Who are the criminals here?

I’ve been playing football manager (CM) for the last ten years and it’s been great always looking forward to the next release having played it throughout the previous year and this year was no different, until now. What are SI thinking of, why do we now have to register via the internet or phone, I’m sure they will say it’s to combat piracy/criminals etc. My game worked fine at first after a marathon session trying to register. Now after logging on via steam which seems to be the only way and is problematic as I don’t always have internet access. It freezes when I look at information for any club or if I want to play a match the game stops responding, checked all the threads to find out how to resolve it no help, but it made me realise the extent of problems with this game, which brings me back to my original question, who are the criminals here. I’ve paid for a product that is defective and if I take it back to the shop they will refuse to refund me because I’ve obviously copied it etc... What now? Where do we stand? (Any legal/watchdog advice) Wait for several patches? I have an idea, might seem a bit radical but why don’t you create a game you can install direct not via the internet, test it before release to make sure it works and refund any game that doesn’t work. Anyway I’ve had my rant don’t feel like throwing my computer through the window anymore.

You don't need to run it via steam there are many threads on how you get round it.

You don't need to use steam at all.

You chose to use Steam - the rest of us didn't and aren't having any problems. If you'd read up on Steam before installing FM (which I did - I'd never heard of it before) then it wouldn't have taken long to realise what a pile of steaming sh*te it was. Personally, I read up on stuff before installing it on my PC. Therefore I didn't use Steam, therefore I had no problems. Just a thought.

Nothing wrong with steam.

Downloaded through them with saved me a trip to the shops and have not had 1 single problem.

I haven't got the Steam version; however, I wonder if this game (like other Steam/Valve games) has a 'play offline option' that needs to be enabled. Just a thought - may want to check you have it set for offline play.

Possibly also you could deactivate the automatic updates - this will force the game to not try to access Steam each time you run it.

I feel you pain.

I haven't got the Steam version; however, I wonder if this game (like other Steam/Valve games) has a 'play offline option' that needs to be enabled. Just a thought - may want to check you have it set for offline play.

Possibly also you could deactivate the automatic updates - this will force the game to not try to access Steam each time you run it.

I feel you pain.

Yeah, I think there is.

But there is a workaround so you do not even have to run steam.

(Any legal/watchdog advice)

The problems some people experienced are clearly regrettable. In terms of legal/watchdog advice, I'm not really sure what you're after. I work in regulation, for a national watchdog, and I can't see that any rules have been broken. If they had then Microsoft and Electronic Arts would have been hauled over the coals many times before!

It could be that he has a bad installation - something has glitched in the download. Can he start again and reinstall without problems?

even if you authenticated with steam , if you go into your steam apps folder, make a shortcut of the fm exe and put it on your desktop it will launch without steam.

i bought a boxed version , added it to my steam list for patching and im playing it now with no steam active.

if you bought a steam version simply go into file>start in offline mode in steam option

Steam only needs to be online the first time you use it.

The problems some people experienced are clearly regrettable. In terms of legal/watchdog advice, I'm not really sure what you're after. I work in regulation, for a national watchdog, and I can't see that any rules have been broken. If they had then Microsoft and Electronic Arts would have been hauled over the coals many times before!

The point I was trying to make was we the consumers are the one’s spending hours trying to get your product to work and jumping through additional hoops because we’re are all assumed to be criminals. Example if I was to take this game back and ask for a full refund as I am unable to make it work properly I would be refused, where else does this exist (Sale of goods/Warranty)? And it’s bit more than some people.

I loaded this game through steam had no issues and played it last night, the game froze when I looked at the information bar, but I can live with that. Started playing it today and now it freezes every time I submit my team for a match, 5 hours later I’m still here trying to find out how to rectify a problem with your product.

The point I was trying to make was we the consumers are the one’s spending hours trying to get your product to work and jumping through additional hoops because we’re are all assumed to be criminals. Example if I was to take this game back and ask for a full refund as I am unable to make it work properly I would be refused, where else does this exist (Sale of goods/Warranty)? And it’s bit more than some people.

I loaded this game through steam had no issues and played it last night, the game froze when I looked at the information bar, but I can live with that. Started playing it today and now it freezes every time I submit my team for a match, 5 hours later I’m still here trying to find out how to rectify a problem with your product.

play in windowed mode , uncheck threading in prefs, one of these should fix your problem

Yeah, I think there is.

But there is a workaround so you do not even have to run steam.

We shouldn't even need to figure out a workaround, we shouldn't have to do it in the first place.

We shouldn't even need to figure out a workaround, we shouldn't have to do it in the first place.

Ok , next time i wont try to help anyone in the community, i'll just make another pointless "zomgjoosuckSI" post , because clearly it would be more constructive.

Did that a while ago, my windowed option was greyed out so i could not select or de-select it. Do not understand how it can work fine one day and not work the next????

I do not understand how if it works fine one day and not the next, that that makes it SI's fault.

They havent magically hacked your computer to add extra files to it whilst you sleep...

We shouldn't even need to figure out a workaround, we shouldn't have to do it in the first place.

What? :confused:

I don't think you understood me.

I meant if you authenticated the game with steam which you do not have to, that you can run the game without running steam. I was referring to just going into Steam\steamapps\common and creating a shortcut to the fm.exe file.

Of course you need to figure out a workaround if you used steam and then do not want it running.