Poll of the Day > why doesn't steam just have a button you can press that's just

(+) Yeah! (+)

"can i run this"

Because there is no way to know.

Ask a chat bot, if you want a computer to lie to you convincingly

Because there are several other services that have collected the necessary data to answer that question, making it unnecessary for Steam to also collect (and store and process) it.

steam also collects the necessary data for that though lmao

you think they don't know what hardware you have?

adjl posted...

Because there are several other services that have collected the necessary data to answer that question, making it unnecessary for Steam to also collect (and store and process) it.

And those are still wrong at times.

ConfusedTorchic posted...

steam also collects the necessary data for that though lmao

you think they don't know what hardware you have?

They know what hardware you have. They don't know what games people have managed to run on that hardware or how well.

adjl posted...

They know what hardware you have. They don't know what games people have managed to run on that hardware or how well.

Although technically with the overlay they do know your resolution and framerate, so they could take a guess.

Easier to just take the required spec, copy it, paste in google, add `vs` and your video card. See how you stack up

SinisterSlay posted...

Although technically with the overlay they do know your resolution and framerate, so they could take a guess.

True, but that's still data they'd have to collect and turn into a summary, which is work that's largely redundant when other services offer similar answers.

Bear in mind also that the primary use of such a feature would be to identify games you shouldn't buy. There'd be a handful of sales that would be made to people with crappy computers who didn't think they could run something and realized they could after Steam told them, but those would mostly be cheaper games anyway. On the flip side, I expect there have been many sales where the buyer wouldn't have bought the game if they knew how poorly it was going to run, but because it was kind of borderline put up with it instead of refunding it, and even more where the game turned out not to run but the buyer didn't figure that out until after the refund period had passed.

Basically, it would cost Valve money to implement it and would likely only reduce their total revenue instead of giving them any sort of return on that investment. It'd be convenient for users, certainly (I quite agree that it'd be really nice to see a "users with similar hardware to yours have averaged X FPS at 720p, Y FPS at 1080p, and Z FPS at 4k" section on each store page, and the technology is absolutely there to do that), but I understand why they haven't.

That is, however, something one of Steam's prospective competitors might want to look at, since that would be an actual service advantage that might justify jumping ship.

I don't think there's even one game on steam where if you can't run windows 11 you can't run it

adj why are you defending nonsensical decisions

how much is big steam paying you for this

All those sites that check if you can run a game arent even 100% accurate. Having it on Steam would just set themselves up to take all the blame and have the forums spammed with people bitching and threatening to sue or other stupid shit.

Alpha_MaIe posted...

All those sites that check if you can run a game arent even 100% accurate. Having it on Steam would just set themselves up to take all the blame and have the forums spammed with people bitching and threatening to sue or other stupid shit.

Also that. A third party site is just information. If Steam itself is telling you you can run it, though, that's Steam trying to make a sale, and that makes them liable for falsely advertising the product you bought if it turns out you can't. In practice, between the refund feature and the ability to hide behind weasel words like "you can expect," I doubt they'd ever actually be successfully sued over it, but that's just a hassle that's better to avoid.

ConfusedTorchic posted...

adj why are you defending nonsensical decisions

For justice.

ConfusedTorchic posted...

how much is big steam paying you for this

$2.35 and a green popsicle.

I'm glad consoles are plug and play and you don't have to worry about all that extra nonsense that PCoids seem to experience on a daily basis.

the needing to endlessly fiddle just to get stuff to work on pc is just obnoxious, yeah

Sonicplys posted...

I'm glad consoles are plug and play and you don't have to worry about all that extra nonsense that PCoids seem to experience on a daily basis.

you literally have to buy an entire console to play some games

lok, you could get a $1300 computer that can run things very slightly better than a ps5 or a series x

or just get a series x and a ps5 and have $300 left over for a switch or some games.

yes, the pc vs console argument is a little more nuanced than that, but it essentially is just that. currently there isn't much different between the three platforms, to the point where the only "pros" for pc at this point are just "xbox and some playstation games games are on pc anyways" and "you have mod options for some games"

which the latter isn't as much of a selling point as a lot of pro-mod people think, since it involves fiddling, and needing to fiddle with things is exactly why people don't get a pc.

Ya, and you gotta make upgrades that cost an entire console (like a pair of 4070s)... but it's all in one convenient place

i have a r5 5600x and a rx 5700 flashed to be the xt variant.

i know that i can run pretty much everything, i know pretty much everything i need to know.

but then you glance at the system requirements and it's just an avalanche of information that requires more thinking than should be necessary

MINIMUM:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: 64-bit Windows 10 version 1909 or newer
Processor: Intel Core i5-2500K or AMD FX-8350
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 or Intel Arc A380 or AMD Radeon R9 280
DirectX: Version 12
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 90 GB available space
Additional Notes: *1080p native resolution / 720p render resolution, low graphics settings, 30fps, SSD Required

RECOMMENDED:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: 64-bit Windows 10 version 1909 or newer
Processor: Intel Core i5-4670K or AMD Ryzen 1300X
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 or Intel Arc A750 or AMD Radeon RX 470
DirectX: Version 12
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 90 GB available space
Additional Notes: *1080p resolution, medium graphics settings, 60fps, SSD Required

prior console fan to pc kid is going to look at this and not know a goddamn fuckin thing here aside from "network" and "storage".

now they have to figure out how to check their windows version, because they have no idea that actually doesn't matter, and then they get to wade through the endless lists of "where is my graphics card at between these two listed" because product manufactures can't just have a regular easy to understand naming scheme. intel making it harder and harder to figure out on purpose notwithstanding.

meanwhile for a console you just look at if the game is made for the console you have. you have an xbox, does this game say xbox? that's it. that is the extent of thought needed.

that's true. I'm thinking more like... wanna play NES, new console, SNES, new console, N64 and PS1, new consoles.

It's a lot of cables and power adaptors.

ConfusedTorchic posted...

meanwhile for a console you just look at if the game is made for the console you have. you have an xbox, does this game say xbox? that's it. that is the extent of thought needed.

Let's not use xbox as an example here.

Is the order

Xbox 1, xbox, xbox s1, xboxx, xbox360?

Their naming scheme is beyond terrible. Console boys think this is easier? Really. It's not even bigger number is better, it's literally random.

As someone that doesn't follow consoles, I have no fucking clue about the xbox line anymore. But I can tell you every intel and amd cpu release and nvidia and amd gpu release no problem. It helps that they usually follow bigger number is better rule. Although my 9600gt is far slower than my 6700xt. Wish we didn't reset numbers randomly.

My point is, if this is your hobby, get educated on your hobby.

SinisterSlay posted...

My point is, if this is your hobby, get educated on your hobby.

the hobby is gaming, not memorizing product names and skus, so

and ignoring that, even your argument of "xbox names are dumb hur dur"

yeah, they are.

but you also can't walk into target and buy an original xbox, an xbox 360, or an xbox one, anymore, now can you?

meanwhile, i can walk into microcenter and buy an fx-6300 right next to an r5 3600

higher number is better right?

ConfusedTorchic posted...

but you also can't walk into target and buy an original xbox, an xbox 360, or an xbox one, anymore, now can you?

I have no idea if you can or can't. Target went out of business in like 6 months or something. I have never seen these consoles in stores and I would never even know if there was a new one. My actual buying process would be to go to walmart, find the big xbox sign, and buy the cheapest one. No idea what I would get.

And it's a little sad that as part of gaming you don't want to learn anything about gaming. I guess that's you, but you already demonstrate you know all the names for xbox, so you have already memorized them.

r5 is higher than fx, it still works.

SinisterSlay posted...

I have no idea if you can or can't. Target went out of business in like 6 months or something. I have never seen these consoles in stores and I would never even know if there was a new one. My actual buying process would be to go to walmart, find the big xbox sign, and buy the cheapest one. No idea what I would get.

then replace "target" with "walmart" lmfao

SinisterSlay posted...

And it's a little sad that as part of gaming you don't want to learn anything about gaming. I guess that's you, but you already demonstrate you know all the names for xbox, so you have already memorized them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought_experiment

SinisterSlay posted...

r5 is higher than fx, it still works.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/9/9a79cac8.jpg

ConfusedTorchic posted...

the needing to endlessly fiddle just to get stuff to work on pc is just obnoxious, yeah

"Endlessly fiddling" is pretty rare unless you're either trying to get really old stuff running (which consoles can't even do in the first place) or delving into modding (in which case you're voluntarily wading into the fiddling), and for many games modding is considerably more straightforward now than it was even 5-6 years ago (like Factorio has a mod portal built right into the game and installing mods is a simple matter of picking from the list and restarting the game). The vast, vast majority of the time, starting a game on my PC is no more complicated than starting one on a console.

As a bonus, actually, being able to fiddle is handy when a game doesn't work. If a game isn't working on a console, you're pretty much SOL. If a game doesn't work on a PC, provided you meet the requirements (and even then there's quite a bit of leeway there), you can often fix the problem without having to send the system off for repairs/replacement.

ConfusedTorchic posted...

the only "pros" for pc at this point are just "xbox and some playstation games games are on pc anyways" and "you have mod options for some games"

Also 20+ years of backwards compatibility (more if you're willing to fiddle) and more control options.

ConfusedTorchic posted...

which the latter isn't as much of a selling point as a lot of pro-mod people think, since it involves fiddling, and needing to fiddle with things is exactly why people don't get a pc.

It makes for better games. That alone is enough to make it a major selling point. Sure, there are going to be people who don't want to fiddle enough to take advantage of that, but that doesn't make it any less of a selling point. There are just some people whose desire for a completely mindless experience outweighs the value mods could provide them.