protonscr

Buying game in external browser allows user to install unsupported games

steamclosed reviewed
ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux#357 · opened 2012-12-24 by joemppe · updated 2019-07-18 · 8 comments · github
Jjoemppe 2012-12-24 github

Using the install link in the Steam Store allows you to install games that are not supported on Linux.

Steps to reproduce

  1. Buy a game as usual, using a standalone browser (I bought Saints Row: The Third)
  2. When the purchase is complete, click the install link ("Yes, I have Steam")
  3. Steam will begin downloading the game even if it is not supported on Linux

OS: Ubuntu 12.04 64-bit
Browser: Chromium Version 20.0.1132.47 Ubuntu 12.04 (144678)

Jjoemppe 2012-12-24 github

Attempting to run it results in "Saints Row: The Third is not available on your current platform", same as trying to install an unsupported game from within the Steam UI.

Bbespokebob 2012-12-24 github

This is probably related to or a duplicate of issue #16

Ggdrewb-valve maintainer 2012-12-24 github

The purchase web page doesn't check the platform, it just offers downloading if you have a client running. We'll discuss whether we should add a check to turn off the download offer or if there are interesting multi-boot reasons to allow the current behavior.

Jjoemppe 2012-12-25 github

If there are interesting multi-boot reasons for that, then wouldn't it make sense to allow users to download unsupported games from within the UI as well?

UX-wise it would probably be best if by default Steam notified the user that the game they're downloading is not supported, regardless of how the download was initiated, but had a checkbox somewhere that allows advanced users to bypass this.

FFreso 2012-12-25 github

I often think it would be neat to allow my Linux-Steam and Win7-Steam to use the same harddrive space. This could potentially allow running cross-platform compatible games without having to download multiple times - and it would allow to download e.g. large Windows-only games while actually being productive in Linux. (Currently I have to ask Windows-Steam to download, and then do something off the machine or play a non-Steam game while it downloads, as I only use the Windows install for gaming.)

Ccraiggowing 2013-01-06 github

Got a similar issue when purchasing the hitman collection (3 games) within the Linux client (to play under the Windows client in Wine of course).
The "Install" option after purchasing looked greyed out but still allowed me to click it, confirmed the 3 license agreements and then an error occurred (non-specific error message).
Got the expected "not supported on your platform" error when trying to install through the library.

JJacopKane 2013-03-25 github

This was a nice feature for me when i was trying to run unsupoorted games thourgh Wine. Any idea how i will install games in different platforms?

Kkisak-valve maintainer 2017-03-28 github

Closing as this appears to be fixed.

Steampowered.com provides a steam:// url which your desktop environment can associate with steam or steam in wine. The steam client then checks for platform support.

Nothing extracted yet.