Have to voice my disappointment

First time poster so go easy - sorry about the length.

I have been an addict of the series since CM4. This is the first season where I have not downloaded the demo (or beta), and bought the game at release.

I held off this year because of Steam.

Today I caved, and downloaded Steam with the intent to test the water with the demo.

I downloaded Steam, and installed - Steam required an update, which it began to install and then cancelled itself as it claimed I had no network connection. I use DSL and was able to surf the internet at the time.

I tried again, and the update successfully downloaded. I then tried to download the demo, but was told the Steam servers were to busy to process my request. I tried again a few minutes later and my download started. I tried to cancel another download but this caused Steam to crash. I reopened, and cancelled the other download and left Steam to finish off downloading FM demo. Steam crashed again halfway through the download.

I reopened Steam and the download finished off. I was then able to play FM12 demo, only with Steam open. Even if set to offline Steam had to be running.

I played through the first pre season game, saved and quit FM and then Steam.

I can't open FM12 as a normal application on my computer. FM is not installed in the default applications, I can't add it to the Dock or any usual Macintosh application launcher (Dock/Spotlight/QuickLaunch/LaunchPad/QuickSilver).

A little while later I tried to open FM through Steam and hit the warning: did not find font resource: fonts/helveticaneueots error.

At this point I am already disappointed with the whole process and I won't be buying FM again until Steam is not required, which is unfortunate as I would like to play it and well its cost SI another paying customer

Hopefully future versions may return to either DVD/Direct Download or may make an appearance in the Mac App Store.

Finally, I'd like to say a thanks to SI for supporting FM on Mac OS since as far back as I've played the series.

here we go again...........

People need to work with Steam to improve Steam for Macs. It's all well and good them all complaining that it doesn't work properly, but how many actually contact Steam to provide bug reports and further information. It's the same as with FM, Valve need to know what the errors are to fix them. Steam for Macs is relatively new, whilst Steam for PCs has been around for a fair few years.

There was a thread at the Steam forums where one of the Valve devs asked people to email him with problems.He was replying in conjucntion with the game unavailable error but I'm sure you could post on the forums about other errors and ask if it is possible to contact him, or simply PM him. Help Steam to help users with problems rather than just complaining about it.

Do you really want to miss out on FM for sake of one program that is unobtrussive and damn handy for gamers? Ratehr cutting of your nose to spite your face, isn't it?

HERE is the link to the specific thread at the Steam forums.

Lets not berate anyone for not buying the game because of steam. It's safe to say SI and most of those who have bought the game know it was a mistake. I think they'll go with it next year, but if it isn't practically error free steam, sales of the game will nose dive

Why are you trying to play the game with Steam off? It wont work that way. Think of Steam as a CD check to make sure you bought a legal copy only its on steroids and always on. Steam has minimal impact on system resources so there is no reason to turn it off. Let it do its thing. The more you try and muck with it the higher chance you are to break something. And like anagain said ranting here is not going to help anything to improve the Mac steam client. Steam is a great application that people are just looking for a reason to complain about.

Lets not berate anyone for not buying the game because of steam. It's safe to say SI and most of those who have bought the game know it was a mistake. I think they'll go with it next year, but if it isn't practically error free steam, sales of the game will nose dive

I don't think it was a mistake and I don't think SI regrets going with steam. Most of us are not having any major problem with running FM12 (bugs aside:( ) or Steam. There always will be a few people with problems due to the nature of computers. There is no such thing as an error free system.

And I'm more than willing to bet that they sold more copies than any other year by going with steam. The first few weeks are really critical for game releases in terms of sales, and since the pirated version has not surfaced yet, it was a good decision.

More profit for SI means less pressure to release half baked software.

I play it on a macbook pro and I had no problems with the installation. Probably older macs might have problems. (don't they have problems with many other software anyway?)

And I'm more than willing to bet that they sold more copies than any other year by going with steam. The first few weeks are really critical for game releases in terms of sales, and since the pirated version has not surfaced yet, it was a good decision

There's the key right there and probably why steam will continue to be used. People can refuse to buy FM next year because of Steam but they will still sell more copies overall since there will be a drastic cut in the pirated versions.

Why are you trying to play the game with Steam off? It wont work that way. Think of Steam as a CD check to make sure you bought a legal copy only its on steroids and always on. Steam has minimal impact on system resources so there is no reason to turn it off. Let it do its thing. The more you try and muck with it the higher chance you are to break something. And like anagain said ranting here is not going to help anything to improve the Mac steam client. Steam is a great application that people are just looking for a reason to complain about.

Maybe for Windows it has no impact but the Mac version of Steam is a resource hog (see screenshot).

I don't think I have any other programs that require me to first open another application to check to see if I can run the application.

Oh my god, oh my god, OH MY GOD!!!! Please save us all from yet ANOTHER post about Steam!! Please can you not search for a thread that already exists and post there??? Or at the very least post it in the technical help area???? My issue with these posts is not that I think STEAM is great or utter tripe, its that people insist on posting them with the same information or rants (albeit constructive or irrational) over and over again!! Sorry it's not my place to say, but can the forum make a STEAM sticky or seperate thread where people can post these in now, as I open them often thinking it is going to be some constructive feedback on the game, only to read ANOTHER STEAM post! I can only dream I guess!!!

It is good to post new threads, anyone who doesn't want to read ANOTHER problem with Steam should make the choice not to read it.

The only way to make SI/Sega aware of how many issues Steam has caused is by making it clear to them, one way is via the Forum.

It is good to post new threads, anyone who doesn't want to read ANOTHER problem with Steam should make the choice not to read it.

The only way to make SI/Sega aware of how many issues Steam has caused is by making it clear to them, one way is via the Forum.

Well then at least put STEAM in the title of the thread so I can avoid it like the plague!!!!!! And the issues with STEAM you say? On the forum you say? Great, then post it in the relevant place, NOT in General Discussion! A rule at the very least stating that if you about to talk about STEAM that you have to have STEAM in the title is a start!

Oh I noticed that you was the starter of the huge thread that had a discussion on this. Then rename yours simply constructive criticism of STEAM, and they can then all throw in their two cents there! That is at least a healthy debate kept in one place! But issues that are technical like the original post (albeit added with some genuine understandable frustration) surely belong in a tech thread and not here. But that's my opinion, I'm not the judge and executioner!!!