Have CD from an old game -- any way to play on steam?

[76561198154098234]

Hi, as the title suggests I have an old copy of Age of Empires complete with CDs and product keys. However I don't have a computer with a cd drive anymore -- is there any way to play via steam using my current product code?

[Aachen]

Probably not — you’d need to get in touch with the dev, publisher or whomever holds the rights and request a Steam key.

[Pierce Dalton]

Have you tried using the code?

[Jaunitta 🌸]

As above says you need to add the number on the CD case to Steam - Open Games at the top above LIBRARY.> Activate a product on Steam.
then see if you can download it.
Then add to Steam as a non steam game.
Open Games at the very top of your steam client add a non steam game to my library.
One work around is an external CD rom drive
https://www.amazon.com.au/b?ie=UTF8&node=4913363051

[Thermal Lance]

To be honest. Unless you are very short on coins right now. You should consider picking up Age of Empires 2 Definitive Edition. I'm not a fan of the whole "remaster" bandwagon but this one is a remaster actually done right. It is easily worth every penny for somebody who enjoy RTS games in both multiplayer or singleplayer.

Plus it will cost you less than an external drive. ;)

[Neg4tiveKD]

I couldn't imagine anything other than buying the gamer on Steam will work.

[Kargor]

Originally posted by Aachen:

:chrip: Probably not — you’d need to get in touch with the dev, publisher or whomever holds the rights and request a Steam key.

The amazing thing about questions like this is that's there's always this one guy who seems to think that publishers are just handing out keys like candy...

There have been games where publishers added the CD-keys into the Steam-database, so they could be redeemed on Steam. There have also been cases where publishers provided another path to accomplish the same -- Borderlands, for example, didn't even have CD-keys, so they provided a tool that checked your DVD and unlocked the game on Steam.

For the cast majority of games, however, the answer is much simpler: the keys are not for Steam, so "no, you can't use your existing purchase for Steam".

[SLG]

To add to the poster that said to use the Games > Activate a Product on Steam, you can also use Add a Game > Activate a Product on Steam. Bottom left corner.

[AROCK!!!]

You will need to contact the developer/publisher....even if STEAM could do this, given how greedy they are, I doubt they would.


I had a similar issue with EA. I tried to activate--C&C the first decade last year, which did not work.

I contacted support and gave them the codes. They told me that the codes were too old and had been retired, so they added the ENTIRE C&C collection to my library, which BTW contains more that The first Decade.

[-OrLoK- Слава Україн]

Originally posted by ÁROCK!!!:

You will need to contact the developer/publisher....even if STEAM could do this, given how greedy they are, I doubt they would.


I had a similar issue with EA. I tried to activate--C&C the first decade last year, which did not work.

I contacted support and gave them the codes. They told me that the codes were too old and had been retired, so they added the ENTIRE C&C collection to my library, which BTW contains more that The first Decade.

Steam don't control who the devs give their keys to.

I was recently(ish) given a Steam key by a dev after accidentally claiming and receiving a standalone key and then asking politely if they could exchange it for a Steam one.

they simply gave me a Steam key as well.

it's always worth firing a nice email to the devs with photo proof etc etc as you may get lucky.

[Crazy Tiger]

Originally posted by Kargor:

Originally posted by Aachen:

:chrip: Probably not — you’d need to get in touch with the dev, publisher or whomever holds the rights and request a Steam key.

The amazing thing about questions like this is that's there's always this one guy who seems to think that publishers are just handing out keys like candy...

I don't see Aachen say that, I see him saying that it's worth a shot to contact the rights holder. To which I agree.

Back when the disc drive in my old laptop died, I contacted Sega and Stardock about getting digital keys for a few games. Sega pointed out I could redeem Company of Heroes on Steam without issue and required proof of ownership for Dawn of War Dark Crusade (picture of disc, bookolet with cd key and piece of paper with a codeword they gave me) and gave me a Steam key for the latter. Stardock required the same proof for Galactic Civilisations 2 Endless Edition and added the digital version of the Ultimate Edition to my Stardock account (so no Steam key, but that's fine).

It's always worth a shot. Sure, most will say no, but the few that do say yes are worth it.

[Liquid Inc]

sometimes this worked, sometimes it doesn't. DoW soulstorm (and DC as noted above) do work, but i can't imagine the original AoE will, but it never hurts to try it.

[Hammer Of Evil]

you might not be able to add it to official list, but you can add a game executable to your steam library with custom add.

but, you will need a cd-drive, im not sure that's fun. writing the ISO to hd directly would probably decrease loading times.

i remember the old 'zo gaw taw' game. lol. pick a billion berrys to enter the meat age or whatever, so quirky and endearing.

[Start_Running]

Originally posted by Chaos Engineer:

To be honest. Unless you are very short on coins right now. You should consider picking up Age of Empires 2 Definitive Edition. I'm not a fan of the whole "remaster" bandwagon but this one is a remaster actually done right. It is easily worth every penny for somebody who enjoy RTS games in both multiplayer or singleplayer.

Plus it will cost you less than an external drive. ;)

That'd probably be the best. The DE benefits from QoL and bugfixes and content additions not present in the original

[AROCK!!!]

Originally posted by -OrLoK- Слава Україн:

Originally posted by ÁROCK!!!:

You will need to contact the developer/publisher....even if STEAM could do this, given how greedy they are, I doubt they would.


I had a similar issue with EA. I tried to activate--C&C the first decade last year, which did not work.

I contacted support and gave them the codes. They told me that the codes were too old and had been retired, so they added the ENTIRE C&C collection to my library, which BTW contains more that The first Decade.

Steam don't control who the devs give their keys to.

I didn't say they did.

[76561198043513435]

Hello. Is there a way to fetch some online exe and still use the code I have on the CD box ?