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The way Steam handles free licenses is garbage

Syriel

Syriel

Banned
Dec 13, 2017
11,088
Normally, when you redeem a license on Steam, it is bound to you library. This does not happen with free games.

Instead, they simply install and an invisible license is attached to your account. You can reinstall the game if you remember you have it (and if you look up the store page), but it does not appear in your library.

This quirk also results in issues with free games that have promotional DLC. For example, Hitman/Hitman 2. If you have already installed the prologue, trying to install one of the other free levels from Steam fails, because the bundle isn't tied to your account. Just the base prologue. To install the free levels, you have to direct install from a repo, using a link on steamdb or similar.

It's silly, it's backwards, and there no obvious reason for it, given the way the client otherwise works.

Does anyone know why Valve does things this way? Was there an actual reason, or is it just a happenstance of "that's how it ended up and no one bothered to fix it?"
 
TeenageFBI

TeenageFBI

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,231
Life is Strange 2's free prologue The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit showed me that it's actually possible to permanently bind free games to your account. So I guess it's up to the developer.
 
collige

collige

Member
Oct 31, 2017
12,772
This has annoyed the hell out of me ever since Accounting came out. Hopefully the redesign will fix it
 
.exe

.exe

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,219
Haven't had issues like that with the free (to play) games I've added to my account. Guessing it's different on a game by game basis.
 

Deleted member 14568

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,910
well it's up to the dev if they want their free game to stick in the library or not which i agree is annoying
 
Aztechnology

Aztechnology

Community Resettler
Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
14,134
TeenageFBI said:
Life is Strange 2's free prologue The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit showed me that it's actually possible to permanently bind free games to your account. So I guess it's up to the developer.
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This is the answer. It's the developer. As there's plenty of games that were offered free which did bind to the account
 
Vamphuntr

Vamphuntr

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,301
Seems to be up to the dev or publisher. I suppose it's a way to protect yourself if your game won't be free in the future.

Plenty of free games on Steam install properly in your library with a full license.
 
Walnut

Walnut

One Winged Slayer
Member
Nov 2, 2017
878
Austin, TX
It frustrates the heck out of me too yeah. The good news is when you spend money it gets permanently bound to your account like any other paid game. I guess the logic is if you didn't invest any money into it there's no reason you couldn't just come back and find it later on the storefront
 
dom

dom

â–˛ Legend â–˛
Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
10,445
Also annoying is some instances to get free DLC you need to have the game installed. Just let me add it to my account :(
 
caylen

caylen

Publisher - Riot Games
Verified
Oct 27, 2017
139
santa monica
Yeah, there a lot of Steam games that don't manage the permissions like that. I'm pretty sure that most entitlements (which in all cases i'm aware of in the west) are determined by the publisher, and most typically opt in for the standard store/library scheme.

I'm curious as to which titles you're not seeing this work for, OP?
 
OP
OP
Syriel

Syriel

Banned
Dec 13, 2017
11,088
Vamphuntr said:
Seems to be up to the dev or publisher. I suppose it's a way to protect yourself if your game won't be free in the future.

Plenty of free games on Steam install properly in your library with a full license.
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The frustrating part is not knowing if it will appear or not until you uninstall it.

All installed games show up properly. It's only an issue with uninstalled games.

So my "solution" has been to uninstall every free game right after installing to see if it "sticks." If it doesn't, I reinstall it and then back up the files.

Make me wonder how many other folks do the same and how much bandwidth Valve wastes because of it.
 

TheTrain

Member
Oct 27, 2017
610
Syriel said:
The frustrating part is not knowing if it will appear or not until you uninstall it.

All installed games show up properly. It's only an issue with uninstalled games.

So my "solution" has been to uninstall every free game right after installing to see if it "sticks." If it doesn't, I reinstall it and then back up the files.

Make me wonder how many other folks do the same and how much bandwidth Valve wastes because of it.
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There is a difference between the 2 type of free-to-add license. The first one is like the Doki Doki one, when you click on the store page the installation prompt starts automatically. When this happens the game will not be tied to your library.
When the games gets connected to your library you go through a page, after you click on it on the store page, where they tell you that you need to go on your library in order to install it. (I haven't found a screen of said page, but it's basically the same page you get after you buy something on the store)

DTbpimCW0AAmFy0.jpg

So there is a way in wich you can tell if a game will or not be available on your library after you add it for free, let's not waste your bandwidth!
 
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Deleted member 13645

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
6,052
domthybomb said:
Also annoying is some instances to get free DLC you need to have the game installed. Just let me add it to my account :(
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This is one of the most annoying things. Total War Warhammer I and II had this real bad because of how much free DLC there is. To get the free DLC it tries to launch the game. Doing that DLC by DLC was the worst. Let me just add it all at the same time like paid DLC.
 
OP
OP
Syriel

Syriel

Banned
Dec 13, 2017
11,088
caylen said:
Yeah, there a lot of Steam games that don't manage the permissions like that. I'm pretty sure that most entitlements (which in all cases i'm aware of in the west) are determined by the publisher, and most typically opt in for the standard store/library scheme.

I'm curious as to which titles you're not seeing this work for, OP?
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At a quick glance it seems to be (almost) anything with a Complimentary license that also shows a "remove" option. Though even that isn't a hard-and-fast rule.

Some specific examples:
  • Doki Doki Literature Club (already mentioned) is one.
  • Dead or Alive Core Fighters is another if you want to see for yourself.
  • Minion Masters is Complimentary with "remove", but it shows in my library, even though it's uninstalled.
 
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