Game compatibility test

[DragonicPlayz]

Steam should really add a feature which help's you see how well the game will play on your PC or laptop. This would really help out casual gamers as cpu and gpu companies name things in odd ways making it hard to determine if the game will run or not. They should then optimise the store home page according to it.

[Zekiran]

It's always been on the consumer to educate themselves about every single purchase.

While on one hand: YOU SHOULD KNOW your system specs and what they do - Steam has a feature at the top of the library window HELP > SYSTEM INFORMATION which allows YOU to copy and paste it into a txt file for future reference. Most people just do not know what any of it means, however, so... again, it's up to the user to figure out what their hardware and software CAN do.

On the other hand: it's always been up to the publisher to keep their store pages updated. If something changes in their game, and they don't bother updating the store page, *only they* are responsible for that information, still. And yes we've seen the results of pages going un-updated causing some problems for a very very few people who 'rely' on them (and also: on outdated or craptastic computers) for this info.

What can be done? The user can research by themselves. That's all. Steam is not responsible for the contents of the store pages OR the actual games aside from their own Valve-made games. Users are responsible for figuring this out because each and ever user's computer system is different.

Also people seem to forget the difference between "minimum" and "recommended" specs. Education is the only way to fix any of this, and sadly most people just aren't committed enough to actually learn anything about their systems.

[B l u e b e r r y P o p t a r t]

This has been brought up many times before and more than likely will never happen on Steam because Valve would be liable for misinformation and get into trouble if they say you can run something and then can't.

It's up to the devs to give the min/max requirements for a game to be ran and you the owner of the computer to know what you can and can not run. There are some website that can help you out if you don't know, but these don't work always either. My sister wanted R6S and my mother and I told her that her computer could not handle it and she said that the Can You Run It site said it could, guess what she bought it tried to play and didn't work. People need to start learning and understand computer specs and not leave it to software and apps to do it.

[cinedine]

DragonicPlayz eredeti hozzászólása:

This would really help out casual gamers as cpu and gpu companies name things in odd ways making it hard to [...]

Naming scheme has been the same for twenty or so years.
Generation + power level within that generation + meaningless qualifiers for most people

It's not hard to understand. It takes five minutes to read up on. And guess what: developers are gauging themselves. It's not rocket science. Nor any other.

[Zekiran]

Plus there are plenty of sites which compare and contrast different system benchmarks right there in an easily viewed chart.

Then again apparently a good solid google search IS beyond most users. :/

[Start_Running]

Zekiran eredeti hozzászólása:

Plus there are plenty of sites which compare and contrast different system benchmarks right there in an easily viewed chart.

Then again apparently a good solid google search IS beyond most users. :/

Yup.

[76561198407601200]

DragonicPlayz eredeti hozzászólása:

How about we do it oppositely we put in our system specs and steams shows us the games we have specs to run according to the recommended specs by the game developer

That is the exact same thing as you've already suggested. To put it simply, you have to be aware of your system specs and gain an understanding if a game will run on your system. You browse through the store, see a really shiny game, but you know your system won't run it, just scroll by it.

[Pocahawtness]

Steam already has comprehensive information about our PC's. Maybe they should introduce additional reporting for games that crash?

[LynX]

B l u e b e r r y P o p t a r t eredeti hozzászólása:

This has been brought up many times before and more than likely will never happen on Steam because Valve would be liable for misinformation and get into trouble if they say you can run something and then can't.

It's up to the devs to give the min/max requirements for a game to be ran and you the owner of the computer to know what you can and can not run. There are some website that can help you out if you don't know, but these don't work always either. My sister wanted R6S and my mother and I told her that her computer could not handle it and she said that the Can You Run It site said it could, guess what she bought it tried to play and didn't work. People need to start learning and understand computer specs and not leave it to software and apps to do it.

But Steam already has a refund policy which is good enough. So the liability shouldnt be much of an issue. If the games dosent run well you can always return it within 2 hours of play time.

[Zekiran]

BOoPEr DoOpeR eredeti hozzászólása:

But Steam already has a refund policy which is good enough. So the liability shouldnt be much of an issue. If the games dosent run well you can always return it within 2 hours of play time.

That's not the liability issue. Returnability and telling people that their computer can or cannot run something are entirely separate things.

[Mötley]

The game test can be useful for Apple computer users who think that a 300 dineros hardware sold for 3000 dineros is actually high tech.

[Zekiran]

Mötley eredeti hozzászólása:

The game test can be useful for Apple computer users who think that a 300 dineros hardware sold for 3000 dineros is actually high tech.

Yeah but that only works on those guys. lol.

[The Giving One]

DragonicPlayz eredeti hozzászólása:

Steam should really add a feature which help's you see how well the game will play on your PC or laptop.

They already have this.

The system requirements are listed on each store page for all Steam games. Also, Valve can't know what garbage software people have on their computers, that can often make games run poorly even on an expensive machine, if launch at all.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=9828-SFLZ-9289

There are too many variables.

[wuddih]

system requirements are not standardized, just educated liability avoiding guesses and on Steam, they are just entered TEXT.

Minimum:
OS: Windows 7, 8, or 10
Processor: the metal part of a toaster when its being heated
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Graphics: the thing that heats the metal part of the toaster
DirectX: Version 9.0
Storage: 150 MB available space
Sound Card: something that makes noise

Recommended:
OS: Windows 7, 8, or 10
Processor: Post 2010 CPU
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: DirectX 9 compatible card - anything post 2010 is probably fine
DirectX: Version 9.0
Storage: 150 MB available space
Sound Card: something that makes pretty noises

the effort that you have to put into your suggestion to make something BARELY usable from this mess just to get sued for false advertising is too big. disclaimers will not protect from that.

[DragonicPlayz]

Steam already tells system recommended specs you Dumbo's , so they are already liable

[B l u e b e r r y P o p t a r t]

DragonicPlayz eredeti hozzászólása:

Steam already tells system recommended specs you Dumbo's , so they are already liable

If you mean on the game store pages then no they don't. That is the devs that add that information and they don't actually say yes or no if you can run it, that would be for you to know.