Question about Steam

[Kenshin Himura]

Tails and I ordered two copies of CoD4 through Steam and let it download over night. When we got up the next morning, I was surprised to see that it had finished on both of our accounts, even though we had only begun downloading on Tails' account.

I didn't really think about it at the time, but it seems that we are sharing a "Key Code" at the moment (under Multiplayer options in-game). We purchased two copies, but it seems it's only implementing one of the Key Codes for both of us right now. I've already submitted a support ticket to Steam, but I wanted to see if anyone here knew or heard anything about this.

We don't have two computers yet, but will within the next few weeks. Right now, our CoD4 folder in our C:/ Drive is located under the "Common" folder, rather than one under mine and one under Tails' account. I'm not really sure why it's sharing the information between the two, though, since we each purchased a copy.

We figured we'd boot up Steam on two separate computers to see if it'd force one of us to download the other copy, but we won't be able to test this until we get the other computer. Plus, I'd rather have it sorted out now rather than fixing the problem when we could be playing.

Sorry it's a bit long. Like I said, we've already submitted a support ticket, but I'm not too sure how long it's going to take. I've already tried looking up some other topics on the web, but to no avail so far.

**EDIT**

Forgot to ask...

If the CoD4 is located in the "Common" folder, what would happen if we moved the folder into either my Steam account or Tails' account? Would this force the other user to install the second copy, or would this just create a mess for Steam?

[RobotBanana]

Re: Question about Steam

If the CoD4 is located in the "Common" folder, what would happen if we moved the folder into either my Steam account or Tails' account? Would this force the other user to install the second copy, or would this just create a mess for Steam?

It would probably mess up Steam.

The multiplayer part of CoD4 is a seperate exe, and it doesn't seem to have anything to do with Steam. From what I've seen so far, only single player needs validation, whether that be through Steam or the CD. That is, if you were to buy it on CD, you don't need the CD in to play multiplayer; only singleplayer.

Since it's in the Common folder, my guess is it only downloaded and installed once. Then when you opened up your account, it saw the game sitting there in the Common folder and assumed you downloaded it as well. The key under the multiplayer options is most likely Tails'.

Since you did purchase it twice under two different accounts, I don't think you'll have a problem. Worst case scenario will probably be you have to completely uninstall the game when you get your new computer, then reinstall it on both computers using the appropriate account. If I got my last assumption right and you're the one who uses the second computer, then you might just have to install it on the new computer and go.

[Kenshin Himura]

I know this is going to make me sound rather dense, but...

How do I uninstall games through Steam? Do I just go use the Add/Remove wizard in the Control Panel like any other program, or is there some way to do it through Steam? I poked around after reading your post, Robot, but couldn't find any options in Steam to uninstall it.

Thanks for the reply, too. Still waiting on Steam to get the final verdict.

[{CLR}geneSW]

add and remove programs buddy.

[Kenshin Himura]

add and remove programs buddy.

Good to know.

I feel rather dumb for asking that, but I figured Steam would have had some sort of uninstall option somewhere. I guess not.

[L_Mo]

As far as I know you can/should uninstall the game by going to the "my games" tab in steam and right clicking on the game, then click "remove local content." I've always done it that way, but perhaps add-remove works too.

If you want to test if you have 2 keys, uninstall the current game and re-install under the other account - check if the key is different. Good luck!

[Apache Warrior]

If you have two hard drives install them on separate drives. This should work too.
Apache

[-Bar]

Bottom line is that you paid for two copies and you can only have one copy per account so therefore... If you go to install it on another machine and steam gives you conflicting CD codes... I would b*tch but I wouldn't worry about it until then. They entered a contract and your entitled to 2 CD keys so... Your safe no matter what.

[Kenshin Himura]

We've got a GSP lab open at our school that we could probably use to download the other copy, but since it's only open from 9:00 AM - 5:30/6:00 PM, it's gonna be tough to find the time to sit in there and just let it download for a few hours... Especially between school and work.

If worse comes to worse, I guess we'll just have to wait until the other computer arrives and deal with it then.

Thanks, guys.