Category Archives: Computer Games

Solve slow Steam client update issue [How To]

Ultimate solution updated below!

steam_logoStarting up your Steam client, and you see that there is some auto update upon launching, but it doesn’t seems right as the update progress seems to be EXTREMELY slow and stuck at certain percentage (or proceed at the very slow rate even the internet connection seems fine) – most likely you are not going to have your Steam client updated anytime soon. The culprit (highly possible) is the incorrect and slow server chosen by the client for update and hence the ridiculous slow downloading.

If you have the similar issue, you can try this solution and see if it helps (you might have to do this for a couple of times before the download speed back to the usual one, for my case, I did about 10 times):

1. Navigate to your steam installation folder (most likely it’s in C:\Program Files\Steam), and look for a file called ClientRegistry.blob

2. Shut down the running client which is updating at snail speed (Cancel the updates).

3. Either rename it (eg. ClientRegistry.blob_old) or delete it straightaway.

4. Restart the Steam client and the update will be restarted. If the right server is picked up by the client and your internet connection is fine, you will notice the update being downloaded at a nice speed.

Hope this solution help you from the frustration of slow Steam client update. A little bit of searching in the Steam forum shows that there are also some other possible reasons that causing this, but most of the time using the solution above will solve the issue. Good luck and happy gaming!

Update 1: Once again, I am having the same issue next restart. A couple of times of deleting the file doesn’t help much, always stalled at certain percentage. Then, I just try my luck to enable the Steam client to access my network through Windows Firewall in both connection types (Home/Work and Public), Voila, the update smoother than butter after that.

Update 2: Another similar issue happened to me after the next restart. Windows Firewall exception doesn’t do the job this time, and finally I decided to restart my modem router to get a new IP from my ISP – Everything solved. Probably my previous IP doesn’t like the Steam client, or vice versa. Anyhow, if you have an ISP that provide you dynamic IPs, try to get another IP address, most probably it will solve your Steam update issue.

Ultimate Solution: This should work for anyone. The main problem of this update issue is due to the slow download from bad steam server. Therefore changing the connection to good steam update server is the solution for this.

How to do this? Download TCPView application, then run the application while the Steam updating. In the TCPView, look for Steam.exe, right click on it and choose Close Connection. Check the update dialog to see if the update speed increases. If it’s not, close connection again. Do it for a few times (I tried doing it around 15 times) to get the good update server and Steam will be updated!

Do share your experience on how you solve the problem to everyone via comment below, thanks!

First DOTA 2 Q&A from Ice Frog is available!

DOTA2_Unofficial_Wallpaper (Small)Unofficial DOTA2 Wallpaper made by me. All credits to their original creators.

Who would think that a mod for a game would have a huge success? One of the most successful mod for the Blizzard’s Warcraft III, the Defence of the Ancients (or DotA) now has a very huge player base, and has been widely used in many game leagues/events. Because of this unexpected success, now Valve Corporation have hired Ice Frog, the current developer that currently maintaining and publishing updates to the DotA game (version 6.69b at the time of writing), and went ahead to trademark the name ‘DOTA’ for their own use. Obviously, the original creator of the game Warcraft III, Blizzard Corporation wasn’t too happy about that, but it doesn’t seems to stop Valve Corporation from announcing and developing their new action RPG game, DOTA 2, and Ice Frog have just released the first Q&A regarding the new DOTA 2, which give the current DotA players what to expect in the new DOTA 2:

Continue reading First DOTA 2 Q&A from Ice Frog is available!

StarCraft 2 A3 size wallpaper

imageIn conjunction with the launch of first installment of StarCraft 2 series, I have made one high resolution StarCraft 2 wallpaper for you to download. It’s nothing new – just the marine character that appears numerous times before the official launch with the StarCraft 2 logo at the bottom, but I hardly found the same on the internet at high resolution, so I decided to make one. I have made it into an A3 size, so besides using it a desktop wallpaper, you can make it a poster on your room’s wall (which I am going to do soon!). You can have an idea how it looks like below:

SC2_Poster (Small)

This wallpaper is meant for sharing purpose only and none of the content is the property of mine (they are Blizzard Entertainment properties), hence there is no watermark or so. Please feel free to share and distribute the wallpaper to all StarCraft 2 lovers if you find suitable. The original content is found from thegamenews.com and also forsejt.dk, all credit to them for the high resolution images.

The wallpaper is sized at 4961 x 3508 pixels at 300dpi, and you can download from here (mediafire). Hope you enjoy it while waiting for the real deal! See you guys in the battle.net!

‘My Life for Aiur!’

Get your copy of Portal on Steam for Free until 24th May!

imageIf you are into the famous Valve Half-Life series, you’d know that they have a great game called Portal, which based on the Half-Life 2 engine. And now, to celebrate the release of Mac version of Steam, they are giving away this famous game released in Q4 2007 for FREE until 24th May 2010. Details after the jump.

Continue reading Get your copy of Portal on Steam for Free until 24th May!

Play Starcraft II Beta with AI Offline [How To]

SC2 Logo

Update 02-08-2010: Since StarCraft 2 has been released, this guide is no longer effective as SC2ALLin1 launcher has now transformed into a handy offline SC2 retail launcher! Just install the retail version with your Battle.net activated and you can use the launcher to launch a skirmish game without login.

Hint: If you still kept/found the beta client and the older version of SC2ALLin1, you can still try to install it and play StarCraft 2 Beta offline with AI, but you can’t enjoy the updates from Blizzard which will improve the game. If you like the game, please buy the game to support the developer!

Previously I had putting up a guideline on allowing non-beta tester to play StarCraft II Beta offline, without actually having to be a part of the closed-beta test. Two months has been passed and Blizzard had released not less than 12 patches to fix bugs and add in new feature (Map Editor etc.), and thus probably the previously linked method doesn’t work well if the game has been patched. At the same time, the famous StarCrack AI has been gradually updated to a very challenging version based on the changes made by Blizzard (7.0.3 at the time of writing). Read on to find out how to play StarCraft II Beta offline without a beta account.

Continue reading Play Starcraft II Beta with AI Offline [How To]