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http://www.direct2drive.com/staticpa...?topic=get_dlm

Nice. Thanks!

How have people's experience been with Direct 2 Drive? I've already got a ton of games in my Steam account and a couple in Impulse and I'm a little hesitant to open another download account, but I'm also interested in picking up Dragon Age and Dawn of War II. Does D2D work as well as the others?

Originally Posted by ogvor How have people's experience been with Direct 2 Drive? I've already got a ton of games in my Steam account and a couple in Impulse and I'm a little hesitant to open another download account, but I'm also interested in picking up Dragon Age and Dawn of War II. Does D2D work as well as the others?

I have about a 30% failure rate with their installs, usually from the download being corrupted. If I wait and redownload again, during non-sale times I can get a good one. Patches and mods can be an issue with some games, but it's usually worth it, not my first choice though.

Originally Posted by ogvor How have people's experience been with Direct 2 Drive? I've already got a ton of games in my Steam account and a couple in Impulse and I'm a little hesitant to open another download account, but I'm also interested in picking up Dragon Age and Dawn of War II. Does D2D work as well as the others?

It's really not even close. Steam completely kills D2D. It's gotten to the point that if a game is on sale on D2D, I will just wait for it to be on sale on Steam. I mean D2D works, it's just Steam has so much more value when you consider achievements, community features, cloud saves, etc. Admittedly, D2D's new client is trying to fix that, but IMO it's just too little, too late.

Steam is better but I haven't had a single install failure from them as Trelow has had. If Direct2Drive has a good sale I usually don't hesitate to buy the game from them as I have had no issues with the 6 or so games I have bought from them.

I've bought from D2D, and I feel it is a solid client; I just seem to have a problem getting anything to download at decent speeds. With steam, I have no trouble getting into the 700kb - 1000kb /sec download speed range. With D2D, I can barely keep it above 100kb/sec. (although, this could be my fault)

Still, I will download from them if they have any good deals.

Thanks, Cheapy!

I personally haven't had any issues with D2D either. The purchasing and downloading experience is nowhere near as smooth as Steam, but I haven't any problems with their service, though I hear lots of gripes about them from others here for one reason or another. I personally just limit my purchases to Steam and D2D mostly and rarely do a purchase on Impulse.

Originally Posted by TravistyOJ It's really not even close. Steam completely kills D2D. It's gotten to the point that if a game is on sale on D2D, I will just wait for it to be on sale on Steam. I mean D2D works, it's just Steam has so much more value when you consider achievements, community features, cloud saves, etc. Admittedly, D2D's new client is trying to fix that, but IMO it's just too little, too late.

I havent tried the D2D client, but up until now its just a DD store, not a full-on Steam competitor. Most of the things Ive downloaded from D2D I have been able to acitivate on Steam anyways.

I have no idea where all the D2D hate is coming from, up can just simply download the game without the client.

This would bring Bob Came in Pieces down to just under $4--a pretty good deal if you missed out on Steam's last indie bundle (the one before the current Steam Play bundle).

Thanks for using Comrade! Get 20% off your next purchase at D2D NOW through tomorrow, 5/15 (11:59pm PDT).

Use the following codes at checkout:

US site: COMRADEUS20
http://www.direct2drive.com/

UK site: COMRADEUK20
http://www.direct2drive.co.uk/

EU site: COMRADEEU20
http://www.direct2drive.eu/

Works with existing promos, so you can get Rome: TW for $2!

Originally Posted by ogvor How have people's experience been with Direct 2 Drive? I've already got a ton of games in my Steam account and a couple in Impulse and I'm a little hesitant to open another download account, but I'm also interested in picking up Dragon Age and Dawn of War II. Does D2D work as well as the others?

I'm pretty sure Dawn of War II will require activation in and installation through Steam anyway, regardless of where you buy it. You can avoid using most of D2D, and just purchase the game and have the key emailed to you to type into your current Steam account (choosing to download from D2D will just download a Steam installer and a Steam backup image of an older version of the game).

As to other games, I usually avoid the DRMed games, since waiting for a D2D-compatible patch can take a while, or maybe even never come at all (I don't see the latest NFS:Shift patch listed on their site, for example). Also a few games have DRM which interferes with mods designed only for the retail game. On the other hand, with more and more games switching to online activation D2D's often shipping the same thing as the retail game now, and more and more retail patches sound like they'll just work on the D2D version. And of course you can always use a retail patch + nocd crack to end up with the latest version with full mod compatibility.

As to their DRM-free games (like Bob Came In Pieces), I like them better than anyone except GOG. They give you a straight HTTP download link (on Fileplanet's servers, but it bypasses the queue system's waiting line), compatible with your downloader of choice (using a multi-part downloader gives me better speeds than through Steam), resulting in a regular old installer, with no online checks or authentication, or really anything D2D-specific. You can then back up the installer, or download it again from them in the future. I hope this isn't the start of trying to force all their users to a custom client.

Additional note on my issues, most of them have been 3+ years ago. They have been much better in the last two years.

I generally check games at Impulse, D2D and Steam. I generally go for the lower priced place but for some especially the DRM free ones I go with either Impulse or D2D since Steam requires developers to put Steam DRM on their games even if it is DRM-Free everywhere else.

GoG is by far the best place IMO to buy games just because it is all DRM-Free (a major feature in my book) and I even have no problems paying slightly more for their games just because it is DRM free. I'd rather have DRM-Free than Steam Achievements or any cloud BS. It's the one of the few things about steam I hate, DRM-free on D2D or other places, but DRM infected on steam.

While I like D2D I am never going to install their client, and I'd stop buying from them if they made it a requirement for purchase. I have Steam, Impulse, and EA and I don't want any others on my system.

I bought a ton of games during last fall's "D2D Is Five" specials. Does installing Comrade mean I can download the games like Steam since it'll be tied to my account? What if you've already DLed a zillion gigs of install files - is there a way to have Comrade see those DLs so you don't have to burn duplicate bandwidth re-DLing them?

Originally Posted by DirkBelig I bought a ton of games during last fall's "D2D Is Five" specials. Does installing Comrade mean I can download the games like Steam since it'll be tied to my account?

Kinda. For me, I still had to log into the D2D site and click the download link. After clicking the D/L link, Comrade's DL manager handled the download. Unlike Steam, you do not get a list of games you've purchased from D2D ready to d/l and install. Gotta go through the D2D website.

What if you've already DLed a zillion gigs of install files - is there a way to have Comrade see those DLs so you don't have to burn duplicate bandwidth re-DLing them?

Don't know specifically. Like XFire, Comrade does keep track of your INSTALLED games (most of them) and some install files that you've already downloaded from Comrade. You might have to work your way around the download options to find out.

Does anyone know if their client is compatible with Win 7 64-bit?

Also is their a backup feature like the one steam has?

If I can install my DLed versions and then Comrade can see and autopatch them, that'd be fine. I'll see what happens when I get home.

D2D worked fine for me back last year during the $5 sale. Some of those were too good NOT to buy, but I much prefer Steam. Too many advantages. Most of the major sales that D2D does are followed by similar sales by Steam, so I wait for the Steam deal.

I suppose I miss out on a few deals, but auto-patching, achievements, and not spreading my games around across multiple online sites all make me favor Steam. I didn't have any problems with downloads though.