more questions on the "failed to find steam" issue

[Maledictus]

Hi all,

Related threads were closed so opened up a new one.

I have the Steam version of TQ+IT and the fanpatch installed. Whenever I start any Steam game other than TQIT, and then start TQIT I get the "failed to find Steam" error. Nothing helps with the exception of shutting down Steam and re-loading it. I've traced the issue back to the fact that the fanpatch changes a file that Steam considers important (don't know which one yet), and it seems that one of the changed files is game.dll. Now my questions are:
- which files are changed by the fanpatch
- if game.dll is indeed changed by the fanpatch, why is that?
- asked before but not answered, I'd love to see the source code for the installer, to see what is changed and how. That would certainly help me narrow this down.
- one game start exe file is added to the game's folder, apparently a no-cd version. This is already known, but for the Steam install stuff like that is confusing to the non-initiated and that exe should not be in there. Any chance that the installer is updated to fix this?

Thanks for any info.

[DaveyT]

Did you turn off updates for TQ and TQIT within Steam? I had an issue where Steam kept trying to update TQIT ever second run.

Steam's installer for TQIT is a bit iffy to begin with and the fanpatch installer has some quirks with Steam's installation (e.g. the resources for AllSkins are not installed because Steam incorrectly installed resources under TQIT that were also in the TQ folder). Sorry, I can't answer your other questions.

[Maledictus]

Did you turn off updates for TQ and TQIT within Steam?

Yes I did.

Steam's installer for TQIT is a bit iffy to begin with

Not sure I get this. Steam does not have an installer as such, stuff is downloaded and placed in a folder image-style; no install process runs for the app with the exception of post-download add-ons (directx etc.).
If something is iffy then that would mean that stuff is put in the wrong folder, which may very well be but I've not been able to verify that as yet. It also doesn't seem relevant to my problem, but I could be off the mark there.
I'll do a file-to-file compare pre/post fanpatch install to get a clear idea of file changes, see what that tells me.
Thanks.

[Zmobie]

The "failed to find Steam"-bug has nothing to do with the fan-patch, since I experience that bug and I have yet to install the fanpatch (cause I found it not more than 20 minutes ago , and I have seen posts about it on steams forum with no mentioning of a fan-patch. To my understanding it's not even a bug specific to TQIM but for some ppl afflicts other games as well, though TQIM seems to be overrepresented. The problem lies with steam itself and will hopefully be patched away by valve in the near future.

[Maledictus]

Hmm... I've contacted Steam about this issue and they pointed towards some files being corrupt (which is technically the case if you install the fanpatch; files are changed). Also, I've never had this problem when the fanpatch isn't installed and of my many games on Steam this is the only one that does this, so in all that's why I'm thinking in this direction.
Still, I'm sure you're right and I suppose it isn't that big a deal. I was just hoping to perhaps find a fix by looking into what the patch installer actually does.
Thanks.

[Medea Fleecestealer]

Easiest way round the problem is to uninstall it from Steam (and Steam as well if you only got it for TQIT) ansd then download TQIT from another site like Gamersgate that doesn't require you to download anything else to let the game run. Better yet, buy a disc copy via Amazon. Both options are quite cheap.

[ASYLUM101]

You might want to install a crack, just to prevent TQ from loading through steam. I think one of the fanpatches came with one, but I dont' remember.

Note - I'm not advocating stealing the game, but if a crack is required to bypass a shitty service, so be it.

[Maledictus]

Steam is not a shitty service. Using the TQIT no-dvd version for Steam does not work because the exe file is not the only one that uses the Steam wrapper.
I have the DVD version of the game but do not want to use the no-dvd crack, so I bought the Steam version.
Anyway, I better give up on this. It seems impossible to get the fanpatch installer source stuff, or to even get details on what is changed exactly. So I'll reinstall and try again, see what happens. Thanks people.

[ASYLUM101]

Steam is a shitty service if it prevents you from running a game without running steam. That's pretty shitty.

[Vifarc]

Beware, Steam can close your account as you hacked the game by installing the fanpatch.
Just never buy any Steam game (and also you won't have any problem with Steam).