Squad Store or Steam?

[Elway358]

So, I've been dabbling with some older versions of KSP with the thoughts of holding out till a PS4 release since I've never really been much of a pc gamer. However, the more I play and the more videos I watch of the current release and it's features, the more I realize I can't wait any longer. So my question and call for opinions is this...

Being that I use my console for gaming, I've never purchased any games through steam. I have of course done the obligatory download of it a while back and tried some demos, etc. I'm personally leaning towards the squad store for purchase but was just wondering if there are pros and cons on both sides. I realize the steam purchase would sort of "protect" me from losing an install file, etc but what if (although probably extremely unlikely) steam was down or even ceased to exist? Would I be sol?

Which way should I go with this purchase? Thank you all for any suggestions and for all the help thus far  

[Tex_NL]

As far as it comes to the game there are NO DIFFERENCES between the KSP store and Steam. Steam keeps track of what games you bought and lets you download when required. But so does the KSP store. Simply log in and download again. If I was in your situation I'd go for the KSP store for a very simple reason. I won't even touch Steam with a 10 foot pole.
But that's a purely personal reason. There are no other reasons to choose one over the other.

Edit: Now that I think of it there is one significant reason. Playing through Steam can auto-update your game when a new version is released. However this can be seen as both a curse as a blessing. It will always keep your game up to date but since KSP is still a game in development new updates may not be compatible. (Don't let the 1.x designation fool you, KSP is still very much beta.)
And once a save-game is broken it is nearly impossible to restore.

Edited January 26, 2016 by Tex_NL

[Evanitis]

AFAIK, both options result in a 'portable' install, so if you keep a backup copy of the downloaded file, you'll be able to play even if the internet itself goes down forever.

Edited January 26, 2016 by Evanitis

[liquidhype]

I'd suggest downloading it through Steam. In my experience, everytime Squad comes out with a new update, Steam has it ready to download basically the same instant it is released. I've got friends who bought KSP through the store, and they have had some issues when new updates become available, sometimes having to wait for quite a while before having the new update available to them.

To prevent Steam from auto-updating and potentially ruining your current save file, just make a copy of the KSP folder and move it somewhere else. That way your current game will never be affected by anything happening through Steam. I personally have about 4 installs of KSP, all copied from the Steam library. The main KSP folder remains in the Steam library, and the 3 others (which I actually use to play the game) are located on another harddrive (or somewhere else on the same harddrive if you only have one).

[Elway358]

10 minutes ago, liquidhype said:

I'd suggest downloading it through Steam. In my experience, everytime Squad comes out with a new update, Steam has it ready to download basically the same instant it is released. I've got friends who bought KSP through the store, and they have had some issues when new updates become available, sometimes having to wait for quite a while before having the new update available to them.

To prevent Steam from auto-updating and potentially ruining your current save file, just make a copy of the KSP folder and move it somewhere else. That way your current game will never be affected by anything happening through Steam. I personally have about 4 installs of KSP, all copied from the Steam library. The main KSP folder remains in the Steam library, and the 3 others (which I actually use to play the game) are located on another harddrive (or somewhere else on the same harddrive if you only have one).

Thanks for all the info and suggestions. I do have a question about part of this reply. As I said, I'm far from a pc gaming expert and as such am a tad ignorant when it comes to save file moving, etc on PC.

In the case of multiple installs like you give, I assume that once there is an update and you install it into the "main" ksp install that you are then able to update the install that your current game is saved to? Thanks again for the help!

Edited January 26, 2016 by Elway358
typo

[pandaman]

Personally I would go for the KSP store. I've only had an issue when a new release comes out and the site has been  struggling to cope with the demand for a few hours.

 

[Johnny Wishbone]

I bought my copy through the Squad store. I've had no issues with it whatsoever.

I'm not a Steam user (for various reasons), so I have no basis of comparison. However, I generally don't like going through middlemen if I can, which is exactly what Steam/Valve is. When given the option of buying directly from the manufacturer, I think that is always the best course of action.

 

[Armisael]

I've never had any issues with Steam (but then again I've never tried rolling back to older versions). Both versions are DRM free. I assume that squad gets a few extra bucks if you buy through the KSP store since they aren't paying Valve for hosting.

I like steam because it makes it easy for me to manage my whole collection of games. That said, steam can launch non-steam games, so that isn't a big issue.

TL;DR: If you want automatic updates get it through steam - it's likely that you'll end up with a steam account anyways if you get into PC gaming. If you'd rather throw squad a little extra money, or actively dislike automatic updates buy it through the KSP store. They're identical experiences when actually playing the game.

[Evanitis]

7 minutes ago, Johnny Wishbone said:

I think that is always the best course of action.

I generally agree with you, but not -always-. If someone has a lot of Steam friends (many people do), they'll constantly see how hooked you are to KSP, what's a free commercial to the game. I'd totally go for the Steam version if I was buying it today.

[RizzoTheRat]

1 hour ago, Elway358 said:

In the case of multiple installs like you give, I assume that once there is an update and you install it into the "main" ksp install that you are then able to update the install that your current game is saved to? Thanks again for the help!

KSP doesn't actually install like most programmes do, you just run it from wherever you've put the folder.  So you could even have it on a flash drive and run it on any PC you plug it in to (would probably run a bit slow though).  So once you've put a copy on your PC somewhere you can just copy and paste the directory.  Personally I have a standard one and then a copy which I've installed various mods on.

With the store version you log in to the store with your e-mail and password and can then re-download it any time for free, so when there's a new release you can either use the auto updater in the launcher or just download the new version from the store.

Edited January 26, 2016 by RizzoTheRat

[regex]

I bought from the Store and later transfered to Steam because Steam is a fantastic delivery service.  Since I don't care about stuff like tracking how long I've played or who else in my group of friends is playing a single-player game at the same time I am (besides, on a game's Steam page you can see who in your friends bought something), I make installs outside of the Steam directory and don't worry about auto-updating.  Because Squad generally pushes a new update while I'm at work with excellent internet speeds, I just boot Steam when it's time and grab the update.  Meanwhile, all my friends on the IRC are waiting for their copy to come down from the Store.

Best of both worlds.

Edited January 26, 2016 by regex

[Streetwind]

2 hours ago, Elway358 said:

In the case of multiple installs like you give, I assume that once there is an update and you install it into the "main" ksp install that you are then able to update the install that your current game is saved to? Thanks again for the help!

KSP is super user friendly when it comes to this

I too have my play instances completely separate from my Steam library, like @liquidhype. Everytime Steam advertises an update, I delete my local install, let Steam redownload, grab that entire directory, create a copy of it elsewhere, and name it "Fresh <version number> Download". I have saved one of every single relevant* version since .23 this way, because I am a dreadful hoarder.

To play, I make another copy of the fresh install. If I have an existing save I want to port over, I just copy the Saves directory from the old instance to the new one. From a stability standpoint, it is always better to move your savefile over to a fresh install, instead of trying to paste a new game version on top of your existing install. You never know what orphaned remnants from the old version might be left over. In fact, KSP historically has sometimes had issues with repeatedly updating onto the same installation - there would be a small chance that it'd break in mysterious ways and you'd need a fresh reinstall. So I always say: why not make every new version a fresh install from the start? Porting your old save over is literally just a single copy&paste command, regardless of which OS you play on.

 

*) For example: I have 1.0.2 and 1.0.4, but not 1.0.1 and 1.0.3 since those only lived a day or two each.

 

Edited January 26, 2016 by Streetwind

[Elway358]

Thanks again to everyone for all the info and help. I decided to grab it from the KSP store for really no reason in particular and I immediately regret the decision because the download is ridiculously slow. like something wrong on the end it's coming from slow...

 

Edit: Seems it has sped up to an acceptable speed now. Maybe just a hiccup somewhere along the information highway. Again thanks for all the help and can't wait to dig into this newer version  

Edited January 26, 2016 by Elway358
update info

[Evanitis]

Hope you'll stick around. Spam F1 ingame and show us your creations!

[pincushionman]

Just throwing this into the ring - it's also on GOG and…Amazon, I think?

The real answer might be whether it's on discount any of these places when you intend to buy, if you care about that. It's totally worth full price.

[Johnny Wishbone]

2 hours ago, Elway358 said:

Thanks again to everyone for all the info and help. I decided to grab it from the KSP store for really no reason in particular and I immediately regret the decision because the download is ridiculously slow. like something wrong on the end it's coming from slow...

 

Edit: Seems it has sped up to an acceptable speed now. Maybe just a hiccup somewhere along the information highway. Again thanks for all the help and can't wait to dig into this newer version  

Glad you got your copy; don't let download speeds discourage you. Regardless of the source, there's always the possiblity of problems.

 

[Hobbes Novakoff]

Go for Steam. A little file fiddling is required. However, the upside of Steam is that it has extremely heavy-duty servers, compared to the KSP servers which turn into a puddle of molten slag every time a release comes out.

[fourfa]

OP already made his/her choice... but just FYI.  Steam has a couple cool features: playtime logging (across every game you own; I find this interesting).  And if like me you're on a laptop with very limited SSD space, Steam makes it trivial to load and unload purchased games to and from the cloud, keeping savegames and achievements etc.  And I'm sure most people know about the Steam sales - legacy games are nearly free if you are on the lookout - and once you have the platform it's just handy to have all your games in there.

I'm not sure what people's complaints are about Steam, and since no one bothered to say, no one else does either