Free DLC Restriction

[Drone456]

Hello all,

 

So for those who might not know (like me before Pillars). Apparently Steam can suppress the sharing of free DLC on family-sharing. Which means that even if you say went half-in on a title with a friend, you cannot have access to any free content that game possesses unless you were the "purchaser" of said content. Paid DLC is asininely fine. This is also allegedly up to the developer's/publisher's (not sure which) discretion, which they can either deactivate or not.

 

However it seems like from my brief researching, that several studios were unaware of this and meant no ill-will by it. Because after all, why make it free if you're going to restrict it anyways? It leaves no recourse for the non-"purchaser" of the game, as I cannot add the free DLC, nor purchase it as with normal DLC. Instead I have to either refund the game (impossible in this case), or buy it again. Which would be quite absurd for free content. I think most developers (and even publishers) wouldn't choose to do this, as it's purely spiteful, and bizarre.

 

So I'm reaching out to Obsidian today in the hopes that they reverse this decision if they even made one. There have been several examples of studios getting this done quite quickly apparently, so it is indeed possible. Alternatively if you do not want to go through the whole process of contacting Steam for this, you can also just include the current and future free DLC's into the base game (as a patch); instead of an optional download.

 

Hopefully this all made sense, and some kind soul chooses to act on it.

 

Thank you very much for your time, and I look forward to the resolving of this unfortunate issue. Also sorry for the homework if this wasn't even a deliberate choice.

 

EDIT: Sorry for the delayed responses guys. New user, so I have to wait for moderator approval on my posts.

Edited June 9, 2018 by Drone456

[ThacoBell]

Interseting, you may want to tag the community manager so they can pass it along.

[Drone456]

Thanks man, how would I go about doing that? Just an @ and whatever the community manager's name is? For example: @communitymanager at the top of my post? First time here, sorry.

[Boeroer]

Good points. You may want to write a PM to Aarik D (Community Manager).

[Drone456]

@Boeroer: Thanks for the suggestion man, I just did.

[Aarik D]

Hey Drone!

 

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I'll forward this to the powers at be and we'll take a look at it!

[Boeroer]

I like Aarik D.

[Drone456]

@Aarik D: No problem man, and thank you for forwarding it on. Will you be posting any relevant data here, or in patch notes? That way I'm (and others) are aware it was fixed? Or even not going to be fixed, whatever it may be.

 

Thanks again, I sincerely appreciate it.

[Aarik D]

Once I get word, I'll let you guys know!

[Aarik D]

I like Aarik D.

I like you too buddy!

[Ichthyic]

get a room you two!

[Silent Winter]

get a room you two!

Stay in the Developer's Rest:

+2 to bug-reporting, +5 to diplomacy ( -2 actual rest)

[Abel]

Hmmmm... Steam has always been pretty funky anyway. Their licence agreements are lot of fun, too. And for weird reasons, i have almost all my games on GOG, and did not purchase any Steam Game since 6 years (New vegas). Why is that? I wonder...

Edited June 16, 2018 by Abel

[InsaneCommander]

get a room you two!

Stay in the Developer's Rest:

+2 to bug-reporting, +5 to diplomacy ( -2 actual rest)

 

Any bonus to nerfing?

[Silent Winter]

 

get a room you two!

Stay in the Developer's Rest:

+2 to bug-reporting, +5 to diplomacy ( -2 actual rest)

 

Any bonus to nerfing?

 

Well, the room used to have +10 diplomacy and actual rest

[Casper]

 

 

 Any bonus to nerfing?

Well, the room used to have +10 diplomacy and actual rest

 

what did they do? replace the mattresses with stone bunks?

[Aarik D]

Hey guys,

 

Just an update! The Free DLC items should now be included in the family share program!

[Drone456]

Thanks very much Aarik D, and to the entire development team for getting on this, and quite quickly as well. Really appreciate it.

 

However, and I hate to keep this going, but are you positive this has been added? Or is it going to be added in a patch perhaps and I misunderstood? As I still seem unable to add them to my game. Whenever I click to download a free DLC, it launches the game (which it does for the person who owns it too), but it never adds the content. Whereas for the person who owns the game; the content downloads upon exiting.

 

If this has literally just been added, maybe it takes Steam a bit to rectify this? Or am I doing something wrong? I'll check again later today just to make sure, unless you respond back with further information.

 

Thanks a lot again for yours and the dev's time. I do sincerely appreciate it.

 

EDIT: Just checked again, and it still is not working for me unfortunately. Does it work for anyone else?

Edited June 20, 2018 by Drone456

[Drone456]

Bumping just in case this has actually now worked for someone else, and it's a problem potentially on my end. Or if the team is aware of an issue, and there actually is a problem overall.

 

As it's still not working for me as of yet. Sorry.

[Mannock]

Thanks very much Aarik D, and to the entire development team for getting on this, and quite quickly as well. Really appreciate it.

 

However, and I hate to keep this going, but are you positive this has been added? Or is it going to be added in a patch perhaps and I misunderstood? As I still seem unable to add them to my game. Whenever I click to download a free DLC, it launches the game (which it does for the person who owns it too), but it never adds the content. Whereas for the person who owns the game; the content downloads upon exiting.

 

If this has literally just been added, maybe it takes Steam a bit to rectify this? Or am I doing something wrong? I'll check again later today just to make sure, unless you respond back with further information.

 

Thanks a lot again for yours and the dev's time. I do sincerely appreciate it.

 

EDIT: Just checked again, and it still is not working for me unfortunately. Does it work for anyone else?

I haven't been doing any family sharing but I had the same problem as you describe, regarding the free DLC. They wouldn't download when I clicked on the install button. Instead, the game would launch.

 

I solved it by gong to the game page, where I can see the listed DLC I own. There's a little box next to the DLC which you can check/uncheck. By unchecking it and checking it again (or vice versa) the download started. Try that, and see if it helps!

[Skazz]

 

Thanks very much Aarik D, and to the entire development team for getting on this, and quite quickly as well. Really appreciate it.

 

However, and I hate to keep this going, but are you positive this has been added? Or is it going to be added in a patch perhaps and I misunderstood? As I still seem unable to add them to my game. Whenever I click to download a free DLC, it launches the game (which it does for the person who owns it too), but it never adds the content. Whereas for the person who owns the game; the content downloads upon exiting.

 

If this has literally just been added, maybe it takes Steam a bit to rectify this? Or am I doing something wrong? I'll check again later today just to make sure, unless you respond back with further information.

 

Thanks a lot again for yours and the dev's time. I do sincerely appreciate it.

 

EDIT: Just checked again, and it still is not working for me unfortunately. Does it work for anyone else?

I haven't been doing any family sharing but I had the same problem as you describe, regarding the free DLC. They wouldn't download when I clicked on the install button. Instead, the game would launch.

 

I solved it by gong to the game page, where I can see the listed DLC I own. There's a little box next to the DLC which you can check/uncheck. By unchecking it and checking it again (or vice versa) the download started. Try that, and see if it helps!

 

 

I think it's a Steam issue more than anything else. I had the exact same problem with free DLC for Total War: Warhammer and Stellaris - and yeah, yours is the solution I've always used.

[Drone456]

@Mannock: Thanks man, but that's just the normal way the free DLC works for PoE2 unfortunately. What's happening for me, is that it will launch the game like it should, but it never grabs the DLC. It's not added to my downloadable content list, nor even started in my downloads list. It never starts. Whereas the person who owns it just has to launch the game by clicking install on the free DLC, and it will start upon exiting the game.

 

Also considering that Aarik D said he brought this to the team, and that they had fixed (or seemingly at least tried to) this. I'm inclined to believe there is actually a real free DLC related issue here. I appreciate you trying to help though. Just wish it was that easy, this game has some good free DLC, and I can't use it

 

@Skazz: Yeah from what I read before making this post, it definitely seemed to be. Why it's even allowed to be this way is beyond me. I get the argument for F2P games I guess, but that should be the exception rather than the rule. A developer shouldn't have to enable free DLC on family sharing, they should have to disable it. I don't know if Stellaris fixed this issue, but I know that TW:W did thankfully. So that means it's possible. Same with a couple other games that I read about. Can't remember the game now, but Steam themselves had to get involved to get it fixed with a client update. Maybe that's what is happening here? Not sure.

 

Hopefully it can get figured out more if others are still having issues as well. If it's fixed for them, than I'm lost haha.

[Karkarov]

Hey guys,

 

Just an update! The Free DLC items should now be included in the family share program!

Your the man Moobs, thank the powers thatbe on our behalf!

[Mannock]

@Mannock: Thanks man, but that's just the normal way the free DLC works for PoE2 unfortunately. What's happening for me, is that it will launch the game like it should, but it never grabs the DLC. It's not added to my downloadable content list, nor even started in my downloads list. It never starts. Whereas the person who owns it just has to launch the game by clicking install on the free DLC, and it will start upon exiting the game.

Well, I own the game, and the problem you describe happened exactly the same to me. I clicked the install button on the free DLC and no download would start, and instead the game would launch. The DLC wouldn't download, neither in the game nor when I exited the game. They way I got it going was by unchecking and then checking the little box next to the DLC name (and not by pressing the install button).

 

But if you've tried that and it didn't work, I'm out of ideas personally.

[Drone456]

@Mannock: By "little box next to the DLC name", are you meaning the DLC area on the game's page? As in, when you click Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire in your library list, the DLC area right below achievements, and to the right? So for example, it might say:

 

ITEM                                                                                             INSTALL                                              ACQUIRED

Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire - Rum Runner's Pack                     Installed                               [check]    Added 6/27/2018

 

That area? Because if so, that's what I'm saying. I have none of those free DLC's there, no matter if I clicked install, or add all items to cart, etc. No trick works, as it seems to be a licensing issue preventing it from even initializing. I'm thinking the reason it might not have started downloading when you exited the game was because of a Steam setting or issue you might be experiencing. As I saw other people talk about having issues similar on PoE2's DLC comments.

 

Thanks again man for trying to help. I think it has to be something that Obsidian takes care of, and nothing that I can do personally. I'm just hoping they know what to do. Feel bad though, as they already tried to fix the issue, and quite quickly. Sucks that I'm saying "umm, can you fix it again?".