Going from Demo to Steam?

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Going from Demo to Steam?
« on: March 19, 2010, 04:25:31 »
So I saw this game on Steam. Thought it might be interesting. Noted there was no demo available (on Steam) and guessed there might be a demo available on the intarwebs.

There was, I downloaded it (it says it's "non-portable"), gave it a whirl, definitely interested in buying the game now. (I'd highly recommend getting a demo on Steam if you can at all. Most people won't go looking.)

However, I just finished a rather taxing, and mildly annoying 'physical challenge' in the game (reminds me of Metroid, honestly) that I would very very very much prefer not to repeat. (The challenge was nice once. Twice would be too much, seeing as how it took me nine tries to get it.)

I found this thread on saved games which showed me where the saved games for the game are being stored. If I purchase the Steam version, will those save games be compatible? And if so, will I need to do anything special to get them into the Steam version?

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Offline LPChip

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Re: Going from Demo to Steam?
« Reply #1 on: March 19, 2010, 10:52:58 »
You can transfer your savegame directly to the steam version. I don't exactly know how, as I'm not sure if I can get the steam version installed without actually doing another purchase.

The licensekey is also transferable between the steam and non-steam version (or atleast from the steam to the non-steam version)
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Offline Nifflas

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Re: Going from Demo to Steam?
« Reply #2 on: March 19, 2010, 11:01:44 »
The Steam version of the game stores files in the same paths as the Installer version on ni2.se so when you get the game on Steam your savegames will actually continue to show up in the game.

It's only the portable version (the zip file) at the website that stores files differently.

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Offline Dj Gopher

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Re: Going from Demo to Steam?
« Reply #3 on: May 30, 2010, 07:45:45 »
I remember having to pay 17 $ for saira.. but now it's only 9.99
This is awesome for purchasers, but I wanted to make sure you were aware of this.
:)

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Offline Nifflas

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Re: Going from Demo to Steam?
« Reply #4 on: May 30, 2010, 08:35:32 »
Well, prices tend to drop over time. One year after the release of World of Goo, it was available as a "pay whatever you want" package. In Sairas case, I wanted to experiment a bit with pricing. I didn't know exactly what price level that would work best, so I tried a higher level when I released the game (but I had the two licenses option for only an additional $2), and then when I released the game on Steam I wanted to try out how a different price would affect the sales. I know the downside is that some people may have to pay more for the game than others, but that's pretty much how it works with any products (I usually wait half a year after the release of an xbox 360 game to get it for a good price), and the stuff I learn out of adjusting the prices and checking the sales is really important.

Oh, and about the demo thing. I'm not sure why there didn't end up beign a demo of Saira on Steam. It's sure supported in the game, but perhaps it was me who was bad with communicating that to Steam, or perhaps I simply set up the steam package to them wrong.

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Offline Dj Gopher

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Re: Going from Demo to Steam?
« Reply #5 on: May 30, 2010, 11:01:45 »
Well now that I re-bought saira (new computer) the demo runs about 2x faster than the stream version.. I tried setting the priority higher.. didn't work.
I also lost my save file and after trying to move some files around.. I couln't get it back :/

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Offline Nifflas

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Re: Going from Demo to Steam?
« Reply #6 on: May 30, 2010, 14:30:17 »
You didn't need to do that. The serial you get in the Steam version will also work in a non-Steam version of the game. The Steam build is actually fully identical to installer package on the website, the only thing that can affect performance in the Steam version is the Steam overlay that displays messages in the corner of the game window (which is probably active all the time even when there's no message being shown).

Savegames can be transfered. The non-portable builds (Installer/Steam) stores its settings in the user accounts' application data folder. This can vary depending on the operating system, on XP it's C:\documents and settings\nifflas\application data\nifflas\saira\ . The portable (zip) build stores its settings in the game's own folder under settings (if the directory doesn't exist, you can start the game and close it to create it).

You can transfer savegames by copying the Savegames folder between those paths.