

In my hours of research I have come to the conclusion that GFWL is a nightmare and the worst of the worst of these things (which is saying something).

Fuck you Microsoft!

No hate for Steam? Bizarre.

[Left Hand of Dorkness]

I have 3-4 dozen games through steam, and I've played the majority of them with very few problems other than the rare-but-inevitable crashes. This is the first one that's crashed every time I try to load it. I wonder if it has something to do with creating an offline profile--but now I can't even get far enough in the game to try for an online profile again.

While I hate everyone involved, I hate Microsoft the most.

[drgnrdr07]

Originally Posted by Left Hand of Dorkness

I have 3-4 dozen games through steam, and I've played the majority of them with very few problems other than the rare-but-inevitable crashes. This is the first one that's crashed every time I try to load it. I wonder if it has something to do with creating an offline profile--but now I can't even get far enough in the game to try for an online profile again.

While I hate everyone involved, I hate Microsoft the most.

I have the exact same problem as you.

I bought Bioshock 2 about 8 months back and skipped the GFWL stuff in the beginning without realizing that it wouldn't let me save. I ended up leaving the game and making a new GFWL account so I could save on my machine.

I ended up getting a random crash in the game the next time I tried to run it and now my game freezes on start up. Seems to freeze when GFWL is signing onto its servers.

I have tried completely removing GFWL and the game starts up just fine. I just can't make any saves. Every time I use GFWL I get that awesome crash.

I have already told myself that I refuse to purchase any game that uses GFWL.

[Whack-a-Mole]

Originally Posted by Omniscient

No hate for Steam? Bizarre.

I dislike DRM overall but that said I have had no trouble with Steam whatsoever.

I am pissed they will not refund my money though.

[Omniscient]

Originally Posted by Whack-a-Mole

I dislike DRM overall but that said I have had no trouble with Steam whatsoever.

I am pissed they will not refund my money though.

Call me crazy but I think shitty customer service would piss me off more than shitty DRM.

[Darkhold]

Originally Posted by Omniscient

Call me crazy but I think shitty customer service would piss me off more than shitty DRM.

Most PC game shops don't refund money why would Steam?

That said they usually do offer a one time only refund if you haven't played a game past X amount of time. He must have gone past that or they were feeling cranky that day.

[Omniscient]

Originally Posted by Darkhold

Most PC game shops don't refund money why would Steam?

One version of shitty customer service excuses another? Hmm.

[Darkhold]

Hmm what? As I stated they do sometimes give refunds even though it's in the terms and conditions that they don't. Also it would be childish to hold Steam personally responsible for adhering to a policy that's been around for ages now as opposed to being angry with the service that is preventing him from playing his game.

[Whack-a-Mole]

Originally Posted by Darkhold

Most PC game shops don't refund money why would Steam?

That said they usually do offer a one time only refund if you haven't played a game past X amount of time. He must have gone past that or they were feeling cranky that day.

Nope. I NEVER got Bioshock 2 to run. I did get an hour or two of DIRT in. Batman never worked. At all.

I pointed that out to them in an e-mail. That their system could see zero playtime. They didn't care.

[Left Hand of Dorkness]

I already got unjustified good customer service from Steam once (I clicked on the wrong button and ended up paying $75 for a game bundle when I meant to pay $7.50 for a single game, and they refunded the money even though they didn't have any obligation to do so). They have some good credit built up with me, so I probably won't ask for a refund.

I'm not normally a fan of pirating games. But I gotta say that the immorality of pirating a game that I paid for and that is completely broken escapes me.

[Gukumatz]

I haven't directly gotten money from Steam, but it was kind of weird. I pre-ordered Black Ops, which was and is broken on the PC and politely requested a refund. They said the couldn't do that, but that they'd let me buy a full-value game (or multiple budget games for the same amount) and then refund the cost of that and then delete Black Ops. As I said, it was kind of weird, but I think I might have a caught a sympathetic support representative and he kinded of worked around the "no money back" principle.

GFWL can blow me, though. (And the way they shoe-horned it into the Dawn of War 2 games perplex, confuse and enrages me.)

[control-z]

I REALLY want GTA IV for PC but refuse to buy it (even for $5) because of GFWL.