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Thread: Steam to drop support for Windows XP and Vista next year

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    Steam to drop support for Windows XP and Vista next year

    Meanwhile, the Steam beta gets new chat functionality. And Steam will launch in China.
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    Re: Steam to drop support for Windows XP and Vista next year

    I wonder how many people out there have games in their steam library that flat-out refuse to run on Windows 7+. Personally, I don't think I have (though I have had issues getting Splinter Cell to run on Win10).

    Steam is one of those platforms where ditching support entirely for older OSes is a very bad idea, IMO.
    Last edited by afiretruck; 14-06-2018 at 02:16 PM.

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    Re: Steam to drop support for Windows XP and Vista next year

    A good day to work at GOG.

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    Re: Steam to drop support for Windows XP and Vista next year

    Quote Originally Posted by afiretruck View Post
    I wonder how many people out there have games in their steam library that flat-out refuse to run on Windows 7+.
    There shouldn't be any, should there?
    Between Compatability Mode and things like DOS-Box, I can't think of anything that won't run on Win10...

    As for anything in Steam Library, so long as it doesn't need to be online, you should still be able to play the game, right? The current version of Steam can still be run on Vista/XP as if it were in Offline Mode and you can still play the games?

    I haven't had to try this lately as my internet hasn't gone down very often, but it used to work like that...

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    Re: Steam to drop support for Windows XP and Vista next year

    XP is donkeys years old. Most people who game are on newer hardware anyway, I mean the OS isn't really supported at all. I can't see it being a deal breaker, as said you can get older games running on Win 10 pretty easily. My missus is currently enjoying RCT3+ - I don't know how she missed it. Runs on a Win 10 x64 machine very well, only needs to run under Win 7 compatibility to make it run perfectly. Runs fine on Intel HD graphics too
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    Re: Steam to drop support for Windows XP and Vista next year

    I think another factor is driver support for the cards used - I might be wrong here,but I suspect the Nvidia or AMD cards in the last few years,probably don't have drivers which support XP anyway.

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    Re: Steam to drop support for Windows XP and Vista next year

    And that - XP support is getting thin on the ground. Plus many of those older games now won't work on higher dpi systems that people buy.
    It's kinda natural and I guess driven by Steam checking on the amount of systems in use running XP and older hardware.
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    Re: Steam to drop support for Windows XP and Vista next year

    Quote Originally Posted by Ttaskmaster View Post
    There shouldn't be any, should there?
    Between Compatability Mode and things like DOS-Box, I can't think of anything that won't run on Win10...
    Hard to say, really. I still struggle to get Lego Island 2 running on anything later than XP. Considering how many games there are on steam, and how many older games are simply slapped onto the store without any work put in them to actually make them work on later Windows versions, I'm confident that there will be some that just won't play ball.

    Quote Originally Posted by Ttaskmaster View Post
    As for anything in Steam Library, so long as it doesn't need to be online, you should still be able to play the game, right? The current version of Steam can still be run on Vista/XP as if it were in Offline Mode and you can still play the games?
    That depends on how Valve handle it. Will they put the latest supported version of Steam for XP/Vista up available for download? Will they 'update' the Windows XP/Vista version to just nag the user to upgrade their OS without giving them access to their games? What happens to users who have to install XP from scratch and re-download their games?

    One way they could handle this properly, they'll provide a 'minimal' Steam application which allows a user to log-in occasionally, download their games and play them without having to log-in again (likely without advanced features like char or overlay). It's not hard and won't rely on the super-modern, advanced components that make up the current Steam application. Fat change of this happening, though.

    My biggest worry is that, if this is how they treat old platforms, what's going to happen 10 years from now, when we're on Windows 13 and they do the same to Windows 10? (I don't believe MS when they say Windows 10 is the last Windows ever. A new CEO with different ideas could change that very quickly.)

    Heck, what happens if we move away from x86-64 and can't emulate it well enough on whatever-we're-on to run x86-64 games? Will steam drop x86-64?

    If we've invested in games through the store that only work on certain platforms, then they have a duty to support those platforms, or give us a refund for products we no longer have access to.

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    Re: Steam to drop support for Windows XP and Vista next year

    Quote Originally Posted by 3dcandy View Post
    And that - XP support is getting thin on the ground. Plus many of those older games now won't work on higher dpi systems that people buy.
    It's kinda natural and I guess driven by Steam checking on the amount of systems in use running XP and older hardware.
    Yeah,its most likely a combination of factors.

    But I suppose it does highlight an issue even with light DRM like Steam,support for games will not be there anymore eventually,unless companies like GOG re-release it DRM free,or the community comes up with a patch to make it playable with newer OSes.

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    Re: Steam to drop support for Windows XP and Vista next year

    Quote Originally Posted by afiretruck View Post
    That depends on how Valve handle it. Will they put the latest supported version of Steam for XP/Vista up available for download? Will they 'update' the Windows XP/Vista version to just nag the user to upgrade their OS without giving them access to their games?
    With both of those, I'd say the XP machine would then effectively become a standalone offline retro-gaming setup. You therefore wouldn't need either of the above.

    Quote Originally Posted by afiretruck View Post
    What happens to users who have to install XP from scratch and re-download their games?
    They just point the fresh install to where their Steam directory is...?
    That of course assumes they saved it somewhere separate to the OS, of course. Steam might still have to allow some kind of download access for older machines, as I don't believe they can suddenly stop you from getting to the (potentially) hundreds of games you have paid for and legally own...?

    Quote Originally Posted by afiretruck View Post
    Fat change of this happening, though.
    It'd only need a web-based archive front end, or the like, so long as it's compatible with XP-era browsers.

    Quote Originally Posted by afiretruck View Post
    If we've invested in games through the store that only work on certain platforms, then they have a duty to support those platforms, or give us a refund for products we no longer have access to.
    Again, I think they only have to provide access to the content for which you've paid, which will likley be the cheapest, easiest, lowest-spec option possible... and I can only think of a plain-text archive that any browser can log into.

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    Re: Steam to drop support for Windows XP and Vista next year

    One could argue that games of that age have no legal basis to be supported and you cannot use the argument that because you have paid for something that is obsolete it has to be supported. They have supported XP way beyond it's sell by date as far as I care - and as pointed out you just keep the old XP machine and not go online with the games you've purchased. You don't purchase any more and you don't change the system. You haven't lost anything at all!
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    Re: Steam to drop support for Windows XP and Vista next year

    Quote Originally Posted by 3dcandy View Post
    One could argue that games of that age have no legal basis to be supported and you cannot use the argument that because you have paid for something that is obsolete it has to be supported.
    Well....
    Nintendo said (something along the lines of) they were reissuing some of the most popular old Gameboy (GB, GBC and GBA) games for download to the DS to combat piracy and remove the need for people to pirate old cartridges... While it sounds like marketing BS, it could be used as precedent evidence against that argument.
    Also, while my old Android 2.x Phone no longer works on Google Play Store, I can still access the apps I bought way back then. In theory I could go onto GP Store via a browser and click to have the app sent to my phone.

    It'd need me to update the old Android with a supported browser of course, so I don't think I can currently do this from that phone, but there should still be a way...!!

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    Re: Steam to drop support for Windows XP and Vista next year

    A lot of software seems to be moving to a service model,not an ownership one apparently,whether we like to or not so its seems companies are essentially selling you a rental license,not an ownership one! Its bad enough with DRM,but now more games try to push everything onto servers,so you need to have internet just to play even single player games,and if the servers shut down or your interwebs fail,tough luck!

    It does make me wonder when the aliens attack they simply need to switch off the internet. Want that super weapon to defeat the aliens,oops sorry the firing software cannot access the internet,so the computer says no!

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    Re: Steam to drop support for Windows XP and Vista next year

    Quote Originally Posted by Ttaskmaster View Post
    Well....
    Nintendo said (something along the lines of) they were reissuing some of the most popular old Gameboy (GB, GBC and GBA) games for download to the DS to combat piracy and remove the need for people to pirate old cartridges... While it sounds like marketing BS, it could be used as precedent evidence against that argument.
    Also, while my old Android 2.x Phone no longer works on Google Play Store, I can still access the apps I bought way back then. In theory I could go onto GP Store via a browser and click to have the app sent to my phone.

    It'd need me to update the old Android with a supported browser of course, so I don't think I can currently do this from that phone, but there should still be a way...!!
    See recent legal precedent for Samsung not having to maintain and support phones for up to 4 years in several European countries but to legally only have to update them for the period of their warranty (which is 2 years)
    The counter argument - like I said is if you choose to play obsolete games on your obsolete hardware you already own then you are not losing out. I pretty much wager my life fortune (34p and a fizzy cola lace) that any games that don't work on systems later than XP will disappear from Steam now anyway or workarounds will be issued to the ones that remain. You can backup your games legally then in case you lose them or backup the downloads
    Old puter - still good enuff till I save some pennies!

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    Re: Steam to drop support for Windows XP and Vista next year

    Quote Originally Posted by 3dcandy View Post
    See recent legal precedent for Samsung not having to maintain and support phones for up to 4 years in several European countries but to legally only have to update them for the period of their warranty (which is 2 years)
    Which is fine - They made it, they have to support it and warranty it, etc.... but does Google also have to support those phones?
    Because that's what this is - Google has nothing to do with your device or what hard/software you choose to have on it, so long as you still have some method of getting the stuff you paid Google for.

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    Re: Steam to drop support for Windows XP and Vista next year

    Warframe, a game I play (also on steam) has just announced they're changing their min specs and no longer going to support dx9 and windows x86 and require windows 7 minimum, which in turn removes xp support and anything else that is 32bit... might also be linked to steam changes as well but they used the geforce drivers and xp ended support in 2002 thing too as their reasons.

    The funny thing is there have been no end of players basically begging DE (they make warframe) to not to change the minimum specs and keep support for xp while ignoring that they're the ones constantly complaining their pc's can't get decent frame rates in the game, then blaming it on optimisation rather than admit it's down to their antique computers.

    In all honesty it's about time for modern games to drop support for xp, in most cases the hardware being used is so low end that it can hardly cope in the first place. If you want to play old games then use old hardware but if you want to play 'new' games then use newer hardware...

    Having said that, just like CAT-THE-FIFTH, I'm not a fan of subscription model when it comes to hardware or software purely because like mentioned all they need to do is flick a switch and you've lost everything and you're screwed if they decided to up the price etc, especially in a work environment.

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