Steam – running instalation script (mic)

If you want to do this without starting Steam and logging in, you can modify the setting in the Windows registry. The autostart checkbox is directly tied to a registry key — simply deleting it is all the Steam client does when said checkbox is unchecked.

Navigate to HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run and delete the Steam key. Or as a .reg file:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]
"Steam"=-

I found that the "servers are too busy" message was thrown basically any time an error prevented the game (Borderlands 2 in my case) from launching. It was certainly not in any way related to the Steam servers, and pretty unfortunate that it so misleadingly masks some specific problem with the system.

After much trial and error, based on clues on the Wine AppDB reports and such, I was able to get it running by installing various dependencies and stuff. Unfortunately, I failed to properly document my adventure, but here are a few things I did that you might want to try:

• With winetricks or directly with wine, install: vcredist vcrun2008 vcrun2010 msxml3 winhttp physx
• With your native package manager, install: lib32-mpg123 gpgme libassuan
• Make sure DirectX is installed in the wine environment
• Launch the game by running wine Borderlands2.exe from command line (no symlinks!)

For better performance, I also ended up creating a swapfile, and tweaking the wine registry to recognize all 2GB of my video card's RAM -- it defaulted to only addressing up to 128MB or something crazy like that.

Hope this helps! Good luck.