How CoH Works - Retail and Steam builds working together!

[Yoshiro]

I decided to put this up here as I've noticed this question keeps coming back to these forums.

Company of Heroes is available both at retail and through Steam. At the moment there is both the original Company of Heroes and the stand alone expansion CoH: Opposing Fronts.

When you own CoH, you gain access to the first campaign as well as the original two factions for multiplayer. If you own the second, OF, you gain access to its two campaigns as well as its two factions for multiplayer. If you own both together, no matter which game you launch once you log into your Relic Online account you gain access to all 3 campaigns and all 4 factions in multiplayer.

Now as a Steam user, what does this mean for you? This means you can own either CoH retail and OF from Steam, or the other way around, and still play both. In fact, you can even delete your retail build. Both builds of the game contain the full content of the other even if you don't "own" it. It is just locked out with out the key.

For example I owned CoH retail and purchased OF on steam. Apon launching OF from the first time and registering my OF key with my Relic Online account it then unlocked all the CoH campaigns and factions in OF. I then deleted my original retail build. CoH shows up in steam as preloaded but not purchased (since I did not get it through Steam), however I just need to launch Opposing Fronts and everything is there.

[stainlessgamer]

So, if i get CoH:ToV retail, and own CoH retail and steam edition CoH:OF, how do I unlock all the content on ToV, since I never recieved any sort of key from steam for OF?

[Yoshiro]

You just need to register all keys with your Relic Online account. When you buy it off steam and go to create an account it auto fills in the key.

[Mr.Bigtime]

Ok another question. I want to buy TOV, but as i see after new patch my COH and OF, i see TOV campaigns r LOCKED in the main menu. so i want to buy TOV, but is there a way to not DOWNLOAD THE GAME but just entering serial number or registering my current COH name and it will UNLOCK upon game..is it possible?

U got my point? i presume that TOV is already integrated with latest patch to my COH,OF game..i see as LOCKED in the main menu. so i ask that is there a way to UNLOCK these with purchasing game but not DOWNLOADING it?

good question Bigtime. I would like to know the answer to that. I own only the retail CoH. I don't own OF and but I want to purchase ToV from steam. Does this mean I will download the entire game twice??? To be honest I would rather have the retail verson and just enter a steam serial number into it and have it unlocked.

[Aerowinder]

Mr.Big - you will not need to redownload the game. You may need to download *some* extra files, though. Campaign unlock status is determined purely by your Relic Online account - as in, if you tied your CD key with your Relic Account, you will have access to those campaigns.

Six - to avoid redownloading, you will need to copy your retail install to the Steam install folder.

Wait what? When did Steam give me a CD key? Was it the thingy in the receipt? I've kept that, but it was kinda unclear what it was.

And would this work:

I have the original game installed, and OF, both retail. I'm now downloading ToV from Steam (as THQ figured it was a good idea to release the game on a date when there's holidays in Norway and no shops are open for several days! Wiii!! WIN!). When ToV is finished downloading, can I just launch it from steam and try to log into my already existing user and the game will automatically added? Or do I need to do something else?

[Aerowinder]

You have CoH and OF retail. You want ToV via Steam.

1. "Install" ToV via Steam - when the download starts, close Steam.
2. Copy your Company of Heroes/OF retail install to the new Steam ToV folder, or cut/paste.
3. Restart Steam.

If you patched your retail install to 2.501, you shouldn't have to download much if anything - there *may* be some sound files for you to download, like there was with OF. But it shouldn't be much. I would guess maybe 1GB maximum. I don't know that for sure. I do know however, that back in the day, if you had CoH retail, and had it patched, and you had OF on Steam, your retail copy of CoH would not play voices from the new armies.

In order to get the CD key from Steam, you must run the game from Steam. A stupid oversight on the developer's part, in my opinion. But it just won't fork it over until the game is done downloading. It is not accessible via right clicking the game, nor through the registry. Sometimes it makes you launch it.

Originally Posted by Aerowinder

You have CoH and OF retail. You want ToV via Steam.

1. "Install" ToV via Steam - when the download starts, close Steam.
2. Copy your Company of Heroes/OF retail install to the new Steam ToV folder, or cut/paste.
3. Restart Steam.

If you patched your retail install to 2.501, you shouldn't have to download much if anything - there *may* be some sound files for you to download, like there was with OF. But it shouldn't be much. I would guess maybe 1GB maximum. I don't know that for sure. I do know however, that back in the day, if you had CoH retail, and had it patched, and you had OF on Steam, your retail copy of CoH would not play voices from the new armies.

In order to get the CD key from Steam, you must run the game from Steam. A stupid oversight on the developer's part, in my opinion. But it just won't fork it over until the game is done downloading. It is not accessible via right clicking the game, nor through the registry. Sometimes it makes you launch it.

I did this.

I unfortunately had much more to download, but it's fine.

Unfortunately, I have two problems.

I see "Company of Heroes" and Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor" icons in Steam.

- For Company of Heroes, I can't start the game. I click on the icon, and it brings me on the purchase page. It is as if Steam doesn't recognize my retail version.

- For ToV, I click on the icon, and I see the news about the game etc. I press on "Play", the computer loads for a short time, and then nothing happens. The game doesn't load.

I've had all of these games before, and it worked fine at that time. But now that I've reinstalled everything, it's a mess. Can anyone help?

[Terdog]

For me, bought COH and OP on steam, COH didnt automatically insert my key, but i did that manually. picked up Tales of Valor, launched COH, clicked on my account, clicked on add game (or something similar) added Tales of Valor key, viola! everythings unlocked, no need to download anything. So i think as long as your key's legit, and ahve at least one version bought on steam, you can use the steam files for all 3 of em.

I found my key in the registry actually. I'm gonna try to use it once my patch is finished. Well... Currently the ToV download on steam is winning the download race, but I'll figure it out I guess.

Screw that Aero, Steam sux. I would rather go out and buy retail ToV if I have to use steam to play this game.

Originally Posted by SixXxShooTeR

Screw that Aero, Steam sux. I would rather go out and buy retail ToV if I have to use steam to play this game.

Then why are you on the Steam forums, dumbarse?

Well I would have bought it retail had the shops been open -.-

[Aerowinder]

You don't have to use Steam, Six. The way you want to do it will likely work. But remember, if you are missing any sounds, that's likely why. I have not tried this method with ToV, only OF. I'm told that going from Steam OH to Steam ToV, 100MB needed to be downloaded.