Steam Downtime Discussion Thread

[Delusion83]

Offline mode is orthogonal to this issue. We haven't changed much about Offline mode lately, and this issue hasn't changed anything about Offline mode -- though it did stress its functionality because users wanted it to work to get around problems with their connection. Thing is, offline mode might not have worked to help this issue because of the nature of the problem.

Offline mode is meant to work when the client is offline. In this case, the client wasn't exactly offline because it actually had connected to Steam. When a connection happens, the Steam servers give the client a set of configuration data. That data describes to the client what titles are available, what titles are no longer available, and so on. Some of that information is region-specific; games may or may not be available in certain regions.

That information is also cached on the client.

The misconfiguration was that a game was marked as available in the default Steam subscription -- the one with the Steam client itself and all of the free titles -- but was also marked as not being available in DE. Then the client saw this, it decided the configuration information was invalid and logged off the servers. That validation and logoff procedure took a variable amount of time, giving the illusion that the problem was really (or at least possibly) a network-related issue. We might have been predisposed to thinking there was a network-related problem because there has been a history of routing problems between some areas in Europe and Valve; in fact, we were actually tracking such an issue with an ISP at the time this issue surfaced. After investigation, we found that the bogus configuration tripped a safety mechanism designed to defend the client against that incorrect information.

The configuration data that Steam ships around is pretty large and surprisingly complicated. We've got checks to make sure we don't publish bad configuration info for most common cases, but some obscure cases -- like this one -- can get past our checks and end up in the wild.

Since many users had the cached information, they weren't affected immediately. When they received the new copy of the information with the incorrect configuration, they went through the automatic logout path and noticed problems. This symptom was a bit masking in that only certain users were affected in certain regions; until we could reproduce the problem ourselves and observe the effect of the misconfiguration, we were unable to find the cause of the problem and take action.

It's impossible to fix an issue which isn't understood; we have to take the time to diagnose it. We try to communicate as well as we can during that phase, and it could improve -- but the limitation is that we don't know many details, either. If we make a post based on information that isn't completely solid, it looks terrible. We might think we'll have it fixed in five minutes. Saying so, only to find the issue is much more complicated and will take substantially longer to fix, ends up being much worse for everyone in the long run. As a result, we try to be quick to acknowledge problems, and we did that here. We can't provide details until we, ourselves, have them.

I hope that provides the insight into the issue that you've asked for.

Indeed it did and it is much appreciated, thank you!

As much as I believe transparency is key I also know that's not always possible everywhere if you run a business especially if issue's aren't exactly solved yet, more complicated or involve legal stuff, but you have to keep in mind Valve's user base has many enthusiasts or ppl with IT/ tech background. Usually Valve does very good with pr/ image stuff but when it comes to issues like these many ppl got the feeling there was an irritating inconsistency there and it felt like duck and cover in the past and "delayed" like when the forums/ Steam database was hacked/ compromised as much I liked how Mr N. personally addressed the issue later.

Similar to when a company releases a patch and the only thing they state is "we fixed various bugs" - yeah that's simply not satisfactory compared to a somewhat complete changelog or at least a few sentences covering some basics (as annoying it may be to sum it up it's valuable to customers, existing and new ones to be kept in the loop on progress/ results of things, and also with the technical details (as much as possible/ appropriate) for those who want to know and can understand so that they don't feel treated like an idiot who you think of would throw money at you anyway. That more detailed explanation could now be linked to in the official short version as well.

Then again I was very satisfied with the approach to pinpoint the issue, calebb was right on it, proactively contacting Users and collecting logs, not jumping to conclusions, helpful and very professional. No criticism there!

Maybe it would help to implement a way on the forums these "red alert" (or orange alert) situations could be highlighted to better visualize "we are right now working on it and it migth need some time" right inside the downtime topic, say maybe use the orange text which is now featured prominently on top of the General Steam Discussion (which is also a good thing already) section, to also display on top of every page in the downtime topic as long as the issue persists, with maybe a short period afterwards to reflect the solved state, maybe as some kind of newsticker. Also not a big issue but a detail that can confuse not a tech savy ppl,- the Steam error message was very generic and directed ppl basically to the main steam site where no info could be found anywhere. Not everyone is on the forums, even the steam support twitter was not used.

While it was going on it would have helped with ppl storming in and pages quickly piling up, with informative posts likely to be buried.

[JG54_Emil]

Offline mode is orthogonal...

Thank you very much I´m very pleased now with this information.
:)

[Delusion83]

Offline mode is orthogonal to this issue.

Thank you very much I´m very pleased now with this information.
:)

Hehe :D that indeed is one remaining issue that isn't quite satisfactory yet.

[Marc255]

it's finally up and running perfectly and now the forums work perfectly again. Now i can reply again

[carl_seeman]

yesssssssss!!!!!!! forums work! but my steam still wint connect :(

[InGeneral]

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2661370

[DennisG50]

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/3581/image3032.pngDo want.

[Compufreak]

The post of Mike Blasczak was very informative but I cannot understand why they do not change the design of the "offline" mode. IMHO ,the only purpose for an offline mode is to be able to play single player games without the need to connect to a server. It's not understandable that the offline mode isn't available because steam's servers aren't available. There should be an isolated part of the client that can be launched anytime so users are able to play his/hers single player game anytime.

As clearly stated in Mikes post, the servers were available and providing informating breaking the offline mode as well... So I'm afraid in context of this issue your statement makes no sense :0 However, offline mode needs some work as well as the procedure with bad config files. (Maybe some kind of fallback config from the last succesfull launch/exit of Steam or sth. like that? Might also be good for offline mode not working if Steam is not quit properly.. Probably is a bit more complicated, but sth. in this direction needs to be done.)

But I'm sure Valve will take a deep look into how to prevent this from happening in the future. It e.g. really hurt the reputation of Civilization V on amazon today :0 (7 ratings, 3*1 star because of Steam). Really bad that the downtime fell so near to the start of the Amazon download service in germany.

[Sifestia]

Is Steam Login offline again? i cant login

[Darklord]

As clearly stated in Mikes post, the servers were available and providing informating breaking the offline mode as well... So I'm afraid in context of this issue your statement makes no sense :0 However, offline mode needs some work as well as the procedure with bad config files. (Maybe some kind of fallback config from the last succesfull launch/exit of Steam or sth. like that? Might also be good for offline mode not working if Steam is not quit properly.. Probably is a bit more complicated, but sth. in this direction needs to be done.)


Yes , it's complicated. But players don't want complications they just want to play their paid, downloaded, installed games.
It's sometimes much hassle to get a game installed and running at first time due to such DRM-measures.:mad:
So, it has to be made possible to run a single player game after it's installation and verification at anytime.:rolleyes:
That's just a code of conduct and fairplay between company and customers. :cool:

[GDL]

Yes , it's complicated. But players don't want complications they just want to play their paid, downloaded, installed games.

Indeed, but then players need to understand that complications happen that sometimes cannot be forseen or avoided.

It's all good and well saying we want the client to be able to do 'X' but sometimes 'X' isn't possible.

[Darklord]

Indeed, but then players need to understand that complications happen that sometimes cannot be forseen or avoided.

It's all good and well saying we want the client to be able to do 'X' but sometimes 'X' isn't possible.

I agree if you refer to MP-games. For SP-games the client has to be modified to "just work". :rolleyes:

[GDL]

I agree if you refer to MP-games. For SP-games the client has to be modified to "just work". :rolleyes:

I was talking about the client, not what type of games you are trying to run from it. Since that has overall control of your licenses.

Asking for something to 'just work' shows a lack of understanding of what it does already or an unwillingness to learn so you can play dumb, both of which are not a grouds for a resonalable request.

[Darklord]

I was talking about the client, not what type of games you are trying to run from it. Since that has overall control of your licenses.
Asking for something to 'just work' shows a lack of understanding of what it does already or an unwillingness to learn so you can play dumb, both of which are not a grouds for a resonalable request.

You don't get my point. I understand that the client is necessary but I (amongst others) think that the offline-mode needs a complete overhaul. You cannot tell it's not possible. It is possible if enough customers demand it. It can't be right that your're banned from ALL your SP-games just because the client isn't capable to run offline at anytime. See origin. That client works completely offline. You can change from online to offline mode at anytime. It's ignorant to say that it's impossible to make the client work this way. :rolleyes:

[GDL]

You don't get my point. I understand that the client is necessary but I (amongst others) think that the offline-mode needs a complete overhaul.

It needs to work for everyone yes, in a way defined by Valve, not the customers.


You cannot tell it's not possible. It is possible if enough customers demand it.

I've never said it wasn't possible :confused:, but customers should never dictate what a company does, somehow I think Valve agrees with this, since no news comes from them dispite lots more requests for game title information then a better offline mode.


It can't be right that your're banned from ALL your SP-games just because the client isn't capable to run offline at anytime. This issue isn't common, and even if offline mode 'worked' it would still not have helped for this issue since the client was connecting with the Steam CDN. However what you 'think' is right doesn't matter.



See origin. That client works completely offline. You can change from online to offline mode at anytime. It's ignorant to say that it's impossible to make the client work this way. :rolleyes:

Steam also works offline, when offline mode works as intended. I've never said it's impossible to make the client work in that way.

[Warvis]

Asking for something to 'just work' shows a lack of understanding of what it does already or an unwillingness to learn so you can play dumb, both of which are not a grouds for a resonalable request.

Please stop pretending to "understand" while "everyone else is dumb".

Steam is probably the least intrusive DRM compared to Origin or UBI's (where at least UBI also left legitimate buyers unable to play their games while moving their auth servers).

But still, it's just that: DRM. A wrapper around the application/game, with the purpose to do what it just accidentally did: Deny you access to the products.

As it became apparent again, this is not a benefit for me as a legitimate user. I am on the customer's end of the table, I'm not supposed to "understand" the business behaviour of the company.


It is a disadvantage compared to non-drm tied software and I'm not happy to be told to just swallow that.

I may not always have the choice anymore, but events like this remind me of how it actually is.

[GDL]

I'm not supposed to "understand" the business behaviour of the company.

I never said you should. I doubt anyone outside of Valve understands their business behaviour.


It is a disadvantage compared to non-drm tied software and I'm not happy to be told to just swallow that.

Then don't use it, most people don't use something if they disagree with the terms of use.

Steam offline mode does need fixing, it's been broken for years, but even if they fixed it so it works everytime for everyone under the current way, it would not have helped with the logon issue. That is all I'm saying.

[crazyd89]

Everything related to Steam ( even the forums ) were down for like 20 minutes or so. Just another day in "paradise".

[SourceSkyBoxer]

Omg Why does website steampowered.com before down? Eh? I am worried for you :)

Now it is ok...

[pokedex2536]

I didn't get any issues.

[SourceSkyBoxer]

I didn't get any issues.oh ... Please wait. I have been told becasue i have been tried becasue forum.steampowered.com couldn't load. from Google Chrome. But it happens before and it is after okay. I am waitting for forum.steampowered.com for site gets up and i can visit with site. But same website hangs off for downtime :/

Edit: Look my picture. It happen with store.steampowered.com :(
http://my.funpic.de/show-photo/625366-PIC.jpg

[BigNutter]

I wonder how active this thread will be in a hour!?

They just announce some Planned work which starts in a hour according to my clock: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?p=30458682#post30458682

[Mooostache]

I wonder how active this thread will be in a hour!?

They just announce some Planned work which starts in a hour according to my clock: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?p=30458682#post30458682

I was just about to complain about the downtime until I saw your post. *sigh*

I wish Valve would at least put up a notification via the client before maintenance so I don't freak out.

[vempajor]

Yea, we could at least close our games before the downtimes. :S

I don't think implementing that feature would be that hard.

[Tankinturtle]

Did anyone else lose connection to steam completely?

edit: Came back on, false alarm.

[vempajor]

Did anyone else lose connection to steam completely?

No, no one, what are you talking about? ...

[lavacano201014]

Yea, we could at least close our games before the downtimes. :S

I don't think implementing that feature would be that hard.

I've seen the friends list window say things like "The Steam servers are currently down for maintenance." (instead of the usual "no connection" error) The thing is they don't seem to actually use that very often.

[Sierra Oscar]

FYI all:

We'll be updating some of the Steam servers today around 16:00 PDT. Chat, game lobbies, and the community web site will be affected for the duration of the maintenance. Some content downloads may be briefly interrupted. Game play should generally not be interrupted but may be briefly impacted for some multi-player titles. Downtime should be pretty short.

[Onyx3173]

I've seen the friends list window say things like "The Steam servers are currently down for maintenance." (instead of the usual "no connection" error) The thing is they don't seem to actually use that very often.
Oddly I seem to most often get that when it's actually my internet going out and not Steam.

[PsyErotica]

Hmmm steam just crapped out on me anyone else?

[crazyd89]

Hmmm steam just crapped out on me anyone else?

Community down 4 me. Gr8 :/

[Onyx3173]

Hmmm steam just crapped out on me anyone else?
It did for me just a minute ago but it was only down for a matter of seconds.

[goodayve]

yea its down. I see it was announced. But this is the middle of primetime

Some games cant be played when its down liek this.

I wonder how long a few minutes is for them, its allready been 15. Hope a few isnt very long

[ctb]

Trading still down?

[firewing]

yea its down. I see it was announced. But this is the middle of primetime

Some games cant be played when its down liek this.

I wonder how long a few minutes is for them, its allready been 15. Hope a few isnt very long

Where was it announced? I don't see anything for today (26th) in the downtime announcement thread.

Trading still down?

Yes, for me at least.

[ctb]

Trading works. :D

[nfefx]

Uh... steam isn't down?

Because mine won't start. Comes up with 'logging in' and then just disappears and nothing happens.

Watching processes shows the 'steamerrorreporter' pop up for like 5 sec and then disappear as well.

[RobynS]

They are usually good at fixing things over there :)

[Gomez34]

I cant login. It seems to just freeze when loggin in

[Cowratman]

My steam login is doing the same thing.
If I put the wrong password it says its wrong (which is good)...
when I put the right one it starts loading then just says its not responding.

[Asat0r]

Community down? A friend confirmed same thing on his end and also Steam Cloud isn't syncing :rolleyes:

[adz]

yep community is down, getting weird errors.

[Mr SmokesAlot]

Works fine here.

[Adik]

For me it works 50 % of the time right now. If I click the refresh button or home button I get this:

"Sorry

The Steam Community is currently unavailable. Please try again later.



Error 503 Service Unavailable"

But if I click again it works, and most of the time I get the "blank inventory" problem. This happened since 1-2 hours ago. Had no problems be4. :-/

[Asat0r]

Well Community is working now but I still get the Cloud sync error everytime a launch a game.

[Togedude]

Same with me; Community is down and Steam Cloud won't sync. I haven't changed any settings, so everything should be good on my end.

EDIT: Seems like Community properly loads about half of the time, but I've still had no luck with Steam Cloud.

[jerald021]

Community is down and i cant trade!

[justchil]

What a surprise. It's down more than it's up anymore. Is it just me or is this becoming a bit ridiculous?

[MikeBlaszczak]

It's down more than it's up anymore. Is it just me or is this becoming a bit ridiculous?It's just you; nobody believes that Steam is down more than it is up.

[vempajor]

Yea Mike is right, Steam is a littlebit more up than being down. Not too much difference though.

[MikeBlaszczak]

A lot more than a little bit.

[justchil]

I'm trying to remember the last time I didn't have problems.... hmmmmmmm I must be getting old or maybe it's just been a while lol

[DrQ260]

No problems except that I cant even turn on the Steam.

[.doug]

I'm getting a blank inventory, anyone with the same problem?

http://steamcommunity.com/id/dougsv/inventory/

[fade784]

I'm getting a blank inventory, anyone with the same problem?

http://steamcommunity.com/id/dougsv/inventory/

My Inventory not loading either..

[novastrike]

My inventory is also not loading at this time.

[TheUnknown]

I'm getting a blank inventory, anyone with the same problem?

http://steamcommunity.com/id/dougsv/inventory/

We all have this problem. steam community is down right now.

[Nik1895]

Where do you get all these problems? Community (including inventory) works fine to me.
I'm getting a blank inventory, anyone with the same problem?

http://steamcommunity.com/id/dougsv/inventory/

Your inventory doesn't show up as blank to me.

[theTak]

Doh!

Glad I checked the forums instead of beating my head against the wall.

I just bought a DLC pack through the store. The game wouldn't load (maybe to do with the cloud servers?) then crashed and took Steam with it, and now I can't get back in. Sad panda :(

Can we just get a 'UP, DOWN, CONGESTION' server info panel or something on the steampowered.com home page? It'd be more than a bit helpful for times like this.

Cheers, happy gaming! :)

[TheUnknown]

I hope steam will fix the inventory soon

[.doug]

Where do you get all these problems? Community (including inventory) works fine to me.


Your inventory doesn't show up as blank to me.

It was fixed now

[TheUnknown]

It was fixed now

my Inventory is still blank, http://steamcommunity.com/id/Dregon/inventory/ i hope they will fix this bug soon

[novastrike]

It was fixed now

It is also still blank for me.

[laserfj]

Still blank for me too.

[Citizen Erased]

Just lost connection right now.

[firewing]

Just lost connection right now.

It's planned downtime right now

[TrippleD]

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?p=30555839#post30555839

It's a sticky

[Wiz10011]

It's planned downtime right now

Why don't they do a notification on steam when they are having downtime?

[nomercyforme]

Yep, planned. Maaan, i was scared a moment.

[vempajor]

Steam is a planned downtime.

[venomblade89]

Uhoh, how long is it going to be down for? I'm afraid to exit my game of Bastion because my save won't sync.

[TrippleD]

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?p=30555839#post30555839

We'll be updating some of the Steam servers today around 16:00 PDT. Chat, game lobbies, and the community web site will be affected for the duration of the maintenance. Some content downloads may be briefly interrupted. Game play should generally not be interrupted but may be briefly impacted for some multi-player titles. Downtime is expected to be brief.

[nomercyforme]

Back online.

[minevittu]

Sorry

The Steam Community is currently unavailable. Please try again later.






Error 503 Service Unavailable

XID: 750803337

[aarste]

COmmunity has been offline a lot lately, sigh.

[Turkish-Killer]

WTF? I'm getting the same login error, when we german users were not able to login weeks ago.
Anyone else getting this error?

Edit: It works now...

[Akumaru]

Yes I have the same error:
could not login to steam network

greetings from germany

[A. James]

I assume it's down for others, I just want to verify. Nothing is stated in the official downtime thread.

[Stardust260]

Down here as well.

[Abaris365]

Same here. UK

[IceCynder]

Yup, just went down for me and my friends.
Edit:: back now.

[BlackinBack]

Maintenance is what I got when I checked my friends list because I was ever so kindly dropped mid-voice chat.

[Qancel]

Second time today.

[Silyus]

here too

[ericL]

omfg its dead here

[Blordy]

Holy ♥♥♥♥, I will not be able to buy Nation Red .__.

[envirovore]

Central NY State
Down here as well, right in the middle of a convo.

[bdr9]

Yes, Steam seems to be down here too. I don't think it is planned.

[Jon-Claw]

"No Connection"

Yep. Down.

[iamandrus]

Down here as well. "No connection"

Also can't log into steamcommunity.com.

[tonka]

Steam down for me, too.


:(

[iTzMojo]

down it ontario as well. although i can login and see the store. chat is unavailable :(

[BigNutter]

Down for my Pc and my phone, both are in the UK.

I demand that Gayben updates Portal 2 within the next 48 hours, Valve time.

[ElijahChondo43]

Down here in Southern California, was helping my gf with her math homework :|

*edit

back online. 15 minute downtime eh?

[Iceydude168]

Seems to be down at this moment, Ohio here.

[Onyx3173]

Maintenance is what I got when I checked my friends list because I was ever so kindly dropped mid-voice chat.
Oddly the only time it ever says maintenance for me is when it's either not maintenance or my internet actually dropping out.

[real4xor]

Same here in the Netherlands.

:/ I was trying to buy something & it didn`t work.

Then restarted the system and Steam logged in with [no connection]. =p kinda ironic.

[Abaris365]

Back online in UK

[Caje]

^ really? you ask if anyone else is having this problem?? LOOK ABOVE YOUR POST!

[PsyErotica]

Damn just when I was downloading Need for speed hot persuit arg lolo. Oh well hope it don't take too long to come back online.

[JediMastr80]

It's Back Online for Me (USA, in Illinois.)

[eker676]

It's back for the Midwest

[aptanor]

Put my computer to sleep for 5 minutes, came back and it wouldn't reconnect. Seems to be back up here now.

[Caje]

It's back for the Midwest

I'm in Iowa.....still down

[Iceydude168]

Back for Ohio!

[iBobaFett]

Argh, down in Oregon still..

EDIT: Yay! :3 It's back up

[DassJennir]

Still down here in Brazil.

[JimmyMcNulty]

Down for my Pc and my phone.

I demand that Gayben updates Portal 2 within the next 48 hours, Valve time.

You're wish is Gaben's command, the new Perpetual Testing Initiative is scheduled for release today.

[A. James]

^ really? you ask if anyone else is having this problem?? LOOK ABOVE YOUR POST!

Well, if this was in reference to my post on page 739, look at the post above me. Take note of the date of the post.

Edit: Back up here too, midwest.

[PaiSand]

Up here in the south is still down.

[BigNutter]

You're wish is Gaben's command, the new Perpetual Testing Initiative is scheduled for release today.

I'm not the the guy who post stuff like that.. But I still up hoping for an early update.

EDIT: Reconnected!

[iCycoWolfIV]

Still down here.

[real4xor]

It was up júst long enough for me to buy Botanicula... But the connection`s gone again.
At least the game can download... that`s sómething.

^^ meh, I guess I`ll just worry about it tomorrows and do something else for a while.

[philipla]

We had a brief power issue in our data center. Everything should be back to normal now.

[PaiSand]

No, is still down.

Needed to restart Steam in order to connect.
Possible a bug?

[TrippleD]

No problems here.

[BigNutter]

Steam going down in 2 hours time. 4Pm PST: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?p=30679044#post30679044

[Onyx3173]

Wow, good timing. I check my email for something unrelated and notice a Steam downtime notification sitting there a minute before the announced time...

[thefang2]

thanks for info

[Blordy]

Steam still down.

[borsdy]

My spring/summer sale going to happen finaly?

[CaptainTrips00]

My spring/summer sale going to happen finaly?

I miss the summer seal. He was the best.

[sarcinelli]

omg the community went down here for some minutes... again! :o



edit: and it's down again!
edit2: now it's back.
edit3: Is it just me or the download rate is awful now?

[Meowthemouse]

Steam is down ?

[fabiostahl]

Half of my friends gone offline and now I gone too

[Darth Postal]

My Recommendations and Screenshots are gone. The rest appears to be working fine.

EDIT1: Screenshots are back, recommendations still gone.

[Stardust260]

Down now for me.

[smash]

/EDIT:

Downtime announcement (http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showpost.php?p=30696688&postcount=416)

[geraltofrivia]

Its still down

[Iceydude168]

Midwest, down

[HoboAssassin]

down here on the east coast too. maybe the whole service is down? hope not, if so, there be a ♥♥♥♥storm a brewin.

[TimmyCZ]

Downtime announcement (http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showpost.php?p=30696688&postcount=416)

[Demon Wraith]

And here I was preparing a scathing, but still constructive, criticism of a test chamber.

Okay, maybe not scathing. But I was totally going to thumbs down it with an explanation!

[IceCynder]

Also down here in UK.

[Perfect Cell]

Went down here in Canada.

[robotman5]

Went down here in Canada.

Same here....!

[FYI_I_AM_A_PIE]

Down here in the UK D:

[smash]

Downtime announcement (http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showpost.php?p=30696688&postcount=416)

Haha, ok thank you! I always forget about that thread. It sure comes in handy.

[Mystic_Monkey]

Yup UK is down :(

[TimmyCZ]

Haha, ok thank you!

So... much... karma... Well, no problem! :D

[ericL]

steam is dead again.

[Mystic_Monkey]

Back up in the UK nice one!

[andydork5]

DOWN IN US T-T

[Cwagmire]

So I'm kinda confused. I'm still able to download a game I bought, but my friends list is "offline." I figured they'd both be up or both be down, not one or the other.

Literally right after I posted, it came back up. Same for everyone else?

[graphiczero]

Back up for California

[IceCynder]

Aaaand it's back for me

[SHFFLE]

It's starting to come back online now. Texas here.

[vempajor]

So I'm kinda confused. I'm still able to download a game I bought, but my friends list is "offline." I figured they'd both be up or both be down, not one or the other.

Those are totally different things (servers)...

[Mystic_Monkey]

So I'm kinda confused. I'm still able to download a game I bought, but my friends list is "offline." I figured they'd both be up or both be down, not one or the other.


use the games library, friends tab at the top select "online" worked for me

[FelipeRRM]

That's why Dota 2 is extremely slow?

[Vingador]

Geez, it is down just I few moments after I upgrade a TF2 account of a friend. Finally I brought him to Steam and TF2, and seconds after I bought something for him at the Mann Co. Store, the system gone down. I got scared (I didn't know if the transaction was done, or if Steam understood the transaction as a scam and blocked our accounts).

[vempajor]

That's why Dota 2 is extremely slow?

It's always a good idea to restart your Steam after it was down.

[Expelled]

It's always a good idea to restart your Steam after it was down.

yupyup:)

[fabiostahl]

I think I figured out why there isn't a Dota 2 subsection on SPUF.

[brother red]

sorry folks, my steam is down and I ve seen so many of this exact thread, felt obligated.

[TrippleD]

Working for me.

[Valrynator]

Steam works fine but community is going up and down for me.

[jedijon2004]

Steam works fine but community is going up and down for me.

This too is happening for me.

[Cattleclysm]

This too is happening for me.

+1

Community is down.

[Breadman86]

It's either down, or slow, or down again, or barely working and giving errors. Either way, it's being bizarre and useless at the moment.

[Catsy]

Yup. I get a 503 Service Unavailable error when I attempt to interact with the Steam community, such as browsing the Workshop or publishing content. Something on the back end is busted; gonna go map some more while I wait for it to clear up.

[Cattleclysm]

Community is properly working now, at least for me.

[Catsy]

Back up. Kudos to Steam ops.

[Celestial_nl]

Still not working here. This '1 new comment' icon has been taunting me all night!

[TrippleD]

Community is properly working now, at least for me.

Working for me as well.

[l4d2hunter]

Down again?

[FYI_I_AM_A_PIE]

Down again?

Seems to be fine for me.

[wexer9]

Down again.

Edit: And up again.

[DekuJuice]

Down again.

Yep. Bah.

Edit: Eh? still down for me. :(

[Iceydude168]

Still down for me :(

[Buckethead_Inc]

Down for me as well. Not sure how long as I was in a game and only tabbed out for a sec to look something up and noticed.

[xCookieMonstAx]

went down 5 min ago for me

[SweetNothing]

Down for me for the last few minutes.

[random.dude]

anything to do against it or just wait?

[TheInfamous]

+1 community is down right now

[FOO|YA]

Still down for me :(
Me too... would have been nice to be notified.... whats the point of subscribing to this thread if they don't let us know.

[Justin7]

It's really bouncing up and down for me. Like every 30 seconds

[Acuzio]

*ragegarblegrowlanger* Steam friends list died right before I join some friends for L4D2. ::mad:

[FOO|YA]

And up again...

[T@F]

nope still down for me.
I think it's about time valves sorted this out,it getting worst nowadays.

[Odyssey1319]

This rebounding is getting a little ridiculous. It's up, it's down, it's up, it's down...

[JasonDelaney]

:( my chat bros.

[espadaxin2]

any idea when it is coming back?
i was planning to play with some friends.

[PsYcHo126]

Yep, down

[ZBOTjordy]

Why does it keeps turning up and down everytime?

[Xellossu]

Cant wait for it to come back up; about to buy torchlight 2

[stinkytaco]

You guys should buy some Desura games. They are great when you are locked out of Steam. They even work Offline, so you do not even need the Desura front end!

I usually take this time to complain, but I am going to use this as an excuse to go and play some indie games :)

[Aquarian Poet]

Still down. Sad face.

[Xellossu]

Does Valve have a Steam Group to announce downtimes?

[zeus091]

At 2PM Pacific Time, we will be shutting off one of our provider links. This will cause traffic to re-route via our other provider links. When this happens, you may experience hitching or timeouts for a minute or so while the traffic shifts to the other links.

its almost 5pm pacific time... wtf steam?

[stonewales]

the steam client wont even start now :(

[beast-usa]

On long enough to get the adds BUY THIS then off again :(

[Random]

You can't even get into OFFline mode, no change there then Valve!!!! :mad:

[Hobbax]

So long downtime before than expected..

What time is it?
Time for a new announcement of
VALVE TIME!

[nic00las_]

I can't login in Steam. I click in "Login" button and nothing happens.

[Fuse_tm2]

Don't companies get mad when people can't play their games for half a day?

[Frugal]

Down in D.C.

[stinkytaco]

Does Valve have a Steam Group to announce downtimes?

YEah, they hide it away in some obscure little thread. (look at teh stickies i think)

They can tell me about 500 million new DLC's for some stupid train simulator, that i will NEVER EVER buy, every time steam starts up.

But to notify me about my $5000+ worth of games being offline is just WAY too much effort for them.

Just a simple popup window "Hey, valued customer. We are going to fix some stuff tonight, so please dont make any plans to play your games with your buddies."

i mean, that would be TOTALLY cool. I would make different plans.

The way it is now though, we all get to sit in quite IRC channel and wish we all could do something together.

Pfft. Really , really inconsiderate of them.

man up, admit your downfalls, and please have some courtesy.

Hiding the information in a forum thread is completely unacceptable.

[predcon]

No, they already have their money.

I'm getting Connection Error messages too, from Central US.

[tecktonik]

what happened?

[kabtq9s]

Its not down for me (TX) but very slow in loading the pages

[Fangy]

what happened?

Gabe walked into the server room and all the machines unplugged themselves in fear.

[SAJewers]

Does Valve have a Steam Group to announce downtimes?
They usually tweet out planned outages on the Steam_Support Twitter account

[The1stCAV]

Steam has been going down a lot lately.

I wish my wife and Steam would get in sync..............at least inform me before it happens

I cannot sign in on Steam via web browser or via their app, it simply times out. I tried repairing Steam and it errors out as well on the MSI file. So glad I just put out the $1499 for the games I cannot play much less the $59.99 back when I pre-ordered MW3 that I cannot play now, lets not even talk about the PC I built to play it on (Not that I built Frank to just play MW3, but still).

WTF Steam? Are you taking marketing and CS directions from Asus or something?

[Fuse_tm2]

My favorite part of this is getting to launch Steam, wait for it to freeze, and end the process. What a sloppy program. No way to cancel, no way to exit. Just sits there and locks up. Steam's been out since, what, 2005? They still can't keep it from getting lost in its own @ss?

[jroddz]

Steam is down and I'm getting a pain in my chest. I sincerely hope I don't get a heart attack now.

[xJoe88x]

item server is down

[Beginner]

Still down for me.

[icedragon770]

Don't companies get mad when people can't play their games for half a day?
who ynows porlly ey paiyt money paying

[scubs]

Don't companies get mad when people can't play their games for half a day?

no, they give infraction to customers who 'complain' when you mention how crummy and unreliable their servers are.

[bunder]

I really love doing a quick load of laundry, then coming back to find out that Steam has gone down... Only to come here and find out there's some 10 minute downtime that seems to taken longer than 10 minutes.

Why can't Valve notify us a day or two in advance, via Steam itself? :eek:

[Koldkutz]

Clearly a company that cares about its customers...
Steam is a great program, but notification of downtime (or really just downtime in general) is the one thing about Steam that really just ruins it...

[Random]

I'm in the UK and I'm not even getting the option to go into OFFline mode. Steam just sits there with the "Connecting Steam Account ******".

What's the point in Steam alledgedly having an OFFline mode if it doesn't work when the Steam Network is down - OR does Steam now require a Persistent Connection?

[Skolia]

10 minutes seems to now be.. 3 hours. :O

[The1stCAV]

I'm in the UK and I'm not even getting the option to go into OFFline mode. Steam just sits there with the "Connecting Steam Account ******".

What's the point in Steam alledgedly having an OFFline mode if it doesn't work when the Steam Network is down - OR does Steam now require a Persistent Connection?

Same here

Agreed - offline mode is worthless "If you play the game you may lose any progress you have made" - WTF? Who's brainchild was that? Offline mode should update and sync with online when it can then reconnect - oh I forgot, no one is connecting anyway so this is a mute point.

[DekuJuice]

Gabe walked into the server room and he ate the servers again

fixed

[c4ndle]

Same here

Agreed - offline mode is worthless "If you play the game you may lose any progress you have made" - WTF? Who's brainchild was that? Offline mode should update and sync with online when it can then reconnect - oh I forgot, no one is connecting anyway so this is a mute point.

That's what it does..

[Hobbax]

Gabe hit with a crowbar the server room now its burning.

[icedragon770]

no, they give infraction to customers who 'complain' when you mention how crummy and unreliable their servers are.

yes even when u compain cough ea censor ur ♥♥♥♥ sooner or later every dumbass company will cnesor our freedom of speech or warn us not to ♥♥♥♥ our company on our site

[Fangy]

fixed

dont go putting words in my mouth

[Hobbax]

dont go putting words in my eyes

Fixed

[icedragon770]

Fixed. im ♥♥♥♥♥

Fixed for being ♥♥♥

[TJX]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHR RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGH!!!!!!!!!!!!

[The1stCAV]

That's what it does..

lmao- what not connect? haha, no I know that is what offline should do, I was just B**ching b/c I cannot connect. I have a limited window and time I get ME time, when the wife is busy and I can go play and this is seriously eating away at MY TIME - so I am cranky

[Team3VIL]

...Well this is fun =|

[Freyar]

Freedom of Speech doesn't have anything to do with a private forum. (Despite this being SPUF it's still a private space, in such a way that the US government isn't in control here.)

[Trixie Lulamoon]

When the ♥♥♥♥ is it going to be back up? This is ridiculous.

[ZBOTjordy]

I want Steam to turn up :<

[Wulframn]

yes even when u compain cough ea censor ur ♥♥♥♥ sooner or later every dumbass company will cnesor our freedom of speech or warn us not to ♥♥♥♥ our company on our site

EA Games has their own issues.

Please do not compare them with Valve/Steam.

[Epsilon]

Looks like the problem isn't that it can't connect; it's connecting, but for some reason the connection then stalls out.

If your Internet connection is disconnected, offline mode ought to work.

[c4ndle]

lmao- what not connect? haha, no I know that is what offline should do, I was just B**ching b/c I cannot connect. I have a limited window and time I get ME time, when the wife is busy and I can go play and this is seriously eating away at MY TIME - so I am cranky

It syncs the cloud data with local data when there's a difference. So your offline stuff is saved.

[Fangy]

next thing you know someone's going to post a link how we think we're being treated.

http://www.reactionface.info/sites/default/files/images/1310516148484.jpg

[icedragon770]

Looks like the problem isn't that it can't connect; it's connecting, but for some reason the connection then stalls out.

If your Internet connection is disconnected, offline mode ought to work.

yea but it pointless because u want to play and know what ur steam friends are doing so u have to guess and check no thanks

[MaggotCorpse]

UP for me.

[Wulframn]

Freedom of Speech doesn't have anything to do with a private forum. (Despite this being SPUF it's still a private space, in such a way that the US government isn't in control here.)

Only partially correct! :p

Jurisdiction depends upon which shores the servers reside as well as a convoluted diarrhea of access laws that even their own lawmakers don't seem to understand clearly. (I cite, as evidence, every case against every BitTorrent/Other sharing site ever)

Basically, though, it can be summed up like this: If you're in America and you're accessing these boards which are hosted on American shores, then your freedom of expression is subject to the American Bill of Right's understanding of freedom from censorship.

In a nutshell - you can say or do anything that constitutes "freedom of expression" on any public land. On private property your words and actions are subject to the owner's restrictions. However, they are not permitted to bar you from leaving.

[Tyraa Rane]

On the plus side, with Steam being down, I'm actually getting work done.

On the downside...Steam's been down for what, half an hour if not more now? Ouch. Right in peak gaming time for many folks in the US, too. :(

Edit: Update (http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showpost.php?p=30783428&postcount=420) from the pinned downtime announcements thread:

We've found a configuration problem that affects a large batch of servers. The downtime recovery has been delayed by this issue. While some users can't log in, some can. We're working to resolve the issue and should have things back to normal soon.

[ridz1a]

I'm in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (GMT+8) and posting this at 9.09AM - still unable to connect.

Could someone tie up Gabe so he won't walk into the server room :) Just kidding! Am not kidding about the painful withdrawal symptoms - I need to get my L4D/L4D2 morning fix :mad:

[robotman5]

Can anyone here actually get in? it just stays at connecting to steam account thats it...

[Tumdace]

Why is steam down for me, but not for my 3 friends (2 live 10 minutes away, one lives 40 minutes away)?

I never understood that...

[Wulframn]

On the plus side, with Steam being down, I'm actually getting work done.

On the downside...Steam's been down for what, half an hour if not more now? Ouch. Right in peak gaming time for many folks in the US, too. :(

I agree that this is a poor time for Valve to have chosen to take the servers down. Between the German timezones and Eastern Standard Times, there is literally no worse time.

Why didn't they do it at 3 or 4 am EST? It's not like the Japanese matter. :eek:

[Fangy]

Can anyone here actually get in? it just stays at connecting to steam account thats it...

I got back in the steam client, but it still says Friends server is offline.

[max2]

You could always sue Valve for server downtime. Doubt anyone will ever do it though.

[Hobbax]

What? its been 1 hour and 20 minutes offline in my country this is not funny..

[Wulframn]

You could always sue Valve for server downtime. Doubt anyone will ever do it though.

Upon what basis would one do this?

[Varnor]

I'm in the UK and I'm not even getting the option to go into OFFline mode. Steam just sits there with the "Connecting Steam Account ******".

What's the point in Steam alledgedly having an OFFline mode if it doesn't work when the Steam Network is down - OR does Steam now require a Persistent Connection?

Same here in the UK too :( Having left it running and trying to connect it has eventually "loaded" so I hope it's fixed now

[SNOWSTORM]

Why is steam down for me, but not for my 3 friends (2 live 10 minutes away, one lives 40 minutes away)?

I never understood that...

same exact thing for me. Its crazy I thought it must be my ISP

[max2]

What? its been 1 hour and 20 minutes offline in my country this is not funny..

Really has it been that long for you?

[robotman5]

On the plus side, with Steam being down, I'm actually getting work done.

On the downside...Steam's been down for what, half an hour if not more now? Ouch. Right in peak gaming time for many folks in the US, too. :(

Edit: Update (http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showpost.php?p=30783428&postcount=420) from the pinned downtime announcements thread:

that explains why i can't login!!!:eek:

[Hobbax]

Really has it been that long for you?

In chile its 8:08 am when steam was down and right now its 9:19 still offline :(

[Epsilon]

I agree that this is a poor time for Valve to have chosen to take the servers down. Between the German timezones and Eastern Standard Times, there is literally no worse time. Peak time has been over for a few hours. We're heading towards the trough now. http://store.steampowered.com/stats/