New Feature: Filter games by specs of your PC

[sturmp46]

I sugegst a feature where you can filter games based on your computers hardware specs.
People who have older pc's might like to search for games that can run on their machine.
Additional feature to the filter could be to sort if a game can run on low medium or high settings
based of your computers specs.

[Cathulhu]

Not going to happen. Biggest reason, liability.

For a more detailed answer, check the dozens of thread about the same topic.

[sturmp46]

Thanks for the answer. What do you mean by liability?

[Boblin the Goblin]

Originally posted by sturmp46:

Thanks for the answer. What do you mean by liability?

If you match the specs and Steam says the game will run and it doesn't, Steam is now liable.

[sturmp46]

Interesting, maybe steam could make a "non-liability clause" in the agreement so that the user installs the game at its own liability. I think it would be a popular feature and could add additional income for steam, especialy in third world countries where people have older PCs and chromebooks.

[Boblin the Goblin]

Originally posted by sturmp46:

Interesting, maybe steam could make a "non-liability clause" in the agreement so that the user installs the game at its own liability. I think it would be a popular feature and could add additional income for steam, especialy in third world countries where people have older PCs and chromebooks.

This wouldn't add any income considering the specs are plainly posted on the game's page.

[Start_Running]

Originally posted by sturmp46:

Interesting, maybe steam could make a "non-liability clause" in the agreement so that the user installs the game at its own liability. I think it would be a popular feature and could add additional income for steam, especialy in third world countries where people have older PCs and chromebooks.

Not something they can do. This is why if you notice, NO STORE does this. and not of the sites that offer such things have any affiliations to the store.

See it's not the Liability to the user that is the issue. It's the liability to the dev/pyubs. If your store mislabels their game as not being able to run on a user's system you have not only mislabeled their product, you've done so in a manner that has cost them a sale and had a measurably negative impact on their revenue.

If a user gets the wrong info, it atworst costs valve the amount of a refund. If this happens toa dev/pub You're talking about a few hundred thousand per incident to start.

[Cathulhu]

But it would make Valve liable for lost sales.
Such tools are not accurate.
Microsoft, a company many times larger than Valve tried, and failed miserably.

Inaccurate results lead to unhappy customers and unhappy publishers. There is no win scenario.

[sturmp46]

Interesting answers. What is your opinion on the following arguments:
@SlowMango, The feature would add convenience which might lead to a higher purchase rate.
@Start_Running, they can add a clause for the devs and the users to chose if they want to enter in such a contract. If the devs choose such contract they could potentionaly get more customers because of the convenience, but might loose some due to mislabeld games. It is a risk/reward that they would have to evaluate for themselves.
It might be an intresting option for both the users and devs to enter into if they like the tradeoff.

@SlowMango can you give me the example from Microsoft, I couldnt find it on the internet, what was the feature called?

[Start_Running]

No dev/pub will sign such a contract and even if they did that wouldn't exmpt steam from liability if it is shown that the system is intrinsically flawed.

Such waivers do not permit gross negligence.


Again. WHy do you think literally no STore. does this? WHy do you think every site that does this goes out of its way to ensure they have no affiliation to any store.

Even the likes of Microsoft, Amazon, and Google can't get this sort of thing to work to the degree that makes the risks acceptable. Think about that,.


SO in the mean while you;ll either have to simply learn to read your system specs and understand them, ... which really isn't that hard.

[Vault Hunter 101]

Game devs don't have access to every single possible combination so they don't know if you will be able to run it on low/medium/high.

Also what does it mean run? If I launch the game but have 5fps on all lowest 800x600 does that count as run? What if the game allows modifying settings below intented lowest textures?

[Crazy Tiger]

The biggest issue still is that such systems aren't accurate. The various canirunit sites don't give the same results and the compatibility check in the Microsoft store is wrong often enough as well.

[Supafly]

Until Devs agree on what quality/performance criteria Minimum and Recommended means this suggestion will never work. For example Minimum could mean

720p low settings 30 fps with dips
720p low settings 30 fps
720p low settings 60 fps with dips
720p low settings 60 fps
720p med settings 30 fps with dips
720p med settings 30 fps
720p med settings 60 fps with dips
720p med settings 60 fps
720p high settings 30 fps with dips
720p high settings 30 fps
720p high settings 60 fps with dips
720p high settings 60 fps
1080p low settings 30 fps with dips
1080p low settings 30 fps
1080p low settings 60 fps with dips
1080p low settings 60 fps
1080p med settings 30 fps with dips
1080p med settings 30 fps
1080p med settings 60 fps with dips
1080p med settings 60 fps

Or any other combination not mentioned above.

[Morristigue]

I have come to understanding that most games within a Generation will run on hardware that is within 6 years behind or 6 years ahead. The minimum and maximum requirements represents a Marketing tool to sell the newest and latest Hardware but as well as give you a ballpark in what is required to run the game. Unfortunately it would not work too well as the Specs Update frequently and if you had plan to organize by spec, those will change over time. i thought about this idea too but mainly where GPU is the main order.

I ran Doom 2016 on 4gig or ram when the requirement is 8gig. Some games that require way too much resource and is not Optimized or runs like crap even when you have recommended spec or above the spec has been commonplace.
Games that have come out in 2013 I have seen run on 2006 hardware (adjustments of course).
games that have been released as of today i have seen run on hardware from 2014! (+/- Upgrades)

As of writing this, Alot of games old and new that i have used to play are now either becoming more and more broken, unpatched, or difficult to play and you have to go through procedures to get the thing running!

30 FPS is Standard
60 FPS is Performance
above is i think a Luxury feature if you want high refresh rate
Organizing the games by year or by series, which i have started to do now has helped me. You dont have to follow my advice or how i organize my stuff. You personally can organize the games according to spec by having to research the games seperately.

now if there is a System checker site that have a "Can it run on X hardware" like amd and nvidia have with there drivers could be helpful.

Believe me its a nice idea to have the convenience because of hardware saturation. Just doesn't work out all the time

[V A R M I K]

THX

[V A R M I K]

THX