Any problem using Steam and non-steam versions on ther same PC?

BaldEagle

BaldEagle
With the much reduced price on steam I am wondering about getting a second account to play with on a windows PC. Are there any issues I should be aware of, please? :)
 

Para Handy

Para Handy
No - none to worry about. Your Elite Dangerous options are shared (so no need to re-do bindings etc). Unfortunately with the new Steam version (no-cd-key) you need an installation in a steam library and you have to log in via steam with that account but it doesn't affect your normal one.
 

BaldEagle

BaldEagle
Para Handy said:
No - none to worry about. Your Elite Dangerous options are shared (so no need to re-do bindings etc). Unfortunately with the new Steam version (no-cd-key) you need an installation in a steam library and you have to log in via steam with that account but it doesn't affect your normal one.
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Thank you. I assumed it would somehow be a separate process. It seems a pity that Frontier can't match the sale price atm - or is there only a steam PC version now?
 

BaldEagle

BaldEagle
CMDR Maylor Rom said:
I have two accounts and used to have two separate installs of Elite, one from steam and one from the Elite store.

So that I could keep the controller bindings the same for both, I created a shortcut the the "EDLauncher" for my desktop and deleted the install from the Fronteir store, so there would be only one copy of Elite on my system, and then by clicking the shortcut, I can open and run the game without having to load or run Steam.

Then when the launcher opens, I just log into one or the other account using a different email address and password. So, you should now have (if you purchase a second account) two sets of credentials, two email addresses and two passwords, or the same password for both, but two different email addresses.

So, when you are presented with the EDLauncher, just use whichever set of credentials you want for the account you want to play in. One Elite install, one set of bindings and two accounts using the same install point. It also helps when Frontier updates the game as only one install is needed. This works on a PC. I don't know how it would work on a console.
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I like the simplicity of this, thank you. But why does it not simply keep you logged-in from the previous time you loaded it?
 

Darth Ender

D
Your could also have two launcher installs referencing the same game files and not have to log out of either account... Just execute the appropriate one for whichever account you logged into that one with.
 

BaldEagle

BaldEagle
CMDR Maylor Rom said:
It will. When you are presented with the launcher, it will load up the last account you played in, which is handy if you use one account more than the other, which is pretty common. You do have to "log-out" when presented with the launcher to use the second account, but that "PITA" is much easier than say two separate installs, two sets of bindings and two updates. Each account will create two separate sets of journal files for each commander name and you should use a different commander name for each account. If you try to use the same commander name when creating the second account, the page where you try to create it will balk, stating that commander name is in use and unavailable, so it's better to use a different commander name for each account, that way your journal files will be separated.

It took me about two weeks to figure all of this out. Using two accounts (separate email addresses and commander names) but once you get use to it, it works better than two separate install points and all the account maintenance involved.

If this is helpful, I could use a friend click on my contest link: https://wn.nr/dLkZGX

o7....
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Yep, this is very helpful :D
The link just allows me to sign up for the comp; which I did ;)
I now have a link - https://wn.nr/qCWABf - but nothing new seems to happen when I click yours - I will try later
 

Para Handy

Para Handy
BaldEagle said:
I like the simplicity of this, .............
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Darth Ender said:
Your could also have two launcher installs referencing the same game files and not have to log out of either account... Just execute the appropriate one for whichever account you logged into that one with.
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CMDR Maylor Rom said:
So, you can create a separate launcher for each set of credentials? Educate us please?
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I don't like to rain on anyone's parade but...

Since April 2019 the version for sale on Steam cannot be run without you being logged-in to Steam. The E D Launcher for that version requires you to use "Steam Log In" - you cannot log in using your frontier account email and password for that version which you can do for Steam purchases before that date (they had CD-Keys). So if that is what you are trying to do, you should expect difficulty.

Info about this Steam launcher change is here:

Frontier Support

support.frontier.co.uk support.frontier.co.uk

@CMDR Maylor Rom - if your Steam account was before April then you can just make a copy of the store-bought EDLAunch.exe file, and launch that to log in using your steam account frontier registered email and password. That way you can launch the version you want with just the one installation.
 
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operant

O
"Can I use the standalone Elite Dangerous launcher if I purchased on Steam?
If you purchased the game via Steam, we recommend you launch the game via Steam.
Purchases after 24th April 2019 17:15BST will not be able to use the standalone Elite Dangerous launcher to launch Elite. Purchases before this date will be able to use the standalone launcher to play Elite Dangerous. "

I take it (hope) that the last sentence means cannot launch the steam version of ED as standalone i.e. steam must be online.
Rather than cannot launch your (existing) standalone non-steam version, anymore ?
 

operant

O
Para Handy, thanks.
Wonder why ED made it so 'difficult' to buy extra characters - rather than just pay to unlock another 'slot' on your existing account.
 

Red Anders

Red Anders
operant said:
Para Handy, thanks.
Wonder why ED made it so 'difficult' to buy extra characters - rather than just pay to unlock another 'slot' on your existing account.
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Because console players can already have multiple commanders for no additional cost and they clearly think it's reasonable for PC players to continue to shell out for extra accounts rather then provide the same facility to us. Note to anybody from FDev that happens to read this - it isn't reasonable. At all.
 

Dagwit

Dagwit
Red Anders said:
Because console players can already have multiple commanders for no additional cost and they clearly think it's reasonable for PC players to continue to shell out for extra accounts rather then provide the same facility to us. Note to anybody from FDev that happens to read this - it isn't reasonable. At all.
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Agreed that there's much unfairness in this - I wonder however if this is forced on Frontier by the way consoles work rather than their choice. And so I would be willing to pay Frontier for additional PC commander slots if they'd only spare me the hassle of setting up an additional account.

I spent £10 on a Steam sale second account. After the pain of setting it up I won't easily be persuaded to buy a third.

But I'd willingly have given Frontier £25 for two additional commander slots. Giving players no option but to buy multiple accounts isn't just miserable for the players - it's probably costing Frontier lost revenue.
 

Lyvan Kitaen

Lyvan Kitaen
This is what I use to launch my different accounts:
ed launchers.JPG
 

Darty

Darty
I actually have 4 accounts. 1 CD key steam, 1 normal, and 2 steam. I can easily play 3 of them at a time. If you have separate installs or simulate separate installs you can even give each account its own hud colors!

As long as you have multiple launchers you don't have to log out and back in when switching. Just log into one account on one launcher and the other on the other launcher. Then just open the launcher that corresponds with the account you want to play with. I believe you can do this with just 1 install by naming just copying and pasting the launcher in the same directory and then renaming it.

Only issue with multiple accounts comes with having 2 or more steam ED accounts if you bought both accounts after they stopped using CD keys. Then you have to log out of steam, and log back in in order to switch accounts. So I highly recommend buying it from fdev if you already have a steam account and/or its not on sale on steam. But you should be fine with 1 normal and 1 steam account.
 

Red Anders

Red Anders
Dagwit said:
Agreed that there's much unfairness in this - I wonder however if this is forced on Frontier by the way consoles work rather than their choice. And so I would be willing to pay Frontier for additional PC commander slots if they'd only spare me the hassle of setting up an additional account.

I spent £10 on a Steam sale second account. After the pain of setting it up I won't easily be persuaded to buy a third.

But I'd willingly have given Frontier £25 for two additional commander slots. Giving players no option but to buy multiple accounts isn't just miserable for the players - it's probably costing Frontier lost revenue.
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I'd pay a nominal fee (and by nominal I mean a fiver, tops) for a second slot in my existing copy of the game because even though I strongly feel that there should have been more than one commander slot per account, there comes a point where you're just cutting your nose off to spite your face.

The current situation where you have to pay for additional copies of expansions, in particular the next one which will be full-priced for a decent amount of time, plus not having cosmetics shared because they're separate accounts though? Nope, not happening.

I did wonder whether they might look at it when they did the update that refreshed the new player experience, since players like me (one account, four years old and I have no intention of wiping it) will never see it but that was clearly just development time spent to try to increase retention of actual new players. The fact it might also have had an impact on retention of older ones was seemingly either disregarded, or wasn't even an issue on the table.

I've given up any hope for it, they're obviously making enough from the players that will buy multiple accounts that they don't see any benefit in spending the time on it.
 

BaldEagle

BaldEagle
Thanks for all the feedback guys :)
I hope Frontier do read this. I bought a lifetime licence some years ago, which seems to have added nothing except a 'free' paint job a couple of years ago!
 

Para Handy

Para Handy
BaldEagle said:
Oh yes - my Father Christmas :oops:
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I just tripped over the "special item bundle" email, it detailed:

Your new items are:
  • Snowflake Bobblehead
  • Snowman Bobblehead
  • Mamba Midnight Black
  • Krait Phantom Midnight Black
  • Imperial Cutter Iridescent Gleam
  • Federal Corvette Iridescent Gleam
  • Anaconda Iridescent Gleam
  • SRV Iridescent Gleam

Not a bad haul but not worth £120 ;)
 

Nadreck

N
My original account was bought through Steam (prior to the change), I've since bought 3 more in a Frontier sale.

I have two copies of the ED Launcher (my main account and my son's account) accessing the same install. Bindings are shared, everything else is kept separate.

I also have two extra copies of the entire ED folder (and subfolders) each containing a separate ED Launcher for my two "assistants". This allows me to run them simultaneously with my main CMDR and multicrew with them (you can only have one copy of the launcher running, but after starting the game you can close the launcher and open another one).
 
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