Civilization IV Forum

what is meant by "Steam" version? I have the base game on CD (or DVD I forget) and the expansions I bought online from DirectDownload or something (I'll have to look it up). Do I have to buy a different version? (In which case, why shouldn't I just buy the Mac version?)

-dana

Dana Hill wrote:

what is meant by "Steam" version? I have the base game on CD (or
DVD I forget) and the expansions I bought online from DirectDownload
or something (I'll have to look it up). Do I have to buy a
different version? (In which case, why shouldn't I just buy the Mac
version?)

Since Steam has a different DRM than many CD/DVD versions, and Steam's DRM is generally more compatible with CrossOver than other DRM schemes, it sometimes makes sense to call out the Steam version of a game, especially if it's the DRM that makes the difference between it working and not.

As for buying the Mac version, often PC games get really cheap after a year or two, but the Mac versions keep their premium prices for their full lifetimes. Further Mac versions often become abandoned (see Civ III), while the PC versions do not.

Dana Hill wrote:

what is meant by "Steam" version? I have the base game on CD (or
DVD I forget) and the expansions I bought online from DirectDownload
or something (I'll have to look it up). Do I have to buy a
different version? (In which case, why shouldn't I just buy the Mac
version?)

-dana

"Steam" is an online client/portal for people to buy/download/install/run Windows games..see;

http://store.steampowered.com/about/

Disc based games (or more precisely, disc based DRM) is problematic in crossover/wine at best,
and it's even worse in the Mac case due to limitations in the MacOSX scsi drivers. Sometimes,
one can get lucky, and the original producers of the game release an official patch that both
updates the game content and removes the DRM procedure as well - this doesn't happen all that
often however...I'll say 'rare'...

Steam (and other digital download sites) do all the DRM negotiation over the network, and this
removes the need for scsi drivers and disc access. -Most- of the time these methods work in
crossover/wine, but not always...ie; 'anti cheat' systems such a nprotect's 'gameguard' software
might never work in wine, and there are other bits of software like this that are part of some
games...gamesforwindows/xlive for example...which are still problematic in crossover/wine - thing
is, don't assume all these things will work in crossover/wine ; a lot do, some don't ;)

When it comes to 'mixing and matching' various differently released media types of game/game content,
YMMV. If I'm to consider digital downloads from say Direct2Drive (and others), once the registration
process is complete, the game runs as a standalone installation, and most of the time it doesn't
matter what release/media types and addons/updates come from....

Steam is a different animal, the Steam client first starts and logs you into the steam network
before any games will start/run...you might call this 'live DRM' if you like. Underneath that,
a game title installed via Steam, might have it's own DRM routine to go thru as well - most of these
work, but not all. When it comes to adding game addons/updates/extra content into a Steam hoisted
game...things can become tricky. For instance..you say you have the original disc based version?
That won't actually work -within- Steam...that is to say, you won't be able to register that product
with Steam -- you could install that disc based release (and addons) into the same bottle as
Steam is installed, and link to it from the Steam client...but...that won't negate the disc check.
Nor will any extras/addons/DLC available via Steam be able to be installed like this either - you
would have to buy the Steam release of this title, to do things like this.

Regarding buying the Mac port, what Dylan points out is very true...and I wouldn't even begin to
know if the Mac port would support the expansions you have either - you'd need investigate that
front yourself (email them ;)...likewise, I'm not entirely sure if the Steam version of CivIV would
support those expansions either, I would guess at yes but could not guarantee that, once again
though, you could email the Steam folks about that (or look through the CivIV Steam forums)..

Hope this helps...

Cheers!

This is all moot because Civ IV is no longer available through Steam.

Jurgen Botz wrote:

This is all moot because Civ IV is no longer available through
Steam.

Am I missing something?

The best Civ 4 version is the 2009 "The Complete Edition" released in US. As opposed to the previous Complete worldwide release, it also includes Colonization.

But the best part of it is that it's DRM-free, so it's better than Steam as in you can play it whenever and wherever, no questions asked.

Unfortunately though it's US only and so I had to buy it from 2K's web store and postage cost almost as much as the game itself but it's worth it, I wanna support DRM free editions.