SWTOR Steam?

[OlBuzzard]

Interestingly, the file's digital signature is by Electronic Arts, not Valve.

 

change in Steam ownerships ?? or just EA signature ?

 

Curious ??

Edited July 17, 2020 by OlBuzzard

[SteveTheCynic]

change in Steam ownerships ?? or just EA signature ?

 

Curious ??

No idea, but probably related to how it gets packaged, and a strong possibility that the Steamworks API tells publishers to sign it themselves, so as to avoid problems with installing components with different signatures in the same installer.

 

Anyway, to answer the question, I went looking and eventually found https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/sdk/api which is the Steamworks API documentation. Of particular note in the context of this thread is this paragraph from the page:

 

"The Steamworks API allows your game to take full advantage of Steam by accessing all of the underlying systems provided through the API. This includes things such as pausing your game when the user opens the Steam Overlay, inviting friends to play, allowing players to unlock Steam Achievements, letting players compete on the Steam Leaderboards and much more."

 

And our good friend steam_api.dll contains the full set of calls that game programmers can make to do all those things.

 

EDIT: and it's signed by EA because it's SWTOR's build of it. Each program (game or app) that is distributed by Steam has an "App ID" that identifies the program to the local Steam client and then to the servers. That ID is "burned" into the DLL by ... someone, and it is signed by the publisher, not by Valve.

Edited July 17, 2020 by SteveTheCynic

[DarkTergon]

And our good friend steam_api.dll contains the full set of calls that game programmers can make to do all those things.

 

.

 

Sorry I'm not a programmer, but what does this mean for the game itself? Does it change anything?

Edited July 17, 2020 by DarkTergon

[SteveTheCynic]

Sorry I'm not a programmer, but what does this mean for the game itself? Does it change anything?

It might not mean anything at all, other than carelessness on EA's part. It might mean a general policy of obtaining App IDs from Steam for *all* EA games regardless of any plans to use them, for example.

 

On a more speculative note, it might mean they are preparing to integrate SWTOR with Steam in some way, but I dug out my programmer's tools from my installations of Visual Studio, and there are no direct references to it in any of the SWTOR code. (There are ways to use DLLs like this indirectly, where instead of writing a direct call to function X from Y.DLL, you ask Windows to load Y.DLL and then you ask for the address of function X and you call it there. Those are a little harder to find casually.)

 

However, unless one of the studio's representatives (Eric or Keith or Charles or whoever) actually comes on here or somewhere else and makes a definitive statement, it's all futile speculation.

[aeterno]

It makes sense, digital store-fronts have become an arena of two behemoths hoovering up everything they can get their exclusivity hooks in. Consequently that's where people are.

 

I'm pretty sure EA looked at examples of games getting a boost from going to steam/epic and crunching the numbers realized that limiting their games to their own distribution service is in fact limiting their revenue.

 

I'm just happy that of the 2 titans slugging it out EA went with Steam as opposed to Epic.

 

Wouldn't be surprised if in not too distant future EA just decides to put Origin out of its misery.

Edited July 18, 2020 by aeterno

[OlBuzzard]

It might not mean anything at all, other than carelessness on EA's part. It might mean a general policy of obtaining App IDs from Steam for *all* EA games regardless of any plans to use them, for example.

 

On a more speculative note, it might mean they are preparing to integrate SWTOR with Steam in some way, but I dug out my programmer's tools from my installations of Visual Studio, and there are no direct references to it in any of the SWTOR code. (There are ways to use DLLs like this indirectly, where instead of writing a direct call to function X from Y.DLL, you ask Windows to load Y.DLL and then you ask for the address of function X and you call it there. Those are a little harder to find casually.)

 

However, unless one of the studio's representatives (Eric or Keith or Charles or whoever) actually comes on here or somewhere else and makes a definitive statement, it's all futile speculation.

 

Makes sense... Could be just another marketing tool. SWTOR gets their name listed in Steam .. whether it's F2P as an introductory offer ... or even as a sub. SWTOR supports steam. Both parties benefit!

 

But in the end ... as you said: "futile speculation".

 

IMO ... it should be interesting to see where this leads in the next few days / weeks .

[grimonce]

This might actually be a good idea to put it on steam.

It worked wonder for Destiny 2 from what I've heard.

Bungy never looked back to Blizzards/Activision platform.

 

What I would love is having an integration with workshop like it was done in Kotor 2.

 

Dota2 has a review system for cosmetics that Valve considers putting into their chests (RNG cosmetics like loot chests in our CC shop).

 

There's also community hub (which I don't really care about) but it is a place for people to share their fanfics, gameplay videos, memes or whatever they feel the need to share with others.

[jedimasterjac]

This might actually be a good idea to put it on steam.

It worked wonder for Destiny 2 from what I've heard.

Bungy never looked back to Blizzards/Activision platform.

 

What I would love is having an integration with workshop like it was done in Kotor 2.

 

Dota2 has a review system for cosmetics that Valve considers putting into their chests (RNG cosmetics like loot chests in our CC shop).

 

There's also community hub (which I don't really care about) but it is a place for people to share their fanfics, gameplay videos, memes or whatever they feel the need to share with others.

 

This game is staunchly anti-addon, so we certainly won't see workshop integration even if they do go to Steam.

[OlBuzzard]

This game is staunchly anti-addon, so we certainly won't see workshop integration even if they do go to Steam.

 

Agreed.

 

IMO ... this is an "arrangement" of sorts between BW ( more than likely EA ) and Steam. It "should" simply make the game available ( exposed to ) a larger audience with the advantage of a maximum "exposure" / return rate ... with less $$$ spent through the outdated methods of "advertising" .

 

I doubt this makes sense ... I've probably done a poor job of properly verbalizing what this really means in terms of hoping to expose SWTOR to a larger "gaming audience".

 

But at any rate ... it does seem like a smart move for EA.

[Rion_Starkiller]

Yeah EA is back on Steam. I bought dragon age 2, only to find out it still requires Origin 🙃

 

I promptly asked for a refund.

Edited July 20, 2020 by Rion_Starkiller

[DarkTergon]

Agreed.

 

IMO ... this is an "arrangement" of sorts between BW ( more than likely EA ) and Steam. It "should" simply make the game available ( exposed to ) a larger audience with the advantage of a maximum "exposure" / return rate ... with less $$$ spent through the outdated methods of "advertising" .

 

I doubt this makes sense ... I've probably done a poor job of properly verbalizing what this really means in terms of hoping to expose SWTOR to a larger "gaming audience".

 

But at any rate ... it does seem like a smart move for EA.

 

No, it makes perfect sense, BW/EA get to advertise, and push out the game to more people, and get the subs (hopefully), etc, with a lot less of a revenue payout

Edited July 20, 2020 by DarkTergon

[jedimasterjac]

Agreed.

 

IMO ... this is an "arrangement" of sorts between BW ( more than likely EA ) and Steam. It "should" simply make the game available ( exposed to ) a larger audience with the advantage of a maximum "exposure" / return rate ... with less $$$ spent through the outdated methods of "advertising" .

 

I doubt this makes sense ... I've probably done a poor job of properly verbalizing what this really means in terms of hoping to expose SWTOR to a larger "gaming audience".

 

But at any rate ... it does seem like a smart move for EA.

 

It definitely makes sense. Aside from WoW, I can't think of any MMO that isn't available on Steam.

[SteveTheCynic]

It definitely makes sense. Aside from WoW, I can't think of any MMO that isn't available on Steam.

Guild Wars 1 is, Guild Wars 2 is not.

[jedimasterjac]

Guild Wars 1 is, Guild Wars 2 is not.

 

Haha, is it really? Fair enough.

[Nightblazer]

It will probably be like how it is with ESO where steam simply runs the launcher for swtor for you vs actually running it from the steam launcher.

[DarkTergon]

Guild Wars 1 is, Guild Wars 2 is not.

 

Slightly of topic, but is GW 2 worth playing, and easy to start? You've mentioned a few things about it, and it sounds fun, especilly the beetle, is it still available?

[perotta]

It will probably be like how it is with ESO where steam simply runs the launcher for swtor for you vs actually running it from the steam launcher.

 

I feel like it's the case with most released-on-other-launcher-first games coming to Steam nowadays. Far Cry 3-5 require Uplay (but FC2 doesn't), most newcomers from Origin require, well, Origin launcher (Dragon Age: Origins doesn't because it was released ages ago, and I think it's actually a slightly different version). I think it's safe to assume that if SWTOR comes to Steam, it will still run its native launcher. It's like a shortcut. Except the other way around.

[SteveTheCynic]

Slightly of topic, but is GW 2 worth playing, and easy to start? You've mentioned a few things about it, and it sounds fun, especilly the beetle, is it still available?

I like it. The visual appearance is magnificent, and there's always plenty to do. I'm in a slow mode over there at the moment because of reasons, but that's partly just long familiarity.

 

It's fairly easy to get into, although it's worth noting that it has "active defence" semi-action combat rather than the more WoW-like stuff we have here. Dodge-rolls are a key part of combat, and, critically, take the place of defensive stats in most "good" builds. (If you don't get hit, you don't take damage, so you don't need defensive stats, that kind of thing.)

 

On the downside, like most MMORPGs, the storytelling lacks a bit compared to SWTOR's, especially as it has a fairly ordinary lack of "choices that matter", although there are some "make this choice and it's done with for good" things in there. Example: in the "street kid" origin story for human player characters, you are faced early on with the choice between going here to save your friend Quinn (yes, Quinn), or going there to stop some bandits(1) poisoning wells that supply the city. You can't do both, and if you stop the bandits, you cannot save Quinn. On the other hand, it doesn't really have any long-term effect, so ...

 

Gathering crafting resources in the field is non-competitive - I've had moments where I was chopping down (my copy of) the same tree that those four other people were chopping down, safe in the knowledge that all five of us would get the logs we were looking for.

 

Oh, and World Bosses. GW2 World Bosses are actual bosses, not the feeble dweebs we call World Bosses in SWTOR, but the cooperative nature of GW2 combat means that people just show up, take part, and get rewards in XP and whatnot in proportion to their contribution. No need to form groups, although you can, and for Triple Trouble you should, since Triple Trouble is three georgraphically-separated World Boss fights on the same map that must be finished together. There are guilds that organise regular events to take them down, normally coordinated using TeamSpeak (because it has better audio channel management than e.g. Mumble and Discord).

 

It's worth a look - you can play in free-to-start mode, which is somewhat like SWTOR's F2P, offering the full launch-time story, but no expansion content. It's pay-once rather than subscription, of course. If you want a glider, you have to pay for the Heart of Thorns expansion, and if you want access to the mounts, you have to pay for Path of Fire, which will grant you the exquisite and familiar pleasure of some people calling you "Commander" while others call you "Outlander"...

 

(1) No, they aren't really bandits, since poisoning wells isn't really a bandit thing, but what they really are is spoilerish, so I won't say any more here.

[DarkTergon]

I like it. The visual appearance is magnificent, and there's always plenty to do. I'm in a slow mode over there at the moment because of reasons, but that's partly just long familiarity.

 

I/snip.

 

Thank you, sounds pretty cool, will give it a shot, is there any server in particular you recommend, busy, newb friendly, etc.

[SteveTheCynic]

Thank you, sounds pretty cool, will give it a shot, is there any server in particular you recommend, busy, newb friendly, etc.

It's a "megaserver" game, so for the most part (except for playing "World vs World"), there is no difference.

[JediQuaker]

I played Guild Wars for many years, but I did not like GW2. I leveled up one character, and partially levelled another, and then I gave up and came back to SWTOR.

Last year I tried my old GW2 account again, but quit again after only a few days.

 

So, give it a try, but don't expect miracles. 😂

Edited July 21, 2020 by JediQuaker

[SteveTheCynic]

However, unless one of the studio's representatives (Eric or Keith or Charles or whoever) actually comes on here or somewhere else and makes a definitive statement, it's all futile speculation.

Well, now we know.

[catsi]

Sorry folks I have a couple stupid questions need a little clarification

 

Do I install the whole game from steam first THEN copy paste the SWTOR folder to steam?

 

When copy pastaing do i C/P the BIOWARE folder or the SWTOR folder within it?

 

shoot come to think of it does anyone have a basic step by step guide ?

[DarkTergon]

I played Guild Wars for many years, but I did not like GW2. I leveled up one character, and partially levelled another, and then I gave up and came back to SWTOR.

Last year I tried my old GW2 account again, but quit again after only a few days.

 

So, give it a try, but don't expect miracles. 😂

 

Not expecting miracles, just want to try new things, especially that speedy mount

Will let you know how it goes, d/l'ing it at present.

[Marmendia]

It seems that to connect your Steam and SWTOR you need a product key of sorts? Where do you even get that if you have downloaded the game from the website before?