Activating multiple products at a time on Steam client

[Quick!SaveTheChildren]

So, I've recently gotten into the trend of buying game bundles, like Humble Bundle and others, and trying to activate all these new games is a bit difficult. The feature to "Activate a Product on Steam" in the client is meant for one game at a time, so the number of steps to take for a batch of games takes a long while (this seems to be the case for a few of Steam's functions - one at a time, and no way to do things in batches).

It would help me, and maybe others, to make it easier to activate more than one game at a time. Maybe one or more of the following:

-- Consistency when trying to chain activate products when it comes to the dialog box to start process. I notice when I'm activating games in a row, sometimes the dialog box pops up as normal on top, and other times the dialog pops _under_ the Steam client (which I have to go find).

-- Add a field to ask how many products need to be activated, and/or multiple Product Code fields in the "Please enter the product code you wish to activate" dialog step

-- Right after you activate a game it goes to the dialog step to install that game. At this point, maybe have a skip button, and another dialog that asks, "Activate another game?" to repeat the process again w/o going back to the Steam menu.


Right now, I'm looking at Bundle Star's #3 bundle with 8 games (http://www.bundlestars.com/all-bundles/bundle-three/ -- deal is already over, sorry), and thinking about how much fun it's going to be to activate all the games... I'm putting it off for now.

[Felicity]

I'm having similar feelings, for me all I think it needs is the option to activate another game code in the same window after the step of activating the first game, then at the end giving the option of installing all the games or a checklist of which to install.
Alternatively on the first page an option for multiple codes would be easiest; either a larger text box to enter codes seperated by a line break or a single text box per code activated with an option beneath to add a second text box for a second code, below the second box would be the option for a third etc. adding for more options as you enter each new code. I hope they can implement this feature as it wouldn't be hard to include and it would be much easier for users to activate games

[spaghetti]

I want this.

[Zander]

Definitely. Especially with the popularity of services like the Humble Indie Bundle and others, support for being able to activate multiple keys at once is only logical.

I just splurged a bit and got 5 bundles at once with at least 6 games each, and boy is opening the activate product dialog a pain in the rear end.

[spaghetti]

Originally posted by Zander:

Definitely. Especially with the popularity of services like the Humble Indie Bundle and others, support for being able to activate multiple keys at once is only logical.

I just splurged a bit and got 5 bundles at once with at least 6 games each, and boy is opening the activate product dialog a pain in the rear end.

Well Humble at least just made it easier bc of new activation system (:

[Ineffable Anathema]

Look at it this way, it's a small price to pay for a load of awesome games at a huge discount. :)

[Marble]

Bundle providers have the ability to combine multiple products into single keys, or activate games automatically through Steam's API. It shouldn't be down to Valve to accomodate these sites that it has no affiliation with.

[Satoru]

a) Bundle games into one key for conveienence. WAAAHHHH I WANT SEPARATE KEYS
b) Make keys separate. WAAAAAAHHH IT SO INCONVENEINT

Cant really please anyone it seems

[spaghetti]

Originally posted by Canti:

Bundle providers have the ability to combine multiple products into single keys, or activate games automatically through Steam's API. It shouldn't be down to Valve to accomodate these sites that it has no affiliation with.

good point. while I do think this would be a good feature for valve to implement, I'm less pressed on it at this point.

[Ineffable Anathema]

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/originals/9f/09/d2/9f09d2e80c99b2c65bc084ebcac9a3ca.jpg

[P0kerz]

Originally posted by Phil-OS-O'Raptr:

Alternatively on the first page an option for multiple codes would be easiest...a single text box per code activated with an option beneath to add a second text box for a second code, below the second box would be the option for a third etc. adding for more options as you enter each new code.

This please.

[TastyToast]

The way Desura activates keys would be perfect for steam honestly. valve should take a look at desura and copy that ♥♥♥♥!

[Buck]

Is it currently possible to activate a game with the Steam API? I searched through the documentation but couldn't find anything. I know the humble bundle activates all the games for you on your account, but do they have a separate limited Steam API?

[rettshift]

Actually Humble Bundle has a new feature so that if you link your Steam account with your Humble Bundle account, you can just click on each game and it will add it to your Steam Library. I did this with the recent WB Bundle and thought it was nifty.

Unrelatedly, but also pretty cool, they added the ability to gift individual games that you already own when you buy a bundle.

[mschol]

this suggestion is again a valid one, since steam dropped the automatically activation of keys
from bundles
with >1000 games the client tends to hang for a minute or 2 with every key that you activate..
which means that, in an average bundle, you are activating keys for like 16 minutes (and thats when you DONT print a reciept

[Anders]

^^this is so very true. All they need is a simple list where you add keys. Then in a second step they can show you a popup displaying the status of the key (invalid/valid) and have an option to select where it should be installed. The default value for the last option should be "Do not install". That way it would be trivial to perform all operations related to your new games from a single dialog box/landing page.

The possibility that valve actually reads this is sadly slim as hell :(